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An astonishing masterpiece from a genius with a horribly schlocky name.The reviews by MyFleshSingsOut and Manny are amazing, so read those for specifics.And read Oriana's review for an hilarious savaging.
Our life was a chest of maps, self-assembling, fused into point-for-point feedback, each slice continuously rewriting itself to match the other layers’ rewrites. In that thicket, the soul existed; it was that search for attractors where the system might settle. The immaterial in mortal garb, associative memory metaphoring its own bewilderment. Sound made syllable. The rest mass of God.
I can't wrap my head around this book. Usually, that's a good thing: it requires effort; it's just that little bit too complex; it's stretching me in some new direction I've never been.Galatea 2.2 isn't really any of that, or at least not consistently. It's just frustrating.That's not to say there isn't some payoff through the frustration: the prose is stellar -- rich and fantastical. Helen is adorable and touching, in her way (though she's the only character who is, and she's a machine, so), an...
Other reviewers have done a wonderful job describing what this book is about, e.g. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..., so I won't go into too much depth. The main character in the novel and the author share many things in common -- same names, same four books written, same school, same job, both physics majors before switching to English, both lived in the Netherlands and speak Dutch, and others. Having a decades long romance with a woman he taught in grad school or working with a scientis...
Rating, 3.75Of all novels I've read, this is the only one where the author is the central character, though I questioned his use of single initials for people and locations. At its core, it pays homage to books, learning and being human.Powers takes the reader on parallel journeys: A) The development of Artificial Intelligence computer by a colleague, Philip Lentz, and B) His relationship with 'C' during the writing of his books. One of his earlier works, we get a glimpse into Power's world as a...
My thoughts on Richard Powers have been expressed before. He remains a divisive figure. Many doubt his prowess. Some find him too American. This could be an example of Asperger's literature. I object to that last sentiment. This is a novel with heart. Somewhere between artificial intelligence and Ani Difranco, Mr Powers afforded voice to a muddled world of emotions and violence: both somehow framed in the altered world of office hours. His ouerve often appears to be talking therapy. He's backtra...
Galatea 2.2 is a brilliant novel by brainy Richard Powers that's an update on the classical Pygmalion tale of bringing a man-made work alive - in Ovid, a sculptor animates his beautiful female statue; in this novel, main character Richard Powers (modeled very much after the author himself) and his fellow researcher and cognitive neuroscience genius, a fifty-something gent by the name of Philip Lentz, design and instruct Helen, a neural net, to emulate human thought and speech.Author Richard Powe...
This book is about relationships—the relationship between the humanities and the natural sciences, both within and beyond the walls of the academy and the lab; between cognitive neuroscience and literary fiction; between the romantically entangled; between human beings, period; between mind and matter. Richard Powers—an author I now have tremendous affection for—strikes an impeccable balance in his use and examination of these varied relationships. Consequently, this book was both intellectually...
Measurement for WordsThis novel seduces you, both emotionally and intellectually. It starts like a romance, albeit one set on campus, but ends up an exceptional work of meta-fiction.The first person narrator, an author, a homonymic namesake of the real Richard Powers, has written four novels that sound like the ones on my shelves, has suffered the break-up of an 11 year old relationship while living in Holland, and is now confronting writer's block. He is ostensibly "working" for 12 months as a
"Why do humans write so much? Why do they write at all?"Galatea 2.2 is the story of a man called Richard Powers. In fact, it is two stories. In the novel’s present, Powers takes a role as “humanist in residence” at a midwestern university: he is looking for somewhere to hide away and lick his wounds after a long term relationship (she is always referred to as C.) has fallen apart. Here, he comes to know Dr. Philip Lentz who gets him involved in an attempt to teach a computer literary criticism.
I hate to be the one to tell you, Richard, but you're just not geeky enough.
I don't think I know enough science to read this (novel though it be) -- well, I KNOW I don't. And what's worse is realizing that, as advanced as this stuff sounds, it's already nearly 20 years old (1995). Yikes!I guess that explains my interest in the Middle Ages... in a real sense, I'm still living in them.Anyway -- it seems like a pretty impressive book.
