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Book recommendation: Distraction by Bruce Sterling [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-06-18
Distraction by Bruce Sterling is out of print as far as I know but might be available from your local library. Sterling is a Cyberpunk writer, which to me means someone who tosses thousands of ideas and possible futures into a single book. This is one of my favorite books because of its prescience. Even the casual ideas are great. The main character is on a beach and talks about how he loves beaches with their rusted global warming bedframes and other debris…
One recent review on Goodreads states, “How was this book written in the late 90s, when it captures the 21st century political moment more than any other work of fiction ever?”
Ideas that feel relevant include:
A decentralized right wing terror network of news bots that feeds lies to the gullible until they attack the selected target
A bankrupt federal government
The slow realization of the scientific community that science is political and scientists need to interact with politics
How to spin a mental and physical breakdown for votes and rising poll numbers
And that’s just the ideas that won’t be spoilers! Please note that the book contains a lot of exposition and if you like your essays separate from your fiction, you may not enjoy this one.
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