Review
A glorious book. It's not a cheat's guide to Steampunk -- which I admit I kind of feared when I read the title.
It talks about Steampunk and the people who create and enjoy that world. It starts from first principles, from the values underlying people's involvement.
It's a book about choosing how you'll live in the world. What do we hope for the future? What do we fear?
It's a celebration of ingenuity and creativity, a celebration of living with joy with values and behaviours aligned, and within a community.
What amazed me was how much it prompted me to look at my world anew; the values I live with and how they align with my lifestyle. And I'm not a steampunk--maybe I should be?
Bruce Sterling has a couple of pages at the beginning of the book which are gold. I could quote the whole lot, but here's two sentences:
"Steampunk's key lessons are not about the past. They are about the instability and obsolescence of our own times." p.12
It talks about Steampunk and the people who create and enjoy that world. It starts from first principles, from the values underlying people's involvement.
It's a book about choosing how you'll live in the world. What do we hope for the future? What do we fear?
It's a celebration of ingenuity and creativity, a celebration of living with joy with values and behaviours aligned, and within a community.
What amazed me was how much it prompted me to look at my world anew; the values I live with and how they align with my lifestyle. And I'm not a steampunk--maybe I should be?
Bruce Sterling has a couple of pages at the beginning of the book which are gold. I could quote the whole lot, but here's two sentences:
"Steampunk's key lessons are not about the past. They are about the instability and obsolescence of our own times." p.12
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