All of Vernor Vinge’s novels have been set in space and in the far future. The ones I’ve read aren’t bad, but none of them grabbed me enough to want to revisit them. But when Vinge came out with a near future novel set on Earth, then I was interested. I tried reading Rainbows End when it came out, but things go in the way and I never managed to get back to it. I decided to try it out again and had mixed feelings about the book. Let’s see what’s up.

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True Names by Vernor Vinge is on of the first great Internet books. Before Neuromancer was published, Vinge, more than anyone else, created the metaphors and views that were used in the early days of the Internet. Vinge is more of a futurist than a science fiction writer. His greatest strength is seeing the future and how people will interact with it. And in True Names, Vinge started writing about the future event that he would later name The Singularity. So what exactly is True Names about?

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