The Diamond Age

by Neal Stephenson · 1995

In a nanotech-saturated future of tribal enclaves and floating city-states, a stolen interactive book called the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer raises a poor Shanghai girl named Nell while its engineer, its ruthless commissioner, and a Confucian judge in the Leased Territories are drawn into the fallout of its theft.

Books mentioned in The Diamond Age (8)

• The Victorians by Charles Petrie: “Moral reforms and deteriorations are moved by large forces... —Sir Charles Petrie, THE VICTORIANS (epigraph)”
• The Analects by Confucius: “By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart. —Confucius (epigraph)”
• The Raven, A Christmas Tale by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “THE RAVEN A CHRISTMAS TALE, TOLD BY A SCHOOL-BOY TO HIS LITTLE BROTHERS AND SISTERS by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1798)”
• Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe: “"Those were nice—we saw a nice Doctor Faustus at the Olivier." "Marlowe's?" "Yes."”
• The Prelude by William Wordsworth: “"The poem?" "Judging by content, I'd guess The Prelude." "Nicely done," the man said.”
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle: “They have a book of Sherlock Holmes stories.”
• Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell: “Scarlett O'Hara in the ractive Gone With the Wind”
• The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare: “standing bids on Kate in the ractive version of Taming of the Shrew”