MH Thaung reviewed True Names (Penguin Worlds) by Vernor Vinge
Penguin reissues a seminal work of cyberpunk fiction from the Hugo Award-winning author of A …
Early cyberspace novella that still has relevance now
I hadn't come across this author before, and I was (probably) too young for True Names to show up on my radar when it was first published as a novella in 1981. This reissue is accompanied by several essays that were written 10 or more years later, still well before the current date.
The plotline of True Names is straightforward on the surface: a hacker is pressured into attempting to uncover the real-life identity of a more dangerous hacker, which (of course) isn't as straightforward as initially hoped. There are interesting themes of symbolism and trust, and perhaps a sense of assessing people by what they do rather than what they say. I'd say the story has aged rather well.
I dipped into the accompanying essays, and I'm sure I will again. The concepts were a bit "technical" for me to fully appreciate from my non-IT-specialised background, but even so, …
I hadn't come across this author before, and I was (probably) too young for True Names to show up on my radar when it was first published as a novella in 1981. This reissue is accompanied by several essays that were written 10 or more years later, still well before the current date.
The plotline of True Names is straightforward on the surface: a hacker is pressured into attempting to uncover the real-life identity of a more dangerous hacker, which (of course) isn't as straightforward as initially hoped. There are interesting themes of symbolism and trust, and perhaps a sense of assessing people by what they do rather than what they say. I'd say the story has aged rather well.
I dipped into the accompanying essays, and I'm sure I will again. The concepts were a bit "technical" for me to fully appreciate from my non-IT-specialised background, but even so, they were thought-provoking.
Worth a read, and then a re-read.
