Zendegi

Greg Egan

Mar 2010 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Set in a near future Iran (where the theocracy has been overthrown, but where Muslim religion still dominates the culture), an Arab/Muslim focused MMORG gaming companies cutting edge AI software might hold the key achieving "uploaded consciousness." Martin is an Australian journalist who covered uprising and overthrow of the Iranian theocracy, and has since "gone native" with a Iranian wife and child. As tragedy strikes his multi-cultural family, Martin struggles to maintain his place in his adapted culture, and to provide for his child. Zendigi explores what it means to be human, and the lengths one will go to in order to provide for ones children. This emotional roller coaster explores a non-Western-European near future that both challenges ideas of global mono-culture and emphasizes the humanity we all share.

Ratings and reviews

Personally a very hard book to read; I have had several friends die of various liver diseases. However, both the thoughts on brain scanning and Iranian sensibilities were deeply interesting, and the narrative kept me coming back obsessively. Zendegi was recommended to me by a top technologist, and I intend to pass the recommendation on to others!

About the author

Greg Egan is the author of the acclaimed SF novels Diaspora, Quarantine, Permutation City, and Teranesia. He has won the Hugo Award as well as the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. His short fiction has been published in a variety of places, including Interzone, Asimov’s, and Nature. Egan holds a BSC in Mathematics from the University of Western Australia, and currently lives in Perth.