The more and more I see articles like this (http://www.trendpreneur.com/online/social-media-online/socia...) and how trying to filter through the Twitter/Facebook noise is the future...the more I think of this story.

I coincidentally reread In the Beginning was the Command Line three days ago. Neal Stephenson is an awesome geek.

I did too. The second time reading it seemed so much longer.

Wow, Stephenson's writing style has changed drastically in the last 16 years.

"... where demographics, entertainment, consumption habits, and credit history all intersect to define a weird imaginary universe that is every bit as twisted and convoluted as those balloon animals that so eerily squelch and shudder from the hands of feckless loitering clowns in the touristy districts of our great cities."

Compared to that, Anathem reads like it was written by a monk. (-:

But isn't that partly because Spew is written in the first person, unlike Anathem? Spew slightly predates The Diamond Age, and the style of TDA is closer to Anathem.

Anathem is written in the first person as well.

Ugh. You are right. Should have opened my copy before I shot my mouth off. But the point is that style of Spew is appropriate to that narrator in that environment.