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I've been reading up more on the transhumanists, and I realize that most of my views about the movement is colored by those who write *about* them and my readings from science fiction than what the transhumanists actually say, themselves. I haven't read enough of their works, unless Neil Stephensen counts, to be sure I understand them. I think I'm right about the obvious endpoints of the interventions they propose, but I'm willing to consider that I may have a skewed viewpoint (prejudice).

William Gibson wrote "Idoru" and "Virtual Light." The world is a meld of reality -cheap human life and over crowding - and the 'net life - more spacious, but (like the real life of the characters) hazardous with political and criminal elements that can kill. There's also a strong undercurrent of drug abuse and addiction.

I like Lois McMaster Bujold and her Miles series, Alan Foster Dean and Flix and Flinx and , most of Heinlein so much better. There's always David Weber and Honor Harrington or the more grown-up version of Honor in Kristine Smith's heroine in "Code of Conduct" and that series. One good thing about all of these series is that each book is independent, not dependent on reading the whole series, in sequence.)If you have a week or two, I recommend Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. The writing's excellent, but the content is like 2 or 3 of Clancy's books - there's a lot of words to read.

Spider Robison wrote a great - but very unsettling - short story or novelette that's available online (try a Google search) called "God is an Iron." His heroine is addicted to direct stimulation of the pleasure center of the brain by electricity and a surgical implant.

Ok, enough editorializing ;)