The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson Options

[john]

The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson
I don't know if any one else has read any books by Neal Stephenson but I would reconmend them to anyone who like a decent bit of future fiction.
The plot is well.... slightly unusal and I don't know if i'll explain it quite right.

Basicly mix Nanotechnology, Neo-Victorian society, break down of countries, revolution and a poor orphan girl called Nell.

Here the spew from the backcover:
[quote]The Diamond Age or a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
Far above the diamondoid bedrock of New Chusan, a powerful class of neo-victorians is ruling twenty-first-century Atantis/Shanghai.
John Percival Hackworth, a brilliant nanotechnologist, has created an illicit, magical book for the education of a young lady: an interactive device crammed with folklore, science and the martial arts that teaches young women how to think for themselves.
What will happen to society if it should fall into the hands of someone like little Nell, a poor orphan girl with so much to learn?[/quote]

I only stumbled across this gem because I was buying one of the author other books (Cryptonomicon) and needed to bulk the order up a bit so I got the other two books by the author as well.[/b]