Rainbows End
by Vernor Vinge
Vernor Vinge's 2007 Hugo Award winner explores augmented reality San Diego 2025 through an Alzheimer's survivor relearning the world
"In the end neither Rabbit nor Alfred's colleagues would realize they had been fooled".
Editorial Summary
Rainbows End is a 2006 science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge that was awarded the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Novel. Set in San Diego, California, in 2025, the story follows Robert Gu, a recovering Alzheimer's patient who discovers that the world has changed dramatically during his illness. In this near-future world, augmented reality is dominant, with humans interacting with virtual overlays through smart clothing providing gesture recognition and contact lenses that overlay computer graphics using advanced virtual retinal display technology. Once a world-renowned poet, the seventy-five-year-old Gu must now start over, learning to navigate an information age where virtual and real exist as a seamless continuum. Vernor Vinge, a retired San Diego State University computer science professor and mathematics expert, crafts a prescient vision of ubiquitous computing and wearable technology that anticipated many current technological developments.
Perspective
"Reading this feels like experiencing technological culture shock through the eyes of someone awakening from a decades-long sleep, as you follow Robert Gu's disorienting journey through a world where augmented reality has become as natural as breathing. Vinge's distinctive contribution is his concept of "belief circles" - collaborative virtual worlds built by user communities like wikis, ranging from H.P. Lovecraft universes to Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Technology professionals and futurists working on augmented reality, wearable computing, and human-computer interfaces will find Vinge's remarkably prescient 2006 vision of ubiquitous computing and the technological singularity's approach."
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