Book Review - There is no antimemetics division

There is no Antimemetics Division

By QNTM

Rating - 4.5/5 

I have not read such a mind-blowing novel for sometime, or maybe ever. It is like reading the Matrix or rather Animatrix. 

Book premise - There are these organisms, called memes or unknowns, which prey on your memory. So, you do not even know they exist because they alter your memory. Yet, they are everywhere. There is an Antimemetics division created to fight them. The novel is an account of how they go about fighting these unknowns.

The book is bold and full of so many ideas that it is a powerhouse of new sci-fi. Many pages blows you away. The best part is that QNTM is able to put his ideas in words that it is easy to follow. Some things makes sense and some things do not. But it is ok. Because it is not a book that is meant to be easy. 

Each of the meme (or unknown) is different. They have their own power, attack, story. There is a wikipedia like collection for each meme that has been observed. Each such entry is redacted for general consumption. Each of this wiki chaper in the book is fascinating to read. 

How do you right such unknowns ? By inventing drugs that make you less forgetting. Is that enough? No. But it could just work. That's the trick. There are chapters where these Antimemtics division agents fight these memes - sometimes they are successful and sometimes they are not. The affair is bloody. There is horror in some pages but the settings is such that it is ok. 

I picked up this book as I was walking down the street in SF and stumbled onto Dog eared bookstore. The title was intriguing and it was there in the trendy section. It was SciFi. The best sellers in US are different than the best sellers in India. Expected. One really has to scan things to understand what new is out there. 

This one was intellectually stimulating. I am so happy to have read this one.