Aurora - Kim Stanley Robinson

Aurora is KSR's latest novel, published in summer 2015, and the only other book of his that I have read, other than the genius Mars trilogy. Aurora is just as delightful, and satisfyingly familiar in tone, with its hyper-detailed yet highly readable descriptions of technology, and the incisive and compelling character depictions, which elevate the book from tech porn to high literature.

Aurora is the story of a generation of families born on a spaceship in the middle of a 159+ year colonizing trip to Tau Ceti, led at this point in their journey by brilliant yet troubled scientist Devi, who keeps their aging vessel in working order through hundreds of daily repairs. Unlike Mars, with its numerous protagonists, this novel focuses primarily on Devi and her daughter, Freya. In a unique and engaging narrative twist, the tale's chronicler is the ship itself, an AI called simply "ship."

The action begins in Freya's youth and young adulthood, in the final years of the journey to Tau Ceti. A deeply interesting and moving tale, which I highly recommend to all sci-fi enthusiasts!

Freeware

Several months ago, Lauren reviewed and recommended Software by Rudy Rucker.  I read it and thought it was a hoot - wildly creative, screamingly funny and unexpectedly thoughtful in exploring the idea of whether consciousness is unique to "living" beings.  Well, Freeware is the second (NB: actually 3rd - see comments) in a series of four books by Rucker and continues these trends, with this startling first sentence:

Monique was a moldie: an artificial life form made of a soft plastic that was mottled and veined with gene-tweaked molds and algae. 

Freeware starts with a diagram of the family trees of the main characters in the four books, including Staun "Sta-Hi" Mooney, who, after his outlandish adventures in Software, is mentioned in Freeware as the author, while serving as Senator of California, of the Moldie Citizenship Act.  Other entries in the family trees and in the story include additional moldies and aliens with exceptional body forms and life experiences.

Unfortunately, I didn't find Freeware to be nearly as intriguing as Software.  There was less humor, less interesting consideration of life forms and consciousness, and a lot more really outlandish stuff that I couldn't connect with.  Oh well.

Software - Rudy Rucker

In Software, aging robot engineer Cobb Anderson has fallen on hard times. After the AI robot "boppers" he programmed to evolve learned to violate Asimov's laws and rebelled against their human overlords, Cobb was tried for treason and forced to abandon his groundbreaking scientific studies. A now decrepit has-been with nothing to occupy his time but his old hippy girlfriend and a bottle of booze, Cobb has basically given up on life. That is, until his first and best robot, Ralph Numbers, shows up and promises to make him immortal.

This exciting and compelling novel explores the meaning of humanity and the potentially transformative power of technology through the colorful exploits of Cobb and his junkie side-kick, the flamboyant and foul-mouthed "Sta-Hi."

It deals with similar questions as do Bicentennial Man and Ghost in the Shell - what really makes someone a human? What is it that we experience as the self? In my bookclub, we call this latter question the "phone booth" problem (one description of this thought experiment here).

"You wanted to know who I am. I gave you one answer. A robot-remote. A servo-unit operated by a program stored in a bopper spaceship. But... I'm still Misty-girl, too. The soul is the software, you know. The soft ware is what counts, the habits and the memories. The brain and the body are just meat, seeds for the organ-tanks." 

I will definitely look forward to reading the second and third parts of this trilogy, and thanks to my IT friend Josh for the recommendation! (By the way, there are versions of these books on Rucker's website, but some of the more graphic language/brutal phrasing seems to have been edited out in those versions.)