How's this for cool? Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has added a novel by the late Iain M. Banks to his "A Year of Books" series. Titled The Player of Games, it's the second in Banks's The Culture series, which is set in a post-singularity, galaxy-spanning society. Zuckerberg announced the addition of the book via his personal Facebook page. He did not offer much in the way of explanation regarding why he had chosen it, only mentioning that it's "a science fiction book about an advanced civilization with AI and a vibrant culture."
The Player of Games is the first fiction title to have been included on the list, but its appeal is clear to see: Zuckerberg has a keen interest in artificial intelligence, and the rest of the books he has chosen--all non-fiction--have focused on related issues like technology, science, and culture.
You can learn more about "A Year of Books" at Facebook.
More about The Player of Games:
The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh. Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game...a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life - and very possibly his death.
