The Rapture of the Nerds (Cory Doctorow & Charles Stross)

It is years after the singularity, and most of humanity has abandoned Earth and meatspace and uploaded itself to the cloud, living a virtual life. Huw is one of those who remained behind, rejecting not only a cybernetic existence but even electricity and telecommunication. So at first he is happy to have been selected to serve on a jury that evaluates new technologies thrown up by the post-humans in the cloud, but it turns out that he has been infected by something that is using his body for its own purposes. He winds up on a grand tour of the many different ways of being human, from violently fundamentalist to the expanded consciousness of the cloud, and in the end the fate of the entire solar system rests on him. I have enjoyed the smart, geeky works by Stross before, but not Cory Doctorow so much, and this one didn't really work for me. Although Huw is central to resolving some major crises, the primary tool he (or sometimes she) uses is avoidance. I like my protagonists to be more actively involved in solving problems, not throwing temper tantrums. I also tended to lose the convoluted threads of the plot sometimes. I suppose I am not uplifted enough for this novel.