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Altered Carbon
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Takeshi Kovacs: Book 1

Altered Carbon (2002) (edit title/settings)

by Richard K. Morgan (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

In the twenty-fifth century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person’s... read more

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “Human life has no value. Haven't you learned that yet, Takeshi, with all you've seen? It has no value, intrinsic to itself. Machines cost money to build. Raw materials cost money to extract. But people? You can always get some more people. They reproduce like cancer cells, whether you want them to or not. They are abundant, Takeshi. Why should they be valuable? Do you know that it cost us less to recruit and use up a real snuff whore than it does to set up and run a virtual equivalent format? Real human flesh is cheaper than a machine. It's the axiomatic truth of our times.”
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • “The human eye is a wonderful device,” I quoted from Poems and Other Prevarications absently. “With a little effort, it can fail to see even the most glaring injustice.”
    Highlighted by 41 Kindle customers
  • The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here—it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide out from under with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them.
    Highlighted by 36 Kindle customers
  • like all men of power, when he talked of prices worth paying, you could be sure of one thing. Someone else was paying.
    Highlighted by 34 Kindle customers
  • “There are some arenas so corrupt that the only clean acts possible are nihilistic.”
    Highlighted by 23 Kindle customers
  • “When they ask how I died,” I said. “Tell them: Still Angry.”
    Highlighted by 21 Kindle customers
  • The essence of control is to remain hidden from view, is it not?”
    Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers
  • “Kristin, nothing ever does change.” I jerked a thumb back at the crowd outside. “You’ll always have morons like that, swallowing belief patterns whole so they don’t have to think for themselves.
    Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers
  • It was the single forgiving phrase in the syntax of weaponry I had strapped about me. The rest were unequivocal sentences of death.
    Highlighted by 16 Kindle customers
  • “Kovacs, I hate these goddamn freaks. They’ve been grinding us down for the best part of two and a half thousand years. They’ve been responsible for more misery than any other organization in history. You know they won’t even let their adherents practice birth control, for Christ’s sake, and they’ve stood against every significant medical advance of the last five centuries. Practically the only thing you can say in their favor is that this D.H.F. thing has stopped them from spreading with the rest of humanity.”
    Highlighted by 14 Kindle customers
  • Pull on the new flesh like borrowed gloves And burn your fingers once again.
    Highlighted by 14 Kindle customers
Show all 11 quotes from this book

Setting & Locations edit see section history

Organizations edit see section history

  • UN: Presumably the United Nations. A important controlling body on Earth

First Sentence edit see section history

Two hours before dawn, I sat in the peeling kitchen and smoked one of Sarah's cigarettes, listening to the maelstrom and waiting.

Glossary edit see section history

  • Needlecast: A tightbeam transmission of your very being.
  • Cortical Stack: Implanted hardware device that contains a backup copy of your mental self.
  • Autosurgeon: A mechanical aid to physicians, performing surgical procedures with surgeons present.
  • Philips Squeeze Gun: A handheld railgun.
  • Illuminum: A metal that glows with its own light.
  • Mandroid: A humanoid robot; a robot in the shape of a person.
  • Olfactory Wakeup Call: An alarm clock that works by wafting scents your way.
  • Synthetic Sleeve: An artificial body, into which a person can be downloaded.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 1 of 3 in Takeshi Kovacs. (standard series)

Followed by Broken Angels.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Richard K. Morgan (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Gollancz
Country: United States of America
Publication Date: February 28, 2002
ISBN: 0-575-07321-7
Page Count: 416

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: 48236269
  • Dewey: 576

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Adults

There is a fair amount of sex and violence in this novel.

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • Lord of Light
  • Neuromancer
  • Gun, with Occasional Music
  • Pandora's Star

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