This collection of 16 pieces by science fiction novelist Neal Stephenson comprises speeches, articles, interviews and two short stories, from 1993 to 2012. One previously unpublished essay, "Arsebestos", will concern every writer or office worker: "If you sit for any significant amount of time per day, it will kill you." Plagued by neck and arm pain, Stephenson says he's abandoned his sedentary lifestyle for a treadmill desk. He also prefers writing novels with a fountain pen rather than a computer. He has much to say about literary critics who write "mean things about science fiction", the gulf between genre and mainstream fiction ("SF thrives because it is idea porn"), as well as people's disdain for science and technology despite their becoming increasingly in touch with their inner nerd: "We're all geeks now." He reveals his admiration for the Puritans ("they were tremendously effective people"), his approach to writing ("it begins and ends with story") and his concern about the decline of "bookishness" in our wired society. Always interesting and entertaining.