Revelation Space

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Title: Revelation Space
Authors: Alastair Reynolds
Category:books
Number of Highlights: 5
Date: 2026-03-08
Last Highlighted: 2026-03-08

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Highlights

“I think I’ve reduced the amount of blood in my caffeine system to an acceptable level, if that’s what you mean.” (543)

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For a moment her suit was out cold; even when her eyes began to clear she could see that the readouts had either died or turned to unreadably cryptic mush. They lingered in that state for a few agonising seconds before the suit’s back-up brain staggered on line, reinstating what it could. A simpler—but at least comprehensible—display returned to life, detailing what remained and what had been destroyed. Most of the major weapons were out. Suit autonomy was down by fifty per cent, the persona slipping towards machine autism. (5041)

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Numerics dancing in the sphere told her of the bridgehead’s total readiness. She had to trust what the summarising systems told her, for the weapon was in many ways unknown to her. She had sketched out her basic requirements, but the dogwork had been done by autonomous design programs, and they had not deigned to inform her of every technical problem and solution encountered along the way. (7096)

Note: Feels like modern llms.

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It looked like a biology lesson for gods, or a snapshot of the kind of pornography which might be enjoyed by sentient planets. (7821)

Note: … wut lol

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There was no sense thinking that way. If any of this meant anything, if the last fifty years of his life (and perhaps even more than that) had been anything other than delusional obsession, there had to be something worth finding. The feeling was nothing he could articulate, but he was more sure of it than he had ever before been sure of anything. (8731)

Note: Sunk cost fallacy

---- Numerics dancing in the sphere told her of the bridgehead’s total readiness. She had to trust what the summarising systems told her, for the weapon was in many ways unknown to her. She had sketched out her basic requirements, but the dogwork had been done by autonomous design programs, and they had not deigned to inform her of every technical problem and solution encountered along the way. (Location 7096)
- Note: Feels like modern llms.

• It looked like a biology lesson for gods, or a snapshot of the kind of pornography which might be enjoyed by sentient planets. (Location 7821)
  • Note: … wut lol
• There was no sense thinking that way. If any of this meant anything, if the last fifty years of his life (and perhaps even more than that) had been anything other than delusional obsession, there had to be something worth finding. The feeling was nothing he could articulate, but he was more sure of it than he had ever before been sure of anything. (Location 8731)
  • Note: Sunk cost fallacy