Who recommended Excession?

3 people have recommended Excession in the interviews, articles and reading lists we track, including Stewart Brand, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Each name links to their full reading list.

Is Excession worth reading?

3 people we track recommend it. It is best for: policy or product manager at an AI startup preparing a board briefing on long-term governance and failure modes — read now to borrow vivid, dramatized vignettes of competing Minds and diplomatic breakdowns you can use as narrative hooks for skeptical executives.; lead game designer at an online RPG studio prototyping emergent NPC alliances and nonhuman motives — read now to mine concrete examples of machine-to-machine banter, faction-scale tactics, and strange rationalities that can inspire believable AI-driven behaviors.; community-center book-club convener planning the next quarterly pick who wants a debate-heavy SF choice on technology and ethics — read now to give members several clear scenes and moral fault lines to argue over in a single-session meeting.. It may not suit: You’ll likely put it down when long, technical or Mind-to-Mind strategy conversations and bureaucratic infighting replace forward plot and character momentum.; Annoying if you prefer tight, emotionally intimate arcs or straightforward prose — the novel favors broad satire and wit over close interiority.; Not for readers who want a short, fast read or a neat, self-contained thriller — pacing is episodic and the narrative indulges in digressions..

What books are like Excession?

Readers of Excession also turn to Children of the Lens, The Vor Game and AI Superpowers, based on the lists and recommenders these books share.

Excession by Iain M. Banks: Recommended by 3 People

Name: Excession
Author: Iain M. Banks

The international sensation Iain M. Banks offers readers a deeply imaginative, wittily satirical tale, proving once again that he is "a talent to be reckoned with" ("Locus"). In Excession, the Culture's espionage and dirty tricks section orders Diplomat Byr GenHofoen to steal the soul of a longdead starship captain. By accepting the mission, Byr ...