The Echo Maker

I cannot think of a fiction writer who writes more effectively about the implications of science and technology than Richard Powers. I finally read his novel The Echo Maker, and while not perfect, it is certainly worth reading. He understands the implications of research by Oliver Sacks and the like: that humanity may be more about our neurons than we would like to believe. But he never reduces the self to neurons; he understands that narratives of the self are complex. The stories we tell ourselves, the stories we tell others, the stories we live by: it is not always about whether they are true or not, but how true they ring to us. We are formed by our experiences and how they form and re-form our brains. This is true, and Powers understands that this doesn't necessarily mean that there is no God or no such thing as love.