Super Short Summary

The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson imagines a future Shanghai divided into cultural groups called phyles, where an engineer named Hackworth creates a stolen educational AI device, the Primer, which ends up with Nell, a disadvantaged girl. The Primer helps Nell grow in intelligence and skill, leading her to rise above her circumstances and create a new, stable phyle amidst societal chaos. The book includes sexual abuse, violence, misogynistic slurs, and physical violence.