I can see why people love this book and why it's a genre classic, because it had some truly interesting ideas about culture, language, science, and religion, but ultimately the execution failed to compel me. I was frequently bored by the many infodumps and flat, dull characters. It also didn't age very well, and feels dated now in the age of smartphones and tablet computers with its clunky 'future' technology references. Y.T. and Fido were the only things I really cared about by the end.