SOURCE: "More Human Than Human," in Los Angeles Times Book Review, June 18, 1995, pp. 3, 12.

Eder is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American critic. In the following positive review, he discusses characterization and theme in Galatea 2.2, stating that he finished the work "not totally sure of the destination but with a vivid memory of points along the way."

Richard Powers' people are ideas and his ideas are people; and so, right away, he sets himself apart from writers who sketch an engaging intellectual path but don't find characters to tread it.

Galatea 2.2 is about a man who programs an artificial intelligence system only to find it is more human than he is. Powers' characters and ideas are all over the place. Their engagement is wholehearted, the results are uncertain. Frequently a glittering insight will be thrown up from the dust and the skirmishing, or a shard of human sadness or wicked enjoyment...