A Million Open Doors by John Barnes

My favorite book is "A Million Open Doors", by John Barnes.

It is a science fiction novel about a time when humanity has spread to several hundred planets. It was previously a very loosely knit federation because of the distances involved, but in the past few decades, instantaneous teleportation has been discovered and now people can simply step from one planet to another, which causes massive social upheaval at first.

The main character, Giraut Leones, is from a world called Nou Occitan whose culture is a deliberate re-enactment of Renaissance troubadour culture. A world called Caledon has just built their "springer" and entered into galactic society, and a team is being sent there from Nou Occitan to try to minimize the cultural and economic disruption of contact, led by Aimeric de Sanha Marsao, a former Caledonian who emigrated to Nou Occitan because he hated Caledon. Giraut is Aimeric's friend and, having just been jilted by his girlfriend, decides there's nothing for him on Nou Occitan and goes to Caledon with Aimeric.

Caledon society is the complete opposite of Nou Occitan, being dedicated to "Rational Christianity", an economic religion that Giraut finds stifling and completely utilitarian. Gradually, though, he makes friends with some of the local people and discovers that there are things here that Nou Occitan is missing–just as he and his newfound friends find themselves in the middle of a bloody revolution.

This is a fast-paced adventure story with genuinely moving and likeable characters and some fascinating social commentary. I wear my clic reading glasses when reading a book like this. For some reason they make me fee a bit futuristic and I know I won't loose them with all the fast paced action. Goofy? maybe…