It's a foreign book, Polish, I think.   Eastern European, definately.

It's space opera, published in the last 5 years.  I understand it's
good, popular, but not yet (as far as I know) translated into English.

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 18 Oct 2006 20:23 PDT

Please let me know if this is the book you seek:

"Perfect Imperfection. First third of progress. (also translated as
'An Ideal Imperfection', Polish: Perfekcyjna niedoskona?o??. Pierwsza
tercja Progresu) is a science fiction novel written in 2004 by Jacek
Dukaj, Polish science fiction writer and published in Poland by
Wydawnictwo Literackie. The novel received the prime Polish award for
sci-fi literature, Janusz A. Zajdel Award, in 2004. It is the first of
a planned trilogy...

Dukaj himself wrote that he set out to write 'a space opera to end all
space operas', but for this he had to create a scientifically
plausible and challenging universe, thus creating a hard science
fiction novel. He has also described the book as 'the universes are
bullets, the number of dimensions are the caliber, the speed of light
is gun-powder.'. This analogy certainly seems to hold true, as the
physical constants are just one of many things affected by the science
of the 29th century in 'Perfect Imperfection'. Drawing on modern
scientific concepts like the technological singularity, Dukaj shows
the reader the future through the eyes of 'one of us', a 21st century
astronaut. Perfect Imperfection, inspired by works of scientists such
as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, fit squarely with the trend of hard
science fiction of such authors as Greg Egan or David Brin, however as
it has been written the in Polish language, it has not yet been
translated into the English language.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_Imperfection

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Clarification of Question by wiflow-ga on 19 Oct 2006 05:04 PDT

That's it.

I'm glad to have been able to help you identify your book! I've
reposted the info below:

"Perfect Imperfection. First third of progress. (also translated as
'An Ideal Imperfection', Polish: Perfekcyjna niedoskona?o??. Pierwsza
tercja Progresu) is a science fiction novel written in 2004 by Jacek
Dukaj, Polish science fiction writer and published in Poland by
Wydawnictwo Literackie. The novel received the prime Polish award for
sci-fi literature, Janusz A. Zajdel Award, in 2004. It is the first of
a planned trilogy...

Dukaj himself wrote that he set out to write 'a space opera to end all
space operas', but for this he had to create a scientifically
plausible and challenging universe, thus creating a hard science
fiction novel. He has also described the book as 'the universes are
bullets, the number of dimensions are the caliber, the speed of light
is gun-powder.'. This analogy certainly seems to hold true, as the
physical constants are just one of many things affected by the science
of the 29th century in 'Perfect Imperfection'. Drawing on modern
scientific concepts like the technological singularity, Dukaj shows
the reader the future through the eyes of 'one of us', a 21st century
astronaut. Perfect Imperfection, inspired by works of scientists such
as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, fit squarely with the trend of hard
science fiction of such authors as Greg Egan or David Brin, however as
it has been written the in Polish language, it has not yet been
translated into the English language."

Wikipedia: Perfect Imperfection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_Imperfection

I learned of this book from science fiction fans on the Internet. On
one forum, someone called it "an intellectual space opera," so I
thought of it immediately when I read your question.

My Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: dukaj imperfection
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=dukaj+imperfection

Best regards,
pinkfreud

Exactly what I was looking for.