Colorblindness check: I'm not sure how many people would be affected, but your F and E wash out for some forms of colorblindness. I'm thinking about this as "you might care", not as "you've gotta do it".

Definitely some Vinge on the fiction list-- Marooned in Real Time introduced the idea of the Singularity, and leaves it as a Rorschach blot for the reader. A Fire Upon the Deep has somewhat about why you should be nervous about the Singularity.