On 13/11/2011 7:29 AM, Stephen wrote:
> On 12/11/2011 7:52 PM, Darren New wrote:
>> On 11/12/2011 11:33, Warp wrote:
>>> Seems like a whole lot of trouble and a whole lot of unknown physics
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strata_%28novel%29
>>
>
> Or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_of_Shadows
>
>

Or http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matter_%28novel%29

There was another SF series that I can't recall the name of right now. 
The solar system had been converted to house vastly more humans by 
erecting concentric Dyson spheres approximately at the orbital radii of 
the existing planets.  The planets were left as little legacy worlds 
rotating in blisters within the shells.  These allowed passage between 
the spaces between the shells and therefore for the protagonists to 
travel either inwards or outwards.

There was a nice driver in that the structure was created by an AI 
charged with "providing ever increasing living space for the human 
population".  Initially it appeared that the AI was trying to prevent 
the crew exploring. [Spoiler alert] It turns out that the AI had 
realised the futility of trying to cope with exponential growth and had 
caused the crew to be formed in order to try to resolve the situation 
before its capabilities were exceeded.  It was a bit schizo because it 
could not defy its primary directive but still had to resolve the 
impossibility.

The shells had to be reinforced by some form of force field and gravity 
generators were used to allow occupation of the outer surface of each 
shell.  Fusion generators were used to create mini suns in orbits 
between the shells to provide heat and light.

Then there was a shell where the "humans" were engineered to be smaller 
and able to exist in caverns through a greater volume rather than just 
on the shell surface.  The population was in the trillions or quadrillions.

I read them about 30 years ago.  Probably a bit childish and naive to 
reread but I recall them fondly.

Was it the "Cage World" series ?  Can't turn up any hits through the 
usual means.

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