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100 Comments
- primatage, on 07/01/2009, -1/+32haters can say what they want, i still love this book.
- inactive, on 07/01/2009, -0/+20Are there really any Neuromancer haters out there? I haven't encountered any.
- SQLDigger, on 07/01/2009, -1/+18If only the PC World hack who wrote this article was a tenth as good a writer as Gibson... Four pages of crap. Wired should do a write-up.
- MiddleOfNowhere, on 07/01/2009, -0/+12"Neuromancer" and "Snow Crash" were books that made me aware of the political and social dimensions of technology. As a kid, I had always felt that the simple machines we had back then were more than luxury typewriters and Asteroid platforms. They were like doors, but with no web, they didn't lead anywhere (OK - maybe to a few local boards with some few text files and GIF porn). Both books showed us what machines could do once millions of them were connected permanently.
In the Eighties, "computer kids" were regarded as antisocial nerds that would hide from the world. Many of them have read Gibson's early Cyberspace trilogy - and have turned those "antisocial" machines into gateways for all the millions of people using the web today like water or electrical power. And yes, I think Gibson is one of the founding fathers of this world - maybe not in a strict, technological sense, but as someone who inspired others to think beyond word processing and Tic-Tac-Toe. - irom, on 07/01/2009, -0/+12its a must read guys!
- JonTheGoose, on 07/01/2009, -0/+11 "All the speed he took, all the turns he'd taken and the corners he'd cut in Night City, and still he'd see the matrix in his sleep, bright lattices of logic unfolding across that colorless void.... The Sprawl was a long strange way home over the Pacific now, and he was no console man, no cyberspace cowboy. Just another hustler, trying to make it through. But the dreams came on in the Japanese night like live wire voodoo and he'd cry for it, cry in his sleep, and wake alone in the dark, curled in his capsule in some coffin hotel, his hands clawed into the bedslab, temper foam bunched between his fingers, trying to reach the console that wasn't there."
- zip000, on 07/01/2009, -1/+10I have a hard time seeing how anyone could think Neuromancer sucked.
I think I would definitely stop being friends with someone over that (if I had any friends, of course). - Wakkyweed, on 07/01/2009, -0/+9You can't put Neuromancer in the same list as Hitchhikers Guide and Ender's game. Hitchhikers guide is pure comedy. Ender's Game is a classic adventure but not really that deep of a read. Neuromancer, when it was written, was a complete mind-blower and very prescient of the future of technology.
- inactive, on 07/01/2009, -0/+7Nope. Neuromancer played a huge role in inspiring The Matrix For an even more current example, check out Babylon A.D. It's not a good movie, but very Gibson-esque,
- christianw, on 07/01/2009, -0/+6This book made me who i am today. I never would have pursued a career in computers were it not for this book. it changed my life forever. i ran out and bought a commodore 64 about halfway thru the book.
- iDoraemon, on 07/01/2009, -1/+7When I was having a discussion with my labmates on what books every real computer scientist should read, I chimed in with three books:
1. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2. Ender's Game
3. Neuromancer
My labmates and I debated about having Neuromancer on that list since some of them thought Neuromancer sucked. I don't know about that, but it should be required reading for all computer scientists. - yocouchdigga, on 07/01/2009, -0/+6what are you waiting for?
- ichbinladen, on 07/01/2009, -0/+6This is the second time I've seen this book referenced this week. Must be a sign from the geek gods that I have to read it.
- bluebirdgm, on 07/01/2009, -0/+6Sure, there aren't any "simstims" yet, but lifeblogging and reality shows are surely early steps in that direction--we're getting served up slices of other people's experiences in a way we weren't 25 years ago.
- Hetman, on 07/01/2009, -0/+6If I do not get some type of microsoft device by time I die I will be very dissapointed with this society.
- novalux, on 07/01/2009, -0/+6Microsofts are brain/spinal implants in the Neuromancer universe, so what he said makes sense. Not the current software company.
- gmuslera, on 07/01/2009, -1/+6What about neuromancer itself? In some sense, maintaining a blog could be seen as something close to uploading our personality and that it be there even after our death. Is more or less literary immortality, but for everyone.
Even this comment could be seen as having part of me in the net. Is a bit less "visual" than in Neuromancer virtual environments, but good part of what matters is already there. - sullivanPCW, on 07/01/2009, -1/+6yeah i agree. it's not a perfect novel, but i've read it four times now and i still enjoy every page.
- uncoolcentral, on 07/01/2009, -0/+4I made the mistake of waiting a long time to read Neuromancer. I read every cyberpunk and SF classic first. Which I'm sure is why I liked but didn't love Neuromancer. I totally respect that it created a genre and broke plenty of new ground, but others who came/wrote later, although somewhat derivative of Gibson's prior work, did a better job IMHO. Lesson learned? Read the "classics" first so you don't taint your filter... if you know what I mean. Neal Stephenson FTW!
- mbelrose, on 07/02/2009, -0/+4You would have crashed your flying car anyway.
- inactive, on 07/01/2009, -0/+4This should come as no surprise. More often than not, sci-fi writers don't really predict the future, they create it by inspiring scientists, technicians and artists to bring their visions into fruition.
- yocouchdigga, on 07/01/2009, -0/+4well said.
- dafragsta, on 07/01/2009, -0/+4Hack the Gibson!
- inactive, on 07/01/2009, -0/+4The one crucial thing this article overlooked is the loneliness and isolation many internet users,experience, despite using technolgy that's supposed to bring people together. In Neuromancer,characters use simstim to virtually leap into other people's bodies, and yet they still lead lives of alienation.
- inactive, on 07/01/2009, -0/+3Check it out the though, it's really good. Except for a few minor details, it still holds up, and is still relevant, maybe even more so today than when it was first published.
- marciot, on 07/02/2009, -0/+3So what you're saying is that these Microsofts are a version of Windows Embedded that is grafted onto your nervous system. Splendid. What does it feel like when your nervous system blue screens?
- bjornski, on 07/01/2009, -0/+3Well, you don't have any excuse not to read it now, Eddie.
- yocouchdigga, on 07/01/2009, -0/+3you missed the boat(s).
- MrHawkins, on 07/01/2009, -0/+3There had best be a 25th anniversary edition, bitches. I need another copy, I've worn mine out/lost it. I have to agree with *scrolls back up* MiddleofNowhere, Neuromancer and Snow Crash are two of the most important books to me (and I think) to the industry. I think they should be required reading in general. Such a good book. I can easily say it's my favorite. It wouldn't be hard to say it's probably the most influential piece of literature in the last 50 years, at least where technology's concerned..
- yongmuller, on 07/01/2009, -0/+3Very good book, but I've always been more a fan of Snowcrash by Neil Stephenson for my old school cyberpunk neo-tech *****.
- kolkozstar, on 07/01/2009, -0/+3“what if the act of writing it down, in fact, brought it about?” This fact has happened uncountable times: visionary architects build a "future house" and then it become a commonplace. The same for the best movie directors (Kubrick) and all kind of industrial designers
- andrewtheart, on 07/01/2009, -0/+3Some people hate for the sheer joy of hating. So yes, somewhere out there, there is a Neuromancer hater.
- taox, on 07/02/2009, -0/+3I'd suck ***** for a flying car.
- DarthVolta, on 07/01/2009, -0/+3i think i know what you're trying to say, but i can't help but feel there's a word or two missing..
- SirBruce, on 07/02/2009, -0/+2The Marine reading list no longer includes Starship Troopers? WTF?
- sodade, on 07/02/2009, -0/+2"boring" = hard to follow due to Gibson's awesome use of created words and cultural vocabularies, which are right up there with Huck Finn and Clockwork Orange. The bored simpletons would probably be well served with a glossary like Clockwork Orange had.
- diggduggDOOM, on 07/01/2009, -0/+2Read it!
- CodePoe7, on 07/01/2009, -0/+2Snowcrash was amazing. I still don't understand why we don't have those smart tires.
- shark72, on 07/02/2009, -0/+2One thing that he humorously got wrong was failing to anticipate the rise of the mobile phone. So many of the scenes in the book would have been a lot less contrived. What's easier: wiring Molly with a simstim so Case can ride along when whe cruises the black market, or simply calling him on her iPhone and putting it on mute?
Gibson himself also points out that he missed out on how ubiquitous the web -- ie. the 2D manifestation of cyberspace -- would end up being. In the book, cyberspace decks are somewhat esoteric devices, not something you'd use to idly type three paragraphs of observations about a classic book when you should be working on a spreadsheet.
His later books (Virtual Light and its sequels) attempt to bridge the gap by describing virtual reality technology that's a bit of a transitional fossil between the current world wide web and the neural jacks of the Neuromancer time frame. Both series of books appear to exist in the same world, just at different times. - dmoney51, on 07/02/2009, -0/+2The conversation between Case and the flatline where it askes Case to erase the ROM after he's done with the attack is one of my favorite passages I've ever read.
- sodade, on 07/02/2009, -0/+2This is why the Matrix movies piss me off so much. They should have credited Dick, Gibson and Stephenson.
- iDoraemon, on 07/01/2009, -0/+2Out of our group, two of them thought that Neuromancer was too boring for them to read. The rest of our group tried to defend the book for its influences and pointing out their favorite moments from the book, but the two guys didn't want to hear any of it. The debate ended up being a matter of taste. It was a hard fought battle, but those two didn't budge in their opinion.
- r00fus, on 07/01/2009, -0/+2Stephenson as old-school?
Man I feel old.
Try Philip K Dick. - inactive, on 07/02/2009, -0/+2Boring? A novel that includes hacking via neural induction, a badass street samurai with razors that extend from under her fingernails, use of designer drugs, a genetically engineered ninja, a renegade AI, a junkie sociopathic pervert junkie who projects holograms, two heists, one of which causes a riot. That's boring?
What's their idea of an exciting novel? A pop-up book about explosions?
You're surrounded by rubes, iDoraemon. My sympathies. - mdmcgee, on 07/02/2009, -0/+1So you suggest that calling her on her 'iPhone" is somehow better than being jacked into the net and having an indirect link into Molly's nervous system? If you take a look at the section you are referring to she is breaking into the building to steal the Dixie Flatline and talking on the cell phone might seem a little stupid. When she is crippled in the process she stim turned out to be rather useful. Somehow one seems archaic.
- JohnGalt01, on 07/02/2009, -1/+2Not exactly hard to predict the web and cyberspace. The ARPAnet was already up and running for several years by that time.
- inactive, on 07/02/2009, -0/+1Yeah, some instances of "borrowing" are a little more subtle than others.
- MattBD, on 07/02/2009, -0/+1Haven't read that, but read his book "Stand on Zanzibar", and that was awesome! It feels very modern because it has a very punchy quick-fire feel to it - suddenly a new scene will cut in, in an ad-break style fashion.
- marciot, on 07/02/2009, -0/+1I would add "Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions" by Edwin A. Abbott as a must-read for computer scientists/mathematicians/engineers. Though it has nothing to do with technology, it has fundamentally changed the way I think about the physical universe in a way no other book ever has.
Plus, it is free: http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/~banchoff/Flatland/
Or in audiobook format: http://librivox.org/flatland-a-romance-of-many-dim ... -
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