I remember hearing everyone rave about Neuromancer when it came out in the 80s. It was supposed to be one of the coolest books around and something on the "must read" list for every computer geek. Accordingly, it had been on my "must read" list for a long time. However, I never got around to it.
Now I do most my "reading" with audiobooks from the library. I regularly look for "Gibson" books to see if I can find it. Previously, I did find an interesting nonfiction work and an awful fiction one, but no Neuromancer. Finally I saw it there, and checked it out. I was eagerly anticipating a great work.
Alas, it is was not to be.
Neuromancer was just awful. The story, the characters, the language. Ugghh. I find it difficult to get engaged. I thought maybe after a while I would get into it. After all, this was something I'd been eagerly anticipating. Alas, it was just not to be. It was simply not good.
It opened with "The sky was the color of a television tuned to a dead channel." I was hoping this would be the set up for a great story. Alas, it was just a bad metaphor. And it was one of the best lines of the story.
Like Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive has a great sounding title. However, I think I will be taking a pass on it also.
Pattern Recognition is set in the modern world, a short time after September 11, 2001. It centers around a character that has a special sensitivity to brands. She can identify things that are cool and gets contracted for special missions. Her father also mysteriously ended up in New York City and disappeared on September 11, 2001. She is involved in some online discussion groups and goes on missions to Tokyo and other places to find more information and do work. She also works to find secret watermarks. There is even some Russian interaction to keep things interesting.
These writings were primarily Gibson's articles for wired magazine. Many of them were written in the early days of the internet (even including the pre-web days.) He made some interesting observations, some of which seem to have come to fruit. In this selection, we get the raw articles, along with some of some present day commentary looking back at them. In some cases, he admits to getting things totally wrong. In other cases, he confesses to being somewhat of a "luddite" with regards to technology - but that is a good thing.