It was a very interesting take on Internet memes and marketing; the ideas flying around in it were really fascinating (suzy I'm not at all surprised you liked it; it seems like the stuff he was talking about would be right up your alley).
― Barack You Like A Husseincane (HI DERE), Tuesday, 27 January 2009 18:22 (fifteen years ago) link
yup usually I find him really boysy so this was pretty good, ha ha girl allergic to branding!
― Choom Gang Gang Dance (suzy), Tuesday, 27 January 2009 18:31 (fifteen years ago) link
I never finished Pattern Recognition! I couldn't get past the first 100 pages. I kinda feel obligated to try again though.
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 27 January 2009 19:51 (fifteen years ago) link
Pattern Recognition was one of my favorite Gibson novels, I really like his writing about the present. Idoru is one of my other favorites (along with Count Zero). I still haven't read the latest one. But Dan, yeah, you should probably read everything; the only ones that kind of dragged for me were Virtual Light and Mona Lisa Overdrive (which was probably better than I remembered).
― akm, Tuesday, 27 January 2009 22:06 (fifteen years ago) link
oh and I think he very definitely references his own work as pointed out before, note that the character is named Casey and the main character of Neuromancer was Case. I dont' think it "means" anything, but it's done with purpose.
― akm, Tuesday, 27 January 2009 22:08 (fifteen years ago) link
Pattern Recognition was awesome .... Spook Country (sort of a sequel?) I didn't like that much
― dmr, Tuesday, 27 January 2009 23:27 (fifteen years ago) link
have not read PR, just picked up Spook Country at a book exchange and am enjoying it, although it seems almost stereotypical for him as stet notes above.
HI DERE u should definitely read the first three as well. I didn't like Idoru much.
― sleeve, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 01:54 (fifteen years ago) link
I found an audiobook of Gibson reading Neuromancer, and was addicted to it for the most part of last year. I couldn't stop listening to it. (His voice is so hypnotic!) But it made me realize that I probably wouldn't have made it through the book if I'd been left to my own devices. Now I want to gobble up everything he's written. Pattern Recognition is next on my list, I think. Neuromancer blew my mind though, I couldn't get over how...original...it was. I felt like I'd just discovered this 'new' thing, even though the story's, what, 24 years old? Crazy. What a guru..
― VegemiteGrrrl, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 02:49 (fifteen years ago) link
Spook Country seems a little recycled after Pattern Recognition, but it still has its good points. I'd say PR is probably the stronger book. I'm looking forward to whatever comes next.
Did everyone catch the Chris Cunningham references in the director character in Pattern Recognition?
― mh, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 03:01 (fifteen years ago) link
William Gibson-designed shoeshttp://www.selfedge.com/shop/images/br_wg_low_cut/gibsonchucks1_main.jpg
― sad man in him room (milo z), Wednesday, 28 January 2009 03:03 (fifteen years ago) link
I liked Pattern Recognition BUT the story just recycles the plot of his Count Zero, and then Spook Country recycles PR a bit.
― James Morrison, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 03:13 (fifteen years ago) link
damn, those gibson shoes look ugly.
one of my favorite parts of gibson's work is the part of virtual light that deals with the AIDS messiah, j.d. shapely. watching all the images of obama this past fall often made me think of "virtual light". i especially like the scenes set on the golden gate bridge. so lovely.
― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 03:25 (fifteen years ago) link
i think "virtual light" is pretty underrated, though i'm not as crazy about "idoru" and i can't remember a single thing about "all tomorrow's parties"
― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 03:27 (fifteen years ago) link
i think there was a hitman? and some hackers?
actually was it "ATP" that started with a scene in the tokyo subway involving an old man who's like a gundam otaku? who lives in a cardboard box? that scene was pretty great. don't remember anything else, though.
― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 03:31 (fifteen years ago) link
i bet that at some point gibson was like researching samurai and stuff for his cyberpunk novels and he read that one part of "the art of war" that goes "be subtle to the point of formlessness" and he decided to start applying that to his plots, i still have no idea what happened at the end of the last five novels.
― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 03:32 (fifteen years ago) link
every time i read a new one of his books i want to start a william gibson mad libs like "In the year [YEAR NO MORE THAN 15 NO FEWER THAN 3 YEARS IN THE FUTURE], a renegade [HACKER/BIKE MESSENGER/BOUNTY HUNTER WITH MADE-UP SCI-FI JOB NAME] comes into possession of [URBAN PLANNING DOCUMENTS/PASSWORD TO SOMETHING/ORPHAN CHILD WITH SPECIAL SKILL] and has to battle off [RUSSIAN GOONS/OTHER HACKERS/OTHER BOUNTY HUNTERS WITH MADE-UP SCI-FI JOB NAMES/SENTIENT COMPUTER] in a race to save [CITY/COUNTRY/WORLD].
― max, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 03:36 (fifteen years ago) link
Or you could just read Snow Crash.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 03:37 (fifteen years ago) link
Pattern Recognition seemed to lose a lot of steam in the last quarter or third, becoming more of a generic thriller than you would have expected.
― sad man in him room (milo z), Wednesday, 28 January 2009 03:42 (fifteen years ago) link
i dunno man, neal stephenson gives me the fear. makes me think of fat bearded dudes dressed like morbius from the matrix sitting in cafes.
― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 03:44 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah i know hes got his fans on this board but to me william gibson represents the best of what wired magazine readers have to offer the world while neal stephenson represents the worst
― max, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 03:45 (fifteen years ago) link
makes me think of fat bearded dudes dressed like morbius from the matrix sitting in cafes.
If you want to scare these people, walk up casually to them and say, "So, it's been ten years since The Matrix came out," and noted their pained expressions.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 04:02 (fifteen years ago) link
http://sci-toys.com/scifoo/neal_stephenson__jaron_lanier.jpg
― cupcakes off the shoulder of orion (latebloomer), Wednesday, 28 January 2009 04:16 (fifteen years ago) link
"So how was the Rush show?"
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 04:17 (fifteen years ago) link
i just finished all tomorrow's parties, which i picked up without even realizing it was the the end of a trilogy. actually reads fine on its own. i thought the set-up was nice, the bridge community was a good touch, but the follow-through sort of predictably a let-down. i liked pattern recognition, but it already felt sort of dated i thought. all the riffs on marketing, viral video, web communities, smart enough but also sort of superseded. but cayce's a good character, and i think it's interesting how gibson had to rework the book to accommodate sept. 11 (speaking of being superseded).
― paper plans (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 28 January 2009 08:21 (fifteen years ago) link
http://blog.williamgibsonbooks.com/2010/05/31/book-expo-american-luncheon-talk/
― stet, Tuesday, 1 June 2010 16:05 (fourteen years ago) link
Thanks!
― The Clegg Effect (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 1 June 2010 16:15 (fourteen years ago) link
WG is doing a reading/signing at Moes Books in Berkeley in September...I believe it is my duty to attend :D
― VegemiteGrrrl, Tuesday, 27 July 2010 03:38 (fourteen years ago) link
Anybody reading Zero History?
― I am using your worlds, Wednesday, 8 September 2010 01:02 (fourteen years ago) link
I am!
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Wednesday, 8 September 2010 01:06 (fourteen years ago) link
It's very enjoyable so far. I don't know if this is planned as the final novel of a trilogy (as he seems to do a lot of trilogies) but I'd happily read as many Blue Ant books as he wants to write.
― I am using your worlds, Wednesday, 8 September 2010 01:12 (fourteen years ago) link
i also am.
realised last night that the little grey dashes on the first page of each chapter are stitching...
nice to see a reference to flying penguin as well.
(was actually disappointed on finding on this was another 'clothes as design objects' book as i'm not a fan of fashion (whereas the gadgets of earlier books are fine). but he makes it interesting.)
― koogs, Wednesday, 8 September 2010 08:56 (fourteen years ago) link
I am too!
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 8 September 2010 11:12 (fourteen years ago) link
finished.
wouldn't be a gibson book without a vaguely disappointing denouement. good run-up though. plus it takes place about 20 minutes north of where i'm sitting.
also wishing i'd taken the time to read the previous two again beforehand.
― koogs, Sunday, 12 September 2010 09:24 (fourteen years ago) link
The reveal surprised me waaaaaay more than it should have, but I was delighted nonetheless.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 13 September 2010 23:47 (fourteen years ago) link
He did a signing at Moe's Books in Berkeley this weekend and read a little from ZH. Cool stuff. Even super-tired from travel as he obviously was, I could listen to him read all day. (I told him how much I enjoyed the Neuromancer podcast and he said he did that reading over 3 solid days and it almost killed him.)
So now I have Zero History, and Spook Country, and my inlaws loaned me Pattern Recognition which I just started today. Excited to see this all the way through!
― VegemiteGrrrl, Monday, 13 September 2010 23:53 (fourteen years ago) link
ugh "podcast" should be "audiobook". Brain fail.
missed that moes reading, bummed about it.
― akm, Tuesday, 14 September 2010 00:13 (fourteen years ago) link
he'll be here in austin wednesday night!
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 02:51 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.lumus-optical.com/images/hires/P_8_2_big.jpg
http://www.lumus-optical.com/
― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 11 January 2011 12:51 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm reading Count Zero right now
tried to read pattern recognition awhile ago but it was a little too bit stuck in the 'immediate now' for my taste
― dayo, Tuesday, 11 January 2011 12:54 (thirteen years ago) link
I love the fact that WG is about as polarly opposite from hard science sci fi as you can get, yet probably ends up being way more influential than most hard science types because scientist and engineer read his books and it's what they aspire to.
― dayo, Tuesday, 11 January 2011 12:57 (thirteen years ago) link
get back to me when it's retinal implants
― nanoflymo (ledge), Tuesday, 11 January 2011 13:09 (thirteen years ago) link
get back to me when they can think of better things to do with it than spend the day checking stock quotes.
― koogs, Tuesday, 11 January 2011 16:43 (thirteen years ago) link
Liked Pattern Recognition quite a bit - should I read Spook Country before the new one?
― boots get knocked from here to czechoslovakier (milo z), Sunday, 6 March 2011 23:15 (thirteen years ago) link
Zero history is better than Spook Country, but I'd recommend you read Spook Country first to get the full pay-off.
― orange and teal.css (I am using your worlds), Sunday, 6 March 2011 23:35 (thirteen years ago) link
There's a small bit where two pieces from the earlier two books intersect, so it's worth it.
― mh, Monday, 7 March 2011 00:33 (thirteen years ago) link
of what I've read
Neuromancer: A-Virtual Light: B-Idoru: B+All Tomorrow's Parties: C Pattern Recognition - B+
Basically I consider the dude the epitomized version of visionary, but his plots border on wet dog and always get real exciting, more exciting, very exciting... and then end with disappointing conclusions. All said, he's a guy I don't want to stop reading. His theories, observations, visions of the future... just the coolest, most otm I've seen ever.
― Crouching Seward, Hidden Raggett (kelpolaris), Monday, 7 March 2011 00:51 (thirteen years ago) link
just, this weekend, finished neuromancer for the 4th time. lots i didn't remember. the johnny mnemonic references specifically.
yes, read them in order. but i think PR is the best of the three.
― koogs, Monday, 7 March 2011 10:18 (thirteen years ago) link
but his plots border on wet dog and always get real exciting, more exciting, very exciting... and then end with disappointing conclusions
And are often the same: person hunting arty macguffin (the art boxes in Count Zero, the videos in Pattern Recognition)
― the most cuddlesome bug that ever was borned (James Morrison), Monday, 7 March 2011 23:19 (thirteen years ago) link