Neuromancer, 30 years old this month (opens in new tab)

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Mirrorshades-Cyberpunk-Anthology-Greg-...

Proto /early CP

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep - Philip K Dick Babel 17 - Delany Fury - Kutner/More Tiger! Tiger! (The stars my destination) - Bester And Arguably Gravity's Rainbow

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Carbon

(This is Interzone the magazine, before it went to TTA press. I have no idea what it's like now; this isn't a judgement about what they're doing. But I remember reading some excellent stories way back.)

I also strongly recommend Bruce Sterling - a great author and seems a bit under-appreciated.

Snowcrash is an amazing book. I dislike the way Stephenson does exaggeration but that's just me.

"MirrorShades" was the anthology. I think it was good.

J.G. Ballard wrote excellent stories about people and places who are on their way to a cyberpunk future.

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shockwave_Rider

A fantastic tale, with lots of robots. And icecream trucks...

[1] http://amzn.com/1607012111

Otherland - Tad Williams

Ready Player One

Daemon - David Suarez

Neuromancer - William Gibson

Shadowrun - ?? there are lots of possibly varying quality, I only read the ones by Nigel Findley which I liked

Snowcrash - Stephenson

Reamde - Stephenson

Der falsche Spiegel - Sergej Lukianenko (not sure about the english name)

Masters of Doom - Story of ID developing the games Doom and Quake - not really a VR story, but it sets the mood.

Pollen - Jeff Noon

Bruce Sterling is great, too, but I don't remember which of his stories are about virtual reality.

I suppose Ian Bank's "The Culture" novels might be a candidate, but I haven't read them yet.

Part 1 of a trilogy. Absolutely fantastic.

I hesitate to say more than "read it." If you don't like it after 30 pages, bail, it's not your cup of tea.

While the idea of cellular comms dates to the 1950s (if not earlier), and some limited analog cellular service existed in some parts of the world (notably the Nordic countries from 1981), the UK didn't get analog cell service until roughly 1985; digital (over 2G GSM) didn't come along until roughly 1991. In Canada, cellphone service wouldn't have started until around the time the book was published, if not later. And, uninformed rumor to the contrary, SF isn't actually about prophesying the future.

There was even quite a lot of vocal disappointment from fans when wireless networking got added to the fourth edition of Shadowrun. Cyberpunk works quite well as a self-consistent setting, regardless of modern technology.

It's like he pulled us into the future, like a strongman pulling a battleship, overcoming the inertia with sheer force of aesthetics, and if we've veered off the precise course, well, yeah, that's human events.

I think it's also important to always remember that Gibson's books are well written; the ideas shine through because of the clarity and precision of the language.

Audiobooks are amazingly convenient and you can definitely find time to fit them into your life. You can listen to them while walking around, on the bus or subway, while grocery shopping, while cooking, and even in the bathroom.

I also think that audiobooks might be a good way to practice your focus, in the way that mindfulness meditation teaches you to do. You try and pay attention to the audiobook as best as you can, and if you're prone to anxiety and rumination, this will at the very least help provide a useful distraction and quiet down inner chatter.

Thumbs up for audiobooks, helping me get more culture into my life.

That may have been what Gibson actually intended it to mean.

http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/08/05/negative-creativity/#co...