Man you'd think the grand daddy of cyberpunk books would have an incredible anniversary or deluxe edition. But no, only decent hardcover edition is this one. I wish there was a matte black hardcover with neon green trims, metalic green letters and art or ultramarine cover with bright neon yellow trims and gold / silver / copper letters and art. I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Snow crasher seems to be getting a deluxe edition in November though.
It's crazy BTW. But when Gibson wrote this he had never ever even touched a computer. He heard some IT people talk about their jobs and just took some of their lingo, invented some of his own. He did all that on a type writer Honestly as someone that writes, sometimes I read an older book and get annoyed by some stuff. But then I remember, these guys had to go to libraries and read through countless books, maybe for hours to research stuff that we'd find out in seconds. And even if they found the info there is a big chance the info they find is outdated already. But sometimes it's hard. When Philip K Dick talks about abandoned cities on the moon 70 years from now, or claims that most asteroids have plants and animal live on them, the suspension of disbelief needed becomes too much.
Solid review SFR. Neuromancer is my favorite book. I think everyone's first read feels like being a stranger in a strange land. And that experience changes so much over re-visits to it. And changes again if you take the time to do a deep dive with detailed notes and mapping out all the threads, characters (psych profiles, altered physical states, etc.), jargon (both Gibson's and real world), references, the various sciences, timelines, habitats, locations, objects, groups, social systems, wealth and power dynamics, ties across his books (Neuromancer universe and other universes), comments from Gibson, audiobooks (including Gibson narrated), questions, etc.
Oh wow, thanks for this . All this information is going to be really helpful for me prior to reading it the second time, which will be sometime later this year. You've got me excited about reading it again, thank you ❤️
@@scifirose7079 Thank you. Very happy to join the conversation on Neuromancer. Yeah, one of the big reasons I really like Neuromancer is just how much depth and exploration the book has in it. Like Tolkein's works, Gibson delivers a robust and packed world, suitable to build a genre off of. While Gibson also ties onto it lots of real world science, culture, futurscaping, etc. Even seemingly throwaway lines like "... the matrix had once reminded him of proteins linking to distinguish cell specialties" can lead to a wiki rabbit hole journey, learning about the assignment of cells functions, amino acid chain sequences, etc. Then taking that biological science modeling and trying to drag it back into the book in order to conceptually use it to map out how that would could then resemble the matrix. Fortunately Gibson pulls from so many fields, that some of them will be things you are familair with (biology, pharmacology, astronomy, architecture, political science, economics, business, accounting, fashion, criminology, psychology, law, military, media, physics, culture, sociology, collectibles, history, etc., etc. The comfort (for some of us) is that all the stuff has actual meaning. And all that meaning has actual payoff in that it isn't just arbitrary decor. I have a spreadsheet full or notes. But the journey so far has been a blast. :)
@@scifirose7079 Long ago, in 8th grade, we had to pick a character in _Lord Of The Flies_ to analyze. We could pick anyone. I picked Roger, for the heck of it. He had so few actual moments in the book, that I ended up searching out all references of him, writing them out, reading and re-reading them. And compiling an in-depth study built up from the micro-fibers of those sparse moments. I think that's what really kicked off my process of deep dive, details review, analysis, and compilation. I don't normally dive anywhere near as deep as I did on _Neuromancer_ . I had wanted to transcribe a book in to a screenplay format (for fun, and to get familiar with screenplay writing), and I selected _Neuromancer_ to do it, largely because I liked the book very much, and because the only screenplay I'd read for it was a butchering of it and I really felt it deserved much better. I chose to create what I call a "source script", which was to be a 100% source (the book) content complete screenplay format with notes, that anyone can use to cut down and make into a screenplay to fit whatever medium and purpose they want. As part of that process, I wanted to understand all references, plots, concepts, objects, places, etc. in the book. So as to really provide complete notes to the screenplay, so that anyone using it could use it to understand and fully realize everything. Not just skim the surface with some throwaway references and a slick scifi production with cliche blue lights and digital music (unless that's what they wanted to do with it). So I started a spreadsheet, and began the thorough process of breaking down the book. It turned out that book has a LOT more in it than I had thought it did. I finished the source script a few years ago. But I don't have any rights to _Neuromancer_ , so I don't send it out. I checked with Gibson's agents if they might have any use for it. One helpfully directed me to another, but I never heard back after that. Which is fine by me, it was just a fun exercise anyway.
Good review, I'm looking for some new sci fi books to read in the near future, and this is one I'm going to add to my list. I'll be curious on what you think of Dune. That is my favorite book of all time.
Thank you I appreciate that. So far Dune is great. The detail the author puts into world building, the plot, and characters is far beyond what I expected. I am truly enjoying it.
Dune is an amazing and powerful book. And it's an amazing series. I stumbled through the 2nd and 3rd books, but the scifi mini-series helped me there. And books 4-6 were powerful for me as well. The depth and gravity of the ideas in Dune is staggering, the world building and characters are of the highest order, and the story elements are masterful and iconic and epic. And it has been one of the most influential works in both scifi and also the exploration of conceptual thought and profound ideas through fiction.
Yes I love my copies. I will probably get a different neuromancer copy each time I reread it which I plan to do yearly, at least for the next couple years.
Man you'd think the grand daddy of cyberpunk books would have an incredible anniversary or deluxe edition. But no, only decent hardcover edition is this one.
I wish there was a matte black hardcover with neon green trims, metalic green letters and art or ultramarine cover with bright neon yellow trims and gold / silver / copper letters and art. I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
Snow crasher seems to be getting a deluxe edition in November though.
nice review
Thank you
It's crazy BTW. But when Gibson wrote this he had never ever even touched a computer. He heard some IT people talk about their jobs and just took some of their lingo, invented some of his own. He did all that on a type writer
Honestly as someone that writes, sometimes I read an older book and get annoyed by some stuff. But then I remember, these guys had to go to libraries and read through countless books, maybe for hours to research stuff that we'd find out in seconds. And even if they found the info there is a big chance the info they find is outdated already.
But sometimes it's hard. When Philip K Dick talks about abandoned cities on the moon 70 years from now, or claims that most asteroids have plants and animal live on them, the suspension of disbelief needed becomes too much.
Solid review SFR. Neuromancer is my favorite book. I think everyone's first read feels like being a stranger in a strange land.
And that experience changes so much over re-visits to it. And changes again if you take the time to do a deep dive with detailed notes and mapping out all the threads, characters (psych profiles, altered physical states, etc.), jargon (both Gibson's and real world), references, the various sciences, timelines, habitats, locations, objects, groups, social systems, wealth and power dynamics, ties across his books (Neuromancer universe and other universes), comments from Gibson, audiobooks (including Gibson narrated), questions, etc.
Oh wow, thanks for this . All this information is going to be really helpful for me prior to reading it the second time, which will be sometime later this year. You've got me excited about reading it again, thank you ❤️
@@scifirose7079 Thank you. Very happy to join the conversation on Neuromancer.
Yeah, one of the big reasons I really like Neuromancer is just how much depth and exploration the book has in it. Like Tolkein's works, Gibson delivers a robust and packed world, suitable to build a genre off of. While Gibson also ties onto it lots of real world science, culture, futurscaping, etc.
Even seemingly throwaway lines like "... the matrix had once reminded
him of proteins linking to distinguish cell specialties" can lead to a wiki rabbit hole journey, learning about the assignment of cells functions, amino acid chain sequences, etc. Then taking that biological science modeling and trying to drag it back into the book in order to conceptually use it to map out how that would could then resemble the matrix. Fortunately Gibson pulls from so many fields, that some of them will be things you are familair with (biology, pharmacology, astronomy, architecture, political science, economics, business, accounting, fashion, criminology, psychology, law, military, media, physics, culture, sociology, collectibles, history, etc., etc.
The comfort (for some of us) is that all the stuff has actual meaning. And all that meaning has actual payoff in that it isn't just arbitrary decor. I have a spreadsheet full or notes. But the journey so far has been a blast. :)
You are amazing. Omg , do you do this for other authors/books or just Neuromancer? You're insight is inspiring.
@@scifirose7079 Long ago, in 8th grade, we had to pick a character in _Lord Of The Flies_ to analyze. We could pick anyone. I picked Roger, for the heck of it. He had so few actual moments in the book, that I ended up searching out all references of him, writing them out, reading and re-reading them. And compiling an in-depth study built up from the micro-fibers of those sparse moments. I think that's what really kicked off my process of deep dive, details review, analysis, and compilation.
I don't normally dive anywhere near as deep as I did on _Neuromancer_ . I had wanted to transcribe a book in to a screenplay format (for fun, and to get familiar with screenplay writing), and I selected _Neuromancer_ to do it, largely because I liked the book very much, and because the only screenplay I'd read for it was a butchering of it and I really felt it deserved much better. I chose to create what I call a "source script", which was to be a 100% source (the book) content complete screenplay format with notes, that anyone can use to cut down and make into a screenplay to fit whatever medium and purpose they want. As part of that process, I wanted to understand all references, plots, concepts, objects, places, etc. in the book. So as to really provide complete notes to the screenplay, so that anyone using it could use it to understand and fully realize everything. Not just skim the surface with some throwaway references and a slick scifi production with cliche blue lights and digital music (unless that's what they wanted to do with it).
So I started a spreadsheet, and began the thorough process of breaking down the book. It turned out that book has a LOT more in it than I had thought it did. I finished the source script a few years ago. But I don't have any rights to _Neuromancer_ , so I don't send it out. I checked with Gibson's agents if they might have any use for it. One helpfully directed me to another, but I never heard back after that. Which is fine by me, it was just a fun exercise anyway.
I'm so glad you spent the time passing on this information. Once I reread Neuromancer and do another review on it I will be keeping you in mind 🤝
Good review, I'm looking for some new sci fi books to read in the near future, and this is one I'm going to add to my list. I'll be curious on what you think of Dune. That is my favorite book of all time.
Thank you I appreciate that. So far Dune is great. The detail the author puts into world building, the plot, and characters is far beyond what I expected. I am truly enjoying it.
Dune is an amazing and powerful book. And it's an amazing series. I stumbled through the 2nd and 3rd books, but the scifi mini-series helped me there. And books 4-6 were powerful for me as well.
The depth and gravity of the ideas in Dune is staggering, the world building and characters are of the highest order, and the story elements are masterful and iconic and epic. And it has been one of the most influential works in both scifi and also the exploration of conceptual thought and profound ideas through fiction.
I need to figure out my schedule to see when I can read the second book but I am looking forward to doing so.
I have the same Penguin Galaxy edition along with Dune. They’re really beautiful!
Yes I love my copies. I will probably get a different neuromancer copy each time I reread it which I plan to do yearly, at least for the next couple years.
Omg this had the shit out of it lol there's a jump like almost every three words. Still, a good review. Thank you.
Lol thanks , work in progress
Hey my friend, check out my latest, I've listened and have worked to clean up edits more. 👌