Stats for nerds
5recommend
12mentions
9people
2010–2021years
67% recommend33% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I'm wary of labels such as "must read" - but a couple of books I'm glad I read:
"Dahlgren" by Samuel Delaney (and most everything else I've read by him as well).
"Earthsea" by Ursula LeGuin - and "Powers".
"Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson.
"Holy Fire" by Bruce Sterling (I also enjoyed Islands in the Net, Zenith Angle and Schismatrix).
"Foundation" trilogy + prequel by Isaac Asimov.
"Brave New World", Aldous Huxley.
"Deepness in the Sky" / "Fire Upon the Deep" by Vernor Vinge.
"Something wicked this way comes" by Ray Bradbury.
And a couple of comics/visual novels:
"V for Vendetta" and "Watchmen" by Alan Moore (David Lloyd/ Tony Weare and Dave Gibbons / John Higgins).
Dave Sims: "Cerebus" (I don't think I've finished this yet, but the first ten volumes or so is.. Something else).
- > Although be prepared that if you like it too much, there's no more.
Well, there's (most of) the short stories in Burning Chrome, and I don't think the break is that huge for the bridge trilogy. It's a different future from Neuromancer, though.
Then again I've yet to read anything by Gibson I didn't like, including the most recent books. So I might not be the best guide...
I recommend looking into Bruce Sterling, if you enjoy Gibson - particularly Islands in the Net (if you can find it! I ended up buying an expensive used copy online) and Holy Fire.
- “We’re taking waters. Would you like a water?”
“Why not?” said Novak.
Daizaburo signaled a crab. It began speaking Nihongo. “English, please,” said Daizaburo.
“Antarctic glacier water,” offered the crab. “A deep core from Pleistocene deposits. Entirely unpolluted, undisturbed since the dawn of humanity. Profoundly pure.”
“What a delightful conceit,” said Novak. “Very Vietti.”
“We have lunar water,” said the crab. “Very interesting isotopic properties.”
“Did you ever drink water from the moon, my dear?” Novak asked her.
Maya shook her head.
“We’ll have the lunar water,” Novak ordered.
--Bruce Sterling, Holy Fire.
(I should really reread that. Thanks for reminding me!)
- Mr. Bruce Sterling authored "Holy Fire" in 1996, a novel which deals with the topic of radical life extension through a protagonist who is an elderly woman. Contemplative, and a fun read.
Were he alive, Jules Verne would have been an excellent choice. Verne's tomb has a statue dedicated to immortality and eternal youth, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne#/media/File:Verne_...
- I'll second Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon (but not the sequels) and Vinge's Rainbows End. You might also consider some of Bruce Sterling's stuff, Distraction, Holy Fire, and The Caryatids. Sterling has a more instrumental view of AI but I think he does a better job of addressing the social issues of technology than most of the other recommendations here.
Halting State, Rule 34, and Glasshouse by Stross might also be up your alley.
And Blue Remembered Earth by Alistair Reynolds but probably not the sequels.
Oh, and Nexus by Ramez Naam.
I'd certainly recommend Ken MacLeod in general but I'm not sure he's exactly what you're asking for unless you're also interested in examinations of radical political philosophy.
- There's a classic A Softer World comic that's been turned into a t-shirt that says "I would rather die screaming than live forever." There are downsides to the kind of extreme prudence that planning to be around for centuries would imply.
Also, there's a fantastic novel from Bruce Sterling called Holy Fire that is devoted to exploring the tension between living to continue living and living in the moment.
