William Gibson C/D

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.

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

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.

http://sci-toys.com/scifoo/neal_stephenson__jaron_lanier.jpg

"So how was the Rush show?"

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 all the riffs on marketing, viral video, web communities, smart enough but also sort of superseded.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character, and i think it's interesting how gibson had to rework the book to accommodate sept. 11 (speaking of being superseded).

http://blog.williamgibsonbooks.com/2010/05/31/book-expo-american-luncheon-talk/

Thanks!

WG is doing a reading/signing at Moes Books in Berkeley in September...I believe it is my duty to attend :D

Anybody reading Zero History?

I am!

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 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.)

Anybody reading Zero History?

I am too!

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.

The reveal surprised me waaaaaay more than it should have, but I was delighted nonetheless.

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!

ugh "podcast" should be "audiobook". Brain fail.

missed that moes reading, bummed about it.

he'll be here in austin wednesday night!

http://www.lumus-optical.com/images/hires/P_8_2_big.jpg

http://www.lumus-optical.com/

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

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.

http://www.lumus-optical.com/

get back to me when it's retinal implants

get back to me when they can think of better things to do with it than spend the day checking stock quotes.

Liked Pattern Recognition quite a bit - should I read Spook Country before the new one?

Zero history is better than Spook Country, but I'd recommend you read Spook Country first to get the full pay-off.

There's a small bit where two pieces from the earlier two books intersect, so it's worth it.

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.

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.

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)

heh, gibson's use of the arty macguffin is a total Nerd View of How the Art World Works

also, 2 / 9 is barely 'often'

although i concur with the plots. the fight on wormwood scrubs being the most recent example.

i love the art boxes in count zero though. that's one of his best things. it's just weird. also that jewelled head thing in neuromancer.

i'm still kinda in shock Gibson managed to produce what is basically World of Warcraft/4chan/etc years before they occured. + widespread celebrity culture, like in the way that there are countless youtube celebs beyond your imagination (in Idoru)

and the couple sentences on the familiarity/homey-ness of a forum in Pattern Recognition... how weird that's never been written about before.

/praise

> i love the art boxes in count zero though. that's one of his best things.

those are real life things that he appropriated, Cornell boxes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Cornell
http://www.google.com/images?q=cornell+boxes

liz daplyn told me this 8(

duchamp's large glass makes an appearance in Neuromancer too (towards the end, using its french name). he also lingers on other things, the door especially, which i figure is important. is there a reference for neuromancer like that one for watchmen?

also, 2 / 9 is barely 'often'

the jeans in Zero History are pretty much the same

or the augmented reality art pieces in Spook Country (those aren't as central to the plot though)

I would alllllmost recommend skipping Spook Country and just say go ahead and read Zero History. I didn't like SC that much.

Spook Country is definitely the weakest of the three and seems partially a rehash of the first (main character is female, has some of the same adventures, not as strongly characterized so it's hard to initially differentiate), but I feel like some of the characters are good to know since they reappear in the third.

I really need to reread Count Zero now, especially since the local art museum did a Joseph Cornell-themed event and exhibit a couple years back.

how funny; I certainly didn't know about Cornell boxes when I first read Count Zero and they are not at all what I'd pictured (I have, however, seen them since....and didn't make the connection). I should re-read all of these. I like the weird idea I'd constructed from the book more though.

> the jeans in Zero History are pretty much the same

and the curta calculators ( http://www.vcalc.net/cu.htm ).

found study notes for neuromancer, often phrased as questions when i want answers! and some discussion on a forum somewhere which answered one of my questions (the neuromancer password, meh).

lol - went thru the whole book envisioning them as a bunch of casios

Started on Spook Country, appears to be a quick read, so nothing lost if it's terrible

Have you guys seen the Gibson-branded jackets/shoes/etc. done in collaboration with a Japanese company, in the vein of Pattern Recognition? (M1A jackets with no logos, etc.)

haven't seen those -- link?

I really enjoyed Spook Country. Thinking about getting Zero History as an e-book so I can start it tonight or tomorrow.

Buzz Rickson's. After he mentioned a nonexistent repro jacket in Pattern Recognition, they actually made it, and later made branded goods.

You can find their main Japanese page, but these guys stock some of their stuff, particularly the Gibson-affiliated wares: http://www.selfedge.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=78

what's the neuromancer password?

qthose are real life things that he appropriated, Cornell boxes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Cornell
http://www.google.com/images?q=cornell+boxes

liz daplyn told me this 8(

duchamp's large glass makes an appearance in Neuromancer too (towards the end, using its french name). he also lingers on other things, the door especially, which i figure is important. is there a reference for neuromancer like that one for watchmen?

― koogs, Wednesday, March 9, 2011 4:11 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

lol yeah, it's like, so the richest guy in the world bankrolls a hot art babe to find the people who made... this?

> what's the neuromancer password?

http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/archive/2003_03_13_archive.asp

description in the book was pretty literal fwiw, it just sounded like he was avoiding the actual word

the cornell boxes, i'm pretty sure, get mentioned by name. so it's not Cornell Boxes as such that he's after but THIS NEW SOURCE of cornell boxes. (actually, the same is true of the jeans, he's after the person behind them.)