« Episode 1: Neuromancer by William Gibson

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I review William Gibson's genre-defining 1984 cyberpunk epic, Neuromancer.

Comments

[CJP]

This was a good review; it inspired me to re-read the book after three years. I always thought that one of the unique things about this book was how bleak the setting and tone was despite the "high-tech" aspects of the plot (e.g. things like the Sprawl, the derms, the fact that the cowboys' former bosses can essentially track them down and melt their brains if they betray them, etc.). It helps to make scenes like the dream sequence on the beach (with "Maelcum's Zion dub" as the background music) much more striking.

Also, I always thought that the Matrix films were influenced by this book in much the same way that films Star Wars was influenced by westerns or WW2 movies like The Dam Busters, where enough elements are borrowed and enough elements are rehashed so that the end result seems partly like an homage and partly like a unique development based on the original. You even stated in your review that it would be difficult to adapt the Neuromancer book into film because of the way the book represents technology; the technology of the Matrix films was represented adequately because they weren't just drawing on Neuromancer but their other influences and ideas as well. The first Matrix film seems like a movie someone would make if they'd read Neuromancer as a child and were heavily influenced by it, rather than having read it as an adult and immediately decided to make a "modern reboot" movie to cash in on its ideas. (I don't particularly like the Matrix movies but I'm always interested in how authors/filmmakers get their ideas).

Also, my answer to the question of the day would be "Ubik", which I hope does not get made into a film.

[Dennis Roberts]

First off I love your idea of doing geek book reviews. I also love Neuromancer! However if you will accept some constructive criticism: I don't feel it was a proper review in the sense of giving someone who never heard of the book enough information on wether or not to read it. You mentioned at the beginning about Wikipedia and you didn't really want to cover ground they have but I think you should. Treat your viewers as if Wikipedia and other sources do not exist. A solid first episode. I am planning on coming back to see your other episodes and so I have a personal reason to want to see you get better.

[Kwech]

Hey - I really appreciate the thoughtful comments and constructive criticism. I have definitely taken it into account. I'm going to read your comments on-camera in episode 4 (episode 3 has already been taped). Thanks again. I honestly appreciate it.

[Iron Clad Ben]

I love how you almost got teared up at the end of the review. I have same the inexplicable love for William Gibson's writing, especially this book. It is often very difficult to express the appeal of this book and I think that you did the best that you could.

When I was 16 I wanted to be a cowboy hacker just like Henry Case. Now I work at a high tech microchip company where I handle the Japanese customers. It's close. It definitely feels like cyberpunk sometimes. It must be awesome living in Japan though. I'll watch some more of your reviews. I see you did one on a comedy essay book, we must have very similar taste (I am an aspiring comedian/comedy-writer/motivational-humorist in addition to being a monster cybperunk enthusiast).

Take care,
Ben

[Kwech]

Thanks for all the kind words, Ben. Yes, your job sounds very much like cyberpunk/Neuromancer to me! That's pretty cool. I just moved back to the US about two weeks ago. I was in Japan for seven months. It was an amazing experience. As for our similar tastes, I'm just trying to share what I like, because I think that there's a lot of people out there who have similar tastes, and don't necessarily read ONLY science fiction or ONLY fantasy, etc. I have a very eclectic taste, and I'm going to do my absolute best to pick books that I think a lot of like-minded people (geeks, perhaps?) will enjoy. Thanks again, Ben.