Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

William Gibson Reads Neuromancer (2004)

bearcave.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 97 posts

Re: William Gibson Reads Neuromancer (2004)

#21

Post by anigbrowl »

themadturk wrote: post #3

So glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about The Difference Engine. (And I don't generally dislike Sterling...this book just didn't work for me.)

Same. I love Gibson's writing, I love Sterling's, but TDE remains on my bottom 5 books I've ever read. To this day if someone mentions steampunk I flee for the exits. I feel bad about this because I bought it in hardback on the book promo tour and Bruce Sterling signed it for me, we even had a chat because the bookstore wasn't busy and I told him how much I was looking forward to reading it. In my guilty subconscious he is still at the same store, waiting for a customer who promised to come back and never did. I'm sorry Bruce.

Re: William Gibson Reads Neuromancer (2004)

#22

Post by muricula »

amatecha wrote: post #12
ElijahLynn wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thanks, the OP is of lesser quality compared to this one.

Yeah, I took a quick listen to OP -- unfortunately their mp3s are of very poor quality. I heard numerous glitches while listening :(

I think the audio quality gives this recording character. What could be more cyberpunk than hearing the quirky artifacts resulting from ripping an obsolete recording medium?

Re: William Gibson Reads Neuromancer (2004)

#23

Post by jdkee »

I am currently teaching Neuromancer as the primary text for a first-year studies course on cyberspace. It is absolutely incredible re-reading that text and marveling at Gibson's vision of the future (which with science fiction is really a commentary on the now).

Re: William Gibson Reads Neuromancer (2004)

#24

Post by shmerl »

reportingsjr wrote: post #20
guerrilla wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also listened to it as an audiobook and while I very much got the vibe, I have no idea what was going on, which is kinda rare (I listen to a lot of audiobooks). It's as if I didn't even read it... buy kinda did. I duno.

I had the same experience reading neuromancer in the last year. I felt like I got the vibe of what was going on, but struggled to understand the details and figure out what was actually happening in the story.

I think ambiguity is somewhat intended. It also is continued in the rest of the trilogy. Some things are clearly left for the reader to guess or to interpret. It does make it a not very easy read.

Re: William Gibson Reads Neuromancer (2004)

#25

Post by prettyblocks »

GuinansEyebrows wrote: post #16
guerrilla wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also listened to it as an audiobook and while I very much got the vibe, I have no idea what was going on, which is kinda rare (I listen to a lot of audiobooks). It's as if I didn't even read it... buy kinda did. I duno.

i've read neuromancer at least five times and i still feel like i never actually read it. it's a weirdly-written book with little environmental exposition - but i still love it.

Came to say exactly this. It's my favorite, but I still feel like I haven't read it after like 5 reads.

Re: William Gibson Reads Neuromancer (2004)

#26

Post by sevensor »

themadturk wrote: post #3

So glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about The Difference Engine. (And I don't generally dislike Sterling...this book just didn't work for me.)

Agreed, and it’s all the more surprising because one of my favorite short stories is a collaboration between the two of them: “Red Star, Winter Orbit.” The Difference Engine just doesn’t work for me though.

Re: William Gibson Reads Neuromancer (2004)

#27

Post by neilv »

roughly wrote: post #8

This is probably something worth submitting to the Internet Archive if you’re worried about it disappearing!

That reminds me. I probably have a rough video of part of an author talk by Richard Dawkins... speaking from a church pulpit.

It was an old church, with acoustics that worked pre-electronics. At the start of the talk, Dawkins remarked, something like, being up there, he now understands why some preachers speak the way they do.

The book store would borrow the church as a venue for author talks, and it was only a funny coincidence that Dawkins's book that time was, IIRC, "The God Delusion".

(I'll have to see whether I still have it on an old computer, then contact the hosting venue, to see whether this can be preserved in a respectful way, on archive.org. Or they might already/still have a better recording.)

Re: William Gibson Reads Neuromancer (2004)

#28

Post by jszymborski »

muricula wrote: post #22
amatecha wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I took a quick listen to OP -- unfortunately their mp3s are of very poor quality. I heard numerous glitches while listening :(

I think the audio quality gives this recording character. What could be more cyberpunk than hearing the quirky artifacts resulting from ripping an obsolete recording medium?

I was about to say, feels more of its time...

Re: William Gibson Reads Neuromancer (2004)

#29

Post by kovac »

viccis wrote: post #5

I listened to Neuromancer on a long drive one time, and I will say that it's a wonderful book but not one that's particularly suited to the audiobook medium. It's hard to follow at times because it avoids a lot of big picture narrative and instead focuses on very small scale scenes of events happening within a broader story. It means that it can be confusing at times, as you are often as in the dark as the characters…

I thought it was just me. I gave up on reading the book midway,because I was confused most of the time, and found it hard to engage.

Re: William Gibson Reads Neuromancer (2004)

#30

Post by LiquidSky »

sien wrote: post #18
viccis wrote: post #5

I listened to Neuromancer on a long drive one time, and I will say that it's a wonderful book but not one that's particularly suited to the audiobook medium. It's hard to follow at times because it avoids a lot of big picture narrative and instead focuses on very small scale scenes of events happening within a broader story. It means that it can be confusing at times, as you are often as in the dark as the characters…

There is a BBC Audio drama of Neuromancer that is 1:56 long. It is excellent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S89BHnaxULo I haven't listened to the audio book of Neuromancer but I re-read it a few weeks back. The audio play I still go back to once in a while as well.

Two minutes hardly seems enough time to do the story justice.
Post reply on HN