Science Fiction

Neuromancer was an early and very influential work within the cyberpunk genre. This made it a big hit, as it created a novel and immersive cyberpunk world, full of avatars and cyberspace.

I read Snow Crash when I desperately needed a break from Neuromancer, and found it similar, but more enjoyable and well-written in many ways. It might have one of my favorite opening chapters of all time, and proceeds to create an incredibly immersive portrayal of a cyberpunk ultra-capitalistic America after a world-wide economic collapse. Over 30 years later, its portrayal of technology and the metaverse are still relatively realistic and thought provoking.

I happened to stumble upon this book (partly due to a recommendation by ChatGPT) and did not have that large expectations. However, it caught me completely off guard and became one of my favorite books in a long time, even though it is over 50 years old. Le Guin has included an excellent introduction, where she partly describes her science fiction books as large thought experiments about the consequences of altering reality.