Recommended listening: I couldn’t pick some industrial, cyber punk song since this list features books from different sci fi backgrounds, so I’m falling back on a favourite DnB track of mine. Very calming!

Introduction

I’ve been reading for quite a few years now, mostly in the bathtub (while taking a bath). I definitely prefer fiction to non-fiction, and generally gravitate towards sci-fi, specifically hard sci-fi. Think Star Trek, not Star Wars. Think science fiction, NOT fiCTiOn “sCiEnCe”.

I like dystopia and potential futures, so I actually really gravitate towards cyber punk, but anyway.

Also, as an engineer, I love when real(-sounding) problems are solved by real(-sounding) solutions.

For example (and as an aside), I love how the game Bioshock, which takes place in an underwater metropolis, has a level in a forest, which provides the oxygen for the underwater city of Rapture.

Stuff like that made the city of Rapture feel more real. Anyway, on to the recommendations:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by PKD

I’m a big fan of Philip K. Dick, I even read a biography on the guy. Many famous sci fi movies are based on his works, including Total Recall, Minority Report and A Scanner Darkly (one of my favourite films). Bladerunner is actually based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Of course, he didn’t enjoy any success from these movies, since he died before any of them came out.

He lived the typical, impoverished life of a writer.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is one of my favourite works by him; the future feels real, the action keeps you on the edge of your seat, and the plight of the “antagonists” is very releatable. It’s like, the first cyber punk work, showcasing a dilapidated, high-tech low-life future, where animals have basically gone extinct.

The author suffered from different mental issues, like schizophrenia, and had weird hallucinations/ visions. Also, he took lots of psychedelic drugs, which also gave him lots of hallucinations! That’s double the hallucinations folks!

Because of this, he was very paranoid, and this book successfully transfers some of this paranoia to the reader, which might sound unpleasant but is actually fine, unless you’re already paranoid all the time.

Also, don’t be a dick and skip this book just because you’ve seen Bladerunner: Final Cut. They follow very different stories.

Rendezvous With Rama

This is probably my favourite science fiction book of all time, and in my opinion the best book by Arthur C. Clarke (better than Childhood’s End and Fountains of Paradise for sure). The book intimately describes the real problems encountered if a giant cylindrical object in space were to be docked and examined by humans.

Further, it proposes real problems and their corresponding, real-sounding solutions. For example, simians can be trained to do repetitive tasks, and they require far less oxygen than humans, making them perfect “assistants” on space ships. The plot unwinds in a layered fashion, with every chapter ending with a “cliff-hanger” or sorts, which keeps you reading.

This book would work wonderfully as a series. Morgan Freeman is a big fan of the book, and has been trying to make it into a movie for years. I hope he instead pitches the idea to Netflix or Amazon or something, I think a show based on this book would be awesome (though, admittedly, expensive to produce)

Count Zero

I have a weird relationship with William Gibson. My favourite media genre is cyber punk, and this guy basically (literally) wrote the book on the genre.

I’ve read his sprawl trilogy, but I dislike Neuromancer (too many damn details, I couldn’t follow what was happening because of all the bullshit), and I don’t like Mona Lisa Overdrive (one third of the plot pretty much doesn’t matter? and is barely cyber punk?)

Currently I’m reading Spook Country, it started off cool; a more realistic, post cyber punk-ish work, taking place in modern times, but I’m over halfway through and there doesn’t seem to be much of a plot. Like, it’s not going anywhere. Basically, I’m not a fan of most of his novels.

All that being said, I really liked Count Zero. I know it’s weird to recommend the second book in a trilogy, but I don’t think it REALLY matters if you read the other two.

In typical Gibson fashion, there are 3 different narratives, and they’re all pretty interesting. He toned down the over-detail that Neuromancer had and the plot was therefore much easier to follow.

It involves a chosen-by-AI-gods novice hacker, a woman who works for a hyper rich dying dude, and a corporate war between two rival companies trying to wrestle control of a biochip. Nukes are involved. What more could you want?

Burning Chrome (Short Story Collection)

This is an anthology of short, MOSTLY great, MOSTLY cyber punk stories written MOSTLY by William Gibson and a few others

I can’t say much about it, if you like gritty, dystopian, “realistic” depictions of the near future (ie: cyber punk) then check out this short story collection, most of the stories are great!

Foundation

This is the first in a trilogy (well, technically it’s a series, but that stuff was appended after the fact, so they don’t quite count) of books about the fall of the Galactic Empire and humanity’s attempt to rebuild it.

It’s hard science fiction, but doesn’t delve too deep into the science-y side of things. Basically, a new mathematical branch of sociology is developed which can accurately predict the future of extremely large populations (think trillions). The fall of the galactic empire is foreseen, and a Foundation is set up to build a new one. This first book follows many characters during different time periods after the fall of the galactic empire, with the story spanning hundreds of years.

Don’t worry, the book is not long.

The time skips make the book very easy to read, since a new, exciting setting is established with every time skip. If you like it, I recommend reading the following two books, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation, they’re also awesome!

Come to think of it, the Foundation trilogy would ALSO really work as a series! Due to the time skips however, it’d only work as an anthology series, like Black Mirror or whatever. Each book could be a separate season! I hope you’re listening @Netflix!