Lurgen's Journal: Gibson - Pattern Recognition

It seems strangely appropriate today to write a short entry about William Gibson, given his recent release of "Pattern Recognition".

Many comments in the discussion threads about his latest work criticise him, based on the fact that he isn't really a geek (and as such, why is he on Slashdot at all?). Or that he isn't a good enough writer to justify the attention (and besides, Snow Crash was much better).

Gibsons first significant work, Neuromancer, was easily the most difficult book I have ever read. It was too fast, too dense, too dark, and full of terms and concepts that my young mind had absolutely no chance of assimilating. 5 pages into the story, I had lost my bearings completely. 50 pages, and it could have been upside down for all I could tell. But I stuck with it, and completed reading it. Sure, I didn't understand it, but damn it thrilled me!

The second time through was probably a couple of years later. My reading skills had improved, and being in my mid to late teens, I had a lot less trouble chewing through it. I understood some of the subtleties of the relationship between Mollie and Case. The motivation of Case, to just be a cowboy and do his thing were more personal than before. And I understood a few more concepts.

It's been at least 10 years since that first reading, and I've read the book from cover to cover at least 10 or 15 times. When bored, I've picked it up and browsed chapters at random. Now I know it intimately, and it's beauty is readily apparent.

The story is strong. Not just strong, but complete. In a tiny number of pages, Gibson captures an entire world. It took him three books to repeat the performance later in his career, and even then he only came close (Virtual Light, Idoru, All Tomorrows Parties). That world becomes so detailed in your mind as you read that you can smell the polution and sweat, you can see the horrible grey (TV static) sky, and you can feel the crowds. Everybody I have ever given that book to sees the same city, describes the same impressions.

But is Gibson a geek? Nah, not really. He wrote Neuromancer on a typewriter. Sure, he woke up to the information age eventually and got himself a Mac, but what does that have to do with anything? He wrote THE definitive work on the Internet, before any of us knew such a thing existed... before even HE knew it existed. This is a pretty big deal - not enough give this accomplishment the credit it deserves.

Does he need to be a geek, in order to write for geeks? I hope not, because this guys work shaped my first years of computing. As a teenager, his work gave me a visual for what I was playing with. In early days of "hacking" (not necessarily cracking though), his work inspired me. Maybe that wasn't his goal, but do I care?

Regardless of the technical mistakes, or his disinterest in technology as a whole, his work is undoubtably relevant to the techies of the world. Idoru, with it's virtual celebrity... Neuromancer, with it's first-person angle on a global network. All Tomorrows Parties, with the fluid nature of digital media... and now Pattern Recognition.

I haven't read Pattern Recognition, but I'm on my way out to buy a copy. If it comes close to his previous works, I'll be happy with my purchase.

Briefly, on the subject of better authors, I don't see how this factors into the argument. Compare it to beauty, and beautiful women. There are many of them out there - which is best though? Well, that would be a matter of personal opinion, would it not? Some people would struggle to choose, others would find they become unhappy with their choice as time passes - for me, Gibsons writing is in the running for top-ten authors of all time, but it's an un-ranked list. He lives up there with Chuck Palahniuk (spelling?), Stephen Donaldson, and Stephen King (in his Talisman and Dark Tower moods). But I won't pick a favorite.

(no, this wasn't a particularly well rounded entry - but rather than scream about the /. morons who demand perfection without being able to spell, I'll just brain-dump my thoughts on Gibson for a moment. But while I'm on the subject, I challenge anybody to name me a novel that retains as much depth as Neuromancer after the fifth read. Any novel, I don't care what Genre - because this isn't really about a geek sci-fi novel, it's about good literature.)