Spook Country
by William Gibson · first published 2006
44% recommend51% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Near-future thriller, middle of the Blue Ant trilogy, praised for its sharp look at the 2000s and early ideas on geolocation and augmented reality. Suits readers who like Gibson's prose more than hard sci-fi.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Tito is in his early twenties. Born in Cuba, he speaks fluent Russian, lives in one room in a NoLita warehouse, and does delicate jobs involving information transfer.Hollis Henry is an investigative journalist, on assignment from a magazine called Node. Node doesn't exist yet, which is fine; she's used to that. But it seems to be actively blocking the kind of buzz that magazines normally cultivate before they start up. Really actively blocking it. It's odd, even a little scary, if Hollis lets herself think about it much. Which she doesn't; she can't afford to.Milgrim is a junkie. A high-end ju
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Neuromancer - William Gibson REAMDE- Neal Stephenson Pattern Recognition / Zero History / Spook Country - William Gibson The Peripheral - William Gibson Not exactly the same thing, but I'll also throw in Glasshouse by Charles Stross. And since we're talking Charles Stross, also add Halting State to the…
on “Ask HN: Books that altered your view of reality” ↗This is a bit off-topic, but I really enjoyed William Gibson's Spook Country and especially was intrigued with the headsets used to overlay 3D renderings on locations via a GPS-enabled server. Ray Kurzweil talked about VR visors, but I think adding GPS massively increases the…
on “Predicting the future isn't for Kurzweil” ↗I liked Spook Country, part of a loose Gibson trilogy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spook_Country I read it before I knew there was a predecessor and successor.
on “Ask HN: Anyone recommend any good hacker themed books for my hols?” ↗I highly recommend William Gibson's "Blue Ant" trilogy (Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, Zero History) if you're into this sort of topic.
on “Decades” ↗Or William Gibson's recent "Spook Country" trilogy.
on “The Bitcoin Crypto-Currency Mystery Reopened” ↗Thing is, while Spook Country and Pattern Recognition are not groundbreaking the way Sprawl Trilogy was, Gibson still remains a truly gifted writer who has a way with words. Too much of sci-fiction has been written by people with…
on “William Gibson on writing, science fiction and the Future” ↗From a sci-fi perspective, William Gibson writes some good stuff. Spook Country has some interesting ideas around geo-location, wireless connectivity and augmented reality. Actually, any of the cyberpunk authors might potentially be of interest to you. Outside of that, there's…
on “Looking to read up on tech futurology. Can you recommend any authors?” ↗I'm a huge fan of Charles Stross's "Accelerando". I also love (most) of what William Gibson has written, including his non-science-fiction stuff like "Pattern Recognition" and "Spook Country".
on “Ask HN: Summer Reading Recommendations?” ↗This is genius. It's like the art from William Gibson's Spook Country come to life, but made practical and tied to a huge fan base.
on “Minecraft augmented reality app announced for iOS” ↗Strongly agree on Spook Country. It is my second favorite Gibson by quite a bit and I feel it's generally underappreciated.
on “William Gibson: How I wrote Neuromancer” ↗…Stross Second the Vernor Vinge recommendations, and the Neal Stephenson and William Gibson Sprawl Trilogy recommendations. Gibson's The Peripheral, as well as Pattern Recognition, Zero History, and Spook Country all apply, as well. Same for his Idoru, Virtual Light, and All Tomorrow's Parties. Finally, Gibson and Sterling's The Difference Engine - the first and, so far, best steampunk novel - also qualifies,…
on “Ask HN: Recommendations of good cybercrime novels?” ↗Yet another case in which William Gibson proved eerily prescient. While not quite the same, this exhibit evokes a lot of the themes of his 2007 novel Spook Country (the whole trilogy of which it was second is fantastic!), which was written before AR/VR tech was anywhere near as advanced as it is today.
on “Artists Hijack MoMA with AR Art Exhibition” ↗…(sequel to the Phoenix Project) Makers by Cory Doctorow Daemon & Freedom™ by Daniel Suarez The Affinities by Robert Charles Wilson Zodiac by Neal Stephenson The Blue Ant trilogy (Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, Zero History) by William Gibson Omnitopia: Dawn by Diane Duane Walkaway by Cory Doctorow Autonomous by Annalee Newitz The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson Reamde by Neal Stephenson…
on “Ask HN: What's some great fiction for founders and entrepreneurs?” ↗…his style. Neuromancer was his first novel, and his style, while remaining distinctive, has improved substantially over the years. You may like it better in the The Bigend Trilogy: Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, Zero History: all vintage, recognizable Gibson, but not actually science fiction, and very much in tune with the world post-9/11. As much as I love all of Gibson, those three are my favorites, especially…
on “Neal Stephenson was prescient about our AI age” ↗Spook Country by William Gibson. Anything by him is pretty awesome.
on “Ask HN: What are you reading right now?” ↗