We Are Legion
(We Are Bob)
by Dennis E. Taylor · first published 2016
80% recommend18% neutral2% critical
Why HN recommends it
Funny, fast-moving sci-fi about a software engineer who wakes centuries later as an AI and sets out to explore space. Fans like the premise, the attention to detail, and the light, campy tone.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
“Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street. Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets. The stakes are high: no less than the first claim to entire worlds. If he declines the honor, h
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2017–2026The Bobiverse
Dennis E. Taylor
Recommended by 36 · mentioned by 4036 recommend · 40 mention36 recommend · 4036 recommend
Chocky
John Wyndham
Recommended by 2 · mentioned by 32 recommend · 3 mention2 recommend · 32 recommend
2021–2022Scaramouche
Rafael Sabatini
Recommended by 2 · mentioned by 22 recommend · 2 mention2 recommend · 22 recommend
2018–2026The Stars Are Legion
Kameron Hurley, Nicole Poole, Teri Schnaubelt
Recommended by 3 · mentioned by 43 recommend · 4 mention3 recommend · 43 recommend
I Am Legend
Editorial Editorial Empire, Richard Matheson,Richard, Steve Steve Douglas
Recommended by 2 · mentioned by 22 recommend · 2 mention2 recommend · 22 recommend
I would add: We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor. Premise is a software engineer is killed by a car on his first day of retirement and wakes up 300 years in the future as an AI consciousness. It has absolutely loving…
on “Hard comp-fi reading list” ↗…the science right in sci-fi. Readers are smart :) Keep at it! I'd love to read more of your stories. (Short stories are great for sci-fi in my opinion!) P.S A great book about Von Neuman probes is - We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor
on “I wrote a short story about von Neumann probes” ↗Lots of dystopian and alternate world sci-fi (most recently read first): 1) The Handmaid’s Tale 2) Off to be the Wizard 3) The Three-Body Problem 4) Good Omens 5) We Are Legion (We Are Bob) 6) American Gods 7) Ready Player One I really enjoyed all of these, though the Neil Gaiman books are rather long-winded. Ready Player One in particular is something I’d recommend to any…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗If you liked that, you might enjoy the Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor. http://dennisetaylor.org/ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32109569-we-are-legion-w...
on “OpenWorm” ↗I have no mouth and I must scream - Harlan Ellison (Short story) We are Legion We are Bob - Dennis Taylor (Highly rated. Good anyway)
on “Ask HN: What’s your most underrated sci fi favorite book?” ↗Sure, here are the best ones I've read this last year (not all of them are published in 2020 though). We are legion - D. Taylor. A four book series, haven't read the rest of the books. Children of time - A. Tchaikovsky The Unicorn Project - G. Kim. This would be especially interesting for the HN crowd. It's not sf…
on “My Favorite Books 2020” ↗The Martian Ready Player One Project Hail Mary Name of the Wind Dresden Files Eye of the World (Wheel of Time) We Are Legion (We Are Bob) The Blade Itself (First Law Trilogy) Dungeon Crawler Carl The History of Ancient Egypt (Bob Brier lecture) Food: A Cultural Culinary History (Ken Albala lecture)
on “Ask HN: Favorite audio book for long drives?” ↗Of course Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and Larry Niven are legends. There is a new generation worth reading. We are legion (we are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor is the first book in his Bobiverse series. Gust Front by John Ringo is the first book in his Legacy of Aldenata / Posleen series. Live free or dies by John Ringo is…
on “Ask HN: Science Fiction Starter List” ↗Glasshouse[1] by Charles Stross Permutation City[2] by Greg Egan We Are Legion (We Are Bob)[3] by Dennis E. Taylor Halting State[4] by Charles Stross Singularity Sky[5] by Charles Stross Dungeon Crawler Carl[6] by Matt Dinniman Zero World[7] by Jason M. Hough The Shockwave…
on “Book Review: There Is No Antimemetics Division” ↗…book (or rather the movie) takes a bit of a departure. The backgrounds on all the different characters as well as the political parts weren't that interesting to me. But overall the book was great. * We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse) by Dennis Taylor I'd suggest listening to it on Audiobook. Excellent read. Makes me want to buy the book and read through it again. I can't wait until the next one comes out…
on “Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?” ↗We are legion (We are bob): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LWAESYQ/ref=series_rw_d... An awesome sci-fi story about a software developer who wakes up in the 22nd as a computer program
on “Ask HN: Which books are you reading in 2017?” ↗Fiction: We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor - the first of a very enjoyable SF trilogy Non-Fiction: Chasing the Harvest: Migrant Workers in California Agriculture by Gabriel Thompson - a collection of detailed…
on “Ask HN: What is the best book you read on 2017?” ↗"Dark Matter" by Blake Crouch is an excellent read that has a lot of twists and turns. It's quite dark in places. "We Are Legion" by Dennis Taylor is a very light hearted and easy to read. "The Collapsing Empire" by John Scalzi is a space opera that I quite enjoyed.
on “Ask HN: Best scifi of 2017? (Vernor Vinge/Larry Niven style)” ↗…turned into a very weird film with Scarlet Johansson. Other good more conventional sci-fi stuff... Extracted series (R.R. Haywood) Not alone (Craig a. Falconer) Themys files series (sylvain neuvel) We are legion series (Dennis E. Taylor)
on “Ask HN: Best scifi of 2017? (Vernor Vinge/Larry Niven style)” ↗Love this thread and the books mentioned. Folks might also enjoy “We are Legion” by Dennis Taylor: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32109569
on “Ask HN: What interesting thought did you read on HN but couldn't find later?” ↗