Spook Country - William Gibson

Recently finished reading Gibson's Spook Country, the second Bigend book. Found this one less intriguing than the first (perhaps because the protagonist, former cult band member Hollis, resonated less with me than did Cayce of book 1). Anyway, this book expands our understanding of Bigend's many schemes, and the way in which (seemingly) limitless capital allows him to explore the newest forms of information sharing, and exploit them for commercial purposes. Much as I imagine major CEOs already do, if they're savvy. The book does posit a novel artistic use of cyberspace and the GPS grid, which I won't give away here. Food for thought, as always, and the satisfying blend of exciting new ideas and interesting personalities interfacing in technology and which is Gibson's hallmark.

Gibson's 3 Trilogies:

The Sprawl Trilogy:

• Neuromancer
• Count Zero
• Mona Lisa Overdrive

The Bridge Trilogy:

• Virtual Light
• Idoru
• All Tomorrow's Parties

The Bigend Books:

• Pattern Recognition
• Spook Country
• Zero History

Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise

Gibson's novels deal extensively with the science of prediction, which he depicts as a kind of occult phenomenon or 6th sense (cf Laney with his uncanny nodal perception, or the Coolhunter Cayce). As usual, in exploring this theme, Gibson is masterfully extrapolating from current issues, such as the rise of and obsession with Big Data. My reading of this book, then, was driven by curiosity of the actual state of prediction today, especially as compared to its potential as envisioned by Gibson. Sounds like we have a ways to go! It was a very fast and enjoyable read, written in a fluent and conversational style. Recommend!

Dad's review here.