
“Neuromancer” read by William Gibson - mollymillions
https://archive.org/details/NeuromancerAudioBook
======
atsaloli
William Gibson came to a local bookstore when I was a teenager. The staff had
the public going through a line, issuing a Post-It, a pen and instructions to
write the name of the person to whom to make out the book. Efficient and
organized, right?

So I wrote "Mother" on my Post-It note. I was curious how the author would
react.

I get to the front of the line with my dog-eared copy of "Neuromancer". Mr.
Gibson takes my book, reads the Post-It, looks at me briefly, gives a tiny
smile and starts writing. Hands me the book. I say "Thank you very much" and
get out of the way.

I open the book: "To Mother: Come home. All is forgiven. William Gibson.
Summer 1992"

That book was a treasured possession for years. =)

~~~
pkamb
[https://twitter.com/GreatDismal/status/833448033635426304](https://twitter.com/GreatDismal/status/833448033635426304)

------
Analemma_
Is this copyright infringement? I know HN generally side-eyes IP law, but this
seems like a pretty straightforward violation. Neuromancer certainly isn't out
of copyright.

EDIT: Listening to this kinda makes one appreciate the virtues of hiring
professional voice actors to do audiobooks. Don't get me wrong, I worship
William Gibson, but he is... not suited to this task.

~~~
teilo
If it is on archive.org, rest assured that any copyright issues have already
been addressed.

[[ EDIT: I'm totally wrong about that. Thank you for the corrections. ]]

And yeah, authors rarely make good voice actors. I am reminded how terrible
Wind in the Keyhole was since Stephen King decided to record it himself as
compared to all the other books in the series that were voiced by the greats:
Frank Muller and George Guidal.

~~~
krrrh
There is _definitely_ not a rigorous process in place to prevent copyrighted
material being uploaded to archive.org, often with obviously inaccurate
metadata and political commentary [1].

[1] See this 2013 upload for instance:
[https://archive.org/details/TheLivesOfOthers-
EastGermanZioni...](https://archive.org/details/TheLivesOfOthers-
EastGermanZionistPigsTrueStory)

~~~
voltagex_
Uploaded in _Cinepack_ format. Wow. I've flagged it - unfortunately there's no
"copyrighted content" flag.

------
TheAceOfHearts
A few years back I tried listening to the audiobook but couldn't push myself
to finish it, even though it's fairly short. As I recall, I picked it up after
completing Snow Crash. Unfortunately it's been so long that I barely remember
any details. I just vaguely remember having a hard time getting into it, as
well as finding it hard to relate to the characters, and thinking the slang
was confusing.

For Neuromancer fans here, I'd love to read about your perspective on the
book. Maybe when I picked it up I didn't have the right mindset. What aspects
did you enjoy most? Do any details stand out? How did it impact you?

I'll take this opportunity to remind the Americans on HN that your local
public library has access to audiobooks and many other resources, free of
charge. I've been living in Santa Clara for a while but I only just found out
about all their perks a few weeks back. Just by having a library card, you get
access to SO MANY high quality online resources [0]! It includes stuff like
eAudiobooks, eBooks, digital magazines, research databases, etc. Two services
which I suspect will be of interest to HN readers are: (1) Safari Books
Online, which contains technical and business eBooks; and (2) Lynda.com, which
has tons of videos for learning new business, software, technology, and
creative skills. Although it's sadly worth noting that Safari Books Online
only provides access to a subset of their full catalogue :(. Better than
nothing, though!

Another great resource you gain access to is this Point of View Reference
Center [1] service. It lists controversial issues. Inside each, you find an
overview of the issue, along with some background and contextual info, and
finally points and counter-points. It provides the information in a way that's
very approachable, while remaining fairly unbiased. Oh, and the best part is
that everything includes sources, so you know where stuff comes from! If
something seems fishy, you can inspect the source. The topics have varying
levels of detail, but it seems to be an overall good starting point for trying
to understand current events or issues.

[0]
[http://santaclaraca.gov/government/departments/library/resea...](http://santaclaraca.gov/government/departments/library/research-
resources/electronic-resources/a-z-listing-of-databases)

[1] [https://www.ebscohost.com/us-high-schools/points-of-view-
ref...](https://www.ebscohost.com/us-high-schools/points-of-view-reference-
center)

~~~
pmoriarty
I found _Count Zero_ to be a far better book than _Neuromancer_. But that was
a very, very long time ago (about when the books came out). So I'm not sure if
I'd still like them, especially now that the themes in these books have become
pretty cliche.

~~~
krylon
I, too, prefer Count Zero. But I also think the trilogy should be regarded as
a whole. Both Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive have mutiple characters and
plotlines that converge towards the end, and likewise one can see Neuromancer
and Count Zero as two independent strands that converge in the third book.

~~~
pmoriarty
I found Mona Lisa Overdrive by far the weakest of the bunch, and that's when I
stopped reading William Gibson.

~~~
wink
If the Neuromancer trilogy is not your first clash with cyberpunk... well at
least for me there was hardly anything that was noticibly hard to understand.
But if you've played Shadowrun for a while...

