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Recommendations based on The Difference Engineby William Gibson
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Burning Chrome
by William Gibson
A collection of sci-fi stories, exploring a dystopian cyberpunk future.
Ten tales, from the computer-enhanced hustlers of Johnny Mnemonic to the technofetishist blues of Burning Chrome . Johnny Mnemonic (1981) The Gernsback Continuum (1981) Fragments of a Hologram Rose ... (Goodreads)
Pattern Recognition
by William Gibson
A story of a woman's search for truth and identity in a digital world.
Advertising consultant Cayce Pollard , who reacts to logos and advertising as if to an allergen , arrives in London in August 2002. She is working on a contract with the marketing firm Blue Ant to ... (Wikipedia)
Virtual Light
by William Gibson
Cyberpunk thriller, exploring the effects of technology on future societies.
The plot centers around Chevette Washington, a young bicycle messenger who lives in the ad hoc , off-the-grid community that has grown on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in the aftermath of a ... (Wikipedia)
Perdido Street Station
by China Miéville
A thrilling adventure through a captivating and unique city, filled with danger and magic.
Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin is a scientist living in the city of New Crobuzon. He is approached by Yagharek, a member of a birdlike species known as garuda , who has had his wings removed as a ... (Wikipedia)
Cryptonomicon
by Neal Stephenson
A thrilling journey through the past and present, combining tech, history and adventure.
The action takes place in two periods—World War II and the late 1990s, during the Internet boom and Asian financial crisis . In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse, a young United States Navy code ... (Wikipedia)
Snow Crash
by Neal Stephenson
A hacker's quest in a futuristic America dealing with a mysterious computer virus.
Hiro Protagonist is a hacker and pizza delivery driver for the Mafia. He meets Y.T. (short for Yours Truly), a young skateboard Kourier ( courier ) who refers to herself in the third person , during ... (Wikipedia)
The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
by Neal Stephenson
A young girl's journey of learning and self-discovery, aided by advanced technology.
The protagonist in the story is Nell, a thete (or person without a tribe; equivalent to the lowest working class) living in the Leased Territories, a lowland slum built on the artificial, diamondoid ... (Wikipedia)
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1
by Alan Moore
A band of Victorian-era misfits join forces to protect the British Empire.
In 1898, one year after her encounter with Dracula , Mina Murray has divorced her husband and now works for the British government. She meets with MI5 agent Campion Bond (the grandfather of James ... (Wikipedia)
Foundation
by Isaac Asimov
Exploring the possibilities of a galactic empire in a future driven by science and technology.
For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future – to a dark age ... (Goodreads)
The Forever War
by Joe Haldeman
A soldier's story of the horror of war and its consequences in the far future.
The monumental Hugo and Nebula award winning SF classic— Featuring a new introduction by John Scalzi,The Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand—despite the fact that the fierce ... (Barnes & Noble)
I Am Legend and Other Stories
by Richard Matheson
A collection of sci-fi horror stories exploring themes of isolation, fear and the unknown.
Robert Neville appears to be the sole survivor of a pandemic that has killed most of the human population and turned the remainder into " vampires " that largely conform to their stereotypes in ... (Wikipedia)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
by Susanna Clarke
A whimsical tale of two magicians mastering the mysteries of English magic.
The novel opens in 1806 in northern England with The Learned Society of York Magicians, whose members are "theoretical magicians" who believe that magic died out several hundred years earlier. The ... (Wikipedia)
Second Foundation
by Isaac Asimov
A quest to find the mysterious force controlling the fate of the galaxy.
Part I is about The Mule 's search for the elusive Second Foundation, with the intent of destroying it. The executive council of the Second Foundation is aware of The Mule's intent and, in the words ... (Wikipedia)
The Scar
by China Miéville
A fantastical journey of survival in a dangerous, watery underworld.
The Scar opens with the journey of a small ship which has set out from the city New Crobuzon (the setting of Perdido Street Station ). It is heading to the city's new colony, Nova Esperium, which ... (Wikipedia)
Red Seas Under Red Skies
by Scott Lynch
A daring pair of con-artists set sail on a swashbuckling adventure across the tumultuous seas.
Two years after Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen fled Camorr, they have created new secret identities for themselves in the island city of Tal Verrar as professional gamblers at an opulent casino called ... (Wikipedia)
I, Robot
by Isaac Asimov
A collection of science fiction stories exploring the relationship between humans and robots.
Isaac Asimov's I, Robot launches readers on an adventure into a not-so-distant future where man and machine , struggle to redefinelife, love, and consciousness—and where the stakes are nothing less ... (Goodreads)
The Intuitionist
by Colson Whitehead
A lift inspector navigates a mysterious, ever-shifting city while solving a thrilling mystery.
The story begins with the catastrophic failure of an elevator which Watson had inspected just days before, leading to suspicion cast upon both herself and the Intuitionist school as a whole. To cope ... (Wikipedia)
The City & the City
by China Miéville
Two cities that exist in the same space, but with different laws, cultures and regulations.
When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But as he investigates, the ... (Goodreads)
The Aeronaut's Windlass
by Jim Butcher
Adventure in a world of airships and magical creatures, as a group of unlikely heroes fight for their lives.
Captain Grimm is an Albion privateer preying on Auroran airships when his vessel, the Predator is caught in an ambush and has its invaluable lift crystal damaged. Meanwhile, Bridget and Gwen (along ... (Wikipedia)
Surface Detail
by Iain M. Banks
A sci-fi space opera exploring the consequences of virtual immortality.
It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters. It begins with a murder. It will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself. Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, ... (Goodreads)
The Illuminatus! Trilogy
by Robert Shea
An epic adventure spanning multiple continents, uncovering a mysterious worldwide conspiracy.
It was a deadly mistake. Joseph Malik, editor of a radical magazine, had snooped into rumors about an ancient secret society that was still alive and kicking. Now his offices have been bombed, he's ... (Goodreads)
The Hydrogen Sonata
by Iain M. Banks
A civilization on the brink of extinction, struggling to find a way to survive.
The Gzilt, a civilisation that almost joined the Culture 10,000 years before the novel, have decided to Sublime, leaving behind “the Real” to take up residence in higher dimensions. The ... (Wikipedia)
Starship Troopers
by Robert A. Heinlein
A futuristic military drama, exploring the consequences of war and human nature.
The novel opens with Rico aboard the corvette transport Rodger Young (named after Medal of Honor recipient Rodger Wilton Young ), , serving with the platoon known as "Rasczak's Roughnecks". The ... (Wikipedia)
Look to Windward
by Iain M. Banks
The story of two civilizations and their intertwined destinies, spanning thousands of years.
The Chelgrians are a race of centaur-like cat aliens with three hind-limbs and a humanoid catlike torso. Major Quilan, a Chelgrian, has lost the will to live after the death of his wife, killed ... (Wikipedia)
The Snow Queen
by Joan D. Vinge
A retelling of the classic fairy tale, set on a distant planet, where a young woman must rescue her lover from the clutches of an evil queen.
This reissue of a modern classic of science fiction, the Hugo and Locus Award-winning and Nebula-nominated, The Snow Queen, marks the first time the book has been reprinted in fifteen years. The ... (Goodreads)
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
by Jules Verne
A thrilling adventure beneath the depths of the sea, discovering a strange and wondrous world.
During the year 1866, ships of various nationalities sight a mysterious sea monster , which, it is later suggested, might be a gigantic narwhal . The U.S. government assembles an expedition in New ... (Wikipedia)
Farnham's Freehold
by Robert A. Heinlein
A nuclear war sends a family to a future where they are enslaved by black people. They must fight for their survival and freedom.
Hugh Farnham, a white middle-aged man, holds a bridge club party for his alcoholic wife Grace, law-graduate son Duke, college-student daughter Karen, and Karen's friend Barbara. During the bridge ... (Wikipedia)
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
by Philip K. Dick
A sci-fi exploration of the implications of reality-altering technology and the power of corporate greed.
The story begins in a future world where global temperatures have risen so high that in most of the world it is unsafe to be outside without special cooling gear during daylight hours. In a desperate ... (Wikipedia)
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
by Douglas Adams
Quirky sci-fi adventure following a group of time travelers seeking to save the future.
Arthur Dent , Ford Prefect , Trillian , and Zaphod Beeblebrox leave the planet Magrathea on the Heart of Gold . A Vogon ship attacks them, and Arthur's attempt to have the ship's computer make him a ... (Wikipedia)
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
by Robert M. Pirsig
A philosophical exploration of the meaning of life, seen through the lens of a cross-country motorcycle journey.
Robert M. Pirsig's Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is an examination of how we live, a meditation on how to live better set around the narration of a summer motorcycle trip across America's ... (Goodreads)
