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I'm really surprised to see Ready Player One on there. It relied way too heavily on the 80's nostalgia, to prop up the shallow story telling. But even that got

I'm really surprised to see Ready Player One on there. It relied way too heavily on the 80's nostalgia, to prop up the shallow story telling. But even that got old, it was like hanging around with someone that talks entirely in movie quotes, while fun at the right times, gets stale fast. You didn't care about the character, because there was nothing for him to really lose.

bmer 10y ago
Totally agree with you. I couldn't get past the first few chapters, because it was flat out boring. Compared to something like Leviathan Wakes, by James S.A. Corey...Ready Player One is so.... boring. There, I said it too.
- overcast 10y ago
  I'll check out Leviathan Wakes, thanks!
bduerst 10y ago
People I've talked to about it tend to like it because it's vr-heavy dystopia with a persistent world.
kriro 10y ago
I managed to finish it and mostly share your sentiment however I think it is a decent vision/motivation for VR (not so much AR/Pokemon Go style as mentioned in the post). At least for my personal research in VR-UI/UX I like to ask myself "how far is this from RPO...what steps would get us further" since I think the overall "parallel world in VR" is a neat goal to work towards (my personal utopian interpretation ignoring the dystopian view of RPO).
whyleyc 10y ago
I thought Ready Player One was Cyberpunk-lite. For actual brain-bending, dystopian-but-vaugely-plausible futurism I would highly recommend the latest William Gibson novel "The Peripheral". He's always had a fascinating ability to meld technology and spirituality with a barnstorming plot thrown in for good measure. This latest novel is nicely impenetrable in places too - giving you just enough outline to be curious without serving it all up on a plate.
brudgers 10y ago
I'd consider it a decent beach read but wouldn't nominate it for a Hugo [not that I'm likely to be asked for my nomination]. I read it off the public libary new shelf a few years ago. It was two or three evenings' worth of reasonable entertainment and Pokemon Go reminded me of having read it.
- x1798DE 10y ago
  They don't invite you to nominate books, you get to vote if you are a member of the World Science Fiction Convention: http://www.thehugoawards.org/i-want-to-vote/ http://www.thehugoawards.org/i-want-to-vote/
maerF0x0 10y ago
I ground through it to the end. Still regret it.
wrsh07 10y ago
It's fun, but if you want dystopian capitalist world with a parallel vr universe, snow crash has more surprising ideas. (And better writing) Although it's a bit violent and has some... interesting mechanisms (as I was told: it gets weird) Also, the nostalgia comes baked in because it was written in the 90s. Still super relevant though
- ryanSrich 10y ago
  +1 for snow crash. RPO is like "Snow Crash For Dummies"...enjoyable, but not the same.
- oxymoron 10y ago
  _Snow Crash_ is good fun, and I really liked the speculative elements. It led me down the path of becoming a Stephenson junky which, coming from someone that tries to avoid reading many big novels by a single author, breaks a bit with my own principles. _Cryptonomicon_ need hardly be mentioned anymore, considering it's repute, but lately I've been reading the "prequel" trilogy consisting of _Quicksilver_, _The Confusion_ and _The System of the World_. It's set in the same literary universe, centering on events in the late 17th and early 18th century, basically tracing the early days of science. They also feature some quite humorous fictionalized versions of real life historical figures. At some point I'm probably going to look into _Anathem_ and _Seveneves_ as well. All that said, Stephenson has a rather particular style which seems to be very polarizing, but I definitely encourage giving him a shot.
  - raywu 10y ago
    _Anathem_ is great. Very slow build up. The interwoven theme of race, religion, time and space makes it well worth the slow construction of the world. Here's a video of him speaking at Google for the book tour http://youtu.be/lnq-2BJwatE http://youtu.be/lnq-2BJwatE
- overcast 10y ago
  I thought SnowCrash was horrendous, with terrible writing. Most overrated book I've read to date, by far.
ryanSrich 10y ago
And the fact that it's going to be a movie just makes no sense. Unless they make a major departure from the original story, I just don't see how it'll work.
dvirsky 10y ago
I liked it actually, but I didn't expect more than a light fun read. It's pop-lit, not a groundbreaking masterpiece, and I didn't find it boring at all.

bmer 10y ago

Totally agree with you. I couldn't get past the first few chapters, because it was flat out boring. Compared to something like Leviathan Wakes, by James S.A. Corey...Ready Player One is so.... boring. There, I said it too.

overcast 10y ago
I'll check out Leviathan Wakes, thanks!

bduerst 10y ago

People I've talked to about it tend to like it because it's vr-heavy dystopia with a persistent world.

kriro 10y ago

I managed to finish it and mostly share your sentiment however I think it is a decent vision/motivation for VR (not so much AR/Pokemon Go style as mentioned in the post). At least for my personal research in VR-UI/UX I like to ask myself "how far is this from RPO...what steps would get us further" since I think the overall "parallel world in VR" is a neat goal to work towards (my personal utopian interpretation ignoring the dystopian view of RPO).

whyleyc 10y ago

I thought Ready Player One was Cyberpunk-lite. For actual brain-bending, dystopian-but-vaugely-plausible futurism I would highly recommend the latest William Gibson novel "The Peripheral". He's always had a fascinating ability to meld technology and spirituality with a barnstorming plot thrown in for good measure. This latest novel is nicely impenetrable in places too - giving you just enough outline to be curious without serving it all up on a plate.

brudgers 10y ago

I'd consider it a decent beach read but wouldn't nominate it for a Hugo [not that I'm likely to be asked for my nomination]. I read it off the public libary new shelf a few years ago. It was two or three evenings' worth of reasonable entertainment and Pokemon Go reminded me of having read it.

x1798DE 10y ago
They don't invite you to nominate books, you get to vote if you are a member of the World Science Fiction Convention: http://www.thehugoawards.org/i-want-to-vote/ http://www.thehugoawards.org/i-want-to-vote/

maerF0x0 10y ago

I ground through it to the end. Still regret it.

wrsh07 10y ago

It's fun, but if you want dystopian capitalist world with a parallel vr universe, snow crash has more surprising ideas. (And better writing) Although it's a bit violent and has some... interesting mechanisms (as I was told: it gets weird) Also, the nostalgia comes baked in because it was written in the 90s. Still super relevant though

ryanSrich 10y ago
+1 for snow crash. RPO is like "Snow Crash For Dummies"...enjoyable, but not the same.
oxymoron 10y ago
_Snow Crash_ is good fun, and I really liked the speculative elements. It led me down the path of becoming a Stephenson junky which, coming from someone that tries to avoid reading many big novels by a single author, breaks a bit with my own principles. _Cryptonomicon_ need hardly be mentioned anymore, considering it's repute, but lately I've been reading the "prequel" trilogy consisting of _Quicksilver_, _The Confusion_ and _The System of the World_. It's set in the same literary universe, centering on events in the late 17th and early 18th century, basically tracing the early days of science. They also feature some quite humorous fictionalized versions of real life historical figures. At some point I'm probably going to look into _Anathem_ and _Seveneves_ as well. All that said, Stephenson has a rather particular style which seems to be very polarizing, but I definitely encourage giving him a shot.
- raywu 10y ago
  _Anathem_ is great. Very slow build up. The interwoven theme of race, religion, time and space makes it well worth the slow construction of the world. Here's a video of him speaking at Google for the book tour http://youtu.be/lnq-2BJwatE http://youtu.be/lnq-2BJwatE
overcast 10y ago
I thought SnowCrash was horrendous, with terrible writing. Most overrated book I've read to date, by far.

ryanSrich 10y ago

And the fact that it's going to be a movie just makes no sense. Unless they make a major departure from the original story, I just don't see how it'll work.

dvirsky 10y ago

I liked it actually, but I didn't expect more than a light fun read. It's pop-lit, not a groundbreaking masterpiece, and I didn't find it boring at all.