I’m not particularly known to read or have read many books and most are usually manuals, text books or anything otherwise related to nerdy subjects of computers and sound. However, I once read a Science Fiction novel back in the early nineties that absolutely kicked ass and was influential to me in the pursuit of art and following your imagination.
When this particular book was published in 1984 as the first novel by a then unknown author, it came out of nowhere to win every major award in Science Fiction literature!
The book is called Neuromancer by William Gibson.
In this novel William Gibson invented concepts and terminology that have since been realised or have become common use, for example the technology known as Virtual Reality which in Neuromancer is referred to as 'jacking into the Matrix’ (yep that’s where the Wachowski brothers got their idea from). He also coined the term Cyberpunk which spawned an entire subculture of fashion and art.
For those who enjoy a bit of trivia, get this, back in 1984 William Gibson had never even seen what a computer actually was and wrote Neuromancer on an analog typewriter!!! In an interview for a documentary called Cyberpunk, he explained the time a few years later when he purchased his first computer and was greatly disappointed upon switching it on when it made a clunky whirring sound. He promptly phoned the store to complain and was told this was normal, this is the sound of the disc drive, with his reply being "what’s that!!!”. His disappointment was that this ‘computer’ didn’t measure up to his imagination of what he thought a computer was, a ‘silent crystalline engine’ and he felt the from that point on he’d lost something.
What an amazing achievement for a guy who had no idea of what the real world was in that respect, and used his imagination to create something that ended up changing that world. He rocks!!!!!