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I had the opposite experience with Neuromancer. I read it too many times! Sorry for the long post (translated by GPT as it was originally in Greek). In Septemb
by daremon 1y ago
I had the opposite experience with Neuromancer. I read it too many times! Sorry for the long post (translated by GPT as it was originally in Greek).
In September 1993, I started my final year of high school in Greece, aiming to study Computer Science. A girl I barely knew heard I was into computers and handed me Neuromancer, the 1989 Greek edition. I still have it.
I already loved science fiction, though my reading had mostly been Asimov, Dick, and Clarke — robots and space, not so much computers. Neuromancer hit differently. I devoured it. Then I read it again. And again.
That whole year because of the enormous pressure of final exams (I can't explain how important they make you feel these exams are) I didn't touch any other book. I just kept re-reading Neuromancer. It became like a comfort food — familiar but exciting. I must have read it over 100 times.
At some point, I realized I had memorized it. Someone would open it randomly, read a sentence, and I could continue reciting from memory. A real-life Fahrenheit 451 moment.
To this day, I still re-read it every year or two, and it never loses its magic. And I can still describe what's happening on any given page although this has faded a lot.
P.S. I did go on to study Computer Science, and I still love programming.
P.P.S. I married the girl who gave me the book, we had kids but eventually we divorced 29 years later. Still friends.
- snthpy 1y agoLovely story. Thanks for sharing.
- NikolaNovak 1y agoFascinating story :-).Neuromancer is a book I reread often - like Dune, it has a rich tapestry of background world building. There is nothing surprising about plot anymore, but it is like a place I like to return to.
- charlesrobertd 1y ago[dead]
- more_corn 1y agoDosadi Experiment is better than Dune. Just sayin.
- NikolaNovak 1y agoI will check it out ; in which manner is it superior?
- theli0nheart 1y agoThis is a lovely story. Thanks for sharing.
- ilamont 1y agoWow. What a great story. An in translation, no less. The Greek translator must have been very talented. (Kind of curious now ... were the other translated editions in non-English languages as powerful? Do readers of science fiction in other languages seek out works by specific translators or publishers known to have great translations?)
- chrisweekly 1y ago"translated by GPT"
- grujicd 1y agoI believe parent was talking about translated book, not about the comment.
- mortos 1y agoI'm fairly certain their post is translated, they said the received the book in 1993 which predates GPT by at least a couple years
- olddustytrail 1y agoI think they're talking about both the comment being translated by ChatGPT and that the book was a Greek translation of Neuromancer.
- daremon 1y agoYes exactly, I had this story written in Greek and used GPT to translate it. The Greek edition I read was from 1989.
- chrisweekly 1y agoRespectfully, they wrote, "Sorry for the long post (translated by GPT as it was originally in Greek)." It seems unambiguous to me, they were referring to their own posted comment. Edited to add: they also confirmed same in this thread.
- 1y ago
- silenced_trope 1y agoNice! Did you read the rest of the Sprawl Trilogy too? What do you think of the other books?
- daremon 1y agoYes I read them and I loved them. Not the same effect of course, as Gibson's futuristic world was already described, but good nonetheless.
- slim 1y agoI read it in 1996. and it was a t-file from a bbs. I had to sit in front of my 386sx everyday to read the text in dos edit. it took weeks. because it was in english and I was learning english at the same time. you gave me the urge to reread it now :)
- VladVladikoff 1y ago>I married the girl who gave me the book, we had kids :) >but eventually we divorced 29 years later. :( >Still friends. :)
- bmacho 1y ago>A girl I barely knew :( >handed me Neuromancer :)
- Bluestein 1y ago> I married the girl who gave me the book Neu-romance-er :)
- IgorPartola 1y agoI barely knew her!
- Kon5ole 1y ago>To this day, I still re-read it every year or two, and it never loses its magic. And I can still describe what's happening on any given page although this has faded a lot. That's interesting! I have a similar experience but for the opposite reason. I like the book and have enjoyed reading it several times, and listened to the audiobook just before the pandemic. I know I like it and consider it to be a good book, but every time it's like I'm reading it for the first time. I can only remember thew "mood" so to speak, nothing about when, where, who, what. Even now, just 5 years after the last time. I think it is related to Gibson's prose, but I remember Pattern Recognition quite well despite having read that only once. Neuromancer is just a complete blank, except I know I like it. Wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience with a book?
- daremon 1y agoIt gets better: I could not finish Pattern Recognition, it was a struggle and I cannot remember anything from it!
- themadturk 1y agoAh, this pains me, because I think PR is his best book!
- mercer 1y agoI have the same experience, but with Snow Crash...
- gknoy 1y ago> every time it's like I'm reading it for the first time. I can only remember thew "mood" so to speak, I am like this with a lot of books. I'll remember a very high level overview ("The Historian is about a modern day hunt for Dracula, and it's really cool, and I liked how the story was told, but I can't remember why or any of what happened."), but can't remember much about plot details. It makes re-reading things fun, but also is frustrating because I can't explain why something was good, and I also remember just enough that plot twists don't surprise me the second time. It also means that I completely forget about the "bad" parts of the book, or the parts that didn't resonate with me.
- metroholografix 1y agoGreat story! I also read Neuromancer for the first time in Greek translation (Αίολος), around 1995, knowing nothing about the book otherwise. It was a blind buy in a bookstore solely because I liked the cover and the short synopsis on the back. It was a book that changed my life. I remember being drenched in sweat when I finished it, and I immediately re-read it without a break. I was already at age 14 hopelessly hooked on computers, but Neuromancer completely rewired how I thought about technology (it was the first book I came across that put forth a non-anthropocentric point of view, with Technology being presented as both an addictive drug and a force in itself, bringing about its own teleology). That book was the main impetus for me connecting to the Internet, installing Linux and getting involved with the European hacking underground of the mid to late 90s. I also periodically re-read it (now in English): the prose still seems razor-sharp and the divergent feelings are still being evoked. Plus, it's an insanely hyperstitional book: one gets the feeling that Gibson (whose non-Sprawl work pales in comparison and who has never again reached these heights) didn't just write a heist-story filled with countercultural sensibilities but channeled something greater, something that has been intricately involved with how the world we experience has evolved. Looking back on those days, I now wish I'd read it in English for the first time. The Greek translation is not bad but it feels kind of archaic and doesn't do justice to the brilliance of Gibson's dystopian vision.
- daremon 1y agoSo many common things! It also inspired my love for Linux (I installed Slackware back then), for "hacking" and also pushed me into the demoscene which I much enjoyed! PS I read the one by AQUARIUS
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- PontingClarke 1y ago[dead]