I just recently finished a book, which under most circumstances would be no great achievment, but in this case, it seems to be so. It is the first I have read in a very long time, and after finishing it, I came to many realisations.

One relates to a feeling of overall ignorance I have been having lately. Through out my entire life, I have always been the smartest and most knowledgeable person in every group of people I have been presented with. Now, whether this is due to the fact that I grew up in a very small town where education is not greatly emphasized or all that good to begin with, or whether, incidentally, I have always surrounded myself with people less intelligent than me, is of no consequence. The fact remains that I now feel ignorant and lacking in most conversations I enter into.

It seems though, after stimulating my brain in such a manner, I am suddenly finding myself to be less ignorant than I was before. It’s not that the book contained infinite wisdom that I have completely retained and suddenly I am transformed into an all-knowing being. Neither is it that the book was some sort of help-yourself-not-feel-so-ignorant type of book. It was a science fiction book that my mother told me about.

As a side note, I haven’t had much contact with my parents in a while. My mom used to complain all the time that she would read wonderful books and didn’t know anyone else who read them, so she’d have no one to talk to about it. I got the impression that she wanted me to read it so we’d have something to talk about. And considering I’m surprised that she’s even talking to me at all, I’m definitely glad for it.

It was an incredible book. The type of book that really makes you reconsider your surroundings and your future. And whether or not things really are what they seem. William Gibson is an extremely intelligent writer. He makes bizarre use of relevant past events. Many science fiction books set in the future are written with a currently impossible setting; often a streamlined, super clean, fast moving, completely automated environment where the daily tasks of today are completely obsolete and unheard of. The most intriguing thing about the book is that the all the dirt and grime and tedium of now is mixed so seamlessly with amenities and technology that we dream of and want. It’s so atypical. And so realistic. That’s what makes you stop and think. When at that very moment, by only changing what’s technologically possible you could be in that very place and the only difference would be those technologies… It’s a very compelling concept.

Interesting side note… Parts of The Matrix are pretty heavily based on it, though as a whole, the two aren’t very similar at all.