You missed the whole point of the book and much of what the then emerging cyberpunk genre was all about.
This is the future, and we're not all wearing togas and lucite sandals. It's not paradise, it's a dangerous future. Things are continually changing and accelerating. If you need to have things explained to you, you're already lost and I don't have time to catch you up.
The relentless pace and lack of explanation was a conscious choice by Gibson and one I think is quite effective.
I always though that the naming of geologic formations allows an interesting glimpse into the mind of the those naming them. Thus we have the French christening mountains in Wyoming the Grand Tetons, and the Spanish dubbing mountains in New Mexico Sangre de Cristos (Blood of Christ).
The Public Radio show This American Life did a segment about this event in 1996 (it's act 3 of episode 37) and interviewed some of the survivors. They did a nice job exploring the segregation and racial issues. The show is available as a Real Audio stream from This American Life website.
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The opening sentence of CZ I agree is amazing, but my favorite part of CZ is the "Squirrel Ending".
You missed the whole point of the book and much of what the then emerging cyberpunk genre was all about.
This is the future, and we're not all wearing togas and lucite sandals. It's not paradise, it's a dangerous future. Things are continually changing and accelerating. If you need to have things explained to you, you're already lost and I don't have time to catch you up.
The relentless pace and lack of explanation was a conscious choice by Gibson and one I think is quite effective.
I always though that the naming of geologic formations allows an interesting glimpse into the mind of the those naming them. Thus we have the French christening mountains in Wyoming the Grand Tetons, and the Spanish dubbing mountains in New Mexico Sangre de Cristos (Blood of Christ).
The Mother of all stone Phalluses (picture taken in Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah).
The Public Radio show This American Life did a segment about this event in 1996 (it's act 3 of episode 37) and interviewed some of the survivors. They did a nice job exploring the segregation and racial issues. The show is available as a Real Audio stream from This American Life website.