The Shockwave Rider

John Brunner is arguably the innovator of the cyberpunk genre (think Neuromancer or Count Zero from William Gibson, or Neil Stephenson's Diamond Age or Snow Crash).The Shockwave Rider tells a story of a dystopian future, where every aspect of daily life is controlled by corporations, humans are slaves to their station in life, and there's no hope or escape. One man has found a way to fight the system, to hide who he is by altering his identity, and makes multiple attempts to change the system for the better. His backstory is filled in as the book progresses, how he came to be who he is and why he is able to do the things he is able to do.Some of the writing is a bit ham-handed (I don't think Brunner displays a deft hand when it comes to interpersonal relationships), but the more general over-arching themes of government-corporate partnership, social stratification, global surveillance, and cultural oppressiveness are well fleshed out carry the story. If you enjoy cyberpunk or dystopian future stories, it's worth a read.

I will be honest - my actual review is 4 stars instead of 5. This amazing book has been so ignored by the Sci Fi community that I am bumping it up to 5 stars.Near future Sci Fi is difficult to pull off because if the book stays around long enough the predictions will be disproved. Brunner managed to get a lot of his predictions right. "Tapeworms" and "phages" predicted computer worms and viruses. The hacking and lack of privacy looks correct. We are on the verge of the "genetic optimization" prediction. "Economic Obsolescence" looks correct. Social paranoia from lack of trust from unprecedented data flow looks a lot like the political climate we have today. Globalization also looks like the world of today. Even having organized criminals in government sounds like today. ;-) The hacking of "Delphi Pools" seem a lot like the hacking that is currently in financial markets. Even the over specialization seems correct.So why is this book ignored? It doesn't even have an audible book yet. I get the impression that John Brunner was not liked by the Sci Fi community.

"The Shockwave Rider" by John Brunner is a story that is quite simply stunning and remarkable. Prescient, erudite, intense, all to real, and disturbing. With similarities to "Catch Me If You Can" and Orwell's "1984" this story will grab you with its eclectic verbiage, emotion, and prophetic storyline. The writing style is fluid, the atmospheric backdrops stunning, the science both encouraging and unsettling. Technology run amok...this is a must read for all futurists and fans of the science fiction genre. 4 stars!!!!

Brunner was one of the very few who was able to follow the logical evolution of technology to it's inevitable conclusion. Some of the very jargon that describes todays internet and supplementary tech came from his mind. He describes it's use and abuse and warns us of our utter dependance leading us toward ruin. It may be too late now, but thanks to him some of us were lucky enough to have been given a slow motion view of the longest lasting train wreck in history.

The Shockwave Rider (Kindle Edition) by John BrunnerA quick read, and interesting.who, or what determines who, or what we are? In a world run by computers and politics gone awry, how can anyone claim to be an individual? And what happens when you peel away the lawyers to reveal the slimy underbelly?

After the Club of Rome published the famous book, "The Limits to Growth", John Brunner published four SF novels exploring the social problems that could result. They were set only 45 years in his future: 2020. This is one of them, and it's still worth reading. I've always loved these books, because each is hopeful, about realistic ways that human potential might break through the limits to growth. In this case, the central character is a person that can "surf" future shock as society exceeds a human ability to adapt.

I read this book before personal computers and smart phones. Basically, it's about having the ability to change one's digital identity, being of the anti-hero on the wrong side of oppresive law. I found it entertaining when I was young, and decided it was rather delightful to buy the digital version and download it to my Kindle as a kind of homage to Brunner's book. I am going to re-read it a half century later, and see how well he anticipated the present and not so far future. Brunner was a British author educated in the previous millennium, so this is written well. It is much lighter in tone than two of Brunner's other dystopian futures.I recommend them as well, "The Sheep Look Up", and "Stand on Zanzibar". Bleak? You betcha! Dismally, some things Brunner 'imagined' are taking place in today's news. Bladerunner/"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" seem like a Disney romp by comparison.

Sci-fi is always amazing for the ability to look ahead and warn of perils to come. But reading this gem at the end of a year of turmoil, fake news and struggle for power raises the proverbial hair on the back of your neck. Great insights to make you think of the world we've created. Now what do with all this power?

I had this book on my list of to read materials as it was a proto-cyberpunk novel, and finally got past my inertia when technology journalist John Markoff recommended it.Brunner was a British science fiction writer who did his best work in the 1960s and early 1970s in this book he reflects on a connected world not too far away from the one that we live in. Despite Brunner’s roots he manages to speak with a confident American voice in his writing; something that I don’t think is a bad thing, but caused friction with his contemporaries.The main protagonist is a hacker who has used his skills to conjure new identities and ends up starting a revolution through the creation of computer viruses and worms. Brunner is credited with introducing the concept of the modern computer worm.His work reflects a different society to our own where our identities can be broken (if you have the skill or the money) and a new one forged – a vision 180 degrees away from what governments, advertisers and social networks want. He is on to something with The Ear – a service that audiences can contact and will be listened to in privacy and without judgement. The secular confessional it represents feels like something the world needs as a counterweight to the cognitive dissonance and connectivity-as-social-value of social networks like Facebook and SnapChat.

In terms of predictive, social sci-fi John Brunner is an author without peer. Everything else is in his shadow. This novel is one of the loose 'future shock' trilogy along with 'The Sheep Look Up' and 'Stand on Zanzibar'. Extrapolated fron Alvin Tofflers 'Future Shock' accademic treatise of the late 60's the trilogy is spookily accurate at predicting the world of now, the 2010's. 'Shockwave Rider's' primary focus is on the internet, hackers, viruses and governemt control and manipulation; and whilst the predicted technology and future here is a little different to what we have, it's certainly so close as to make no difference. But it's not predicting technology where Brunner stands out, it's predicting the culture and zeitgeist. Great sci-fi will expand your understanding of the world you live in and teach you something without being preachy or didactic and this book does that. I've read 'Zanzibar' which is in the SF masterworks series, and I'm just about to embark on an oversize large print version of 'Sheep' which is the only version available and what surprises me is that Brunners work is so hard to get hold of and is mostly out of print. This to my mind is a crime and a failing on the part of the publishing industry...perhaps his work is too seditious and too terrible and real for general consumption. Brunners work is REQUIRED READING!!!!!!

Brunner's classic stands tall in the annals of sci-fi and experimental fiction. Alongside Philip K Dick, Brunner's Shockwave Rider ripped open the possible in terms of imagination and future finger pointing. Read it! You won't regret it.

This is the book that invented the Internet.

Excellent book, i was amazed it was written so long ago as the story is applicable to the present.