Headcrash

Bruce Bethke managed to write a mostly unfunny novelization of three or four Dilbert strips. The book was relevant for some two weeks, I guess, and they were gone before the hardcover edition saw the light of day (perhaps the reviewers at the publishing house read the manuscript at that time?). The protagonist is an unmitigated, weapons-grade J.E.R.K. with the declared IQ of two million and the tested one around minus ten. Other characters rustle when moving around - theyre paper, not even cardboard. The reality of 2005 is more like June 3, 1994, with snazzy car names. All in all, forget you saw this book. Buy something else, a Coke, a burger, anything would be healthier - even a pack of untipped Gauloises. The environmental impact would be smaller, too.

Its anarchic, somewhat uncontrolled, and rather free-form. The ending is weakly executed, relying on a deus in machina that isnt really hinted at anywhere earlier in the text. But apart from that, this has got to be the funniest SF novel of the decade. Bethkes portrayal of humourless and politically correct corporate culture, and the hive-like working conditions endemic in the software business, is spot-on; he also exhibits a very un-american talent for irony and sarcasm (which seems to have flown right over the heads of some of the other people whove posted reviews here). Put the two together and you get an explosive, anarchic comedy of errors set against a backdrop that will give software engineers everywhere a shudder of deja vu.

If you like sarcastic comedy then Headcrash is the book for you. I must say at times the comedy got a little annoying, but it kept me chuckling. Bethke did a great job of keeping his audience entertained. I thought the book was very interesting, and one of the best cyberpunk books I have ever read. Headcrash was one of the more believable futuristic novels if you dont count the talking bears, and dolls at the end. Headcrash can be compared to Snowcrash only in Snowcrash the characters could die in virtual reality, and in Headcrash virtual reality is what it was meant to be, a place to escape with out really getting hurt, or was it? The protagonist in Headcrash, Jack, a.k.a Pyle, alias MAX_KOOL, was fired from his job, and was hired in virtual reality to steal files for another virtual user, Amber. The plot takes an exciting twist when Eliza, the assumed bad guy suddenly isnt so horrible. Through out the whole book you are left wondering who are these virtual characters in real reality? If you want to know, you have to read the whole book to find out. I must say the ending was very surprising, and kept me hoping there would be a sequel coming soon. On a scale of 1 to 5 stars, one being the lowest, five being the highest I would give Headcrash 4 stars. I didnt give this book the full five stars because some parts of the book I found to be a little predictable and some parts were a little idiotic, but over all it was very entertaining, and you didnt have to sit down with a dictionary to get through the book. It was written in a very clear manner, as was Bethkes short story Cyberpunk. Unlike many other cyberpunk books that jump from scene to scene, and have too many characters to keep track of, such as Slant, Headcrash flowed nicely, and the characters were well developed, and clearly separable.

Bethke did a great job of getting into the details of network technology, extrapolating the future, including the inside jokes, and keeping the book readable. On top of all that, its funny and it has a good plot with some seriously STRANGE twists to it. With any luck, well see more books in this style from Bethke. Ill be first in line to pick one up.

What more can I add about this super cool and classic novel? Im very happy I read this.

I think some coworkers recommended this book back when it was first published, but I refused to read it being a Gibson snob at the time. Im glad I finally read it. It immediately moved onto my short list of favorite books. The world & sense of humor kind of resemble early Shadowrun (without magic), or the Cyberpunk 2020 pen-&-paper RPG, or the Steve Jackson GURPS Cyberpunk rules.

My, how things change, and how they stay the same. Headcrash brings us the story of one Jack Burroughs, a sysadmin for a multinational conglomerate, who keeps his day job only because it finances his excursions into cyberspace, where in virtual reality he is cool dude MAX_KOOL instead of a nerd. Unfortunately, due to internal politics and the innate inability to keep his mouth shut at inopportune moments, Jack loses said day job. Thus unemployed, he plunges head first -- or butt first, as the case may be -- into his virtual world, eventually taking on a commission to do a little cyberpiracy in exchange for a considerable remuneration. The fact that hell be looting the database of his former employer has nothing to do with his acceptance of the job. Nope, nothing at all. Written in 1995 and taking place in 2005, the storyline is somewhat dated and improbably technologically advanced from the perspective of 2011. Not being a gamer, I cant say whether the virtual reality environment as depicted here is realistic or even possible. The story moves at a frenetic pace, with hardly a break to catch ones breath. Regardless, its great fun, full of inside geek jokes and pop culture references. And seriously, how can you not like a book that begins: C:DOS C:DOS RUN RUN, DOS! RUN!

Delightful take on the whole cyberpunk genre. Particularly amusing to me, because I went to work at the IRL inspiration for Monolithic Diversified Enterprises and I worked for a Director who kept a laser-cut, transparent aluminum model of one of his products from his work in the Sanguinary Tech-Systems Division on the credenza in his office.

The book is worth your time!! It is on my shelf next to Microserfs and Snowchrash. The ending lives up to the title--it stops and you want more.

Bruce Bethke is one of the founders of the cyberpunk genre and the man who invented the term cyberpunk itself. I love his short story of the same title which started it all! Headcrash was his first novel and its a crazy ride through the early days of cyberpunk. Many authors and readers take the genre extremely seriously, some even see it as a political movement--which is, of course, total nonsense. Others believe cyberpunk is dead while some purists dont want to touch anything that was written after 1990. In Headcrash Bruce Bethke makes fun of this in a hilarious way. The book is a parody of the most common cyberpunk tropes and he even makes fun of the term cyberpunk itself. At a certain point in the story, the hero of the book, a hacker named Max Kool is introduced to several secret groups in cyberspace. There are cryopunks, cipherpunks, ciderpunks...and the worst of them all: the cyberpunks. This is clearly a very loving slap on the hand to those who complain theres not enough punk in cyberpunk... Sadly, this wonderful book is out of print and hard to come by. But if you can find it somewhere secondhand, I highly recommend giving Headcrash a shot. Its brilliant and a must-read for all cyberpunks!