Neuromancer
Neuromancer by William Gibsonby William Gibson
Hacker ApprovedRanked 12 of 179 science fiction novels by recommenders
Praised for prescient, stylish cyberpunk world-building and iconic status; the common caveat is a difficult, uneven read that some find dated.
Praised for prescient, stylish cyberpunk world-building and iconic status; the common caveat is a difficult, uneven read that some find dated.
46 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 36
- criticize it
- 10
- approval share
- 78%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 20 years
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 36 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Holds up on rereading
“I've probably read the first 50 pages of Neuromancer 20 times, but only the entire novel 3-4 times in 20+ years.”
Comment from 7 Sep 2026 in “Every novel is boring until it isn't” “I recently re-read the sprawl trilogy and thought Neuromancer stood up very well”
Comment from 14 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Opening lines of famous literary works” “That is a pretty nitpicking reason to say it has not aged well.”
Comment from 9 Jul 2026 in “Meta reuses old RAM in new servers with custom bridge chip” - Comment from 7 Sep 2026 in “Every novel is boring until it isn't”
- Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Which books did you read at least twice?”
Prescient about technology and society
“Gibson (and later Stephenson) were prescient enough to realize that anonymity would be a commodity in the near future.”
Comment from 19 Mar 2026 in “Juggalo Makeup Blocks Facial Recognition Technology” “I was completely flabbergasted by how modern it felt to me.”
Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “William Gibson and the trademarking of cyberspace” “it was incredibly forward looking and almost prophetic”
Comment from 9 Jul 2026 in “Meta reuses old RAM in new servers with custom bridge chip” Imaginative world-building and novel concepts
“I love how in William Gibson's Neuromancer they have VR, true AI, and even fancy orbital resorts”
Comment from 4 Aug 2026 in “Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" is set today (2026-08-04)” “I really like the cheezy 80's-style depiction of interacting with cyberspace”
Comment from 26 Jul 2026 in “Neuromancer – Official Teaser” “imaginative world building, with some truly interesting and novel concepts”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “Will I ever own a zettaflop?” Stylish prose and iconic status
“found excellent again (and in places pithier in the era of AI)”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?” “Neuromancer is iconic in a way that needs no clumsy metaphor”
Comment from 18 Apr 2026 in “Apple TV's Upcoming Cyberpunk Series Will Be the Matrix Meets Blade Runner” “William Gibson's Neuromancer had this marvelous quote”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “Nvidia wants to put a watchdog chip next to every AI agent” - Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “The Art and Beauty of Blade Runner (2015)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Hard, uneven, chore-like reading
“An unrelenting chore. Once you're done though, it's satisfying to reflect on it.”
Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “We are living in a version of the future out of J.G. Ballard or William Gibson” “it was almost the same difficulty level, especially for a non-native reader”
Comment from 22 Aug 2026 in “We are living in a version of the future out of J.G. Ballard or William Gibson” “The inconsistency is what throws people. It can be a good book”
Comment from 9 Jul 2026 in “Meta reuses old RAM in new servers with custom bridge chip” - Comment from 27 Feb 2026 in “Dan Simmons, author of Hyperion, Song of Kali, dead at 77”
Some readers did not connect
“I didn't get on with Neuromancer or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? at all”
Comment from 18 Apr 2026 in “Isaac Asimov: The Last Question” “I agree that Neuromancer wasn't a great novel”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “Will I ever own a zettaflop?” “I'm going to skip this one.”
Comment from 9 Jul 2026 in “Neuromancer (TV Series) – IMDB” Plot seems cliched or parodic
“the plot as written is practically cliche at this point”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “The Title Cards in Blade Runner Are Fucking Amazing” “comes across as a kind of parody”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “The First Eighteen Lines of the Waste Land (1989)” “tried to be edgy and serious”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min”
Other science fiction novels people recommend
The four most recommended other science fiction novels, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Hail Maryby Andy Weir | 117 | 24 | 83% | 12 | — | Approved |
| There Is No Antimemetics Divisionby qntm | 98 | 34 | 74% | 9 | 1.5 yrs6 owners | Approved |
| Blindsightby Peter Watts | 96 | 27 | 78% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Duneby Frank Herbert | 82 | 25 | 77% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Neuromancerby William GibsonThis page | 36 | 10 | 78% | 10 | 20 yrs3 owners | Approved |
What people said
39 of the 48 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Scott Pilgrim, Hunt for Red October, Neuromancer, Dune grade content”
“Highly recommend the rest of the sprawl books.”
“I was completely flabbergasted by how modern it felt to me.”
“I've lost count of the times I've read Neuromancer.”
“I definitely recommend all.”
“I don't get why people think it's so prophetic.”
“found excellent again (and in places pithier in the era of AI)”
“William Gibson's Neuromancer had this marvelous quote”
“I've probably read the first 50 pages of Neuromancer 20 times, but only the entire novel 3-4 times in 20+ years.”
“I've probably read the first 50 pages of Neuromancer 20 times”
“being a brilliant stylist”
“it was almost the same difficulty level, especially for a non-native reader”
“An unrelenting chore. Once you're done though, it's satisfying to reflect on it.”
“MF had Cage inserting a power plug in his ear.”
“the plot as written is practically cliche at this point”
“I love how in William Gibson's Neuromancer they have VR, true AI, and even fancy orbital resorts”
“I really like the cheezy 80's-style depiction of interacting with cyberspace”
“I recently re-read the sprawl trilogy and thought Neuromancer stood up very well”
“in Neuromancer the mere existence of a bank of pay phones has stood out as one of those things which even my little updater would break hard”
“The inconsistency is what throws people. It can be a good book”
“it was incredibly forward looking and almost prophetic”
“That is a pretty nitpicking reason to say it has not aged well.”
“The books are loaded with statements against powerhungry politicans”
“I'm going to skip this one.”
“tried to be edgy and serious”
“I suppose Neuromancer/Count Zero/Mona Lisa Overdrive are a good start.”
“Neuromancer is iconic in a way that needs no clumsy metaphor”
“I didn't get on with Neuromancer or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? at all”
“imaginative world building, with some truly interesting and novel concepts”
“I agree that Neuromancer wasn't a great novel”
“Gibson's Neuromancer was likely a big influence too”
“I would put Neuromancer definitely”
“Gibson (and later Stephenson) were prescient enough to realize that anonymity would be a commodity in the near future.”
“only the first one really captivated me”
“cheest/unreadable like Neuromancer”
“Cyberpunk came about in the 1980s (eg Neuromancer , Blade Runner )”
“comes across as a kind of parody”
“Haha yes, these are all fantastic.”
“I'm not a fan of the nonstop dialogue”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.