Why I love William Gibson

William Gibson is a writer of Science Fiction. He is cited as the person who coined the term "cyberspace" and often writes in what is consider the "cyberpunk" genre. His writing is very detailed but the magic of it is that his highly detailed writing is often prophetic. By that I mean he takes concepts and ideas and puts them down on paper as what they could be. The easiest example I can use is Gibson's use of technology in his writing. When the internet was just being born, Gibson was writing about it as if it had been in society for decades. It's as if the Ford Model T just came out and Gibson is already talking about Ferrari's, and describing them in great detail. One of the greatest aspects of his writing is that it is believable. The things he writes about with respect to technology are crafted with such a realism that they are not only believable but conceivable in the near future.
But the reason why I love William Gibson, is that everytime I read one of his books or his stories or even his blog, I consistently learn something new. His last book, Pattern Recognition, required me to have access to the web so that I could look up and understand some of the things he mentions as well as major plot points. I think that is the mark of a good writer. The ability to not only engage me with a story but to also make me learn something new and to have me do it willingly is really a special quality. I encourage anyone to pick up some of his books, especially Neuromancer.