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Title: Pertinent Commentary
Review: I can well understand why those who cut their teeth reading Gibson's _Neuromancer_, _Count Zero_, _Mona Lisa Overdrive_, etc., would find _Pattern Recognition_ very disappointing. However, not being a die-hard sci-fi fan, and not having been familiar with Gibson before I read this book, I found his satiric commentary on today's consumerism refreshingly erudite; I liked the way he couched his terms. Now, having read the aforementioned books (and finding that after the first one, all the "cutting-edge" stuff got a bit old), I think that although they are fun, "visionary" reads, _Pattern Recognition_ holds a stronger, more important message. No, it is not "cutting edge" in terms of sci-fi, even Gibson's sci-fi, but I admire Gibson's guts to embed social commentary within this genre so accurately and well, making this book more au curant in terms of its particular techno-gyrations.
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