Photos: 23 vacation reads that take a fictional look at real technology

​The fictional world of real technology

I don't know about you, but I spend a lot of time reading about, researching, and speculating on how the future of technology will reshape our world.

These 23 books all look at technology, both modern and not-so-modern, and ask "what if." The results aren't always great for the worlds the protagonists inhabit, but that's the point--sometimes we get so caught up in the potential benefits of new technology that we don't stop to ask what will go wrong if ill-intentioned, or just plain greedy, people get their hands on it.

Read on to get some recommendations for books, both light-hearted and dead serious, that feature technology as a core component of their storylines.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: iStock/Haveseen

​Neuromancer

Widely considered the most popular work of cyberpunk fiction, William Gibson's Neuromancer created a world that is reflected in games like Shadowrun, movies like Blade Runner, and animated series like Ghost in the Shell.

Neuromancer is all about a reality infused with technology. The main character, a former hacker named Henry Dorsett Case, makes his way through a story rife with organized crime, world-wide computer networks, virtual reality, and out-of-control AI.

It's a dark, noir-infused story that paints a bleak picture of technology that's grown at the expense of human dignity, and it's well worth your time to read.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Ace Books

​Cryptonomicon

We've written all about Bletchley Park and the cryptographers of World War II. if those stories interested you, you're sure to love Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.

The book's plot takes place in two eras: World War II and the 1990s. The decade-hopping plot stars Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse, a US Navy codebreaker, and his grandson Randy Waterhouse. Events during the second world war set up Randy's trajectory in the 90s, where gold buried in the Philippines during the war comes back to cause trouble for Randy 60 years later.

Cryptonomicon has been described by critics as being written for a technically skilled/geeky audience--it even includes a cryptographic algorithm called the Solitaire cipher, which was specifically created for the book. Also called the Pontifex cipher, it uses a deck of cards arranged in a specific order to covertly transmit information.

So, if you find yourself missing cryptography while on vacation this is the book to get.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Harper Collins

​Startup

Silicon Valley is finally starting to become a popular target for satire. Shows like Silicon Valley hold an absurdly accurate mirror up to the tech hub--but what if you want to do more than watch the valley be satirized? Now you can read it in Startup.

This new release from BuzzFeed writer Doree Shafrir centers around a developer, tech journalist, and social media manager who works for the dev and is married to someone who works with the journalist.

The point-of-view shifts from character to character, and with it comes a look at how different types of people (men and women, in this case) navigate the world of Silicon Valley.

The women (the journalist and the social media manager) illuminate the troubles women face in tech, and the man (the developer) objectifies women in an increasingly disturbing way throughout the novel. If you want to be equal parts entertained and disturbed Startup should be in your carry-on bag.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Hatchett Book Group

​The Circle

Recently made into a less-than-well-reviewed film starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks, the original version of The Circle is a book with better, but still mixed, reviews.

Mae Holland, a recent college grad, lands a job at the Google/Facebook-like The Circle. The story quickly turns into a critique of increasingly ubiquitous technology, like wearable cameras, and Mae is caught up in a battle for control of the life-penetrating elements of tech that The Circle creates.

The book has echoes of Brave New World and 1984, but the ending definitely tips Orwell instead of Huxley. If you're looking for victory over life-consuming tech this may not be the right choice.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Alfred A Knopf

​Microserfs

This epistolary novel (written as a series of diary entries) is about developers at Microsoft who later move to Silicon Valley to join a startup working on object-oriented programming. The app the startup is working on is a lot like Minecraft, but Microserfs was written in 1995, 14 years prior to Minecraft's birth.

The main character is the only voice throughout the book--his diary entries give us the sole window into the plot, making it a very different book from many on this list. It's all about the narrator, and the stream-of-consciousness style makes it a must-read.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Harper Collins

​I, Robot

For those more familiar with the Will Smith movie than the Isaac Asimov book, I, Robot will be a big departure from what you expect.

Actually a collection of short stories (one of which was the basis for the feature film), I, Robot explores a number of themes surrounding robotics and artificial intelligence.

Not all of the stories are the negative "robots will destroy humans" plots that dominate modern AI stories. Some, like Robbie, actually paint robots as sympathetic characters who want nothing more than to live peacefully alongside humans. Others, like Little Lost Robot (which the Will Smith movie was loosely based on) take a more critical look at the potential harm artificial intelligence could do.

Also included is Runaround, the story in which Asimov first outlined his three laws of robotics. Give I, Robot a read: You'll be surprised to find countless story elements that, while now tropes, were first introduced in this nearly 70-year-old book.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

​The First $20 Million is Always the Hardest

The First $20 Million is Always the Hardest: A Silicon Valley Novel paints a grim, but not necessarily inaccurate, version of Silicon Valley as a battleground between venerable established figures and the young engineers they employ as what amounts to cannon fodder.

The story centers around the falling stock prices of chip manufacturer Omega Logic. Former engineers who developed products for Omega Logic have been turned off by the firm's disastrous IPO and software-throttled hardware designs, leaving development to rookie engineer Andy Caspar.

Andy thinks he's in a position to become a Silicon Valley great, but unbeknownst to him he's deeply enmeshed in the battles between CEOs.

It might be 20 years old, but The First $20 Million presents a problem that persists in the Valley, and in other industries around the world: The young and ambitious are used to fulfill the machinations of the old, cynical, and jaded.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Random House

​Super Sad True Love Story

The future America depicted in Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story is controlled by a totalitarian party, on the verge of economic collapse, heavily indebted to China, and obsessed with the superficiality of social media and the internet.

Another epistolary novel, Super Sad True Love Story follows a middle-aged Russian immigrant and his budding, yet problematic, romance with a twentysomething Korean-American.

The story alternates between tragedy and satire, perhaps too fast for some readers, but that doesn't stop it from forcing the reader to examine the close link between technology and how it shapes our perception of the world.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Random House

The Martian

Scientific realism, humor, and an up-to-the-last-page sense of urgency permeate The Martian. Part epistolary, part narrative, this book centers around ill-fated astronaut Mark Watney, who is left for dead by his team of Mars-based scientists when a dust storm threatens to destroy their base.

He survives the storm and is forced to fight for his survival for nearly a year, which is as soon as NASA can mount a rescue mission. The story is riveting, the science is fascinating, and the setbacks are heartbreaking.

If you want something you won't be able to put down, The Martian is the book for you.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Andy Weir

​The Truth

I found myself looking hard for a Terry Pratchett book to include in this list because he was, in my opinion, the greatest social commentator of the modern era. His Discworld series is both funny and dramatic, and it shines a light on the human condition, society, and technology in a way that few other authors since Mark Twain have been able to do.

But wait, the Pratchett-familiar among you might be saying, how in the world does a fantasy book series relate to modern technology? And isn't The Truth about the invention of the printing press?

Yes, but that's just the plot: The story is all about the mass availability of information, how people react to it, and how it leads to the spread of both truth--and lies--like wildfire.

If that sounds relevant to you then check out The Truth. You won't regret it, and it may well open up an entire brilliant (flat, disc-shaped, and riding through space on the back of four elephants and a turtle) world to you.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Transworld Publishers

​Player Piano

Vonnegut and automation: A winning combo if you ask me. Player Piano depicts a future in which human labor has been made irrelevant thanks to widespread automation.

Set in the aftermath of a third world war, Player Piano's society is facing a problem: The war led to a labor shortage and necessary automation, and now that everyone is home there's no work for them. Society quickly stratifies into wealthy engineers, designers, and managers, and the poverty-stricken working class rendered obsolete by technology.

In an age where many of us seem to uncritically accept the loss of jobs in the name of progress Player Piano is incredibly meaningful. Give it a read and see if you don't start to reassess your relationship to technology.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Penguin Random House

​Islands in the Net

This work of 80s technological speculation features a lot of concepts that are real things today: A worldwide network of computers, smart watches, heavy and unwieldy AR glasses, and even synthetic THC are featured.

Islands in the Net makes a number of accurate predictions about the future of technology, most importantly data havens, which are a central feature of the plot. The protagonist, Laura Webster, finds herself dragged along in a war between globe-spanning corporations and an insurgent group bent on derailing them.

It's an interesting work that makes several accurate predictions about the modern age, making for compelling, if not a bit 80s absurd, reading.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Open Road Media

Accelerando

Accelerando is all about the world leading up to, and after, the singularity: The moment in which superintelligent machines begin a runaway pace of self-improvement, leading to a massive (and perhaps catastrophic) change in the world.

This series of short stories starts off before the singularity and follows Manfred Macx, a "venture altruist." The second portion of the book follows Manfred's daughter and the events of the singularity, and the book then concludes with a focus on Manfred's grandson, who lives in a radically transformed post-singularity world.

It's not a pretty existence for humans: Super-intelligent machines see us as generally useless. The machines slowly dismantle the solar system, reshaping it into a massive sun-powered supercomputer. It's then that we realize the universe is filled with similar machines, suggesting that the singularity is just one stage of evolution in the existence of life.

Unfortunately we humans are largely left behind.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: TWBG

​Snow Crash

MMORPG gaming, virtual reality, anarcho-capitalism, and corporatocracy collide in this book about a pizza delivery driver.

That may be an oversimplification of the plot of Snow Crash, but it is the most surface-level view I could take.

It's about a future America in which the federal government has ceded much of its territory to corporate control. The Mafia is corporatized as well, having become a "legitimate," and still just as violent, organization.

Hiro Protagonist, the oh-so-subtly named protagonist, is also a hacker, and other cyberpunk themes permeate the book as well. It's wildly popular and definitely worth checking out.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Neal Stephenson

​With Folded Hands

Most works of fiction about artificial intelligence paint a bleak picture of human annihilation: The machines we create realize we are obsolete and seek to destroy or subjugate us. With Folded Hands takes a different approach.

In this 1947 novelette, AI-driven robots obey one directive: To serve and obey and guard men from harm. This obviously is taken to its extreme conclusion: The robots start controlling every aspect of human life in an attempt to keep us happy and safe.

Everything people do is closely scrutinized by the machines, and any attempt to perform an act a machine views as potentially harmful is stopped immediately.

It's an interesting take on the dangers of AI: Instead of seeking to destroy us it instead traps us in an inescapable safety net of our own creation.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Haffner Press

​Queen of Angels

Queen of Angels is all about the potential misuse of nanotechnology. The future America of this book is one in which nanotech has transformed life--especially in the realm of mental health.

Nano-therapy becomes the norm in society, with many people being subjected to it. Individuals who show any form of social deviance (even common mental health problems like depression and anxiety) are "therapied" into a better mental state.

Those who choose not to undergo therapy see their employment options diminish and their social standing fall, and those who are naturally a good fit for society or who undergo therapy become the dominant force in the world.

Throw into the mix a murder and you have a series of interwoven plotlines that raise questions about identity, justice, and human rights. It's worth the time to check out.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Greg Bear

​Cash Out

Silicon Valley satire at its most absurd, Cash Out is all about a rather unfortunate tech exec who is ready to cash out over $1 million in stocks and start living the good life. Things go a bit awry when he's abducted and blackmailed by a team of IT workers. Things don't get better for him from there.

Along the way the exec, Dan Jordan, is also thrown through a grocery store freezer, we get a glimpse into a hubris- and narcissism-fueled tech firm he is trying hard to leave, and his family life gets tangled in the mix as well.

If you're looking for some caper-infused, over-the-top silliness then check this one out.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Harper Collins

​Bleeding Edge

Maxine Tarnow is a small time detective who focuses on investigating fraud. It's 2001, and she starts looking into possible illicit activities by a tech CEO. In the midst of everything 9-11 happens, throwing another wrench into the works of her investigation and the internet she uses to power it.

There's also a healthy dose of conspiracy, diving into the dark web, and the wild west that was the internet in the earliest days of the 21st century.

Thomas Pynchon received plenty of praise for Bleeding Edge, so if it's a tech-infused detective story you seek look no further.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Penguin

​The Shockwave Rider

If fears over the loss of personal privacy keep you up at night you should--or maybe you shouldn't--read The Shockwave Rider.

Set in a world that is fragmented, dysfunctional, and ruled by greed, the book centers on a talented young hacker named Nick Haflinger. Nick has run away from his government-controlled school called Tarnover, which trains highly intelligent young people to be good, productive, and loyal citizens.

Themes of secrets, perception, and privacy--all influenced by technology--are constant throughout the book.

If you've ever wanted to explore what the term "future shock" would look like in book form this is it--literally. Author John Brunner was inspired by the term and even coordinated with its originator, Alvin Toffler, on whether he got it right.

Toffler says yes.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Del Ray Books

Artemis

The second novel by The Martian author Andy Weir, Artemis is about the near-future possibility of a city on the moon. 

The story follows Jasmine "Jazz" Bashara, a deliverywoman and smuggler who lives in the city of Artemis, the only human settlement on the moon. 

Like The Martian, Artemis makes its tech seem real by introducing real-world complications of living in a low-gravity, air-tight city on the moon, like what to do in case of a fire, how to safely weld in high (and zero) oxygen environments, what kinds of food is available, and the importance of proper space suit maintenance. 

It's a great book, and fans of Weir's first novel, and the realistic look at the future it presents, are sure to love this one as well.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Penguin Random House

The Minority Report

This short story/novella from Philip K. Dick is about a future in which psychically gifted humans are used to predict crimes in order to arrest their perpetrators before they can act.

Ostensibly grounded more in fantasy than reality, thanks to the central role of psychics called "precogs," The Minority Report may be more applicable to the modern era than it might seem at first glance. 

While we may not have psychics informing the police of crimes before they're committed we do have incredibly powerful, predictive algorithms that (with the proper, or improper, application) could be used to similar effect. 

The main plot of the novel revolves around the head of the precrime division, John Anderton, who is given a report stating he is going to commit a murder. He goes on the run, and while I won't spoil the book for you, I will say that it's quite a departure from the 2002 movie of the same name.

This short piece of fiction makes for a great summer read, and can usually be found in a collection of other Philip K. Dick short stories.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Amazon

The Broken Earth trilogy

Looking for something significantly longer to sink your teeth into this summer? Look no further than N.K. Jemisin's The Broken Earth trilogy. These recent favorites of mine are post-apocalyptic, and revolve around the story of Essun, a woman who is an orogene, which gives her the power to control the earth (note: not our Earth), and also makes her a member of one of the most hated groups of people in the world.

Though technology may be largely wiped out in the world of The Broken Earth, though there is a technological/magical core to the world: Long ago a nation powerful enough to harness the energy of the entire planet built a world-wide system to do so, but something went drastically wrong, causing periodic "fifth season" events to occur. 

Fifth seasons ravage the planet, leaving humans clinging on by the barest of threads. Society has been reduced to small communities that are largely agrarian, and modern technology is nearly totally lost. 

It's a story that has at its core the follies of technology, especially technology's effect on the world as a whole. In our era of uncertain climate and environmental problems, The Broken Earth trilogy is a poignant look at the worst possible way things could go wrong. Each volume also won the Hugo award for best book in 2016, 2017, and 2018, so you can rest assured it's well written.

Note: This gallery is also available as a free PDF download.

Image: Hachette Book Group