Status
Available
Call number
Publication
New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016.
Description
Fiction. Literature. Thriller. HTML: A smart, tight, provocative techno-thriller straight out of the very near future�by an iconic visionary writer Some people call it "abyss gaze." Gaze into the abyss all day and the abyss will gaze into you. There are two types of people who think professionally about the future: Foresight strategists are civil futurists who think about geoengineering and smart cities and ways to evade Our Coming Doom; strategic forecasters are spook futurists, who think about geopolitical upheaval and drone warfare and ways to prepare clients for Our Coming Doom. The former are paid by nonprofits and charities, the latter by global security groups and corporate think tanks. For both types, if you're good at it, and you spend your days and nights doing it, then it's something you can't do for long. Depression sets in. Mental illness festers. And if the abyss gaze takes hold there's only one place to recover: Normal Head, in the wilds of Oregon, within the secure perimeter of an experimental forest. When Adam Dearden, a foresight strategist, arrives at Normal Head, he is desperate to unplug and be immersed in sylvan silence. But then a patient goes missing from his locked bedroom, leaving nothing but a pile of insects in his wake. A staff investigation ensues; surveillance becomes total. As the mystery of the disappeared man unravels in Warren Ellis's Normal, Adam uncovers a conspiracy that calls into question the core principles of how and why we think about the future�and the past, and the now..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member JJbooklvr
This book takes the famous quote from Nietzsche "And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you" and takes it in a different direction. One that is disturbing and will leave you pondering it for a long time. This book was originally published in a serialized form over four parts.
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I did not read it that way so do not know how well it worked. On the one hand I can see readers wanting to consume it all at once and it is short enough to easily read in a day. On the other hand reading it over time in four parts would force you to ponder each section for a longer time before moving on. I just know it was a very good read that got me thinking. Show Less
LibraryThing member ivan.frade
The figure of "loonies in the funny farm" to criticize society is not new. Here it is updated to the modern times, talking about surveillance, privacy and corporations. I say "talking" and not "focusing" because the author grabs any chance to jump onto a rant about any topic fancying him.
Still,
Still,
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Ellis has a knack for the wisecrack and the tone is light and fun, making it an enjoyable reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member wrevans
Enjoyed the ideas and writing. Would make a great part I of a full novel. Loved the dark humor and characters and foreboding undercurrent of modern tech surveillance.
LibraryThing member SESchend
Wow.
If you're wondering about better ways to think about the future and not just "when do I get a jet pack?", then this book will mess with your head. In a good way.
If you're wondering about better ways to think about the future and not just "when do I get a jet pack?", then this book will mess with your head. In a good way.
LibraryThing member plappen
There are two different types of people whose job it is to look into the future. Foresight strategists think about smart cities and ways to avoid the Coming Doom. Strategic forecasters think about drone warfare and ways to prepare their clients for the Coming Doom. "Looking into the abyss" is not
After an outburst at a conference in the Netherlands, Adam Dearden, a foresight strategist, is taken to Normal Head. Being cut off from the outside world sounds pretty good. The different types of futurists at Normal Head do not mix at all. A patient is suddenly missing from a locked room, leaving a pile of insects in his wake. There is a staff investigation. Sitting outside, Adam crushes an annoying bug, only to find that it is full of very sophisticated electronics. Both types of futurists become convinced that they should find, and destroy, any other surveillance insects.
It all has to do with the coming of total surveillance (not just of electronic communication but also of speech and handwritten communication) and a new type of mini drone that is sophisticated enough to drop its micro-explosive cargo on specific people in a political riot.
This is a short novel, and it's really good and really thought provoking. It says a lot about how and why humans think about the future, and the now. It is very much worth reading.
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something that can be done forever; eventually, depression sets in. If the dreaded "abyss gaze" takes hold, the only place to recover is at Normal Head, a facility inside an experimental forest in Oregon.After an outburst at a conference in the Netherlands, Adam Dearden, a foresight strategist, is taken to Normal Head. Being cut off from the outside world sounds pretty good. The different types of futurists at Normal Head do not mix at all. A patient is suddenly missing from a locked room, leaving a pile of insects in his wake. There is a staff investigation. Sitting outside, Adam crushes an annoying bug, only to find that it is full of very sophisticated electronics. Both types of futurists become convinced that they should find, and destroy, any other surveillance insects.
It all has to do with the coming of total surveillance (not just of electronic communication but also of speech and handwritten communication) and a new type of mini drone that is sophisticated enough to drop its micro-explosive cargo on specific people in a political riot.
This is a short novel, and it's really good and really thought provoking. It says a lot about how and why humans think about the future, and the now. It is very much worth reading.
Show Less
LibraryThing member sturlington
In this short novel, futurists who can no longer deal with the implications of the future they are creating--one where everyone is under surveillance--are sent to an isolated mental hospital in Oregon. I liked the ideas expressed in this book, although I did think at many points that the writing
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about technology was muddy and could have been clarified. I did think the novel was a bit gimmicky, though, and I didn't get a sense of any of the characters as real people. Interesting, but could have been further developed. Show Less
LibraryThing member thenumeraltwo
I think Warren Ellis would appreciate the moderness of my starting this book, which was released in an appropriately modern way.
As a peripheral fan of comic books, I was aware of Mr Ellis when I came across his blog, which has a persist autumnal feel. Stories of 21st Century hermitology and book
Having enjoyed the blog so much, when Kindle surface a short story for 99p (Kindle is so perfect for the short story) it was on my phone before I'd finished considering the purchase. If you enjoyed either of the Metropolis movies, go read Elektrograd Rusted Blood.
Having bought one book, Amazon's terrible recommendation engine stopped recommending more lawn mowers — surely one's enough — and will instead now suggest the rest of Ellis' oeuvre for the rest of time. Past either mine or his. Combined with the blog, I couldn't miss the release of Normal. A short ish story released in 4 parts, each available as Kindle one shots. Again, a part-considered purchase appeared on my phone, where it lay in the carousel of good intentions.
By the time I read part one, the experiment was over and the only way to read the remaining books was to buy the full story, which already felt anachronistic despite wirelessly paying and downloading it to my hand held tracking computer. The future hits you fast.
The story itself is set in the near future (present?) in an alternative asylum housing the sufferers of Abyss Gaze. A term so well applied I feel to explain it would be defunct. It skirts the line of satirising his futurology friends, but the joke is too real to cross the line.
As a peripheral fan of comic books, I was aware of Mr Ellis when I came across his blog, which has a persist autumnal feel. Stories of 21st Century hermitology and book
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reviews are accompanied with twilight photos of Scandicana. In one post he muses on retreating alone to a box in the woods for four days with some notepads and space to think. You can hear the thoughts crackling in the fallen leaves. Having enjoyed the blog so much, when Kindle surface a short story for 99p (Kindle is so perfect for the short story) it was on my phone before I'd finished considering the purchase. If you enjoyed either of the Metropolis movies, go read Elektrograd Rusted Blood.
Having bought one book, Amazon's terrible recommendation engine stopped recommending more lawn mowers — surely one's enough — and will instead now suggest the rest of Ellis' oeuvre for the rest of time. Past either mine or his. Combined with the blog, I couldn't miss the release of Normal. A short ish story released in 4 parts, each available as Kindle one shots. Again, a part-considered purchase appeared on my phone, where it lay in the carousel of good intentions.
By the time I read part one, the experiment was over and the only way to read the remaining books was to buy the full story, which already felt anachronistic despite wirelessly paying and downloading it to my hand held tracking computer. The future hits you fast.
The story itself is set in the near future (present?) in an alternative asylum housing the sufferers of Abyss Gaze. A term so well applied I feel to explain it would be defunct. It skirts the line of satirising his futurology friends, but the joke is too real to cross the line.
Show Less
LibraryThing member livingtech
Liked this, didn't love it. I actually did love how short it was, and narrow in scope. I think that helped it quite a bit.
LibraryThing member 3j0hn
The Hodgman narration is excellent.
LibraryThing member viviennestrauss
wonderfully weird, frightening and relevant - I read this in a single sitting, couldn't bring myself to put it down
LibraryThing member Kavinay
Feels like The Prisoner but really more of a reimagining of the I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.
LibraryThing member SESchend
Wow.
If you're wondering about better ways to think about the future and not just "when do I get a jet pack?", then this book will mess with your head. In a good way.
If you're wondering about better ways to think about the future and not just "when do I get a jet pack?", then this book will mess with your head. In a good way.
Awards
LibraryReads (Monthly Pick — November 2016)
Language
Original publication date
2016-11-29
ISBN
9780374534974