Pattern Recognition by William Gibson

There's little to tie this book to traditional Science Fiction, but the story is truly a distillation of what the genre is supposed to be. William Gibson, father of cyberpunk, is the man who created the concept of virtual reality and explored the concepts and potential of what would become world wide web. He crafts Pattern Recognition into a near-future tale that is an astounding example of what good science fiction can be.

Cayce Pollard is a "cool-hunter" hired by companies to spot emerging trends and subcultures before they become mainstream. She's fiercely allergic to trademarks, having physical and visceral reactions to the strongest of them. The Michelin Man gives her vertigo. Hilfiger gives her a rash. Yet she presses on, because she has a gift. She's obsessed with an emerging Internet art known only as "the footage", snippets of a film released sporadically throughout the web, hunted and treasured by aficionados around the world. Nobody knows who's making the film, what it's all about, where it's coming from. The speculation is endless. Is it a narrative? An art form? Is it being released chronologically? By a studio? A mad genius?

After finishing a job for an obnoxious Belgian design firm, Cayce is given the opportunity for the job of a lifetime. Someone wants to pay her and give her unlimited resources to find the source of The Footage. She accepts, more for herself than for any kind of lucre, and begins a jaunt around the world and the world wide web in search of the source. What she finds is astounding, heartbreaking, and thrilling.

The beauty of the story is its absolute plausibility. Many companies have tried to market themselves through viral videos (the Lost Experience, Sprite Sublymonal, Cry Wolf), and some independent filmmakers have captivated the world (lonelygirl15). Gibson creates an incredibly poignant hero in Cayce Pollard, whose father disappeared the morning of 9/11, and whose whereabouts remain a mystery years later. Technology becomes a portal to loneliness, loss, heartache, fear, reconnection, love, and hope. This novel is the benchmark for modern Sci-Fi.

Also, after reading the novel, you'll be sure to want to investigate Curta Mechanical Calculators, Buzz Rickson's Bomber Jackets, and titanium laptops. The story is mostly about aversion to marketing, but damn. I really want one of those little grenade-shaped calculators.