Distrust that Particular Flavor

William Gibson's new book, which is basically a collection of articles from various magazines, anthology introductions, that kind of thing. Some are incredibly brief, a page or two at most; others are much longer. Appending each selection is a brief blurb about how Mr Gibson considers the article now, or some note about how or why it happened, or some pertinent anecdote. The end blurbs are all a bit interesting, just to see how he feels about things now, which is sometimes different, sometimes not, and sometimes, perhaps more evolved.

The selections themselves–well. I felt that for rather a few there was a complete lack of context. Some of them, especially the shorter ones, felt like disembodied appendages, because I had nothing with which to ground them, so I was a bit at a loss. The first couple selections, and his intro, I enjoyed. After that, it was almost hit or miss for me. Some of the longer ones made me a bit more comfortable. Even if they needed some editing (one in particular, which he notes, although I thoroughly enjoyed his obsession), there were grounding details, which I require. One tale, detailing his obsession with bidding and buying vintage watches on baby eBay, I actually completely enjoyed. It amused me, and fascinated me–I never would have considered watches...

All in all, a fair read. If you love Mr Gibson, it would be a pity and a sin to miss this little book.