16 Cyberpunk Books for Technology Fans

Cyberpunk is a genre that blends high technology (the cyber) with a deteriorating society (the punk). It features a gritty landscape where technological and scientific achievements are a dime-a-dozen, yet the quality of life seems to continue degrading. It’s no wonder it’s often summarized as “high-tech, low-life.”

It’s a popular genre of fiction, mainly because it offered an alternative to the common (and sometimes repetitive) stories during its era of creation. It was essentially a rebellion against conventional storytelling; an effort to bring fresh perspectives to science fiction.

Best Cyberpunk Books

From TV shows (Westworld, Altered Carbon), film (Blade Runner 2049), books (Warcross), and video games (Cyberpunk 2077), there’s a noticeable increase of media that pay homage to the genre. It’s safe to say that it’s undergoing a revival right now, with so many industries looking to the genre for inspiration and source material.

If this genre sounds interesting to you, I made a list of some of the most recommended cyberpunk books. To give you a rounded perspective, I’ve included the classics that shaped the genre and contemporary works that offer fresh ideas. Some of these predate the creation of cyberpunk but hold enough comparative elements to be considered part of the genre.

1. Neuromancer by William Gibson

Case was a gifted hacker until a mistake led to his nervous system being crippled, effectively exiling him from cyberspace. Now a mysterious employer is offering to cure his disability in exchange for his skills — and Case is more than desperate to get back in the game.

2. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Scientific innovations have led to the creation of androids virtually indistinguishable from real people. Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter, is tasked with finding and “retiring” six such androids. But they, just like humans, always fight back when cornered.

3. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

In a world where pizza companies are the mafia and the internet is a large part of reality, Hiro Protagonists makes a living as a hacker and part-time pizza delivery guy. When a computer virus capable of killing people in real life, Hiro needs to step up and prevent the infocalypse.

4. Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

Scientific advancements have made it possible for a person’s consciousness to be saved and transferred to another body. In a society that treats existence as a commodity, Takeshi Kovacs must uncover the mystery behind a man’s murder being covered up as a suicide.

5. Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo

In a post-apocalyptic Japan, a teenage boy starts developing paranormal powers. Pursued by a shadowy agency bent on preventing a disaster, he must learn to control his powers or risk awakening a monstrous entity known only as Akira.

6. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

An attack on his spaceship leaves Gulliver Foyle as the sole survivor. After six months of desperate survival, he sees hope in a passing ship that ignores his distress signal. Managing to escape, he sets out on a journey for revenge against those who left him to die.

7. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Food is now engineered and most of the world depends on greedy corporations for it. An exception is Thailand, which manages to maintain a pure seed bank to grow their crops with. Anderson Lake, a corporate man, is tasked with finding the bank but discovers something else instead.

8. Infomocracy by Malka Order

In the latter part of the 21st century, war is obsolete thanks to the abolition of the world’s nations. Instead, the world is divided into groups of 100,000 people (known as centenals) who vote for an international party to take control of the globe. The next election is coming up, and every party’s desperate to get ahead in the game.

9. Want by Cindy Pon

In near-future Taipei, pollution has become a plague that kills. The wealthy are able to prolong their lives with a special suit, while the poor experience illnesses and early deaths. One man seeks to change the status quo, only for his mission to grow blurrier the more he spends time with those he hate.

10. The Electric Church by Jeff Somers

Avery Cates, the best killer around, is tasked to assassinate the founder of the Electric Church, a newfound religion that consists of human brains transplanted to robot bodies without free will. They’re bent on converting anyone and everyone — even against their will.

11. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The OASIS, a massive virtual world has become an essential feature to daily living. When its creator dies, he leaves behind a contest to determine who inherits his vast fortune and ownership of the OASIS. For poverty-stricken Wade Watts, its the only chance he has to get away from a miserable ife.

12. Accelerando by Charles Stross

Artificial intelligence has surpassed human intellect and biotechnological life forms have pushed humanity to near extinction. Set in this bleak backdrop are three generations of the Macx clan struggling to survive in a universe where biological life is slowly turning unnecessary.

13. Company Town by Madeline Ashby

Hwa is the last truly organic person left in her community, set in a city-sized oil rig. This makes her an outsider, but her martial skills ensure she’s always in high demand. When a series of murders from a nearly invisible killer threatens the populace, the city’s most powerful family turn to her for protection.

14. Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams

Earth is beneath the control of the Orbital Corporations and Earth’s scattered colonies have no choice but to submit to the Orbital’s demands. After being betrayed by their Orbital employees, ex-fighter pilot Cowboy and cyborg Sarah team up to shift the balance of power.

15. Moxyland by Lauren Beukes

Moxyland follows four vastly different individuals struggling to survive in a society where technology rules with an iron fist. Kendra is a struggling artist who agrees to be part of a technological experiment; Lerato is an AIDS baby with a successful career; Toby is a narcissist vlogger, and Tendeka is a rebel against the corporations who hold society in their hands.

16. Auxilliary: London 2039 by Jon Richter

In near-future London, humanity relies on The Imagination Machine (TIM) for almost everything — from driving cars and cooking food, to planning everyone’s lives. But when a grisly murder lends doubts to TIM’s motivation for the good of humanity, a detective must confront a possibility that will shake the very foundations of society.

Who Invented Cyberpunk?

The term “cyberpunk” was coined by writer Bruce Bethke in 1980 when he wrote a short story featuring the term as the title. It was a combination of the words “cybernetics”, a science focused on replacing human parts with computerized ones, and “punk”, the counterculture movement characterized by nihilism and individual freedom.

It was only in 1984, when William Gibson’s Neuromancer was published, that the term stuck and became a popular genre. Although the term was invented in 1980, the genre’s roots reach as far as 1960, when New Worlds, a science fiction magazine, began to look for stories with new techniques and elements.

Reading Cyberpunk Books

What makes cyberpunk so popular is how it portrays a very possible future of our reality. The depiction of a soulless society where the individual doesn’t matter and only those at the top can flourish unnerves the reader with its familiarity.

This intimidating future calls us to be watchful of our current woes: overpopulation, corporate greed, and mass surveillance. Failing to address these issues might well lead us to the dystopia that cyberpunk loves to portray.

It also pushes us to ponder what being human means. The majority of cyberpunk stories feature the augmentation, enhancement, and alteration of the human being. When applied in reality, at what point does someone become a machine instead of a human? And when does science become detrimental rather than beneficial?

If you’re into noir and techno-babble, the novels listed above are the perfect gateways to getting into the cyberpunk genre.

Have you read any cyberpunk books lately? Share your experience in the comments below!

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