Rainbows End

Author: Vernor Vinge

Rainbows End, for all it sounds like the title of a children's fantasy book, is some incredibly relevant sci fi. Sitting at number eight on our top 25 hard science fiction novels, it's the tale of a world firmly in the information age, where Homeland security watches your every move. Wait, it is a work of science fiction - we promise! It's just a scarily accurate one. Moving into the realms of augmented reality, with massive advances in medical technology, the world Vinge presents to us is wholly believable. And whilst 2025 may seem awfully close for all these predicted technologies, it's pretty scary when you look around at the leaps and bounds tech is taking. Published in 2006, this is one of the more recent books on our list and it's well worth a read if you have any interest in future tech. Or, you know, in your own future. It's genuinely that prophetic. Plus, with him being a current writer and all, there should be plenty more from him to come!

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If you liked Rainbows End, check out William Gibson's Neuromancer and Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology, edited by Bruce Sterling