There are a lot of good ideas in SciFi and Cyberpunk books. <p>Books can often be better than movies because of the depth of narrative needed to expose a concept or idea. Also because your own imagination drives the story, so each reader might actually come up with something different (their own interpretation and eventual implementation). <p>That being said, I'm no expert on this topic, but here are some good ones (emphasis on fun reads), feel free to share your favorites, but don't spoiler it!<p>For the record, I will play video games over reading a book.<p>=================================<p>::Snow Crash:: by Neal Stephenson<p>Plot Outline: A Cyber Ninja hacker set in a Matrix-like world where Real Life and Virtual Life mesh. <p>Some Ideas Profiled: <p>+ Metaverse, a cyber world that many people live in or use to interface with the real world. Think MMOs and Second Life.<p>+ Gargoyles, people who wear gadgets to record everything that goes on around them and sell the data into a central marketplace. Think Crowdsourcing, Streetview Startups or Justin.tv.<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553380958/ref=pd_cp_b_0/002-9120971-7238444?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_r=0HZ45MZ5VWK6G11YWM8H&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=252362401&pf_rd_i=0739480235" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553380958/ref=pd_cp_b_0/00...</a><p>I've heard from people who read books often that this is classic cyberpunk. A Second Life founder cites Snow Crash as major inspiration for the game.<p>=============================<p>::Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom:: by Cory Doctorow<p>Plot Outline: A Futuristic Society (set in Disneyland no less) based on expounding today's Internet Phenomenons: social networks, pagerank, ebay reputation, blogging-fame mechanics, and Dog-eat-dog Startup Competition. And everyone lives forever~~~<p>Some Ideas Profiled: <p>+ Reputation Economy, money doesn't exist in the future. Instead, people connect to a Google like system through their head and commerce works by measuring your reputation and fame (e.g. how many think about you and thus create a link for your personal pagerank).<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Down-Magic-Kingdom-Cory-Doctorow/dp/076530953X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-9120971-7238444?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191126693&sr=1-1" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Down-Magic-Kingdom-Cory-Doctorow/dp/07...</a><p>Check the customers reviews and you'll see that Jeff Bezos tells you to read it.<p>=============================<p>::The Code Book:: by Simon Singh<p>Outline: A short, history based narrative of Cryptography. Written in the tone similar to how a Wired Magazine writer will sex up a topic they cover. <p>Covers Julius Caesar to Quantum Cryptography.<p>Non-Fiction, but for me, it had a startup-like quality when read. More so than Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson which is ABOUT a startup but reads like a regular story (I can't finish that book, its a Tome!).<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Code-Book-Science-Secrecy-Cryptography/dp/0385495323/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-9120971-7238444?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191126752&sr=1-1" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Code-Book-Science-Secrecy-Cryptography...</a>