- Publisher: TOR Books
- Published: 1989
- Pages: 283
- ISBN: 0-312-93181-6
- Author: Ben Bova
Cyberbooks by Ben Bova is a 1989 novel that predicted the invention of the Kindle and other such e-books. Bova did a pretty good job of describing how an e-book might work, but he over-emphasized the effect such books would have on the publishing world and the world at large. I suspect this book was more his commentary on the interactions with the publishing world of 1989 than it was about how a ‘cyberbook’ would change the world. Part science fiction prognostication of the near future and part murder mystery and part legal drama, the book almost works on all these levels, but doesn’t really excel in any of them.
An inventor, Carl Lewis, has come up with the electronic book and people think it will completely change the publishing industry. That prediction was correct, but how it would change the industry was mostly wrong. Most of the book is taken up with the intra-office and inter-company intrigues of the competing publishing houses, Bunker Books and Tarantula/Web Press. It is relatively humorous in it’s parody of the publishing world.
As science fiction and future prediction, it is less successful. There are so many technological advances in the society of the book, that an e-book seems trivial in comparison. The characters are mostly cartoonish in their traits and actions.
Matt Truxaw’s newest book is Monster, which released on 1/12/2026. This urban fantasy, horror, thriller will keep you turning the pages.
He is also the author of the hard science fiction thrillers: “Plastiphobia/Plastivore” and “Anthrophobia: A Teacher’s Tale”
You can find them all on Amazon in Paperback, Hardback, Kindle and/or free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
When you read any of them, he would really appreciate a review/rating on Amazon or your favorite book seller/book reader site.
More about Matt:
He was born in Orange County California many years ago and he still lives there. He has been reading books for most of those years and writing up book reviews for the last few years. He gets MANY of his books out of the library/Libby so expect a lot of old science fiction classics book reviews and other science related reviews in addition to newer books he comes across.
If you want to be ‘in-the-loop’ on these and other works, you can follow his author’s page on Amazon or his Facebook page.
For more reviews and articles by Matt here on Amazing Stories (Click here).
Monster: A Novel by Matt Truxaw
