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John Brunner has written several books. What absolutely amazes me are the details. The world described in the shockwave rider is so unbelievably close to where we are now, it's unbelievable. This book is from 1975, computer networks had just begun to exists. And the book describes a totally networked planet with software good and bad.
The Shockwave Rider in my opinion is a must read for any IT person.
In "The Sheep look up" (1972) Brunner describes other aspects of society in the future. Toxic waste in the environment, the need to cultivate and trade insects and worms, and how that leads to desaster. The folks, who try different ways of life. Folks who (somewhat violently) act to enforce change. Genetic degradation. A big pest (diarrhea) covering the planet (sars-cov2 anyone?). It's not a "nice" book, let alone one with a happy end, but amazing nonetheless.
"To Conquer Chaos" describes among other things the problem of genetic degradation. A too small group of survivors on a place on Earth, which has been deliberately "cut off" from it's surrounding lands, is desperately trying to survive genetic degradation. The story brings two outsiders to the group. But imho the author was not brave enough to immediately have the girls of the survivors group mate with the two outsiders. Because tomorrow they could be dead due to some unforeseen incident. The story ends there, although I would be interested in the authors view, of what came after that.
This is on my reading list.
I suspect that John Brunner had connections to academia and maybe to a few very much forward-looking folks. But maybe I'm just plain wrong.
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