Just finished The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester. Truly an amazing book, particularly for its time (early 1950's). As is my preference, I read one of the early (although not a first) edition, that I bought on Abebooks. Many of the styles and themes we associate with cyberpunk are present in here, and it has a fast, quick style that really moves things along. Not a space opera with a cast of thousands. The take on ESP was intriguing - the 10% or less of the population is graded as three different levels of "Espers" (also the name of a psych-folk band from my hometown of Philadelphia).
I'm surprised someone hasn't taken this and made a truly aweful Tom Cruise or Will Smith movie.
I also like that it was short - puts those 800 pound paper weights to shame for how much ground it covers in so little space.
Next up is the Foundation Trilogy - truly criminal that I've never read it and I want to finish it before Neal Stephenson's new book comes out in September.
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