best books for fans of Netflix's adaptation of Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon, including:Mindplayers by Pat CadiganRead about the other entries on the list.
Mindplayers might not deal with consciousness transfer, but its emphasis on mind and consciousness—not to mention Pat Cadigan’s place as one of the foundational writers of cyberpunk (and thus, one of the writers who inspired Altered Carbon‘s style)—makes it a perfect companion read. It’s the story of a young hacker who uses an illegal psychological “madcap” that accidentally gets stuck in a psychotic state. When she’s finally cleaned out, she’s forced to become a “mindplayer,” helping others with their own psychological problems, or face life as a criminal under the Brain Police. Cadigan has a distinct gift for tight prose, which, combined with deadpan sarcasm and an interesting spin on mind-sharing, makes for a mind-bending book. There are similar pleasures to be found in the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winner Synners, in which the line between the human mind and technology blurs to the point of nonexistence.
--Marshal Zeringue
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