While there are many courses and tutorials online, learning from a book is still one of the best ways to greatly improve your skills. Below I have selected top Cyberpunk books.
- Cyberpunk 2020: The Roleplaying Game of the Dark Future (1990)
- Into Neon: A Cyberpunk Saga (2019)
- Cyberpunk: Stories of Hardware, Software, Wetware, Revolution, and Evolution (2019)
- CYBERPUNK: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier, Revised (1995)
- Chromebook 1/2 Compilation (Cyberpunk RPG) (2000)
- Cyberpunk Trashcan (2016)
- Blackhand’s Street Weapons 2020: The Cyberpunk Weapons Collection (1995)
- HARDWIRED: Cyberpunk Espionage and Mayhem (2019)
- Maximum Metal – High-Powered Ordinance for Cyberpunk 2020 (1993)
- Science Fiction Writers’ Phrase Book: Essential Reference for All Authors of Sci-Fi, Cyberpunk, Dystopian, Space Marine, and Space Fantasy Adventure (Writers’ Phrase Books) (Volume 6) (2016)
- Liquid Cool: The Cyberpunk Detective Series (Volume 1) (2016)
- Pacific Rim Sourcebook: Cyberpunk (1994)
- No Guns Life, Vol. 1 (1) (2019)
Cyberpunk 2020: The Roleplaying Game of the Dark Future (1990)
The Future never looked so bad. But you can change it. Because you`re CYBERPUNK. Cyberpunk: the original roleplaying game of the dark future; a world of corporate assassins, heavy-metal heroes and brain burning cyberhackers, packed with cutting edge technology and intense urban action. Within this book, you`ll find everything you need to tackle the mean streets of the 2000`s – in a game system that combines the best in realistic action and playability.
Into Neon: A Cyberpunk Saga (2019)
“Star Wars Meets Blade Runner In An Awesome Adventure!” -Amazon Review (5 Stars)Moss’ life is going nowhere until a mysterious woman knocks on his door and leaves him with the key to take down one of the world’s largest corporations. When he discovers a familial connection to the stranger, Moss leaves the comfort of his home with his best friend for the sprawling megacity.There, he joins a group of ruffians dedicated to freeing people from the yoke of the evil companies.
Cyberpunk: Stories of Hardware, Software, Wetware, Revolution, and Evolution (2019)
Before email,before the world wide web,before hackers,Before sexting,before always-on GPS,before titanium implants,before Alexa, Cortana, and Siri,before the computer in your pocket was more powerful than the one that sent astronauts to the moon,there was cyberpunk.And science fiction was never the same.Cyberpunk writers—serious, smart, and courageous in the face of change—exposed the naiveté of a society rushing head…
CYBERPUNK: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier, Revised (1995)
Using the exploits of three international hackers, Cyberpunk provides a fascinating tour of a bizarre subculture populated by outlaws who penetrate even the most sensitive computer networks and wreak havoc on the information they find — everything from bank accounts to military secrets.
Chromebook 1/2 Compilation (Cyberpunk RPG) (2000)
The cyber-style catalogs for the cyber-suave; don`t go shopping without one! Weapons, cyberware, vehicles, fashions, food, gadgets, cyberpets, even where to shop! From full-body replacement to mini-jets, the Chromebooks are equally useful to high-rise Corps and Fixers on the Street. These books tell you what to do with those hard-earned Eurobucks once you`ve finished that Cyberpunk adventure. Chromebooks: because image is everything, and out of fashion is out of work.
Cyberpunk Trashcan (2016)
You know how there’s those girls that you know but don’t really know? Marine’s one of those girls. In a stroke of what some people would call amazing luck, a massive corporation stole something from her workshop while she was sleeping. Our protagonist, being the upstanding (and not shiftless, anti-social pervert) citizen that he is, offers to help. And so he does.
Blackhand’s Street Weapons 2020: The Cyberpunk Weapons Collection (1995)
Information and statistics on every knife, pistol, submachine gun, bullet, grenade, and personal artillery available in the year 2020.
HARDWIRED: Cyberpunk Espionage and Mayhem (2019)
Corporate wars, shadow ops, cranial jacks, cyber-augmentations… you’ve been here before. You know how this goes.But familiarity breeds sloppiness and sloppiness will get you dead with a capital ‘P’ for Permanent. So you’ve got no excuses. You have a team, you have a boss, and that boss just gave you a job. Take whatever you need: weapons, micro-drones, dark-ware, pharma-derms, stealth gear Just get it done.
Maximum Metal – High-Powered Ordinance for Cyberpunk 2020 (1993)
A Supplement for Cyberpunk
Science Fiction Writers’ Phrase Book: Essential Reference for All Authors of Sci-Fi, Cyberpunk, Dystopian, Space Marine, and Space Fantasy Adventure (Writers’ Phrase Books) (Volume 6) (2016)
Blast off for out-of-this-world thrills with USA TODAY bestselling author, Jackson Dean Chase! Whether you write "hard" sci-fi, space fantasy, space opera, cyberpunk, dystopian, or time travel, this must-own book is rocket fuel for your imagination. Open your pod bay doors to over 4,000 epic ways to describe everything from aliens to future tech, including starship combat.
Liquid Cool: The Cyberpunk Detective Series (Volume 1) (2016)
Liquid Cool is the action-packed and funny, debut cyberpunk detective series! It’s cyberpunk reimagined—science fiction meets the detective thriller in an ever-rainy world of colossal skyscrapers. Hovercars fly above in the dark, bustling skies and gray people walk below on the grimy, flashy streets of this “neon jungle.” Metropolis isn’t a bad place, but it isn’t a good one either.
Pacific Rim Sourcebook: Cyberpunk (1994)
This sourcebook takes Cyberpunk to a whole new place, the Pacific Rim including Australia and New Zealand.
No Guns Life, Vol. 1 (1) (2019)
Ex-soldier Juzo Inui has one question–who turned him into a cyborg and erased his memories?After the war, cyborg soldiers known as the Extended were discharged. Juzo Inui is one of them, a man whose body was transformed, his head replaced with a giant gun! With no memory of his previous life—or who replaced his head and why—Inui now scratches out a living in the dark streets of the city as a Resolver, taking on cases involving the Extended.
Best Cyberpunk Books: The Ultimate List
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some cyberpunk books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
Neoliberalism and Cyberpunk Science Fiction: Living on the Edge of Burnout
Author(s): Caroline Alphin
ID: 2977604, Publisher: Routledge, Year: 2021, Size: 9 Mb, Format: pdf
The Routledge Companion To Cyberpunk Culture
Author(s): Anna McFarlane, Lars Schmeink, Graham Murphy
ID: 2461834, Publisher: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, Year: 2020, Size: 8 Mb, Format: pdf
FICTION Cyberpunk RED: Digital Edition (v1.24)
Author(s): Mike Pondsmith, James Hutt, Cody Pondsmith, Jay Parker, J Gray, David Ackerman, Jaye Kovach
ID: 2891275, Publisher: R. Talsorian Games Inc., Year: 2020, Size: 145 Mb, Format: pdf
Please note that this booklist is not definite. Some books are really hot items according to Chicago Tribune, others are written by unknown writers. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant books you could recommend? Drop a comment if you have any feedback on the list.