On an overcast morning in 1999, William Gibson, father of cyberpunk and author of the cult-classic novel Neuromancer, stepped into a limousine and set off on a road trip around North America.

Here, the man who coined the word "cyberspace" offers a unique perspective on Western culture at the edge of the new millennium, and in the throes of convulsive, tech – driven change.

At the time of the project's conception, Gibson – an American exile in Vancouver, Canada – was seen as a reclusive figure, who thought the didactic inclination in novelists anathema and was not prone to divulging much in the way of personal information in interviews and retrospectives.

Only on one occasion does he leave the car, to wander up and down a favourite beach, and here he is also filmed, providing one of the documentary's iconic images, that of a weathered monochromatic Gibson in a long black coat being buffeted by the strong coastal breeze.

"[10][11] Postcyberpunk novelist Cory Doctorow, reviewing the film for Wired magazine, concluded "Nostalgic without being maudlin, No Maps for These Territories is a one-man show with revelations every minute".

[13] In the run-up to the release of Gibson's ninth novel Spook Country in summer 2007, publisher Penguin Books announced their intent to screen the "fine and strange" documentary in the virtual world Second Life.