“For me, the book is focusing a lot more on moods and abstract geography.”
It’s interesting that you think that. In his later books (especially his most recent novels) it becomes way more pronounced. Zero History, Pattern Recognition and Spook Country feel almost obsessed with not just those things, but almost moods expressed through geography. It’s the same in his earlier novel All Tomorrow’s Parties too, though there (and throughout that particular trilogy) there’s also a focus on data as geography.
I thought that the recent Deus Ex video game got the concept of the pods just right – http://static.msxbox-world.com/assets/guide-images/209/18-2.jpg
+1 for Ghostwriter, I think the Ghostwriter board game is still sitting somewhere in my parents’ basement.