Snow Crash (1992)

A fun read! Stephenson conjures up a world that would be frighteningly plausbile if it wasn't so zany, in a good way. As many others have observed, the exposition is a bit on the heavy side, which is a shame, because the ideas behind the plot are really intriguing. The action, especially at the end, is gripping enough to forgive some inconsistencies.
It has 90s written all over it which I enjoyed a lot. All in all, very enjoyable and very funny. ( )

This was a fun read at first, but I got bogged down in all the anthropology, and the more of the book I read, the more it felt like I was reading Dan Brown, with fancy skateboards. I did enjoy the book by and large, but it added another buttress to my suspicion (based on my reading Cryptonomicon years ago and later starting/stopping The Baroque Cycle) that while Stephenson is a capable and probably even talented thriller-style writer, he's not nearly as serious a writer as I've sometimes hoped. ( )

There are so many things about this novel that I liked; realizing that it was first published twenty years ago makes it even more impressive. The levels of technology, the virtual realities and interfaces described are eerily familiar, from the avatars and software to the transfer of information and the integration with reality. In particular, I loved the interaction that Hiro has with the Librarian, a software program which helps him conduct research and make connections between the things he is learning in both reality and the Metaverse. The portrayal of the Library of Congress, the takeover of the roads by private companies, the privatization of the governing bodies and police — so many of these possibilities are quickly becoming real in our own world, and to see how they are portrayed in this futuristic novel are fascinating. I did get bogged down in the middle of the novel when Hiro and the Librarian are wading through ancient civilizations and trying to make sense of the slowly unfurling connections between mythology, religion, and other stories. However, this novel, a leap into Stephenson’s blend of science fiction, mythology, society and virtual reality, turned out to be one of my favourites from the list thus far. ( )

I tried to write a concise review about everything that I liked about this book but it kept turning in to a rambling epic. So I'm just going to say that it was awesome. It had a bunch of really thought provoking ideas, along with some intense action. I can't imagine Google Earth and VRs like Second Life weren't largely influenced, or even inspired, by the ideas in this book. ( )

This was hard to rate because I really liked the story in itself, but on the other hand it read a little bit strange. Like whole language used was just an edge too much hip or comic book style.

Still it makes me want to read more from Stephenson.

Would recommend that book ( )