Snow Crash

by Neal Stephenson

book data

15,263 ratings, 4.05 average rating, 1,211 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		41%
4		34%
3		15%
2		4%
1		3%

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published

May 1st 1993 (first published 1992) by Spectra

binding

Paperback, 480 pages

setting

The United States

literary awards

TIME Magazine - ALL-TIME 100 Novels

isbn

0553562614 (isbn13: 9780553562613)

description

From the opening line of his breakthrough cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson plunges the reader into a not-too-distant future. It is a world ...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 21,360)

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10/31/07

korty rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

Read in January, 1992

Cyberpunk’s next generation pretty much began here. Written by someone who -unlike William Gibson- actually knows computers, this anime in novel form is one of those rare SF books that is read by many non-SF readers.

On a personal note, this is probably the only book I’ll ever read whose main character is half black and half Japanese, just like me! When I first read it, I was working at a pizza place, just like the protagonist, and I actually got fired around the same time I g...more

Like this review? yes (9 people liked it)

1 comment

01/07/09

Meg rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

Read in February, 2009

recommended to Meg by: Erich Guzmann
recommends it for: every human male (and the coolest of the females)

I have a little SAT analogy to help you understand how awesome this book is: Snow Crash is to Books as The Matrix is to movies (with only the absolute BEST parts of Tron and Da Vinci Code thrown in). I'm not talking about all the commercialized Matrix-saga and the weird hype... I'm talking about the first time you sat in the movie theater and saw that chick in the Matrix spin around in suspended animation and kick the crap out of a bunch of cops and thought, "What the #@*%??? COOL!"...more

Like this review? yes (11 people liked it)

1 comment

05/05/08

Sandi rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

bookshelves: 2008, sci-fi

Read in July, 2008

recommended to Sandi by: Re-reading

I read “Snow Crash” when it first came out in paperback nearly 15 years ago. Then, I had a really hard time getting through it. But, I kept thinking about different concepts in it over and over again. I never forgot the bimbo boxes—slang for minivans driven by suburban housewives. Talk about a book telling the future!

Upon re-reading the book, I now understand why it was so difficult. First, there’s that tricky slang problem. Stephenson invented a lot of slang for the ...more

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

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08/06/08

Kristjan rated it:

(review of isbn 1586211110)

bookshelves: audiobook, book-club-selection, pulp-fantasy, reviewed, science-fiction

Read in August, 2008

recommended to Kristjan by: GR Sci-Fi & Fantasy Book Club
recommends it for: Cyber Punks

Narrated by Jonathan Davis

I really enjoyed the quality of the narration; Mr. Davis does an excellent job rendering the voices of the various characters within the story.

This was a fun read for the most part ... although the heavy exploitation of various stereo-types might be offensive to some, it really is the key to most of the humor in the story; at least Mr. Stephenson is an equal opportunity satirist in creating his dystopian society. The story pokes fun at corporate...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

1 comment

06/16/08

Nick rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

Read in September, 2008

recommended to Nick by: Ginny Seaman
recommends it for: People who like details and I don't mean the magazine.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I've decided to review this book as I read it. Sort of like live-blogging but not as pretentious or douchey sounding.

First and I guess foremost you have to understand that I read slowly. Like if people knew how slowly I read they would be like "that guy's retarded, and I don't mean in the offensive way that my friends are retarded." So I've been reading it for a week now and I'm not quite a hundred pages in and this is what I've learned so far.

The main charac...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

17 comments

01/31/08

Bill rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

bookshelves: science-fiction

Read in November, 2000

This is one I had been meaning to read for years, and from all the raving reviews I had set myself up to expect something exceptional. I'm not going to say I was disappointed. I guess from the nature of all
the raves I shouldn't have expected anything other than what it was: rollicking, techy, punky, lots of action. If these are your ingredients for a must-read, then by all means get off your butt and read this now!
Stephenson's cyberpunk vision, the Metaverse, is bang-on to what you w...more

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05/21/07

Aerin rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

bookshelves: sciencefiction

Read in January, 2006

This book is an all-around good time. Breezy, fast-paced, well-written, badass science fiction. Stephenson's vision of the near future has held up remarkably well in the fifteen years since this was written; it's a ridiculously over-the-top cyberdystopia that somehow still manages to be believable. The linguistics geek in me adored the Sumerian language subplot (an ancient mystery! about words! ooooh!). I don't remember a whole lot of the main plot, except that there were lots of chases and s...more

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11/21/07

David rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

Read in January, 2006

Most cyberpunk novels were written before the transformational effect the internet had on telecommunications. There has been an overwhelming impact on the web, technology and information as well. The first thing anybody seems to think about when he gets up in the morning is to check his email. In 1992 the computer age was just starting to peak as a communication and information source. In that same year Neal Stephenson introduced his novel “Snow Crash” the novel was based on a near fu...more
Most cyberpunk novels were written before the transformational effect the internet had on telecommunications. There has been an overwhelming impact on the web, technology and information as well. The first thing anybody seems to think about when he gets up in the morning is to check his email. In 1992 the computer age was just starting to peak as a communication and information source. In that same year Neal Stephenson introduced his novel “Snow Crash” the novel was based on a near future dystopian fantasy vision which only slightly differs from the reality of the year 2006. Snow Crash is about a young daring pizza man who decides to play superhero in order to stop the perpetrators behind the mass distribution of a harmful drug called Snow Crash. The reader is taken through a nonstop adventure into an alternate realm accessible through ones computer terminal. The action is never-ending featuring amazingly vivid futuristic scenery How real the depiction of the future Stephenson predicted at the time comes to light in today’s internet controlled society. Many of the predictions mentioned in Snow Crash are as real as imaginable and remain credible in the fact that they apparently came true.

Snow Crash is one of the most famous cyberpunk fiction novels ever written . It takes place in the metaverse a setting not very different from "the matrix" a fictional computer enhanced realm accessible by anybody with a working computer “The people are pieces of software called avatars they are audio visual bodies that people use to communicate with each other in the metaverse”(Stephenson#36).Entering Stephenson’s metaverse has strong simulation to a very popular transformation taking place among most video game formats. Virtual reality video games where you can see a 3d depiction of yourself playing the game “Your avatar can look any way you want it to up to the limitations of your equipment" (Stephenson#36). In this statement we see Stephenson’s almost prophetic extrapolation of computer technology, The ability that exists in the hands of web designers today give an almost holographic appearing avatar very similar to those that existed in “Snow Crash” that gave the user the opportunity to adjust his appearance any way he deemed fit. At the time this novel was written we were only able to experience games like missile command and asteroids, there was nothing publicly available even remotely resembling what’s available to us today

Technoculture is the combination of the most fascinating and important developed trends in technology that most affect our culture as much as the web “Linking the act of creativity with he telecommunications machines that now facilitate and mediate human contact”(Geyh#509). Paula Geyh editor of the anthology "Postmodern American Fiction" speaks of the recent developments in technoculture. In her book she emphasizes the impact that telecommunications has had on people.

“Snow Crash takes on a common cyberpunk theme that of the implications of the information explosion caused by new technologies such as global fiber optic network”(Meyer#1).
A pioneer of his time Stephenson scratches the surface, in taking the computer idea a step further visionary style and understand through foresight the implications of new technologies and their inevitable expansion and improvement over the years,realizing that as with all inventions the computer must improve and expand most authors could never imagine what would have happened. “Stephenson is a computer programmer and his detailed deskriptions of how the metaverse works and how people through simulations called avatars can enter it provide a more solid basis for his fiction”(Meyers#1).

All in all a great read and worth the effort.

(less)

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

2 comments

10/02/07

Kevin Koczwara rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

Read in June, 2007

This book was a struggle fomr the get go. The writing is poor, let's be honest. The structure is poor, the dialogue is not engaging and slow, to slow. The actions are difficult to portray and the author tries so hard, but for some reason his way of explaining what was going on just didn't work.

Now for the posetive: the posetive comes in that the book was interesting. Bringing in the idea of Babel and language was remarkable. The book really had some itnersting things going on with th...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

2 comments

07/18/07

Liam rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

Read in July, 2007

A wonderfully complex and imaginative book unafraid to take on some major themes. When I started it, I was slightly put off by its uberhippness (the two main characters are a samurai-sword wielding hacker and a fifteen-year-old skater chick), but the brilliance of the book soon pulled me in. Written in 1992, the book imagines a world in which people relate as much in virtual reality (the "metaverse") as they do in real life. The government has all but disappeared, and the authority in ...more

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04/26/07

Logan rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

bookshelves: dystopic-fiction, essential-books-for-a-library, scifi-fantasy

Read in April, 2009

recommended to Logan by: Samuel

A friend just gave me back my ages-old copy of this book, three years after I had forgotten that I had lent it to him. I am overjoyed to have this back in my possession. So much so that I feel compelled to immediately reread it. That is just how good this book is.

***Post reread***
The problem with reading Neal Stephenson is that you can not help coming to the realization that, no matter how hard you try, how dedicated to the craft you become, you will never write anything as ...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

1 comment

02/05/09

Andrei rated it:

(review of other edition)

Read in March, 2009

A blast front to back, even when its stabs at hipness get inevitably dated (I wonder if some weren't to begin with, but whatever). Fast, funny, and constantly surprising/inventive, takes as much from post-modern fiction as it does from cyberpunk (oh, book jacket quotes although I mean, duh obviously, maybe I shouldn't even write it oh whatever) resulting in really fun moments in this alternate (now past) present, like Bruce Lee heading a gang of vicious pirates and the entire world turning into ...more

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11/26/08

Ryan Patrick rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

bookshelves: fiction-2008

Read in November, 2008

You have to be impressed with the author's imagination of the near future (considering when this was originally written), but also with his ability to insert the f-word on every other page of the book :( The main character - Hiro Protagonist - is indeed a captivating hero and an engaging protagonist.

Not only was I a bit put off by the excessive language in the book, but I have also never been a real big fan of near-future cyberpunk kind of settings. Nevertheless, Snow Crash presente...more

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10/10/08

selena rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

bookshelves: 2009, autographed, thebest

Read in January, 2009

recommended to selena by: Jeff

I don’t think that reading Snow Crash has the same effect in 2009 as reading it would have in 1992, the year it was published. Stephenson creates for us a world so absurd that you can’t help but buy into it. The Mafia controlling pizza delivery, the US being a city-state and the Internet - or Metaverse - being your very own Sims game - all seemingly very plausible.

The story follows Hiro Protagonist - jack of all trades. He is the world’s greatest swordsman (though in the Metav...more I don’t think that reading Snow Crash has the same effect in 2009 as reading it would have in 1992, the year it was published. Stephenson creates for us a world so absurd that you can’t help but buy into it. The Mafia controlling pizza delivery, the US being a city-state and the Internet - or Metaverse - being your very own Sims game - all seemingly very plausible.

The story follows Hiro Protagonist - jack of all trades. He is the world’s greatest swordsman (though in the Metaverse), a pizza-delivery guy, an information-collector for the Central Intelligence Corporation and of course, a renowned hacker. In fact, he helped create the Metaverse with his friend Da5id. He resides in a storage unit at the U-Stor-It with his friend Vitaly Chernobyl, a very famous rock star. I should also mention that Hiro organizes Vitaly’s concerts. Like I said, jack of all trades. Apart from the storage unit, all Hiro has to his name is a laptop and some Japanese swords. One would think that a man with that much talent would have a penthouse or a club in the Metaverse, at least.

The story begins when his cocky friend Da5id tries this new drug called Snow Crash - which Da5id’s ex-wife and Hiro’s ex-girlfriend (same person, may I add) warned him against. Hiro, his ex-girlfriend Juanita and his 15-year old friend Y.T. - a modern-day skaterboarding courier - are left to figure out why Da5id has physically collapsed because of a bitmap on a screen.

The story goes beyond the typical action sword-fighting stuff. The tale dips into the history of Christianity, the story of Babel and Sumerian culture. Without bringing in these ancient elements, I don’t know if the story would have been as appealing and enjoyable for me. The juxtaposition of past and future worked in his favor to create a plausible story.

I only read this book on the very persistent recommendation of my boyfriend. And I’m so glad that he kept at it. I’m not typically a fan of cyberpunk but I feel this book goes beyond that. I’m good with computers and technology in general but I can’t code much at all. This didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of the book at all because even though Stephenson himself is incredibly tech savvy - he doesn’t shove it in your face. I sincerely appreciated that the book did not make me feel stupid and instead let me figure out the story at about the same time as the characters did.

This is yet another book where I have to say that you should not let the cyberpunk label get to you. The ties to linguistics and former, nearly forgotten religions pushed the book past just being cyberpunk or science fiction.

And with a name as witty as Hiro Protagonist, how can you resist giving Neil Stephenson a chance?(less)

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05/14/08

Meika rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

Read in June, 2008

Raven is one hawt bad-guy.
As for the rest of the book, to say that it's relevant is an understatement. Maybe I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a well-rendered glimpse of the future, but then again, after a couple beers I would probably start rambling about how the fractioning of public services, the mainstreaming of mafia organizations, the stodgy-loyal-inefficient government in cahoots with the Texan Christian megalomaniac selling religion to the masses, and all that has been capture...more

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04/29/08

NEMO rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

recommends it for: all

the future is now.
Uncanny how the author definately conveyed at least a dozen years ago, what is happening now, today.

they'rrrre hereee....
Hiro Protaganist, an interesting character.
altho i relate more to Vasily Chernobyl and the Meltdowns--
never been able to figure why people actually prefer freeways
(seems like asking for it)
and the L.Bob Rife character: beautifully co-opted.like the moniker; in fact a rundown of characters courtesy of wikipedia g...more

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03/03/08

Robert rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

bookshelves: sci-fi

Read in March, 2008

For me, Snow Crash was an unexpected gem if science fiction. I was immediately hooked in by Stephenson's view of the future, from the advancement of the pizza delivery service to the grand piece of technology that serves as the Internet's successor. He has a sharp wit and a humorous way of comparing technology advances and glitches to situations that everybody can enjoy.

The novel opens on a pizza delivery gone bad, where the two primary characters meet not by choice. Right in chapter...more For me, Snow Crash was an unexpected gem if science fiction. I was immediately hooked in by Stephenson's view of the future, from the advancement of the pizza delivery service to the grand piece of technology that serves as the Internet's successor. He has a sharp wit and a humorous way of comparing technology advances and glitches to situations that everybody can enjoy.

The novel opens on a pizza delivery gone bad, where the two primary characters meet not by choice. Right in chapter one, it becomes evident that this is not the society we know. We follow Hiro and Y.T. through their struggles to discover the truth behind a mysterious new drug called Snow Crash.

Hiro, last of the Freelance Hackers, researches ancient history trying to trace the line between ancient Sumerian legend and the drug Snow Crash, a drug that appears to be both a heavy narcotic and a deadly computer virus at the same time. Goggled into the Metaverse, a digital world of intercommunication that replaces the Internet, any hacker who sees the Snow Crash virus is infected, causing their brain to "crash" the same way their computers do when exposed to it. Hiro searches for clues on how this could be possible and for ways to protect the hacker population, all while trying not to become infected himself. The problem is that the research is not his own, and now he must piece the puzzle together from the notes of a crazy scientist he has only met once.

Y.T., a delivery Kourier with an attitude, meets Hiro after trying to hitch a ride on his pizza truck, then delivering the pizza for him when the truck gets totaled. Through this meeting, Y.T. catches the interest of the Mafia, as well as several other large corporations. Y.T. becomes instrumental in helping investigate the new drug Snow Crash, whose users seem to be reduced to the mental capacity of children, and who frequently speak in strange tongues. Y.T. must do what she can, all the while avoiding being injected with Snow Crash herself.

Snow Crash depicts a future where things may seem bleak at first, but as the story progresses you learn how society seems to actually be better off with the radical changes from the world we know. Many things will seem strange or out of place, but within the America that Stephenson paints, all fits well with each of it's counterparts. With an attention to detail, Stephenson depicts a highly believable world where industry is the ruling factor, and sets the stage for the struggle against Snow Crash.(less)

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06/18/07

Andrea rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

bookshelves: speculative-fiction

Read in April, 2005

While cliches like "fast-paced techno-thriller" might apply to this book, unlike most books with phrases like that on the cover, this book deserves it (and in a good way). The technology is both believeable and creative, and the characters, while not exactly loveable, are definitely interesting. I can't help but compare this book to Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, in that they both deal with ancient and modern codes and hidden messages in religion, art, and science. Both are actually pretty...more

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06/13/07

Beth rated it:

(review of isbn 0553380958)

I love this book so much, I read it twice (and I hardly ever do that). Who couldn't love a book with a main character called Hiro Protagonist, with a business card reading "greatest sword fighter in the world"? But that's only the beginning. Assisted by the coolest skateboard-riding teenage-girl heroine in all of literature, Hiro spends most of his time in the virtual reality environment called the Metaverse, tracking down a deadly computer virus. That is, when he's not listening to hi...more

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05/02/07

Duc rated it:

bookshelves: currently-reading

recommends it for: Alex

The Art of Innovation led me to 'Snow Crash'. I started reading it over the weekend and didn't want to put it down. It's very funny. For some reason, I latched onto this book. Maybe it's because it talks about the Metaverse. Recently, I got into Second Life (SL). I need to do a little bit of research to find out which came first. It talks about people building houses in the virtual world. I can see some similarities between the Metaverse that Neal Stephenson renders and the world of SL. I think ...more

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Rockin' some cyberpunk!

Fourth (and Fifth?) Book! If the votes swing towards smaller books (300 pages or less) then we can shoot for a second book halfway through the month, whatever gets the 2nd highest vote.

**EDIT** I linked the wrong book for "Book Thief" and have now corrected it**

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0 votes, 0.0%

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1 vote, 5.3%

Vurt- 342 pages – A cyberpunk novel with a difference, a rollicking, dark, yet humorous examination of a future in which the boundaries between reality and virtual reality are as tenuous as the brush of a feather.

3 votes, 15.8%

Snow Crash - 440 pages - A breakneck-paced 21st-century novel, Snow Crash interweaves everything from Sumerian myth to visions of a postmodern civilization on the brink of collapse. Faster than the speed of television and a whole lot more fun, Snow Crash is the portrayal of a future that is bizarre enough to be plausible.

1 vote, 5.3%

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4 votes, 21.1%

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4 votes, 21.1%

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quotes from this book

"Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world. If I moved to a martial-arts monastery in China and studied real hard for ten years. If my family was wiped out by Colombian drug dealers and I swore myself to revenge. If I got a fatal disease, had one year to live, and devoted it to wiping out street crime. If I just dropped out and devoted my life to being bad." More quotes...