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1983 ratings, 3.64 average rating, 117 reviews
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published
May 1988
(first published 1992)
by Atlantic Monthly Pr
binding
Paperback, 283 pages
isbn
0871131811
(isbn13: 9780871131812)
description
Believe it or not, some readers find Zodiac even more fun than Neal Stephenson's defining 1990s cyberpunk novel, Snow Crash. Zodiac ...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2365)
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avg 3.64
Read in November, 2008
This profanity spewing, nitrous oxide-sucking, paranoid eco-terrorist anti-hero ST is not somebody I'd want to sit down and have a bagel with. And this book is entirely in his grating voice-- we are dragged along with him through his bouts of depression and anxiety as he neglects his girlfriend, reads comics and samples various narcotics. Made me want to wash my brain after being in his head.
HOWEVER... This is a pretty thrilling story. Really juicy bad guys dumping apocalyptic toxic waste int...more
HOWEVER... This is a pretty thrilling story. Really juicy bad guys dumping apocalyptic toxic waste int...more
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Read in October, 2008
I couldn't find what I was looking for on my first visit to the library, so I settled for this because the author had penned one of the other books I was looking for. Glad I picked it up. Written in the first person, this yarn follows the self-proclaimed Toxic Spider-man on his crusade against giant companies who love to pollute the Northeast. A fast read with a sarcastic voice, and some decent science to back it up. Guns, germs and mayhem.
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Read in January, 2003
An early variant of Stephenson's 'Snow Crash' writing style. More down-to-earth plot, set in the present rather than the near-future, but just as much fun. It definitely feels rougher and less polished than either Snow Crash or The Diamond Age, but it's great fun. And the description of trying to cross the street in Boston is worth the purchase price.
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Ecoactivism rules!
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Read in October, 2008
This is one of those next-Sunday SF titles that it's ambiguous whether it really counts as SF or not. I think transgenic bacteria are sufficiently common to ease into the non-SF title.
I enjoyed the book as a light read about an environmentalist and professional annoyance who ended up in a big mystery (and with people shooting at him) after his study of Boston Harbor turns into a case of mysteriously vanishing toxins.
The one thing I didn't buy was the nature of the bacteria. (Hence ...more
I enjoyed the book as a light read about an environmentalist and professional annoyance who ended up in a big mystery (and with people shooting at him) after his study of Boston Harbor turns into a case of mysteriously vanishing toxins.
The one thing I didn't buy was the nature of the bacteria. (Hence ...more
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Read in July, 2008
This early novel from Neal Stephenson claims in its subtitle to be an "eco-thriller," and readers are right to approach it with a bit of scepticism. First published in 1988, the plot and the narrator's attitudes exemplify an attitude toward environmentalism that seems out of date--the Greenpeace activism of interfering with individual oil tankers rather than the more global perspective most of us share since global warming has been an accepted truth.
These attitudes and ideas, howe...more
These attitudes and ideas, howe...more
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Read in January, 2007
There is no such thing as a professional rabble-rouser--how many times have radicals and anarchists had to defend themselves against the absurd charge that someone pays them to protest--but he's the main character in one of Stephenson's first books. I don't know, the mystery is pretty good--who's poisoning Boston's bay-- and the wacky protests and direct actions are fun.... The main character was just a little too out there--I mean, who fills their house with nitrous?
Anyway, the book has thi...more
Anyway, the book has thi...more
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Read in September, 2001
recommends it for:
fans of cyberpunk, green party kids, hippies, activists, corporate whores
I read this book because I had liked Cryptonomicon and the synopsis sounded cool.
While I didn't like this book nearly as much as Cryptonomicon, I did like it quite a bit. Like any great cyberpunk story this book pits a determined outcast against corporate power structures. Except that this book is a contemporary story that could actually happen and doesn't rely on any fantastical science fiction.
The main character Sangamon Taylor is a guerrilla Ralph Nader, similar even down to they're...more
While I didn't like this book nearly as much as Cryptonomicon, I did like it quite a bit. Like any great cyberpunk story this book pits a determined outcast against corporate power structures. Except that this book is a contemporary story that could actually happen and doesn't rely on any fantastical science fiction.
The main character Sangamon Taylor is a guerrilla Ralph Nader, similar even down to they're...more
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Read in August, 2008
An eco-warrior tries to keep Boston safe from corporate polluters in his zodiac speedboat. Neal Stephenson's storytelling does not make as much use of random tangents and diversions as he did in Cryptonomicon or the Baroque Cycle (what I've read of it) -- and I liked the tangents in those books, for the most part, although I'm sure other readers would view them only as a burden...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
Neal Stephenson Fans, Planeteers
Neal does it again. I really wasn't too sure how interesting this book would be to me as it is about an environmentalist who gets caught up in a cover-up by a company who will stop at nothing to cover it's tracks when it releases a PCB creating, genetically engineered bacterium into Boston Harbor. I was pleasantly surprised by how well this book was written.
I felt that this book was much better than Cobweb, as the story kept a steady pace. It managed to keep my interest all the way through. ...more
I felt that this book was much better than Cobweb, as the story kept a steady pace. It managed to keep my interest all the way through. ...more
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One of Stephenson's best. A present-day thriller involving an ornery, ecologically minded protagonist with a take-no-prisoners take on life. Nice techie details, one of my favorite books.
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Read in April, 2008
I tried to get Neal Stephenson to come to Bumbershoot last year; he wasn't available or something. But I had this book on my shelf and wanted to read something escapist. Since it's a story about a very realist toxic waste emergency, I didn't quite achieve that, but enjoyed it nonetheless: for its quick pace, its unlikable narrator, its story of the underdog monkey-wrench activist toppling a corporate criminal.... although shortly after I finished the book, a court reduced Exxon's responsibili...more
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Read in July, 2008
The world had lowered my expectations of Stephenson's second book such that I was more than mildly surprised at how not awful it was. Sure, there were several rough spots (seriously- the Granola James Bond?), but the pace and content were invigorating.
As this is his only story set in the present that I've read, I was constantly thinking- "I could do this!" (especially since it's set in Boston). And while I think the phrase granola James Bond is lame, S.T. does make chemistry so...more
As this is his only story set in the present that I've read, I was constantly thinking- "I could do this!" (especially since it's set in Boston). And while I think the phrase granola James Bond is lame, S.T. does make chemistry so...more
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Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
anyone who likes sci-fi
I loved this story -- any good tale about eco-terrorism really appeals to me, and this one is excellent. If you liked this, try "A Friend of the Earth" by T.C. Boyle.
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I started this when Billy brought me Lucifer's Hammer to read instead :) I'll get back to it later. Very.... eco present/near future scifi political.
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Read in January, 2000
This book is light, fun, smart, and everything else you expect from a Neal Stephenson book. Admittedly, upon rereading it, it makes FAR more sense after you've taken a little genetics and organic chemistry, but I don't remember being confused the first time I read it either. That's something Stephenson does really well: he writes intellectual stuff so that you feel smarter, not dumber while reading.
The main character, S.T., is a ton of fun to hang out with. The story bounces along, the char...more
The main character, S.T., is a ton of fun to hang out with. The story bounces along, the char...more
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This book made me happy - a fast-paced snarky enviro-punk thriller that is rich in bohemian geekiness (to wit, a lesson in organic chemistry illustrated using six-packs of beer, a detailed and hilarious discussion of how to navigate the mean streets of Boston at the peak of rush hour on bike, characters who are smart enough to start their own microsofts but would rather dive through toxic raw sewage in the middle of the night to plug the drainage pipes of large polluting corporations with reinfo...more
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Read in May, 2008
Sangamon Taylor is gunning for the companies who dump toxic waste into water supplies. His big (non violent) hit is against a company dumping PCBs into Boston Harbor, he's collecting samples, analysing them and pinning the evidence on the executives with a big target for the media to hit.
My only quibble is that the serious injuries in the book aren't sold emotionally - his organisation is focused on non violent actions, but the enemy has no such compunctions. He repeatedly refers to himself a...more
My only quibble is that the serious injuries in the book aren't sold emotionally - his organisation is focused on non violent actions, but the enemy has no such compunctions. He repeatedly refers to himself a...more
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Read in February, 2008
I'm not a huge fan of Neal Stephenson; I adored Cryptonomicon (I have a thing for math nerds) and hated Snow Crash. Zodiac doesn't have the math charms of Cryptonomicon, but it has something better, envioronmentalism! It's self-described as an environmental thriller, and I think that's pretty accurate. It's silly and serious, and you end up caring about the characters. A lot of the time, I had no idea what was going on, and occasionally, I thought what were really beautiful moments in the bo...more
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Read in October, 2007
This is definitely the least complex Stephenson I've ever read. It's one of his earlier ones (1988 for this one, I think) and he follows one storyline with a few supporting characters. The narrator is a self-admitted asshole who happens to be an environmentalist trying to bring down the companies that are dumping toxic sludge into Boston Harbor. Excellent details about Boston--it was weird to think of a bar and pool hall in the Arsenal Mall in Watertown--and once it gets going it moves fairly we...more
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