false 54405234 1502680 830 0553380958 9780553380958 1221 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157396730m/830.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/830.Snow_Crash 3.92 20460 Snow Crash is such a novel, weaving virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility to bring us the gigathriller of the information age.

In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's CosaNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he's a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that's striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about Infocalypse. Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous...you'll recognize it immediately.
]]> 545 3.99 59571 5345 5 0 false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1994 Wed Apr 29 15:34:50 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 29 17:11:55 -0700 2009
The only thing about the set-up that bothered me was that the technology of the "metaverse" (3d, 1st-person, internet) seemed incomplete. Stephenson should have had people go ahead and plug in directly into the computer, rather than merely using visors and keyboards.

This closed out the cyberpunk era if I remember right. It wasn't nearly as literary as William Gibson's Neuromancer, which started it all. But it was much more fun.

PS. How did I write this review and forget to mention that Hiro is the world's greatest swordsman?]]>