Snow Crash in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

May 28, 2009 Jamie Collins rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, post-apocalyptic-dystopia

I wouldn't ordinarily pick up a book described as cyberpunk, but I've decided that I will read everything written by Neal Stephenson. This one is terrific fun. Not flawless by any means, but I think most of the problems are due to the book being too short, even at 400+ pages. Stephenson needs a lot of words to tell his stories and as soon as he got enough clout to do so he started writing books twice this size.

I love his writing style: the deadpan dialog, the three-simile-per-page average, the t ...more

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Oct 21, 2009 Lorena rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Reading Neal Stephenson always makes me feel like I am just barely smart enough to understand how smart Neal Stephenson is. Given that this was published in 1992, I was very impressed with how much he got right about what the internet could become (and indeed, with some of the features of the internet that were directly inspired by this book). My only quibble was with the somewhat shallow characterization and the lack of compelling motivations for the characters and entities involved, although t ...more

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Jan 08, 2008 Lasairfiona rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: havereadin2008, chris-likes

For a year or two now, I have been getting recommendations to read this book. I kept telling them that I had read the book, but every time I read the teaser I didn't recognize it. So it was the book that I didn't know if I had read or not. It is official, I have read the book. This is great because it solves two problems: 1) Whether I have read it or not and 2) It solves the mystery of a few scenes I remembered but couldn't associate it with a tittle. I was about to go to the "What is the name o ...more

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Mar 31, 2008 J-Lynn Van Pelt rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, adult-books

This is one of the most bizarre books that I have ever read. I read it as part of the Goodreads Sci fi/Fantasy book club and am glad for the opportunity because I never would have picked it up on my own.

I discovered that this book is part of the Cyberpunk genre which is a bit like being sucked into a mind warp. Technology is like its own character in the book--especially with the ever present metaverse (which I find a little daunting). The dystopian future society's priorities are heavy on techn ...more

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Nov 17, 2010 Cairnraiser rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, fiction, audiobook

Wonderful mix of mythology, technology and archaeology.
Hacker Hiro Protagonist and courier YT find themselves caught in the biggest mindhack in history... or perhaps rather an attempt at a reversal of same.

Parts about the metaverse and surfing the web feel dated now, while some parts seem almost prescient.

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