Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book) | 
 enlarge | Author: Neal Stephenson
Publisher: Spectra
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Rating:  547 reviews
Sales Rank: 1043
Media: Paperback
Pages: 480
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0553380958
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780553380958
Publication Date: May 2, 2000
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Condition: Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy!
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Amazon.com Review
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 where the Mafia controls pizza delivery, the United States exists as a patchwork of corporate-franchise city-states, and the Internet--incarnate as the Metaverse--looks something like last year's hype would lead you to believe it should. Enter Hiro Protagonist--hacker, samurai swordsman, and pizza-delivery driver. When his best friend fries his brain on a new designer drug called Snow Crash and his beautiful, brainy ex-girlfriend asks for his help, what's a guy with a name like that to do? He rushes to the rescue. 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.
Product Description
Only once in a great while does a writer come along who defies comparison--a writer so original he redefines the way we look at the world. Neal Stephenson is such a writer and 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 542 more reviews...
 Snow Crash--Simply a Must-Read May 24, 2000
40 out of 44 found this review helpful
If you're a computer geek, computer geek-wannabe, or in any way interested in the 'cyber-culture' which has grown up around the Internet, this book is a must read. It takes a good idea (Gibson's _Neuromancer_ novels) and improves on it by spending as much time investigating the society in meatspace as it does cyberspace. The result is an entertaining novel which shows how both worlds interact with and change each other. The plot revolves around a drug called Snow Crash which is available both in Virtual and Real reality. After one of his friends becomes infected by this 'drug', Hero Protagonist and his skate-boarding female sidekick (if only I could find a girl like this...) must investigate who is behind this whole scheme and stop the onrushing Infopocalypse. Along the way they meet an assortment of memorable characters: a psychotic Aleut who uses razor-sharp glass knives to gut his opponents and carries a live nuclear weapon in the sidecar of his motorcycle, a cybernetic dog that can run at Mach2, a Mafia Godfather/Pizza Mogul with a penchant for straight razors, and a quadraplegic war vet who's wheelchair doubles as a tank. The settings range from the city-states of ancient Sumer to Virtual Reality libraries to a huge surplus aircraft carrier/refugee ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I swear I'm not making this up! Simply put, this is the most entertaining and thought provoking book I've read in years. If you liked Gibson's books, you'll love this one.
Control Alt Delete Restart July 17, 2001
taking a rest
42 out of 48 found this review helpful
To the extent that a book can be described as original, "Snow Crash", by Neal Stephenson is deserving of the moniker. About the only common ground that his work shares with others is that ink is applied to paper using the same letters, and then pages are bound to create a book. Much beyond that and you are in the midst of this Author's view of a given world he has modified and created. He is not only incredibly unique; his wit passes the cutting edge to the bleeding edge of razor sharp sarcasm, and irony. And when he uses words he assembles them in arrangements you have never listened to before. An important aspect that sets his work apart in this genre is that while delivering enormous amounts of information, he keeps the reader informed, he does not lose you, he ensures you stay with his wickedly fast pace by keeping you educated. Other Authors of Science Fiction are weak on this point, and it weakens their books.One date to remember when reading this work is that it was first released in June of 1992 after three years in the making. This is critical, as so much of what was absolute fiction then, may now be found within the pages of Wired Magazine. There are even words he originated that are common to most people who use a computer, especially if you have ever tried what he calls the Metaverse, touring it as an Avatar. One of the reasons his work is so authentic and exceptionally good is that he knows his material. If he talks about code he's qualified, as he has written it. When he is speaking of Sumerian Mythology an Author who spent years researching his material is again relating it. And when he just lets go with dialogue or descriptive prose it is mind binding for being clever, unique, and hilarious. He also has raised sardonic prose to an art form. If he were any less a craftsman, a main character named Hiro Protagonist that at one point delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's Cosa Nostra Pizzeria, would be moronic. Technology, a version of what today's society might look like one day, viruses that share traits whether attacking a human or a silicon life form, the origins of language based on Biblical text, it just never stops. He is an extraordinary artist who chooses to express his art through words. It is a unique ride if you have yet to take it, and one that you will never forget.
Buy this book September 26, 2000
C. Bickford (Round Lake Beach, IL USA)
21 out of 25 found this review helpful
Have your friends buy this book, then steal it and make them buy it again!Seriously. Stephenson is great at illuminating the world of the hacker. This book does so, but not the overly self-aware coolness associated with Cryptonomicon or Heavy Weather (by Bruce Sterling). It's fun, it's never serious - even when someone is trying to destroy the world - and it makes you turn the pages. I read a lot of science fiction, and am a rabid Gibson fan, and when I read this book, all I could say was 'cool'. The world, and the cyberworld. The arcane references to the Sumerians. Da5id. My personal favorite, Sushi K. And of course, Hiro Protagonist - freelance coder, swordmaster, information seller and pizza deliverydude. Remember, Americans do 4 things better than anyone else: music, movies, microcode and pizza delivery. And the position of baddest mother is taken. Piques your interest? You'll like Snow Crash. Think the attitude is childish? Pass this book up. Read Zodiac instead. Or Diamond Age.
Umberto Eco meets Joe Quirk November 24, 1999
Stephanie Rogers (Moab, Utah)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
Absolutely loved it! This book is for people who like intelligent fiction. Stephenson manages to capture pop-reality without being cheesey. It's a very well-researched and well-written book: silly and sardonic, futuristic and tangible. Potential readers shouldn't be turned off by the cover. The book is much better and more intricate than that silly illustration. Totally five stars.
I'm a victim... April 16, 2001
Carl C. Nelson (Thompson Station, TN USA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
...of someone who took a previous reviewer's advice to have another buy the book, then lend it and be forced to buy another copy when it doesn't return!From the opening description of Hiro Protagonist (the main character--couldn't you tell?), I was caught by the irony, sarcasm, wit, and sheer fun with the English language that Neal Stephenson has in his repertoire. Snow Crash is gutsy, innovative, witty, and fun. It rewards anyone who churn out code for a living. Anyone who wonders what happens to our brains with all the advertising thrown at us. Anyone who is tired of the same old science fiction. Anyone who has wondered if the Tower of Babel story, combined with Sumerian mythos, would make a good computer-age read... the answer is yes. It's almost impossible to review a cyberpunk book without comparing it to uberauthor William Gibson's works. I find Gibson to be cooly intellectual, reserved, methodical--a great read for a day when I'm ready to think hard. Stephenson is white-hot, down and dirty, in the trenches, while not losing touch with the thoughtfulness and underlying structure that makes Gibson satisfying.
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