- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Penguin; New Ed edition (29 Aug 2002)
- Language Unknown
- ISBN-10: 0140232923
- ISBN-13: 978-0140232929
- Product Dimensions: 18 x 11 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
21,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #92 in Books > Fiction > Science Fiction > High Tech
Snow Crash
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk 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. --Acton Lane
Review
Stephenson excels in marrying geekspeak with riotous action (Guardian )
A cross between Neuromancer and Thomas Pynchon's Vineland. This is no mere hyperbole (San Francisco Bay Guardian )
Brilliantly realized. Stephenson [is] an engaging guide to an onrushing tomorrow (The New York Times )
A fantastic, slam-bang-overdrive, supersurrealistic, comic-spooky whirl through a tomorrow that is already happening. Stephenson is intelligent, perceptive, hip (Timothy Leary )
Like a Pynchon novel with the brakes removed (Washington Post ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
A cross between Neuromancer and Thomas Pynchon's Vineland. This is no mere hyperbole (San Francisco Bay Guardian )
Brilliantly realized. Stephenson [is] an engaging guide to an onrushing tomorrow (The New York Times )
A fantastic, slam-bang-overdrive, supersurrealistic, comic-spooky whirl through a tomorrow that is already happening. Stephenson is intelligent, perceptive, hip (Timothy Leary )
Like a Pynchon novel with the brakes removed (Washington Post ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 43 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Snow Crash was Neal Stephenson's breakthrough novel and is the one that saw him being labelled inaccurately as a cyberpunk novelist. Snow Crash is a brilliant witty science fiction adventure.
In the near future the nation state of America has broken down and people live in corporate owned mini city-states. The Mafia control pizza delivery and Hiro Protagonist a samurai sword wielding deadbeat hacker is a Deliverator of pizzas. Hiro is drawn into a complex plot to enslave people's minds when a computer virus/drug called Snow Crash is released onto the Metaverse. Trying to stop Hiro in his quest to save the world is Raven an Aleutian psychopath with razor thin glass knives and a Nuclear Weapon strapped to his motorcycle.
This book is responsible for bringing into public consciousness many cyberspace concepts that are now becoming commonplace. The concept of the Metaverse and Avatars is now mainstream in MMORPGs such as Everquest and The Sims Online. Also the idea that the human brain is programmable and is capable of crashing has become accepted by neuroscientists and can be seen in the science of Neuro-Linguistic Programming.
Stephenson demonstrates an ability here to dump a lot of information into your brain without you noticing, and although there are a few missteps along the way generally his science is sound unlike many SF writers.
The one failing of the book is that the over-arching threat posed by L. Bob Rife and his plan to take over the world never seems threatening enough and dwindles in comparison to the actual physical threat of Raven.
The world conceived of in the book is both a brilliant backdrop to the plot and a credible possible future that we may be facing. When governments lose the power to collect taxes then they cease to be of any use and citizens will seek the services of protection and education from corporations.
If the first 25 pages don't get you hooked then put the book down, step away carefully and go numb your mind by watching television game shows.
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A book with brilliant ideas and plenty of substance, but even more style. Every cariacature and cliche is here, but taken to the slickest, coolest, and baddest end.
It's not a complex plot, but it's a complicated one. With multiple story threads, that means that when the time for a re-read rolls around, you'll feel like you're reading a different story. I'd like to believe this was intentional on his part (the Diamond Age has a similar feel to it)
The scope of this book ranges from the bizarre to the absurd, from the civilised to the savage. The future Stephenson shares with us is hopefully not prophetic, but is realistic enough to come true, and is still near enough to the real world to see trends in society making it come true.
Inspiring, frightening, exciting and amusing all at once, I don't think I've read any book more times than Snow Crash.
Read 'The Diamond Age' (same author), 'Interface' by Stephen Bury (pseudonym). Also excellent books.
As another reviewer mentioned. For a similar style of read, read the also excellent 'Only Forward' by Michael Marshall-Smith.
Buy it, now.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
The word "cyberpunk" always used to cause me to clench my teeth as I believed it not to be science-fiction in the strict sense. I have now been proven wrong. At the continual prodding of a friend, I finally decided to read "Snow Crash". Suddenly, I was hooked on this science-fiction sub-group! I began reading more books by Neal Stephenson, such as "The Diamond Age", "Zodiac", "Cryptonomicon", and am now reading nothing but "cyberpunk" books. One I found, not by Stephenson yet still interesting, is "Darkeye: Cyber Hunter". Yet another good example of this genre.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Amazingly bad
Thankfully I got the free sample for this book.
This has the distinction of being the first sample I couldn't finish. Read more
This has the distinction of being the first sample I couldn't finish. Read more
Published 3 months ago by plot hound
Disappointing really
My first experience of Neal Stephenson as a writer did not leave me wanting more.
I felt that his central protagonist, A pizza delivery boy working for the Cosa Nostra was... Read more
I felt that his central protagonist, A pizza delivery boy working for the Cosa Nostra was... Read more
Published 4 months ago by S Foster
william burroughs meets second life
already it seems dated...... this was cutting edge about the same time we were rolling up the sleeves of our jackets on the outsides........ Read more
Published 4 months ago by Terry
Great, if you like scifi
If you're a die-hard sci-fi fan you will love this book. Whilst the plot might be a little hard to grasp and be slightly implausible at times, it's still a great book if you can... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Coding Monkey
Snow Joke
Snow Crash starts a little uncomfortably and maybe even a little showy in terms of its style of prose but happily it quickly settles into its stride. Read more
Published 13 months ago by P. Nagle
Enjoyable read
This is a very enjoyable and fun read. I'm not finished yet but it's definitely a page turner and the sense of humour is a bit black which I love. Read more
Published 18 months ago by ReservoirDawg
Great novel; bad scan
I've been teaching this novel for years; it's a terrific novel, and not just because it introduced us to the Metaverse and avatars that anticipated Second Life, etc. Read more
Published 18 months ago by cybergirl
Great book, poor kindle edition
Lets get this out of the way: I adore this book. It's cyberpunk with all the fun put back in, and there are scenes that are literally worth reading the entire book for. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Ferrious
Avoid the Kindle version!
OK, first up, this is a great book which every SF fan should read, but for heaven's sake buy the paperback! Read more
Published 19 months ago by Lyndon Rosser
Excellent book, poor Kindle edition
I own the paperback version of Snow Crash so wouldn't hesitate in rating it five stars, but it would seem that for the Kindle edition the publishers lazily OCR-ed a paper copy... Read more
Published 21 months ago by SiD
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