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 cyber-sensibility to bring us the gigantic thriller of the information age. In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's Cosa Nostra Inc., but it 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.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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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
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 51 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.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Not one I'd recommend for its complex, intricate plot with a clever twist at the end - because it doesn't have either - but the setting of the novel, where the Metaverse [cyberspace] exists alongside reality, is described in such detail, and sounds so plausible, that it is well worth a read. For a vision of the future of the internet, and one which could be here in a very few years, it's the best I've seen.
The novel is also about the rampant progress, if progress is the right word, of consumerism, and is rather more chilling if that aspect of it is to be taken as a vision of the future we're heading for. However, this element of the story seems to me to be something for the much more distant future at least.
In its description of the society of the future at least, "Snow Crash" is reminiscent of Michael Marshall Smith's "Only Forward" - another five-star candidate in my book.
Buy them both today.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After not quite enjoying William Gibson's Neuromancer and Burning Chrome I must confess I was not very excited about another cyberpunk novel. But my suspicions were unfounded as Snowcrash revealed itself as an excellent reading. Of course the story is bizarre, otherwise it wouldn't be cyberpunk. In Stephenson's vision of the future the world is a patchwork of fiercely defended corporations and neighborhood-large franchises, with no central authority as the USA is but one of these corporate-like organizations (alas the more paranoid one, interestingly enough).
There is also an augmented version of the Internet, something like Second Life but with actual added value, where Hiro Protagonist, our protagonist hero (got that?) spends most of his time. And he is also an hacker, a Mafia's pizza delivery boy and an expert samurai swordfighter. Can it get better than this? Yes! Add it a brain-frying computer virus, Sumerian culture, meta-language philosophical discussions and you have Snow Crash.
There is also an augmented version of the Internet, something like Second Life but with actual added value, where Hiro Protagonist, our protagonist hero (got that?) spends most of his time. And he is also an hacker, a Mafia's pizza delivery boy and an expert samurai swordfighter. Can it get better than this? Yes! Add it a brain-frying computer virus, Sumerian culture, meta-language philosophical discussions and you have Snow Crash.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Snow Crash
Its a real Marmite book. You either like it or hate it...or even understand it or not!
I found it intriguing but quite a hard read. Read more
I found it intriguing but quite a hard read. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. David J. Barton
5.0 out of 5 stars
An entertaining read that provokes serious thoughts about the...
Truly (near-)futuristic when it came out, for a new reader this might seem a bit old hat, but for me the pace of the plot and the vividness of the writing still seem fresh. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Richard M
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great read
This book is a masterpiece I have read it about four times - I keep lending it out never to be returned.
I will be keeping this copy.
I will be keeping this copy.
Published 3 months ago by Brian Dunne
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Important Novel
In order to fully appreciate this book you need to set your mind back to 1992 when it was published. Read more
Published 3 months ago by bunglenutter
1.0 out of 5 stars
Childish and Stupid
I was looking for a modern sci-fi novel to compare with the likes of Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon; Snow Crash has left me irritated and disappointed. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Shopper Z
5.0 out of 5 stars
My favourite book. Funny, insightful, prescient, action packed &...
If I didn't describe it well enough in the title, just read the first chapter, hell the first few paragraphs. If after that you cn put it down, then do so. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Alasdair
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable Cyberpunk Adventure
Reading "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson was my first ever venture into the Science-Fiction sub-genre of Cyberpunk. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Killie
5.0 out of 5 stars
Much more than just Cyberpunk
"Wait a minute, Juanita. Make up your mind. This Snow Crash thing--is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?"
Juanita shrugs. "What's the difference? Read more
Juanita shrugs. "What's the difference? Read more
Published 6 months ago by Frank Wetzig
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cool and smart!
Given all the rave reviews Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash has received over the years, it's a wonder that the book has been sitting there on my shelf for well over a decade now. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Patrick St-Denis
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cyber Punk at its very best :)
Stephenson already has quite a reputation, and I have to say, I'm not an avid fan of computers or cyber-networking, but he really gets it all down pat in 'Snow Crash. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Petersgirl
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