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Snow Crash (Paperback)

by Neal Stephenson (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; New Ed edition (29 Aug 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140232923
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140232929
  • Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 11.2 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 6,482 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #5 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > S > Stephenson, Neal

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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

Product Description
The only relief from the sea of logos is within the well-guarded borders of the Burbclaves. Is it any wonder that most sane folks have forsaken the real world and chosen to live in the computer-generated universe of virtual reality? In a major city, the size of a dozen Manhattans, is a domain of pleasures limited only by the imagination. But now a strange new computer virus called Snow Crash is striking down hackers everywhere, leaving an unlikely young man as humankind's last best hope.

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Snow Crash
74% buy the item featured on this page:
Snow Crash 4.2 out of 5 stars (50)
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Customer Reviews

50 Reviews
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 (30)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (7)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (50 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Style over Substance, 3 Feb 2000
By A Customer
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.

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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Deliverator, 1 Oct 2003
By Matthew Wharton "electricinca" (Bath, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
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.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Control Alt Delete Restart, 11 Nov 2002
By taking a rest - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Close to sci-fi perfection!
'Snow Crash' is Neal Stephenson's magnum opus, not in terms of wordage, or literary pretentions, for those plaudits surely go to his more recent work, but for the sheer inventive... Read more
Published 1 month ago by D. O'Brien

3.0 out of 5 stars Snow Crash
Snow Crash
A good story that doesn't quite reach the level the early chapters promise, but still a reasonable read.
Published 4 months ago by Howard Russell

3.0 out of 5 stars From good to bad in 60 seconds.
This was my first "cyberpunk" novel. I have never read Gibson and I had nothing to compare this book to, save the movies I have watched on the subject. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Daniel Fruelund Jensen

2.0 out of 5 stars Too little care in continuity
Okay, so Neal is a far better writer than I'll ever be. But as a reader I thought that the writing played better as a series of short stories rather than a cohesive novel. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Andronichus

2.0 out of 5 stars Original idea (at the time) but poor quality rushed ending
I bought the book for the subject matter and therefore did generally enjoy 80% of the book. The writing style was quite shallow with no depth to the characters and limited... Read more
Published 10 months ago by G. Hinton

4.0 out of 5 stars Reasonable beginning, Amazing middle section, Weak ending

If you like the sound of this book based on the back of the book (hero called Hiro, pizza delivery, etc etc), then this book is for you. Read more
Published 11 months ago by A. Buteux

4.0 out of 5 stars He's called Hiro Protagonist. This won't be a normal story.
'Snowcrash' is a high-octane race through too many ideas (Infectious memetics! Aleutian islanders! Teenage skateboard couriers! Samurais! Hacking!). Read more
Published 13 months ago by Jay Oh

3.0 out of 5 stars High tech future runs out of steam
Neal Stephenson delights in setting up and describing a parallel reality. Just like our world but not quite. And what a set up. Read more
Published 21 months ago by M. G. Wilson

5.0 out of 5 stars How did I miss this?
As a fan both of the Cyberpunk genre and of Stephenson, it's hard to believe that I've only just found this book. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Ray Blake

5.0 out of 5 stars prophetic
I found this a bit slow to begin with but after 100 pages or so the story really starts to motor, taking you along at a fair clip. Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2007 by P. Jamison

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