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Snow Crash Paperback – May 2, 2000

by Neal Stephenson (Author)

1,473 customer reviews

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One of Time’s 100 best English-language novels • A mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous—you’ll recognize it immediately

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 CosoNostra 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.

Praise for Snow Crash

“[Snow Crash is] a cross between Neuromancer and Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland. This is no mere hyperbole.”—The San Francisco Bay Guardian

“Fast-forward free-style mall mythology for the twenty-first century.”—William Gibson

“Brilliantly realized . . . Stephenson turns out to be an engaging guide to an onrushing tomorrow.”—The New York Times Book Review

Snow Crash

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Editorial Reviews

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.

From Publishers Weekly

In California of the near future, when the U.S. is only a "Burbclave" (city-state), the Mafia is just another franchise chain (CosaNostrastet Pizza, Incorporated) and there are no laws to speak of, Hiro Protagonist follows clues from the Bible, ancient Sumer and high technology to help thwart an attempt to take control of civilization--such as it is. When he logs on to Metaverse, an imaginary place entered via computer, Hiro encounters Juanita Marquez, a "radical" Catholic and computer whiz. She warns him off Snow Crash (a street drug named for computer failure) and gives him a file labeled Babel (as in Tower of Babel). Another friend, sp ok/pk Da5id, who ignores Juanita's warning, computer crashes out of Metaverse into the real world, where he physically collapses. Hiro, Juanita, Y.T. (a freewheeling, skateboard-riding courier) and sundry other Burbclave and franchise power figures see some action on the way to finding out who is behind this bizarre "drug" with ancient roots. Although Stephenson ( Zodiac ) provides more Sumerian culture than the story strictly needs (alternating intense activity with scholarship breaks), his imaginative juxtaposition of ancient and futuristic detail could make this a cult favorite.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product details

Paperback: 440 pages
Publisher: Del Rey (2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0553380958
ISBN-13: 978-0553380958
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.2 x 8.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 1,473 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #8 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Humorous
- #41 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Cyberpunk
- #78 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Hard Science Fiction

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5 star		54%
4 star		23%
3 star		11%
2 star		7%
1 star		5%

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Set in a not-too-unrecognizable dystopian future where conglomerates run entire neighborhoods like mini fifedoms

ByBen Gruberon August 15, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

How many books have you read where the Hero/Protagonist's name is Hiro Protagonist? If you think that means the book is just a satire and the characters are one-dimensional, you couldn't be more wrong. Set in a not-too-unrecognizable dystopian future where conglomerates run entire neighborhoods like mini fifedoms, Hiro is a super hacker in the Matrix like world much of the population inhabits, as well as the real one. One of the best books I've read on a recommendation, and glad I did. Still holds up after multiple readings. Neal Stephenson at his absolute finest, you'll be hooked on his style as soon as you're finished with this one. Waiting for the movie adaptation still, seems like it's in development hell for a while. Until then, read the book - it's got humor, history, religion, anthropology, futurism, and a lot more for any reader willing to peek into Stephenson's world.

11 comment 6 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Amazing!

ByDanielon May 4, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I haven't read anything of Stephenson's since Seveneves. Before that my only other exposure was with Anathem.

With those two books as my previous experience I was a little hesitant to dive into one of Neal's massive tomes with endless paragraphs of info dump and esoteric scientific explanations.

I was PLEASENTLY surprised to find none of that. Yes, there are large chunks of Stephenson's verbose prose. But while action packed and with an amazing world that only Stephenson can build this was still "light" compared to those novels.

A semi-dystopian future where the US is chopped into different enclaves and the mafia are the good guys this story blends real world action with VR/Matrix/Ready Player One simulated drama.

0Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

It is the first weapon drawn in a conflict

ByMoisioon May 5, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I quite liked Snow Crash and moved through it quickly. A concept-driven novel, parts of it brought to mind the movie, Arrival, which I had recently seen. To be clear, there are no aliens to speak of here. But in addition to the cyber elements explored in Stephenson's treatment of the Matrix-like Metaverse, the book looks at language and how it may interact with and influence the human brain.

Unfortunately, occasionally thin and transparent plot devices slightly undermine the ambitious concepts. This is not to say that the plot isn't compelling. It is. The dystopian physical world portrayed in the book seems to be more or less our present day, as imagined twenty-five years ago, and is wildly imaginative. And the key characters moving through it are interesting, if almost Manichaean superhero/villain treatments.

All the above notwithstanding, Stephenson's book is quite good. Rather than being major handicaps, the occasional hiccups in the plot were really only justification for my giving the book 4 stars rather than 5.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Rather more prophetic than I'd like...

ByAerlog Matrujon March 11, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is one of my all time favorite books. It took me a long time to get into it (I couldn't with the first chapter, and put it down for a long time before trying again) but the first chapter (like many of Stephenson's books) is pretty anomalous style-wise in comparison to the rest (& I've grown to love it regardless - don't be tempted to skip it as I was, it is relevant to the story). Great reading, fun, thoughtful cyberpunk, one of the early & canonical books of the genre. If you like Gibson, & you haven't read Snow Crash, would definitely suggest that you do.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

No expectations, but a good book for 30 years ago.

ByJ. R. Comptonon January 16, 2017

Format: MP3 CDVerified Purchase

The Amazon email I got demanding I write about this audio book, asked "How did this item meet [my] expectations? I didn't have any expectations. Somebody related it to William Gibson's writing, which I have greatly enjoyed for many years. Gibson is significantly more subtle, smooth and eloquent. But most of his books that I have read were newer than this one from way back in 1992 (according to Che). Compared to Gibson, whom I believe, is still writing, this was published in a whole different age.

Gradually, I got into Snow Crash, and overall, rather enjoyed it. But I'd still rather read William Gibson. He has more depth.

22 commentsWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Amazingly good

ByColin Inglewoodon August 26, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

“Snow Crash” is a great science fiction cyberpunkish novel. Brilliant, exhilarating, very funny, highly intelligent, very well informed, and at the same time highly pessimistic about the future. It imagines a very bleak future in which the United States federal government has been reduced to a few fortified areas, there is no rule of law, most of the country is dominated by a small number of criminal corporations, one of the most powerful ones being the Mafia. This picture of the future is not completely consistent, but overall the novel is excellent.

The main characters are a 30 year-old man, who is apparently the best samurai swordsman in the world, one of the best hackers or software programmers (Stephenson uses the words more or less interchangeably; one must keep in mind that this book was written in 1992), and also a Deliverator, which is a fancy name for a pizza delivery man working for the Mafia, and a 15 year-old girl (very full of “attitude”) that works as a “Kourier” (messengers that deliver packages riding some super high-tech skates). The Mafia apparently controls all the Domino-like pizza-to-go business in the country. The whole setup of the novel should make smile even to the most cantankerous readers.

0Comment 5 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

boring parts (to me

Bywormdriveon July 21, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Dear Lord, if you haven't read this one yet, get to it. Yes, there are some wordy, boring parts (to me, anyway), but skim past them (the whole nam-shub business could have been greatly condensed IMHO) and treat your brain to one of the greatest sci-fi books ever written. Yep, right up there with Dune, Ender's Game, etc. Stephenson's gift for describing unbelievably cool weapons, vehicles, and fights in an unbelievably cool way is unmatched.

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Great Book

ByObiwankyon May 6, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Snow Crash is full of action, of thought, of philosophico-religious ruminations on language, meaning, and love. I was surprised when I first read it, and find more surprises each time I read it. Stephenson's writing is phenomenal. The plot is fun and terrific and complex without being overwrought. And it's just fun. I could go on, but you should just read it. READ IT

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

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Most recent customer reviews

20-Year old high-tech adventure is still fresh!

An old high-tech adventure involving smart-wheel skateboards and motorcycles, with Balkanized "burbclaves" is still a really fun read, and was even worth the re-read.Read more

Published 21 hours ago by AKS

Crazy foresight!

This book is unbelievably awesome at predicting the future! Would love a breakdown chapter by chapter of all the scenarios that actually came true!

Published 1 day ago by Baby Peach

Another great Stephenson story

Another great Stephenson story. I kind of thought the ending was abrupt but I loved the characters and liked the mix of old mythology and hackers.

Published 2 days ago by steve

Stephenson fan in general, could have skipped this one...

I REALLY wanted to like this book. It has so much going for it. The almost too on point character names... the cyber-punk meets dystopian-present motif...Read more

Published 2 days ago by Shawn Stewart

Great read

This is book is an excellent adventure through a colorful world of diverse characters. Despite covering heavy topics such as religion, politics , and capitalism, this book never...Read more

Published 4 days ago by C. Hollis

very poor, seemingly rushed ending

Very entertaining, well written book. Compelling story line, interesting characters, very poor, seemingly rushed ending. Damn near ruined the entire book.

Published 6 days ago by Eric Foster

Entertaining book!

The book was overall well written, the main characters are enjoyable, the plot was great. There are a few things that I thought could have been a little better, I thought the...Read more

Published 7 days ago by Spencer Goss

Greatbbook

Huge ground breaking genre novel. His first, possibly his best.

Published 8 days ago by Another amazon customer

Fabulous book. Vintage Stephenson.

Fabulous book. Vintage Stephenson. His ability to write across genres is just amazing.

Published 8 days ago by Graeme D.

More stripped down, bare essential, rapid-fire writing.

More stripped down, bare essential, rapid-fire writing - pizza delivery scene is great. The story has holes in it but this is science fiction and who else can imagine and weave a...Read more

Published 8 days ago by gogocat

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