List Price: $16.00
Save: $5.96 (37%)

FREE Shipping on orders over $25.

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Ship to:

Select a shipping address:

Other Sellers on Amazon

Add to Cart

$9.70
+ $3.94 shipping

Sold by: Bostonrrrs

Add to Cart

$11.02
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: MovieMars-Books

Add to Cart

$11.03
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: booksXpress

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 3 images

Snow Crash Paperback – May 2, 2000

by Neal Stephenson (Author)

1,457 customer reviews

See all 33 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

eBook

"Please retry"

$9.99

—

School & Library Binding

"Please retry"

$28.18

$19.34

$12.69

Paperback

"Please retry"

$10.04

$8.17

$0.99

Audible, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Mass Market Paperback

"Please retry"

—

$11.00

$2.00

MP3 CD, Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$6.46

$5.00

Unknown Binding

"Please retry"

—

$109.23

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

$10.04 FREE Shipping on orders over $25. In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Frequently bought together

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Neal Stephenson

1,666

Paperback
$7.38
Neal Stephenson

670

Paperback
$8.62
William Gibson

1,250

Mass Market Paperback
$6.14
Neal Stephenson

1,666

Mass Market Paperback
$8.58
William Gibson

1,250

Hardcover
$13.21
Ernest Cline

12,374

Paperback
$9.69

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

One of the added pleasures of the success of Stephenson's recent books (Cryptonomicon, etc.) is this better-late-than-never audio version of his third (and arguably best) novel, which continues to be a paperback bestseller. Snow Crash (1992), which helped earn the word "cyberpunk" a place in history, is set in the not-too-distant future where the Mafia controls pizza delivery, the U.S. is a vast, mall-like patchwork of corporate-franchise city-states, and young Hiro Protagonist (yes, that's the hero protagonist's name) uses his computer game wizardry and pizza delivering skills to combat a deadly new designer drug (and computer virus) called Snow Crash. Actor/writer Davis is the ideal choice for bringing Stephenson's crackling, poetic language to life, and the author-approved abridgement sacrifices none of his hilariously skewed, eminently believable vision a stew of concepts from Sumerian myth to Japanese anime of the commercially sponsored fate that sits waiting in a giant shopping mall, coming soon to a neighborhood near you. Based on the Bantam Doubleday Dell paperback.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Start reading Snow Crash: A Novel on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

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: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1,457 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #11 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Humorous
- #59 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Cyberpunk
- #89 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Hard Science Fiction

If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

Customer Reviews

1,457

4.1 out of 5 stars

5 star		53%
4 star		24%
3 star		11%
2 star		7%
1 star		5%

Write a customer review

See all verified purchase reviews

Top Customer Reviews

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 5 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

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 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.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

No expectations, but a good book for 17 years ago.

ByJ. R. Comptonon January 16, 2017

Format: MP3 CDVerified Purchase

The Amazon email I got almost demanding I write about this audio book, asked "How did this item meet [my] expectations? But I didn't have any expectations. Somebody related it to William Gibson's writing, which I have greatly enjoyed. 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 2000. Compared to Gibson this was published in a whole different age.

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

0CommentWas 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

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

Customer Images

See all customer images

Most Recent Customer Reviews

The last great predictive science fiction novel.

The last great predictive science fiction novel.

That it's been 25+ years now since its release could be a testament to a derth of imagination and knowledge on the part...Read more

Published 3 days ago by Frenetic Pony

Fun, Suspenseful, Interesting

It's hard for me to get into fiction that's not totally believable, but the action and suspense kept me going until the best parts, the parts about the history of human language,...Read more

Published 4 days ago by D'Marc Russell

I return to Snow Crash again and again - for ...

I return to Snow Crash again and again - for the elegantly manic poetically bent writing style, the memorable almost comic-book vivid characters and the wild settings.Read more

Published 4 days ago by A. Williams

Great read, one of Stephenson's best!

Published 5 days ago by Kindle Customer

but if you hang in there for a couple of chapters the story is actually good. I like Neal Stephenson - his stories take ...

Starts out rough, but if you hang in there for a couple of chapters the story is actually good. I like Neal Stephenson - his stories take a while for the proper setting and is...Read more

Published 5 days ago by Amazon Customer

Required reading

Gets you from the first paragraph. Keeps you going feverishly until the very last word. Home seems about right. Righteous.

Published 7 days ago by Mike Cubert

Five Stars

I cannot express enough how much I loved this book.

Published 8 days ago by B. Moore

Brilliant plot and many moving pieces all the way

Started getting really interesting 1/3 into the book and the action just never stopped. Brilliantly sarcastic writing and loved Stevensons ability to take ridiculous puns from...Read more

Published 10 days ago by Brian Lu

Meh

I read this based on the recommendation of several friends from my local hackerspace. I'm a huge fan of Gibson, but Stephenson just doesn't do it for me.Read more

Published 13 days ago by Kimo

Still relevant and damn funny

I read this book a decade or more ago. I've since reread it numerous times. It never ceases to amuse me.Read more

Published 14 days ago by Lee

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: Snow Crash

Set up a giveaway