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Snow Crash Paperback – May 2, 2000

by Neal Stephenson (Author)

1,496 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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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

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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: 1,496 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,832 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #13 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Humorous
- #77 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Cyberpunk
- #110 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Hard Science Fiction

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Top customer reviews

William Gibson on a hopped-up skateboard

ByINKon January 28, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This is my first Stephenson book. I bought it for my son who is majoring in computer programming. The premise, that the human mind can be programmed using an ancient language, was too much of a stretch for me. The characters, cool exaggeration/extrapolation of the US society and of virtual reality in the future, hip slang and cultural word plays, and stream of flow action - easily made up for that. This was an entertaining read; I foresee reading this again.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Brilliant plot and many moving pieces all the way

ByBrian Luon June 17, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

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 corporate marketing to the next level.

Of course there is a bunch of suspension of disbelief required with all the pseudo history and linguistics, but i thought it was super fun and would recommend.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Had no problem holding my interest. Also some fascinating ...

ByJ. W. Doughertyon May 5, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Had no problem holding my interest. Also some fascinating ideas and little tidbits of stuff to research should you choose to.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

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

ByAmazon Customeron June 21, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

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 usually worth the effort.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Great read.

ByBenon July 2, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Great, couldn't put this book down. Really cool concept and great characters. Storylines seem to make their way into a great conclusion.

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A classic homage and satire of cyberpunk

BySolarion January 4, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

A cyberpunk classic, Snow Crash is a bizarre combination of sci fi, religion, computation, history, linguistic and action. Stranger still, it works.

The story follows Hiro Protagonist, a hacker, swordsman and pizza delivery guy for the mafia. He ends up allying himself to Y. T., a teenage extreme skateboarder, as they face a conspiracy involving a cult that has a kind of computer virus that infects flesh and bones people.

And if characters like a “hacker, swordsman and pizza delivery guy for the mafia” sounds ridiculous is because they really are, and Stephenson seems to revel in this. Perhaps the most strange one is a giant whale hunter and mercenary called Corvo that moves around in a Harley Davidson armed with a nuclear bomb and has the words “NO EMOTIONAL CONTROL” tattooed on his forehead.

The story is set in a futuristic Los Angeles in which the USA government collapsed and got split in several “franchise-countries”. A place where McDonald’s can become an autonomous nation, with it’s own law, police and currency. Snow Crash was released in 1992 and by then the cyberpunk style crystallized in the 80’s had moved into self-satire. In a way Snow Crash does to cyberpunk what a movie like Kill Bill does to kung fu flicks of the 1960’s and 1970’s. It’s an over the top and absurd version of the original source material that at the same time satirizes and celebrates it.

The book popularized several computer terms, like “daemon”, a computer program that emulates human behavior, and “avatar” as a virtual representation of users in a metaverse. You could also say Stephenson also kinda predicted some future technologies, like a Librarian that seems like a Google precursor and human “gargoyles” that film everything, much like our present reality of omnipresent smartphones.

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

Can recommend it.

ByZeeshan Ziaon May 19, 2017

Format: MP3 CDVerified Purchase

The whole religious angle to the story is a bit odd; and that's not the only odd bit. However, I like the vision for sure.

Specially a recommended read for people in computational linguistics as well as virtual reality!

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Well done!

ByBenjion December 14, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

My own brief studies of ancient near eastern languages made me hesitant to pick this book up. Would it be a mockery of scholastic critical thinking, or even worse an ignorant and crude attempt to portray it? It is neither. Stephenson hits the nail right on the head with so many subjects it's astonishing. All that and still one laugh out loud sentence per chapter. Fantastic read.

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Most recent customer reviews

One of the most satisfying and substantive book ever written. One's mind is satisfied. A good meal for the brain. Don't miss thi

One of the most satisfying and substantive book ever written. One's mind is satisfied. A good meal for the brain. Don't miss this one.

Published 5 days ago by Dr.G.

excellent book. very unique

excellent book. very unique, very much of a fun read. its interesting because he pegged certain aspects of the future, but dropped the ball on others. buy it, read it, enjoy it.Read more

Published 9 days ago by nick badger

Excellent Cyberpunj

I enjoyed the originality and pulse of the world that Stephenson has fleshed out in this novel. Very entertaining. An odd scary and somehow comical United States.

Published 10 days ago by Lepus

Enchanting, Confusing, Addicting, Beautiful

I am both in love and completely over the book at the same time. Talk about confusing. Snow Crash reads like watching The Matrix for the first time-- it's mind blowing,...Read more

Published 21 days ago by Jackie B. @ Death by Tsundoku

Outlandish world that's not too far off.

Snow Crash is ultimately a book about control. Control over the flow of information in a world where the internet reigns and governments have largely fallen away.Read more

Published 22 days ago by Jason Safdie

I was amazed that the book was written in the early 90s

When I read Snow Crash, I was amazed that the book was written in the early 90s. It accurately describes many of the technologies we now not only have, but have access to every...Read more

Published 25 days ago by Dennis Koenig

Decent

Not my favorite Stephenson novel, but still learned something about history. Fun vision of corporate America taking over all aspects of functioning government.

Published 26 days ago by Bruce

Not so good

Not well written. Storyline was hard to follow. Characters did not flow together and work well with the storyline. Bad.

Published 1 month ago by Marloh Mete

Four Stars

great story...ending kind of dissapoints

Published 1 month ago by Jim B.

A surrealistic yet highly probable look at the future!

The moment I started reading this book I couldn't stop. It offers not only insight into today's society and psychology, but shows what could really be the future of America.Read more

Published 1 month ago by Laurence Bullis

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