Just started Snow Crash (some spoilers)

[Danoz]

About 40 pages in. So far I'm enjoying the writing infinitely more than the setup. I mean, essentially we have a pizza delivery guy who plays some kind of advanced version of "Second Life" and is a rockstar hacker in this community--- and a young girl (street surfer) who is a bit of an unknown. The writing is unique, modern, edgy-- the metaphors are fun; all around fast-paced and exceedingly visual. Going from "Children of Dune" to "Snow Crash" was like finishing Casablanca and putting in Fast and the Furious. Anyway, this book came highly recommended by the same friend who recommended the Dune series, so, here we go!

This is my Snow Crash travelogue-- no spoilers .

 

[Trent Roman]

I love Snow Crash; and it's worth remembering that the book itself predates the modern web and was one of the first to portray a tangible virtual universe in that way, so what seems old hat today was high-concept back then. Speaking of high-concept... just keep reading, it gets pretty mind-bendy.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Danoz]

I love Snow Crash; and it's worth remembering that the book itself predates the modern web and was one of the first to portray a tangible virtual universe in that way, so what seems old hat today was high-concept back then. Speaking of high-concept... just keep reading, it gets pretty mind-bendy.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

You know, I never looked at the date on this! I figured it was far newer than 1992! Yeah, thanks for that note...

 

[Autobot]

I'm reading Snow Crash right now too, for the first time. Recommended by a few of my friends. I find you definitely need to put yourself in the place of when the book was written, as the poster above stated. So much of what the book writes about the future is actually here, in one form or another.

I'm about 2/3rds of the way through. I'm enjoying the action portion of the storyline, but once it starts getting to the history of language and its interaction with religions, I start skimming the pages a bit.

 

[Trent Roman]

^ In contrast, that was some of the content that excited me the most (even wrote a paper on the topic for a course in college).

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Shawnster]

Loved Snow Crash. This book made me decide read Neil Stephenson books whenever I can.

I loved some of the little programming details in the "Second Life" VR environment.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Stephenson's "Diamond Age" was better.

But shame on you for comparing "Snow Crash" to "Fast and the Furious".

 

[Luckyflux]

I just finished reading Vurt by Jeff Noon and I wanted something similar. Many people recommended Snow Crash, so I got it. Got about halfway through and then lost it. I liked it so far, but I wanted something else I guess. Not really sure, but it just didn't grab me. I knew I probably wouldn't get a change to finish reading it anytime soon so I read the synopsis on line to know what happened. After I read the spoilers and ending I thought that it sounded pretty good, but I am not sure if I will pick it back up again.

 

[Caliburn24]

I read Snowcrash years ago. Liked the book overall, but by far the best part was the first 50 pages or so.

Unfortunately Stephenson's books have never held my interest since then. The Diamond Age was too out there. Cyptonowhatever was the same, and I haven't given his trilogy a try yet, but I'd like to.

 

[God Magnus]

I read this when it first came out and remember being wowed by a lot of the concepts. Nowadays we take them for granted such as the "Second Life" virtual world. I also like Stephenson's writing style, but I confess other than this and "Diamond Age", I haven't read his other works just yet.

 

[kythe]

Snow Crash is one of my favorite sci-fi books, and the only cyberpunk novel I've really gotten into. I've read it twice, but the last time was several years ago. Maybe it's time for a re-read.

 

[Pilot Ace]

Snow Crash was weird. Definitely a really fun book at the beginning, but I think it loses steam towards the middle when the plot really gets going (especially when the bigger things need to be lectured at you). I remember it being a bit of a chore to finish.

Y.T. is mostly awesome and Hiro is interesting.