I first read this book last year (2006) as an audiobook. It felt like a book written recently. I was so impressed at the foresight that this book exhibited, which is amazing considering that this book was the most fun I’ve ever had with a sci-fi book.

This book is what caused me to change majors from Computer Science to English (Creative Writing focus). I was standing in a Barnes and Noble, while in college, back in the mid-90’s.

I read the first paragraph and was hooked. I bought the book, went home, read it in a single night. I changed majors the next morning.

Yeah, fogetaboutit! I loved it. Neal has been my favorite author for a while now and I am glad that I have now read another of his better known works. Being cyberpunk, it had a more William Gibson feel to it than his later stuff. Still a good story and a fun read.

I’m loving this, and am about half way through. but I’m listening to it (the unabridged of course) and the guy keeps mispronouncing words and it’s iritating.

It is amazing, though, how Stephenson creates these completely believable worlds.

I’m not a regular connoissuer of the cyperpunk category, so I was a bit mesmerized by the style and setting. I found it particularly interesting to discover this “metaverse” and compare it to online MMO worlds and how they are evolving today.

Then I got completely sucked into the author’s idea of hacking the brain—controlling how we operate and reason at a BIOS level.That was really fascinating for me, as I wanted to be a neurologist growing up, am fascinated by communication, and am really getting into the issues of social networking systems these days. The allusions to religion, virus and hardware really opened up my thought processes.

Which is why I was so let down with the crappy ending. Rather than following its course and showing the outcomes/ramifications, it wraps up like a bad 80’s cop drama…..blow up the bad guys, kiss the girl, call it a day and go home. WTF? I really couldn’t have been let down more.

In retrospect, I talked about this to a friend and said something that was surprisingly apt: I guess it’s a lot easier to start writing a book than it is to finish one.

Cyberpunk is a niche of science-fiction where I found a fascinating milieu steeped in world cultures and technology but never really found what I considered to be great stories. Neal Stephenson doesn’t accomplish it here either with Snow Crash, but it’s nevertheless a fun ride. And one that isn’t so utterly bleak, in contrast to Gibson. The characters never stray too far from cookie-cutter personas with the exception of Y.T. Hiro mostly serves to move the plot along. And with the Librarian, he’s an exposition device for Stephenson’s elaborate ideas on language and cognition which provide the true value for the book.

The painting of this cyberpunk universe in the very first chapter is what resonates so clearly for me in these uncertain times. Ridiculous inflation of the dollar. Global trade imbalances. Utilizing data mining to reengineer the most mundane of business processes. All converging towards an empty backyard swimming pool.

A good book, but I found it a little improbable. Maybe I just don’t understand it completely?

this is my favorite book, diamond age is #2

I enjoyed this a lot when I was younger. I still think it’s good. Diamond Age is better, though. And there really is no comparison to Neuromancer. Geeks might like Snow Crash because it has a more realistic technical detail, but Gibson can write circles around Stephenson.

better than neuromancer, i thought

It’s alright. I liked Diamond Age a lot better, as I think he became a lot better of a writer by then. I love the interesting vision of the future and the riffing on human and computer languages, but the exposition gets to be a bit much at times(and I’m someone who likes didactic novels-of-ideas, and is willing to forgive a lot of expounding, so if I noticed it, it’s probably pretty clumsy.) Still worth a read, but be prepared to be yanked right out of the narrative a few times to learn about Sumerian and computer programming and such, and to be annoyed by a few too many conveniently contrived expository plot and character details.

(completed audible.com version on 2005/02/19)

Fantastic! Very well-produced, wonderful narrator – one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever heard.

(listening to the audible.com version on mp3)

My introduction to Neal Stephenson. I really enjoyed it, clearly there are obvious comparisons to Gibson but the voice and the ideas are unique. I liked the richness of the ides peppered throughout the novel.

Wanna Enter the Matrix? Go to Snow Crash first.

My introduction to Stephenson. I reread this recently, because I’d completely forgotten what this was about. Highly recommended! Includes Raven, the baddest m*f*r in town!

A great read. Neal Stephenson’s best, still.

Truly geek-oriented novel.

Completed November, 2000

I was real happy reading this book. Loads of fun and with a CG character known as The Librarian, it’s hard to go wrong.