The theme for march was cyberpunk and we all chose snow crash to read and. Like many of stephensons other novels it covers history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryptography, memetics and philosophy stephenson explained the title of the novel in his 1999 essay in the beginning. Indeed stephenson anticipated the later evolution of both the web and scifi books with remarkable prescience. Brilliantly realizedstephenson turns out to be an engaging guide to an onrushing tomorrow.
Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read snow crash. Snow crash has one of the most effective opening hooks in science fiction, a loving description of a hightech armored driver and car. Snow crash project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Snow crash gives us a glimpse into an alternate america where the right to personal freedom overrides law. Stephenson predicted a lot of what we now take for granted in. Snow crash is a mindaltering romp through a future america so bizarre, so outrageousyoull recognize it immediately. Right now, he is preparing to carry out his third mission of the. Stephensons literary ambitions or abilities are not exactly overwhelming, but there is a considerable amount of attention to literary craft. Neal stephensons snow crash is one of the great unadapted novels of modern science fiction, right up there with its granddaddy in the cyberpunk genre, william gibsons neuromancer. Snow crash has one of the most effective opening hooks in science.
Turns out tbone is at the vitaly chernobyl concert to make a deal with raven to get some snow crash, but when the deal goes south, tbone tries to hunt down raven to extract revenge. In snow crash, hiros father was said to have joined the army in 1944 at the age of sixteen. Snow crash is neal stephensons third novel, published in 1992. The ideas in that book, and in most good science fiction, are what set it apart. When i read snow crash, i was amazed that the book was written in the early 90s. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. A hes also a brilliant hacker and swordwielding genius, but his playspoorlywithothers personality means he needs a day job. Hiro can see the diamonds in his tie pin flashing from a hundred feet away 15.
A serious thought in a world where people blow each other up because of words. The last half is a mad, actionfilled rush to the conclusion. 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. In a notsodistant future, the usa has become a fragmented ensembles of smaller burbclaves and citystates. What are the things about snow crash that interest you. The multiple meanings of the phrase, and their interconnections, are, like, the entire point of the book. Language is coolit can shape your brain from birth, and alter your brain in adulthoodand snow crash digs deep into its impact, exploring notions of linguistic infrastructure, glossolalia speaking in tongues, and neurolinguistic programming sure, this is all a mouthful see what we did there. This study guide consists of approximately 81 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of snow crash. It is a world where the mafia controls pizza delivery, the united states exists as a patchwork of corporatefranchise citystates, and the internetincarnate as the metaverselooks something like last years hype would lead you to believe it should.
Jun 02, 2011 snow crash is a smart, cool, funny, witty, and actionpacked adventure featuring a pair of unlikely heroes who must save the world from infocalypse. Its fine to not enjoy reading a book, but maybe you need a little perspective here. It accurately describes many of the technologies we now not only have, but have access to every day. If i were forced to make a decision as to which book is better ready player one or snow crash, i would pick snow crash with little to no hesitation. Of course, hes also manipulating her into becoming loyal to the mafia but thats how the world works in snow crash. Snow crash 1992, by neal stephenson alltime 100 novels. Snow crash was no doubt a hell of a read when it was released.
Snow crash summary when we first meet hiro protagonist, he delivers pizzas for the mob in l. Religion is a virus, both drugs and computer viruses can affect your brain and dna, and holy crap were all screwed when these tools get into the wrong hands. Stephenson now resides in a comfortable home in the western hemisphere and spends all of his time trying to retrofit an office into its generally dark, unlevel, and asbestosladen basement so that he can. 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. The book is let down by its poor plot on a par with a bad james bond movie two questionable scenes in my mind, and a particularly unbelievable resolution of the snow crash mystery. Before the chapter actually starts, we get dictionarystyle definitions of the words snow, crash, and virus. Dick, anthony burgess and john brunner, written 8 years after neuromancer and 19 years before ready player one this is a bright light on the cyberpunk literary landscape. Being in the metaverse hiro and da5id dont expect anything to happen as a result of using snow crash, but da5id ends up only a shadow of his former self not even being able to put words together, let alone sentences after the snow crash shows him a special bitmap. In twentyfirstcentury america, a teenaged computer hacker finds himself fighting a computer virus that battles virtual reality technology and a deadly drug that turns humans into zombies. The first half of the book is an introduction of the characters and the discovery of a technological and biological virus named snow crash, which a person can get through blood, exposure, or by looking at diseased data in the metaverse, a kind of populated, malllike cyberspace. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use. It means a system crasha bugat such a fundamental level that it frags the part of the computer that controls the electron beam in the monitor, making it spray wildly across the screen, turning the perfect gridwork of pixels into a gyrating blizzard. One of times 100 best englishlanguage novels a mindaltering romp through a future america so bizarre, so outrageous, youll recognize it immediately only once in a great while does a writer come along who defies comparisona writer so original he redefines the way we look at the world.
The san francisco bay guardian fastforward freestyle mall mythology for the twentyfirst century. A man with wonderful hightech toys and samurai swords, who works for the mafia doing one of the few things that the united states still does better than any other country in the world. The book also reveals that hiro was born when his father was in the late middle age of his life between 55 and 59 years old. A summary of the book says, the intrigue begins when a friend and former employer of hiros named da5id is offered a mysterious new drug called snow crash inside his officenightclub in the metaverse called the black sun. Editions of snow crash by neal stephenson goodreads. Despite being written in 1992, there is still a lot in that book that resonates with today and makes it feel like the society stephenson imagined could still be.
Nothing says love like the destruction of company property. Snow crash is about a seemingly revolutionary idea and sf is, at its best, about an idea the possibility that our cerebral faculty, or minds and hence our behavior, can be compromised i. Stephenson turns out to be an engaging guide to an onrushing tomorrow. Snow crash npr coverage of snow crash by neal stephenson.
This shopping feature will continue to load items when the enter key is pressed. The franchise and the virus work on the same principle, what thrives in one place will thrive in another. Snow crash is a mindaltering romp through a future america so bizarre, so outrageous. Weaving contemporary imagery with sumerian myths, stephensons third novel revolves around a mysterious pseudonarcotic snow crash that is capable of affecting people both within and without. Snow crash by neal stephenson, first edition abebooks. And yet, in snow crash, the bodies of humans are affected by information they cant read. Snow crash book the seattle public library bibliocommons.
The mafia delivers pizza, the cia is a forprofit organization, hong kong is a global franchise of. Snow crash is a fairly impressive display of the possibilities of science fiction as fiction. Customers who bought this item also bought these digital. In reality, hiro protagonist delivers pizza for uncle enzos cosonost. Snow crash by neal stephenson, 9780241953181, download free ebooks, download free pdf epub ebook. Snow crash is a cross between neuromancer and thomas pynchons vineland. Like many of stephensons other novels, it covers history. Snow crash is a smart, cool, funny, witty, and actionpacked adventure featuring a pair of unlikely heroes who must save the world from infocalypse. Some critics have considered it a parody of cyberpunk and mentioned its satiric or absurdist humor. If you enjoy rollercoaster rides, snow crash is definitely for you. Books similar to snow crash meet your next favorite book. Neal stephenson is such a writer and snow crash is such a novel, weaving virtual reality. Hiro protagonist, freelance hacker and the greatest sword fighter in the metaverse, teams up with y.
St ives plc except in the united states of america, this book is sold subject to the. Fifteen years since its initial release, snow crash remains one of the most popular and important novels in recent memory. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading snow crash. The result is a book that is actually fairly readable. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of snow crash by neal stephenson. Xerox it, and embed it in the fertile line of a welltraveled highway, preferably one with a left turn lane. On a personal level, we see characters that do not play by the rules, do not play well with others, and generally avoid anything resembling order. From the opening line of his breakthrough cyberpunk novel snow crash, neal stephenson plunges the reader into a nottoodistant future. Find books like snow crash from the worlds largest community of readers.
A futuristic society encounters a computer virus that has the ability to scramble peoples brains. Snow crash is a 1992 science fiction novel by neal stephenson. Praise for snow crash snow crash is a cross between neuromancer and thomas pynchons vineland. Customers who bought this item also bought these digital items. Also, just to note, stephenson is an immensely entertaining author, prone to polysyllabic fits of metaphorical fancy that make his prose as amusing as watching a drunk penguin try to tapdance. Were clever, but not nearly clever enough to condense his style into brief chapter. Science fiction, cyberpunk, dystopian my book club has started a new initiative to read a book each month from a different subgenre of science fiction or fantasy. Snow crash established stephenson as a major science fiction writer of the 1990s. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The book appeared on time magazines list of 100 alltime best englishlanguage novels written since 1923. As is usually the authors wont, the witty narrative is full of satiric. The deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed subcategory.
You will never again look at toilet paper quite the same way afterwards. In neal stephensons snow crash 1992, a future globalized society has abandoned conventional landbased government and reformed itself along the lines of electronic cults and mobile interest groups. Basically, it all came apart in the second part of the book which also sports a rushed i can only see this book as a score of missed opportunities. A shame, too, since the infodumping in the rest of the book is done. Like many of stephensons other novels, it covers history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryptography, memetics and philosophy stephenson explained the title of the novel in his 1999 essay in the beginning. Snow crash 1992, which further explored the concept of virtual reality, his books release coinciding with the launch of the world wide web. You just have to find a sufficiently virulent business plan, condense it into a threering binder. Snow crash is a science fiction novel by american writer neal stephenson, published in 1992. 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 gigantic thriller of the information age.
1112 1217 335 80 60 1286 1567 1345 1140 543 1340 1295 679 945 746 1047 340 1139 647 1439 1107 1099 273 47 1419 110 763 585 1578 1408 641 1477 66 328 1469 1282 944