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Title: Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book)
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Manufacturer: Spectra
List Price: $15.00
Our Price: $7.00
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| Customer Reviews: |
| Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book) by Spectra I have read this about 500 times. | And it gets better every time! Bimbo Box has crept into my library of slang, and I was even part of Cybertown back in 2000-2001 that had been heavily influenced by this book.
LOVE it. A must read for the digital generation. | | Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book) by Spectra Written over fifteen years ago... still worth reading! | I have no idea how I missed this gem. He uses concepts and coins words and phrases that did not exist until he wrote the book. The plot is absolutely ingenious, and even better.... plausible (if you are willing to stretch that imagination :))! I don't want to give any story away, just give my two cents that this is an important book to read in order to understand the cyberpunk genre and even more important to understand the direction of cyberpunk trends.
One caveat - the grammar, phrasing, and vocabulary are typical cyberpunk.... if you are used to reading only the king's english - you might not enjoy so much! Otherwise, dig in!!
I highly recommend this book!
All the best,
Jay | | Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book) by Spectra Science Fiction That Crosses Genre Lines | Five stars? From a guy who doesn't read much science fiction? Yes. Although I had to warm to the book at first, I eventually gave myself over to Neal Stephenson's genre-busting mix of thrilling narrative arc and thoughtful book of ideas. The eponymous hero, Hiro Protagonist, is a winner; the evil antagonist, Raven, is one for the ages as well. When Raven turns on someone with his glass knives in hand, the reader will take notice (or maybe even cover, if said reader be weak of heart).
The book begins with a Mad Max-style pizza delivery scene, introducting Hiro and the strong female support, a kourier (delivery girl) named Y.T. who "poons" cars (attaches a magnet attached to a ski-style string leading back to her skateboard-type device) for speedy delivery. She's a 15-year-old, wise-cracking, firecracker of a foil for Hiro. Then Raven is inserted into the mix, and before you know it, Hiro is trying to solve a mystery that involves heavy research into the ancient Sumerian culture.
The characters move freely between real time and the Metaverse -- an Internet society populated by avatars. Hiro is a master hacker, and he's going to need all of his talents to counter the likes of Raven. It's funny. It's intriguing. And it's hold-on-to-your-seat thrilling.
Readers will appreciate the fast-paced plot and the spectacular ending, but thinkers will be fascinated by the concept of language and mythology being intertwined with viruses that can infect not only computers, but human brains. Inventive and witty, Stephenson's prose is a muscular antidote to the MFA style writing you might be getting bored with (or even sick of) these days. If you missed its initial publication (as I did), there's no time like now to make amends. Go ahead. Treat yourself. Call it slumming, if you want, but SNOW CRASH is cool and worth the cold cash you might lay down. | | Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book) by Spectra Cyberpunk with a happy ending! | This wasn't a great book, in fact, much of it was tedious for me, as I couldn't get into the whole Sumerian myth tie-in, and the metaverse wasn't nearly as compelling as William Gibson's cyberspace construct from Neuromancer/ Count Zero. Stephen Donaldson's dense prose reminded me more of the author of The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum?)
However, much of the characterization was excellent, with a sympathetic female character, a protagonist Hiro who was kind of bland but likable, and a creepy but somewhat exciting villain. There was even a good "remora" type dog who saves the day. This may sound a little trite, but I'm female and get weary of the traditional point-of-view in a lot of science fiction.
Book is a good buy for the money, very lengthy (300+ pages), but the paperback version is hard to read, using newspaper like material and muddy ink. | | Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book) by Spectra Hope for a post-Bush world | I first read this novel shortly after it was first published. This was prior to Amazon and ebooks. Back when you went to book stores and scanned spines of books looking for something worth more than the cost of the paper needed to convey the story to you. (I wonder how many more years before someone reading this reviews reacts: book stores????)
In some ways this book is another take on "be careful what you create you flawed human race you". But what really made this book come alive for me was the rich universe that had been all too plausibly constructed.
Sure there is plenty of obviously over the top material crusted over the proposed reality but I feel the author wanted to make the book commercially appealing e.g. he wanted something marketable, not a manifesto.
In a future world where governments have become just another form of corporation and compete with other corporations for hearts, minds and dollars I find the message from the author that there is still hope for individuals to make a difference a wonderful inspiration of Stan Lee proportions.
As I look back on seven years of Bush pushing us towards the future envisioned in this book I get fresh goose flesh upon a re-read. We are still very much at risk of allowing the creation of the future envisioned so many years ago in this novel.
Personally I rank this book right up there with 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. And yes, when a pizza arrives at my door in less than 30 minutes I know there is still hope for our culture's survival... | | Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book) by Spectra Product Description | 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 CosaNostra 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. Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous...you'll recognize it immediately. | | Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book) by Spectra Amazon.com | | 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. |
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