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Snow Crash
by Neal Stephenson

Published: 1993-04-01
Mass Market Paperback : 480 pages
2 members reading this now
5 clubs reading this now
2 members have read this book
Recommended to book clubs by 1 of 1 members
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 ...
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Introduction

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  cyber-sensibility to bring us the gigantic thriller of the  information age. In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers  pizza for Uncle Enzo's Cosa Nostra Inc., but it  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.

Editorial 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.

Excerpt

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Discussion Questions

Suggested by Members

how realistic do you think the idea of the Metaverse is? Could it become a reality in our lifetime?
How can Snow Crash be a drug, a virus, and a religion?
What does it mean to have the power to hack the brain stem (like Juanita)? How is the brain related to a computer system in this sense? What would one do with this kind of power?
by Rainyh (see profile) 04/30/10

Notes From the Author to the Bookclub

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Book Club Recommendations

Snow Crash Discussion and Coffee
by Rainyh (see profile) 04/30/10
Written by Marian A. What is everyone's opinion on the book so far? Has it drawn you in yet? Specifically, how did you like the opening with all the information about the "deliverator"? Was it a good introduction to this world and how the US has evolved to what it is with franchlets and burbclaves? Did you think the description of a deliverator went on too long before being introduced to Hiro? Also, how realistic do you think the idea of the Metaverse is? Could it become a reality in our lifetime? We have Second Life, the technology for virtual reality, Google Maps... it could all be somehow combined to be a total virtual Earth, maybe. Here is a group that believes it's possible and even takes their name from Neal Stephenson: http://www.metaverseroadmap.org/ How has the United States been transformed? Why? What is it now? What does it mean to have jobs micromanaged to such a degree as they are in the novel? How does it affect creativity and innovation? Why is this important in the novel? What are the Rat-Things? What does it mean to think of them as Rat-Things, robots, technologically assisted organisms, or dogs? Do each of these designations change the reality of your perception? How can Snow Crash be a drug, a virus, and a religion? Why might Babel be “the best thing that ever happened to us?” What does it mean to have the power to hack the brain stem (like Juanita)? How is the brain related to a computer system in this sense? What would one do with this kind of power?

Member Reviews

Overall rating:
 
 
by carole T. (see profile) 06/11/19

Totally not my usual type of book, but was bought for me by A friend and so glad I read it. Fascinating and creative, an ironic and humorous look at where we may be headed (as predicted back in 1992!)

 
  "Snow Crash"by Lorraine H. (see profile) 04/30/10

This novel was an interesting technology based sci-fi. This alternative reality story sometimes seemed to strike close to home. Our discussion group enjoyed pointing out parallel ideas from this novel... (read more)

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