Rating: 
Summary: The Big U--Hopefully not the shape of things to come
Review: As an academic-type-person (Master's student in folklore, would-be-PhD) I found _The Big U_ a timeless satire. It's true that the computer system may be outdated, but that's not the point of the novel at all, it's only one of Stephenson's tools in a novel which brilliantly depicts the pointless stupidity that has infected so much of the academic world for the past few decades--liberal lunatics trying to deconstruct the world, keeping the community tied up in pointless politics so no-one notices that the "business-oriented" mercenaries who become administrators run everything for their own greater power and profit, without a care for Truth, Beauty, Wisdom, or any of the other noble endeavours that an academic institution should promote. I'm not sure if I enjoyed this book quite as much as _Snowcrash_ or _The Diamond Age_; however, I desperately wish I had my own copy, and I unquestionably think it should not only be reprinted, but should be required readi! ng on every college and university campus in the country. With luck, it might help keep the final vision of the American Megaversity from coming to fruition. And if it doesn't, well, at least it will help students prepare to survive the next live-fire campus rebellion.
Rating: 
Summary: OK book, doesn't hold up
Review: Like most everyone reviewing this book here, I picked it up back in 1984--in my case, while a junior in high school. Visiting dozens of colleges in search of the 'right one' to attend for the next four years, I found 'The Big U' a fascinating supplement to the 'rah rah' stories I was being fed by admissions counselors. I also found it very funny, having never read much in the way of surreal novels before. In fact, I read it three times over the next three years. In college, I even made a 6-min. film for class based on Fenrick and Klein, the warring stereo dudes (A-), though I had to cut out the cigarrettes and electrocution (Ah, hollywood bastardization). Heck, I even got Mr. Stephenson to sign it during his last book promo tour.That said, the truth is that The Big U just doesn't hold up. About two years ago, with a 10-year gap behind me from the last time I read it, I tried to pick up the book, but was bored to tears within about 30 pages. The book has a number of good ideas, but most of them are muddied by sketchy, stereotypic characters, and the 'satire' is astoundingly heavy-handed. A large part of the book's problem is that it dated very quickly--the D&D stuff, the computer system, the secret lesbians (who would be stridently 'out' these days). To be fair, I'm probably biased--now that college is eight years behind me, I really don't care about the experiences of a bunch of college students, because I already experienced those years. Stephenson went on to write much better novels, the best being the ones under the pseudonym Stephen Bury. While The Big U might make for an interesting read from your local library and would worth buying for a reasonable amount ($500 strikes me as a little much), it's merely a 'lost book,' not a 'lost classic.'
Rating:
Summary: Scary because it is so true.
Review: I bought this book years ago. I've read it so many times, and loaned it to so many friends that I've had to have it rebound. I've hooked any number of people on Neal Stephenson's books with this one. I even got Neal to autograph it. When one of my friends asked if it would ever be republised (Zodiac had just been re-released) he said "Not if I can help it." I guess as his first book he isn't too fond of it any more, but if you can find a copy, grab it!
Rating:
Summary: must ... watch ... big red fan
Review: should be cross-referenced with "origin of consciousness and the breakdown of the bicameral mind" by jaynes (a favorite of my teenaged years)
Rating:
Summary: The secret nightmare of every college freshman.
Review: In many ways this book describes what many freshman fear their first year of college will be like: A huge impersonal college bureaucracy, secret research projects that threaten the safety of the campus, badly built dormotories, and a bug ridden computer system that creates havoc for every student, faculty and staff member who has to use it. In short a university that simply got too big. I first read this book as a freshman who had just entered UC Santa Cruz in the Fall of 1984. The irony of this was that UC Santa Cruz at the time was pretty much the antithesis of the university described in The Big U. It gave me a vision of what I might have faced had I decided to go to UCLA or Cal State Northridge and provided no end of mirth for me. My trade-size paperback edition of the book was destroyed in an apartment flood. I have been searching for a new copy ever since that time. If you find a copy of this book, hang on to it if you can. It's a treasure to find. Hopefully some day Neal Stephenson will decided to republish it. If you haven't read it, and have a friend with a copy, borrow it and read it. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: I would eat an Iguana for another copy of this book!
Review: This is one of the greatest works of fiction in history! I had a copy a while ago and lost it, but I would eat a live iguana to have another copy. The metaphor to the breakdown of the bicameral mind was particularly interesting. If this book isn't reprinted, someone ought to be shot!
Rating:
Summary: Get with it, Amazon
Review: Amazon needs to throw its weight around and demand that a publisher reprint this book. After searching a few months for it I only found three copies across the country, and each one cost over five hundred dollars. Luckily, I found the Dallas Library had a copy, and I'm glad I finally got to read this. If "Snow Crash" wasn't so damn good this would be my favorite Stephenson book. The characters are interesting and the situations are funny, even if a little bit over the top. More people should be able to read this. Let's do something about it.....
Rating: 
Summary: Why is this book out of print??????
Review: I first read Neal Stephenson's "The Big U" when I was in college and had picked it out of a great pile of books in the basement of the college bookstore. They were selling books for as little as a dime or a nickel apiece. I bought "The Big U" for this tiny amount, and have spent the past couple of years on and off trying to replace this copy. Why is it out of print?!?!
"The Big U" may not be a classical masterpiece of satirical fiction, but it has important elements that make it a book to read and reread again and again. It's wildly adventuresome, with a cast of characters that range from the narrator "nice guy" to the "dueling stereo roommates" to the "Airhead" sorority girls to the submerged cult of Dungeons and Dragons fanatics who find themselves in a game more real than they ever would have imagined.
"The Big U" is also an interesting precursor to Neal Stephenson's other works. His style is punchy, healthy and vivid. I don't know how else to describe him, but I can't help but always think of John kennedy Toole when I think of Stephenson. If you find a copy of "The Big U", hang onto it!
Rating:
Summary: good clean fun
Review: Mr. Stephenson's writing is clear and calm
in this book. His vision of the Mega University
is wry and somewhat insightful. This, his first book, is better in some ways than his others because it is more consistant. Instead of a great
start, good middle and dragging end (Snow Crash),
the book ends when the going gets rough. It won't
teach you any deep truths, about life, but if you've been in a university, it will make you chuckle.
Rating:
Summary: College Professors Cloistered: Shocking but True
Review: I am an admitted Stephenson apologist. I was about to embark on Quicksilver when my wife picked up the Big U. This book is really close to being "great", in that Stephenson takes some pretty heavy (and, in my experience, deserved) jabs to the gut of the academic elite. In the Big U, we witness a complete social meltdown, during which professors hole up to ponder slides of various samples of "scat" while the world crashes down (literally) around them. The retreat of the intelligensia when the "going gets tough" (and when they seem to be needed most) is paramount to the message Stephenson is getting at here (like I actually know!). Left to their own devices & without any guidance, the students (who have matriculated only to find that the primary obejective of the tenured is to avoid them at all costs) spin off into what other reviewers see as the "inferno". Granted, this is not Stephenson's best work, but it is honest & while (of course) totally fictional and fantastic, it is poignant (I hate myself for using that word). Not the best introduction to Stephenson, but a required read by his fans. If you are looking to get into Stephenson, I would recommend beginning with "Zodiac" (totally hilarious/five stars). Then I would suggest "In the Beginning...was the Command Line" (a five star philosophical read). Then, I would choose Cryptonomicon (brilliant/five stars), and then Snow Crash (4 stars), The Big U & finally the Diamond Age (Neal must've been doing crack when he wrote it). Anyway, this is a four-star read for Stephenson fans, a three star read for new fans, and a book to avoid if you are not yet a fan.
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