Rating: 
Summary: 100% style
Review: This book represents everything that is right about cyberpunk. In the first 50 pages, Stephenson demonstrates his talent at creating settings that absorb you, creating a cyberpunk near future that is anarchic, chaotic, and downright fun. It deliberately carries the hip, ubercool attitude of the genre to elaborate excess without being self-conscious about it, and at the same time avoids the nihilistic depression that dogs many similar works.It succeeds because Stephenson isn't even trying to prophesy. This book isn't about the 2010's, but instead is a nostalgia book about the 1980's. It takes everything mildly disconcerting about American culture in the Me decade, magnifies it to the nth degree, turns it into a virtue, and shoots it in an artillery shell three decades into the future. It's about strip malls and minivans, Ted Turner and the Godfather, Domino's Pizza, suburbia, and televangelists. Of the protagonists, Hiro Protagonist is a former computer hacker turned high-speed pizza delivery man for the Mafia, while YT is a teenage skateboard courier armed with a crossbow-mounted plunger and the last word in anti-rape defense. The book doesn't try to be realistic; it doesn't try to make deep moral statements or provide insight. It's designed from page one to be a vast sound and light show for your infinite enjoyment. And it succeeds brilliantly. For the first several chapters, there doesn't even appear to be a coherent plot, but the setting is so much fun that you won't care. When it arrives, the plot is a frightening blend of action, world conspiracy, and beyond-the-fringe neurolinguistic theory. It could have been the result of an unholy colaboration between Umberto Eco and Edgar Rice Burroughs. The novel's only shortcoming is that the style and snap, the language and wordplay fireworks that carry the opening don't carry well into the rest of the book. This novel would not have needed a plot to work -- for the last half of the book, many times it seems as if the plot advances at the expense of the book. Nonetheless, Snow Crash is all about style, and in that style, it delivers.
Rating: 
Summary: Hip and Exciting, yet Insightful too.
Review: Just before going on a trip overseas, a friend bought this book. I thought "why would I want to read a Sci-fi novel?" Most Sci-fi novels are thick with cheesy plots revolving around the author's idea about some aspect of technology. Snow Crash was quite a different story. From the start I found it very entertaining. The idea of a Mafia pizza delivery service, and a church franchise (Reverend Wayne's Pearly Gates) makes a very interesting setting for a book. At the same time, I really enjoyed the author's hip writing style. For example, the beginning of one chapters goes like this: "Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest .. in the world". I enjoy this sort of saavy writing, which is found throughout the book. I have finished reading this book for the fourth time, and each time I re-read the book, I find I learn something new. The concepts of a metavirus, the Asherah cult, and how they relate to world religion are quite fascinating, and definitely food for thought. I can't help but wonder if people really are infected with some sort of Asherah virus. Lastly, I really enjoyed the hero of the book (ironically named Hiro Protagonist). I can definitely relate to his problems and attitudes. Definitely buy this book if you can. There is something for every one in this book, even if you don't consider yourself a "nerd". It really is a entertaining novel and a rare gem.
Rating:
Summary: Very cool cyberpunk novel. Highly recommend it.
Review: This is the first book that I have ever read by Neal Stephenson, needless to say I will be reading more. In fact I have already bought Cryptonomicon. I haven't got the time to commit to it yet being 1000 pages. On to the book. My friend started out telling me about the book. From there, I just really had to read it for myself. Some of the things he told me about were so outrageous. For one, Hiro, the main character, was a pizza delivery boy for a Mafia owned pizza chain by day and by night he was a hacker and also a master sword fighter! This combination was so weird so I had to find out for myself. The one thing that I thought was really cool in this book was the meeting place where everyone hung out (virtually) called The Street. This was sort of like a futuristic Internet. You could own property, put up buildings and "see" other people (more like images / likenesses) of friends / enemies on there. Pretty much everything you could do in real life, you could do on the street. Stephenson has such a vivid imagination and lets everyone get a glimpse of it in this novel. When I would put the book down to get a drink, etc, I couldn't help but think to myself, "How does someone even come up with stuff like this?"
Overall the story flowed gracefully and kept me interested. Ok, I couldn't put the book down. I would get to the end of a chapter and say to myself, "Well, I will read just one more." Before I knew it I was done with it. :(
Rating:
Summary: Maybe even I can grow to love Cyberpunk....
Review: I am not a cyberpunk fan. I read Neuromancer, Idoru, etc., and felt lukewarm about all of them. Snow Crash changed my view of cyberpunk fiction. When it's done right (as here) it's fantastic! There are very few books that keep me turning pages through the night. This is one of them. This is one of those books that will make you go, "Holy [Cow]!" at the end. If a book makes me do that, it's worth recommending. Absolutely, buy this book!
Rating:
Summary: The Metaverse is upon us
Review: Stephenson provides a realistic outlook in our present and future lives. In our current day to day lives, we spend perhaps several hours at a time on our computers and cell phones and we are creating a virtual world to live in. All while in search of faster ways to do it. Progress another fifty to a hundred years and see how it transforms our universe into a new and improved, super fast, Metaverse!
Hiro, the main character, is an ex-software programmer turned hacker mafia pizza delivery guy. He likes to travel around in his sporty, black invisible car, with samurai swords strapped to his back. The Deliverator must deliver within 30 minutes or face death. But that's only a day job. In the Metaversse, he's a warrior set out to challenge a new virus that is knocking off hackers everywhere. With all of this, comes the worst. The apocalypse can wait... the infocalypse is coming!
Rating:
Summary: SNOW CRASH, by Neal Stephenson
Review: Welcome to the United States in the not too distant future. The Mafia delivers pizzas, MetaCops patrol the streets and keep them safe(for a small fee of course), and hackers thrive in their own virtual universe. The Metaverse, as it is called, connects all nations and peoples in a technological free for all where anything is possible. It was built and programmed by an elite group of hackers who are now being struck down one by one. A new virus, capable of not only crashing a computer, but also the human brain, has been released on the unsuspecting hacker community. Now it is up to Hiro Protagonist and his partner Y.T. to find out who created this deadly super virus and stop the Infocalypse.
Neal Stephonson blends technological know-how, ancient myth, and a passion for adventure to bring the reader an unparalleled sense of realism to his masterpiece. Often referred to as the definitive Cyber punk novel, SNOW CRASH redefines the way we look at society and the information age.
Rating:
Summary: Samurai Jack and Matrix All In One...
Review: Well, to begin with, I think people with little knowledge of computers, the internet, and movies like "The Matrix" should probably try reading another book. This book is full of action and images of an unholy world filled with mafia owned pizza companies, rent-a-storage hotel rooms, and Samurai super Hackers who seem to control the world. This might not seem like the perfect world, so many escape into what is called "The Metaverse"; which is basically a 3D representation of the internet, where users use "Avatars" (characters) to roam the metaverse boardwalk. While in the real world however, everything seems to be controlled by either the mafia, the government, sub-governments, and hackers. This may not seem like a good balance of control to the real world, but in many ways, things seem to run very smoothly. The suburbs are a very calm place in this world, however, the big city is a very hard to place to make it, so many are forced to succumb to poverty. Once you enter the city, your liable for anything, including riots, Taxi driver shootings, robotic cheetah attacks, and rampaged super-humans with chips in their heads connected to Atom bombs. Overall, this has been one of the greatest books I've ever read, and I've read a lot of Science-fiction novels, including my favorite- Ender's Game. Finally, if you seem interested in the above, and you're intrigued by what the future could be like, then Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" is the book for you. Geeze I sound like I'm on Reading Rainbow... "Denne Den"
Rating:
Summary: Let its snow, let it snow, let it snow¿
Review: After allowing the senses enough time to recover from the entertainment overload that Cryptonomycon provided, I let Neal take me back to the future in Snow Crash. It seems that Stephenson fans are split about 50-50 when it comes to preference for either "Snow" or "Cryp". After finishing both, it is hard to take sides.
While Cryp had a decent story line and an overwhelming amount of insightful and highly entertaining sidelines, Snow has a stronger central theme is more poised and delivers a similar punch in half of the number of pages. While the likes of Stephen Jay Gould take great pains to awe you with the knowledge, ideas and insights that they have acquired/generated during their earthly existence, Stephenson is the kind of fellow who is just as smart, doesn't take him self too overly serious and just chooses to have a lot of fun and allows everybody to join the party. Snow Crash is an extremely entertaining story, that grew out of an attempt at a comic book, that mixes computer viruses, virtual reality, religion, Sumerian mythology and the philosophical mind-body distinction with a not too far fetched vision of the world in the near future. I know that many refer to this book as a prime example of the "Cyber Punk" genre, but having been surrounded in my teens by many doped, safety-pinned, trashbag-clad airheads, I cannot see any relation between Neal's sophistication and Punk. -Then again I do have to admit that we live in times in which the most square of the traveling industry advertise their cruises on tv with an Iggy Pop soundtrack.- I think that Stephenson's link between computer viruses, ideas and religion was a stroke of brilliance. While some episodes, especially the one on the trip to and encounter of the raft dragged a little, I think Stephenson did an excellent job in delivering on the promises of his theme in a focused yet entertaining way. Many of the ideas that the author put in the book over ten years ago were dead on accurate and I think that many a futurist would be boastful if they could ever achieve this number of fulfilled predictions. In closing let's get back to the "virus thing". In this book Stephenson imported the word "Avatar" from Hindu religion into the computer/virtual reality lingo to describe a virtual three dimensional representation of a person. Indeed, a short glance at Bill Gates' own Encarta Dictionary will reveal that Neal's avatar "virus" found long lasting integration in the DNA of our language. Hey Neal, when will part two in the "Code Trilogy" see the light?
Rating: 
Summary: Fast Paced
Review: This book was defiantly something new for me as science fiction is not an area I read at all. The book was given to me as a gift and came highly recommended. That being the case I gave it a shot and found that I really enjoyed it. The biggest issue I had was getting into the completely fictionalized and make believe world, once I stopped saying "but that can't happen" I found I really got into the book and enjoyed it. The author has done a great job in making the lead character into a cross between the Harrison Ford character in Blade Runner and Joey from Friends - both dark and at the same time fun to be around. The book is about this run of the mill not overly successful guy in the real world that finds he is much better in a cyber world that has been created and is as real to people as the real world. The "real world" in the book is rather dark and not very nice so you understand why the character would spend time in the cyber world. So once in there we have an action / mystery story that is fun and fast paced. The story is enjoyable and is easy to read. If you are looking for some escapism then this book will fit the bill. One caution, as I do not read SF, I have no idea how this book compares to others in the field.
Rating:
Summary: Get your entertainment in 30 minutes or its free..
Review: This was the first Stephenson book I ever read, and I couldn't put it down. If you have never experienced the gritty, electric, jouney into cyber-reality, then this is the book to cut your teeth on. Non-stop excitement! Stephenson goes deep into the cyberpunk world and still manages to throw in some good humor (at least I thought so).
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