Snow Crash

By: Neal Stephenson

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©1992 Neal Stephenson (P)2001 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Brilliantly realized...Stephenson turns out to be an engaging guide to an onrushing tomorrow." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Fast-forward free-style mall mythology for the 21st century." (William Gibson)

Hard to put down, a mind blowing ride!

What did you love best about Snow Crash?

Enjoyed the detailed environment and the futuristic approach to scene development.

What other book might you compare Snow Crash to and why?

Can't really compare snow crash to anything else, other technical books may have the details but the futuristic view of the world is like no other book I have read.

What does Jonathan Davis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Great narration of a difficult book ! Really nailed the character voices and speed of narration kept me in the book rather than scrambling to understand!

From a guy who almost never gives five stars

This is one of the most creative, amusing, and well-read works I've ever listened to. I almost never give five stars, but this one deserved it.

THAT BEING SAID... There are a couple of annoyances.

The reader pronounces "Babel" as if it's "babble". But at least he does it consistently. And I've found VERY few books where the reader doesn't mispronounce a word or two, or five, or twenty.

There are also a few (3?) spots where the recording has glitches of several seconds duration, which is annoying, but easy to wait out.

Despite the above, this story and reading was superb, and I just found that in the final analysis, four stars wasn't enough!

Strong start, weak finish

The sci fi elements are compelling and well rendered. The tech in the book is the center of the show. The biblical/religious themes were tight. Story devolves into a predictable shoot out by the end however, and I lost interest in the characters. Drips with hard to swallow weeaboo style throughout unfortunately. The social critiques of American consumer culture and the 80's/90's corporate mentality, though facile, are entertaining.

One of my top 10 Sci-Fi books

I read Snow Crash years ago while I was still in college, and the Internet was an emerging thing. I loved the book then. After listening to it again, I still believe it's simply one of the best cyberpunk / near future Sci-Fi books I've ever read (or listed to).

good book, great performance.

the book is good, the narrator really puts his heart into it. this is a true performance, not just a reading.

Cool, Crazy and Intricate

Snow Crash lays out a humorous and satirical vision of the near future that is not that far off the direction you could imagine the world going in. Stephenson is so creative with all his quirky and interesting characters, and the pace of the story feels almost manic at times that you feel you're on a wild adventure just listening along. I laughed several times out loud at some of the sarcastic comments characters made. He has a very hip writing style and it's a very cool mystery that ends up being very intricate and made me end up feeling "this is so cool, how did he think of this?!"

Johnathan Davis is one of the best narrators I've listen on Audible so far. His range of voices, accents and "attitudes"' is very dynamic and gives a distinct personality to each character so you really feel like you're listening to different people talking. Plus he's able to do female voices well which I notice some other narrators with deep voices have trouble pulling off.

Yes

Yes this is one of those books you have just got to read!!!!!!!!

One of my favorite books!

Snow Crash is a cornerstone of the cyberpunk genre. Funny, dark, cerebral, complicated, prescient in many ways, and always fascinating, the book's grungy alternate reality is brought to life through Stephenson's unique use of language and Jonathan Davis' riveting performance. The vocabulary of the book--"burbclave," "bimbo box," "loglo," "biomass," etc--still colors my own lexicon to this day.

the original!

a classic. a must listen.
one of the originators of cyberpunk.
well read.
the opening chapter is about as good as anything I've ever read our listened to.
I enjoyed it. yes I read it as a kid.

Fun science fantasy

Not really a great book but quite fun for the kooky characters and surreal setting and plot.