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)

Unfreakingbelievable

A few years ago when I had become interested in the virtual reality of Second Life, a friend recommended Snow Crash to me. I had not heard of the book but having such a high regard for the friend, I kept it tucked away in my synapses. Boy am I glad that I did. This is a book about virtual reality that is very much like Second Life. But it is so, so much more. In fact I think that there is no end to the more. It includes Sumerian myth, a hero/protagonist named Hiro Protagonist and a landscape so much like modern-day America, you won't miss it. Hopefully you won't miss the book either. It is funny, hip and cool as can be. The book is mind boggling, outrageous and not like anything I have ever read.

An entertaining read, but not for everyone.

I'd give this one a 5 except for two things: 1) The babel-chant that is used to bridge each transition and chapter (gets EXTREMELY annoying by the end of the book). 2) The story isn't quite up to the standards of Sci-Fi I'm used to, though I think my familiarity with virtually every topic covered in the plot exacerbates this somewhat (hard to suspend disbelief when you know too much to the contrary) - "Speculative Fiction" really is a better classification for this story, or even "Science Fantasy" (as in, it would be cool if things worked that way).

Some other things that might detract from your enjoyment of this book include: Long monologues/dialogs in which vast amounts of plot-info is simply presented to you (this may comprise as much as 25% of the novel, but any other delivery method would have resulted in the book being twice as long). There is also cursing, sexual references, theological references (just about every major religion), drug use, etc.

On the positive side, this book can be extremely funny (listen to the free preview - best pizza delivery ever, though not terribly relevant to the plot). The characters are great and the narrator does an excellent job. The story itself is entertaining and the world is fairly original. You'll get a decent intro into ancient history and mythology that I guarantee will be more interesting than any class on the subject (though obviously fictionalized to advance the plot). I think this book is unique in that I've never read a book set in the future that's plot was so dependent on the distant past (that didn't involve time-travel to said past).

Classic Book/Excellent Performance

Snow Crash is probably one of the best all-time science fiction books ever written. Genre-savvy enough to poke fun at itself, but packed with erudition as well. (Well, what do you expect from Neal Stephenson). The characters are interesting and engaging, and the plot appropriately-paced. As a computer professional and a language wonk, myself, it's one I always come back to.

Johnathan Davis' performance is surprisingly good. He manages to make each character's voice memorable, and has a decent facility with a range of accents.

The damn chanting!

The chanting between chapters was so annoying I almost put the book down several times

Amazing Listen

I heard about this book through security now. Gibson raved about it but I just don't have time to read recently. So I bought this audible book not expecting much. I've listened to the first 8 hours of it and I am amazed. The narrator does a fantastic job of bringing the story to life. I would recommend this to any one who likes sci-fi. I will be purchasing other books by this author soon.

Excellent book for anyone with an IQ > 50

I've never read a modern sci-fi type of book until this one. I must say that reading this book will change that, I will at least get the other books by this author. His technical knowledge is genuine and his vision of the future is thought provoking. I would recommend this book to anyone between the ages of 12 and 50 with an IQ of at least 50. If you don't like this book, you are probably too old or just too dimm to understand it.

Don't waste a credit on this silliness

The underlying premise of the book is laughable and there are plot holes big enough to drive a truck through. Still, I gave it 3 stars instead of 2 because some of the characters are interesting (although a number of them are--perhaps deliberately--drawn as cartoonish caricatures). Also, Neal Stephenson is one of the few male authors who does female characters well. However, I'm not certain why this book is so highly recommended.

lots of fun

This is the best audio book out of the dozen I have heard so far. The master work of Neal Stephenson is carefully rendered into this audio, great voices, nice sound effects, lots of fun. Listening from headphones, I laughed out loud a few times startling the wife and kid. I read the book many times before, but I was indeed pleased with the audio production, caught many new details, and enjoyed a lot my commute.
recommended 100%

Second only to Neuromancer

Let me start by saying I love books/audiobooks and movies of many genres. But since reading Neuromancer and the rest of Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy I have been absolutely fiending for more real pure cyberpunk. This book is the only one I've found that truely fits into that genre without veering off course. Excellent characters, high technology, punk attitude, dystopic future, the Metaverse, "gargoyles", and a dash of ancient Sumerian mythology mixed in. Not quite as gritty as Gibson, but an awesome, awesome cyberpunk book.
The only thing I can say bad about the Audio end of it (which is not Jonathan Davies fault) is the "babbling" sound effect between chapters or paragraphs kind of got under my skin. But it was read well by Davis. Well worth the credit. One of my top 5 favorite books done very well on audio.

My favorite Science fiction audiobook

I would call this book Cyber-Punk-Hard Science- Adventure. This book has changed the way that I look at the internet and virtual reality. I had no trouble believing in any of the technology as everything is based on logical extensions of todays research. This book truely does what good science fiction can do. It portrays a very possible future.
Who should Listen to this book.
Politicians, Ecomomists, Skaters, bikers, Pizza Delivery Drivers, Businessmen, Religious Zellots and everyone else.
I have talked to more people about this book and his next, The Diamond Age, than any other audio book and I have listened to over 500 audio books.