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Snow Crash

Written by: Neal Stephenson
Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
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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.

What the critics say

"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)

What listeners say about Snow Crash

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Rambling and incoherent

The author wanders through a random collection of thoughts with no real connection to each other. These may tie together later, but the mix of excruciating detail of a pizza delivery car, the musings of a robot dog and some bad k-pop lyrics don't draw me in enough that I want to find out.

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11 people found this helpful

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Sci-Fi Done Right

Enter the world of Snow Crash, set in a futuristic, corporate controlled America, complete with the metaverse, robotic guard dogs, and one hell of a pizza delivery service.

Snow Crash was a great read, very interesting plot and original setting and continually provides both absurd and insightful ideas. If you like Sci-fi, I highly recommend it.

P.S. #Audible1 for those sweet prizes, but legit, read this.

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10 people found this helpful

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A scary and not-so-impossible future

The world and setup is amazing, I could listen to a whole book just describing this bizarre but totally believable alternate universe. At times the story can be a bit dense for an audiobook, could probably get a lot out of reading a hardcopy version now. The extra sound effects were unnecessary and didn't make any sense until almost half way through. Narration was good, character voices were consistent and entertaining, but not really necessary.

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A cyberpunk tale for the ages.

Only drawback is the varying sound quality, it will swap between high, low, and medium abruptly throughout most chapters.

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4 people found this helpful

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still holds up

Read this way back when it came out. the narrator did a really good night job with different characters voices.

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2 people found this helpful

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Highly engaging and entertaining.

Well done. Written a while ago but still relevant. Highly recommended if you enjoy scifi tech novels with a nice blend of "hacker" or Cyber punk, subtle humour and commentary on religion, government and society.

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Amazing and weird funny story

A little hard to follow on place but otherwise awesome! I highly recommend giving it a read/listen of you have the time

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Painful listening

Trying to describe action scenes in painful details does not work. Leave it to the movie screen Mr Stephenson.

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A Wild Ride of Presient Satire

I went into this novel knowing only the elevator pitch: it was a cyberpunk satire novel from the 90s.

I took my time with it and I don't regret it. There are a handful of lore dumps where Stephenson clearly wanted to show his work that dragged a bit, but the bits and pieces from them are used well and come together for an explosive, white-knuckle final third.

I think the satire angle might be missed if you go in without knowing it. The writing is *very* straight, and all of the humor is in the subtext, like in how the Italian mafia just operates openly as a private corporation because 'crime' doesn't exist when the entire country breaks up into privately owned micronations, or how teenaged protagonist YT is constantly sexualized by older strangers because of how morally bankrupt society has become, or how our other protagonist (named Hiro Protagonist) is an unapologetic weirdo who thinks a leather kimono and a pair of swords is the peak of chic. If you go in realizing how absurd it's all going to be, you will enjoy it far more.

Fair warning for some readers: there are a number of instances (though no more than you can count on both hands) where, as you might expect in a novel about a world with extremely loose moral fabric, some very uncomfortable slurs are used in mostly casual fashion. It's not egregious enough to ruin the story, but brace yourself accordingly for some colorful language that might hit your ears in unpleasant fashion.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Snow Crash

Some interesting theories on religion. But non-stop action, dystopian world, unlikely heroes and plot twists. It's fun, involving, never boring. I recommend that you read this book

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  • Brent
  • 2003-02-05

A solid sci-fi novel

This book has a lot going for it. For starters the plot is great. A lot of twists and turns and you're never quite sure what's going to happen (or even what's going on). The characters are wonderfully crafted and the dialog is well written and entertaining. A wonderfully dry humor is mixed in well with the action. Also, major kudos to the narrator. He does such a great job that the audio book may very well be better then paper edition.

Part of the plot revolves around the study of biblical era documents, including the bible itself. I did sometimes find this part of the plot somewhat frustrating. But that's probably due to the fact that I know something about biblical exegesis, and the conclusions drawn by the characters in the book are wildly inaccurate. I suppose this frustration would be similar to the frustration felt by a physicist as he watched Star Trek. Or by a military tactician as he watched a Rambo film. It can just be frustrating to have a subject that you know about used as a plot device. Let's just say that you'll learn about as much about biblical study after reading Snow Crash as you'd learn about physics by watching Captain Picard use "and inverted tachyon beam to scan the wormhole."

Don't get this book if you'll be offended by the use of Christian and biblical events as a plot device. Also be aware that there is some profanity. It's not gratuitous, but it is fairly frequent.

But all of that aside, this is a really good book. If you're a sci-fi fan, you'll probably like it. If you're a cyber-punk fan, this is required reading. But even if you're not a sci-fi fan, you could very well enjoy this book. Just keep an open mind and buckle your seat belt. It's quite a ride.

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299 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Jim "The Impatient"
  • 2011-03-12

Cool, but complicated

After reading the first two chapters, I thought Wow, I have found a new favorite author. The action was great and the characters interesting. Stephenson's metaphors and use of language are genius. I soon got lost in the complicated plot and what little I understood sounded extremely far fetched. If you are a layman of average intelligence like me you may find this a hard read, but the educated tech heads may love this book. I do want to read more of Stephenson.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • A. Tuck
  • 2008-10-16

Classic Stephenson

It's been several years since I read this book, so thought it'd be fun to give the audiobook a listen. I do have to say that I think it's one of those books that is better read than listened to via audio. That said, I think the narrator did a good job capturing the book and it is a fun story. First released in 1992, the same year "www" was coined, it's interesting to see how many of his "predictions" have come true and how much sounds dated. Stephenson is someone who explains tech in detail - all of his books are that way - which I find fascinating. But, if in-depth explanations bore you, he's not the author for you.

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  • Scott Eberhart
  • 2014-05-11

Great Story, Terrible Audio Quality

Any additional comments?

The story is engaging and fast paced and it leaves you with a lot to think about. Not to mention it's a great ride.

But the audio quality absolutely sucks. The narrator is fine, it just sounds like he was trapped in a tin box for the entire story. And chapters are buffeted by horrible sound effects and someone sing-speaking in gibberish. I get that it's trying to set a mood, but it's awful. And the worst part is that there are frequent brief episodes of completely different sound quality, that sound like they were added later.

If you can deal with the bad sound quality, this is definitely worth a listen. I really did love the story.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Tony
  • 2003-03-09

Excellent example of what an audiobook should be

Thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. I listen to audiobooks quite frequently and I can honestly say this is my favorite. A reasonably intelligent use of sound effects and excellent vocalizing make this a joy to listen to. I had originally read this in paperback and was quite suprised to find myself identifying MORE with the characters through the audiobook than I had in my original reading.

While this IS considered sci-fi and/or cyberpunk, don't let those terms scare you off. The envisioned future is pretty realistic and just 'gritty' enough to give you a good feel for it. Most of the technology is pretty conceivable and easy to understand - and very little of it is thrown in just because the author's supposed to be writing 'sci-fi'.

The audio version does bog down a bit in one or two spots. Some of the religious lingo/jargon/names was a bit easier to absorb in hardcopy. It's a lot easier to look back a page or two - or know you read that name just a minute ago and glance back over a paragraph or three - than it is to zap your MP3 player back 6 or 7 minutes. You might want to bookmark the beginning of such sections if you're either a die-hard fan or a theology major... Otherwise, listen through it and absorb what you can. You'll get a good idea where things are heading in short order.

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  • Robert
  • 2011-10-03

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.

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74 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Danny
  • 2002-12-24

Cyberpunk

So far the two Neil Stevenson books I have listened to, Snow Crash and The Diamond Age, have proved to be very entertaining and thought provoking. The techknolodgy he creates as part of the setting and times is both imaginative and maybe even wildly plausable. I think for me , what sets him apart is his sense of humour. The combination makes for a very enjoyable read.

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62 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Michael
  • 2003-01-16

A very clever book.

Snow Crash is not only very entertaining, it has a series of clever twists and a strong back story that set it aside from many science fiction stories.

Comedy and drama are well entwined throughout, neither detracting from the overall mood and pace of the book and the protagonists are well drawn.

I can highly recommend the excellent audio recording, which is a great format for this novel.

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55 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • D. McMillen
  • 2003-09-22

You'll love it or you'll hate

I love the fact that the reviews of "Snow Crash" are so mixed -- if someone doesn't give it a 4 or 5, they give it a 1 (and probably only because they can't give it a zero). It's probably very much a function of your personality: if you're the right type, it'll grab you and you'll love it. Otherwise, it'll seem stupid, boring, and pointless. I'm in the former group: I love it!

Either way, you won't have anything to complain about in the narration, in my opinion. Jonathan Davis does an excellent job.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Vic
  • 2003-03-18

A Journey Into Escapism

This is one of my first audiobooks selections and I chose it for it's length (value) and my interests in computers, technology, and future predictions. I listened to the sample and it sounded a little too "off the wall" for me, but I decided to give it a go anyway.

At first I was distracted by the verbal landscape but soon I was drawn in and the characters began to become likable and someone that I could relate to.

Concepts that I really liked:
1. A cyber universe where one could almost live, die, and play in... an Internet on steroids?
2. A virus that could gap the digital world to the physical world.
3. An ancient language that was, and is, common to all people

The characters are inventive, interesting, and quite unusual. The plot takes all kinds of twists and kept me anxiously wanting to go back to listening. The reader does a great job and does not detract from the story.

Bottom line, I found this a strange, yet compelling, story that I enjoyed very much.

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  • kakkun
  • 2023-05-24

Read William Gibson's Neuromancer instead

[Spoiler alert!] Almost every article mentioning the Metaverse since Facebook became Meta keeps pointing at Snow Crash as the book that introduced the term "Metaverse". This is maybe one the rare innovations you'll find in here, as most of the names chosen by the author are very unimaginative: the "hero" is named "Hiro Protagonist", he is a skilled biker and katana sword fighter both in the real and the virtual world. He is delivering pizza, for the mafia. Other characters include an underage roller skating girl named YT, a "Rat Thing", a pirate named "Bruce Lee" and so on.

There are references to the Vietnam war, and to nuclear bombs. It all feels very shallow, almost as tasteless as a mashup of every bad action movie of the 80s and the 90s.

The description of the virtual world has too many pointless and overly detailed descriptions to try and sound cool, or technologically advanced, like explaining that 2^16 = 65536 or referring to port 127, which are obvious numbers to computer scientists and maybe pointless references to other readers. Nothing is ever subtle or suggested, as if the reader did not have enough neurons or imagination.

Maybe all these clichés are here for a reason. They are not necessary funny, and many times they are close to racist stereotypes, so they could be used on purpose to describe a mindless and brainwashed society, having a hard time to think. Or maybe the real world is already a Meta Metaverse on its own, with new rules and abnormal situations, as well as silly names sounding like social media handles?

In contrast, there are a few interesting, metaphysical and philosophical theories introduced in this book. Sumerian legends and early languages and abstract phones which can be seen as the "machine code" of the brain. Also there is the idea that brains could be controlled by cleverly crafted sounds and images, just like machines can be attacked by computer viruses.

So is the author trying to show how the world has been collapsing and declining since the ancient days, mostly because of mass media and weak governments, and that ancient knowledge was ultimately more advanced than any modern technology?

Despite anticipating AI assistants, Google Earth / Maps, and avatars, there is nothing really interesting in this book that could not have been written in a few lines.

William Gibson's Neuromancer, which was written before Snow Crash, is much better at making you feel the alterations of the human brain when on drugs or when controlled by technology, and it does so in a very clever and subtle way, waiting for the reader to "hack" the text to understand it completely.

The performance doesn't help: the audio version uses a monotonous and annoying voice, with some terrible accents at times.


Read Neuromancer instead.

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  • Pierre Gauthier
  • 2022-01-16

Disappointing!

This very long novel published in 1992 certainly proves to be original and imaginative, yet all may not appreciate it. In fact, many may feel that the author strives too much to be creative and that the storyline is just an excuse to line up elements that he personally considers “cool”: car and skateboard chases worthy of video games, equally outré gunfights and swordfights, lengthy references to the Bible and to Antiquity, a dog’s stream of consciousness, etc. In fact, by the end of the book, some sub-plots are still unresolved.

There is no attempt to be remotely plausible. For instance, the main character, called “Hiro Protagonist”, is a computer hacker and a Samurai sword virtuoso who now delivers pizzas for a living and has a keen interest in the ancient Sumerian language. His female counterpart, called ‘YT” (for “Yours truly”), is a 15-year-old courier gratified with super high-tech clothing and equipment. She lives with her mother but there is no mention of her ever going to school.

The novel is set in an unspecified future which is not so distant from the book’s release since many characters are Vietnam War veterans and Hiro’s father was a soldier in Nagasaki in 1945. The times are dystopian, and the United States government has given up power over most of its former territory, which is now broken up into multiple autonomous units, many controlled by the American Mafia or by “Buy and Fly”.

The novel is credited for anticipating many innovations: the notion of “metaverse”, and the word itself, first appeared here. The book also matter-of-factly includes cell phones (called “personal phones”) as well as the equivalents of Google Earth (though it provides live images), email, Roomba and Waze. Strangely, however, videotapes are still around as well as 3-ring binders and xeroxing. Also, some technology featured has not become generalized 30 years later, notably all-terrain skateboards, wearable airbags and… portable hydrogen bombs.

Many may consider that the novel would have immensely benefited being edited to perhaps half its current length.

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  • SL
  • 2018-09-26

Brillant SF novel

The plot is thrilling, mixing computer science / cyber punk / history with subtlety. Snowcrash’s characters are well depicted and profound. The narrator’s voice is deep, engaging and powerful. 5 stars audiobook!

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