Snow crash by neal stephenson reading guidebook club. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus thats striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neonlit streets on a searchanddestroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse. Possibly the bestknown book by neal stephenson, snow crash is the tale of a. By stephen northcutt this is not the sort of book i would normally read. Grabs you quickly, thrusts you head long into world thats so preposterous that he cant possibly. To be honest most of jeters work is pretty fucked up imho but this one is fucked up even for him. Stephensons family moved to champaignurbana, illinois, in 1960 and then in. Snow crash book the seattle public library bibliocommons. It is a device which sits in the womans vagina, essentially a sharp needle filled with a chemical to knock out a would be rapist. More ideas and technology from snow crash more ideas and technology by neal stephenson tech news articles related to snow crash tech news articles related to works by neal stephenson. Rereading snow crash by neal stephenson a little over a year after reading it for the first time was not only fun, but necessary. Snow crash was written in 1992, before the internet. In snow crash, one nasty character tries to rape a young woman, only to find out shes installed an intrauterine device called a dentata. If you enjoy rollercoaster rides, snow crash is definitely for you.
An example can be found in the book snow crash by neal stephenson. Science fiction, cyberpunk, dystopian my book club has started a new initiative to read a book each month from a different subgenre of science fiction or fantasy. I first heard this word in snow crash, possibly the perfect sf novel. May 02, 2000 snow crash is a smart, cool, funny, witty, and actionpacked adventure featuring a pair of unlikely heroes who must save the world from infocalypse. That was fairly consistent throughout the book, but i refuse to say throughout the story. Snow crash was nominated for both the british science fiction award in 1993, and the arthur c. Stephenson turns out to be an engaging guide to an onrushing tomorrow. Snippets of the book from my first reading had been coming back to me for the last year or so, but so much happens in the space of 469 pages that i was remembering separate plots of the book as belonging to entirely different novels.
Im curious to hear from anyone who specifically feels that snow crash was a well written story. A man with wonderful hightech toys and samurai swords, who works for the mafia doing one of the few things that the united states still does better than any other country in the world. I agree it had a weak plot, weak characters, and that there were some questionable scenes. Comedy and drama are well entwined throughout, neither detracting from the overall mood and pace of the book. Neal stephenson is the author of the threevolume historical epic the baroque cycle quicksilver, the confusion and the system of the world as well as the novels cryptonomicon, the diamond age winner of a hugo award, snow crash, zodiac, anathem and reamde. Neal stephenson is such a writer and snow crash is such a novel, weaving virtual reality. The bad guys in his fiction that is, anyone who stands in a wellintentioned hackers way meet bad ends. Before the chapter actually starts, we get dictionarystyle definitions of the words snow, crash, and virus. Also, just to note, stephenson is an immensely entertaining author, prone to polysyllabic fits of metaphorical fancy that make his prose as amusing as watching a drunk penguin try to tapdance. Snow crash is a science fiction novel by american writer neal stephenson, published in 1992. Born on october 31, 1959 in fort meade, maryland, stephenson came from a family of engineers and scientists. The first edition of the novel was published in 1973, and was written by j. Another example can be found in the book snow crash by neal stephenson.
This study guide consists of approximately 81 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of snow crash. Fifteen years since its initial release, snow crash remains one of the most popular and important novels in recent memory. In his 1992 novel snow crash, neal stephenson gives yt, a female character, a similar device called a dentata to use. Jul 01, 20 snow crash so long as yt remembers to remove her dentata first. Read the book, stream the movie, and get articles and books about snow crash. The diamond age snow crash is a science fiction novel by american writer neal stephenson, published in 1992. A classic body horror, the vagina dentata is a folk myth of toothed female genitalia, which occurs in many cultures worldwide, from maori to native american. Snow crash is a smart, cool, funny, witty, and actionpacked adventure featuring a pair of unlikely heroes who must save the world from infocalypse. It contains information about the books they have read and what they plan to read.
According to wikipedia, snow crash is a science fiction novel written by neal stephenson and published in 1992. It accurately describes many of the technologies we now not only have, but have access to every day. You can imagine stephensons world is just a few years down the road from right now. Snow crash itsmy godlike you stretched a tarp across a stadium to turn it into a giant tomtom and crashed a 747 into it. The dentata shoots raven full of sedatives and he passes out. Snow crash by neal stephenson can it truly be called a good. That said, if your kid loves acting and has a genuinely weird sense of humor, get him this book as soon as you think hes old enough. Snow crash by neal stephenson overdrive rakuten overdrive. Neal stephenson interview seveneves is the end of the world as we know it duration. Its clear that if she is to engage in consensual intercourse, she needs to take it out. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read snow crash. The topic of vagina dentata may also cover a rare medical condition affecting the vagina, in which case it is more accurately termed a vaginal.
First victim of the snow crash virus shown in the book. Despite being written in 1992, there is still a lot in that book that resonates with today and. It makes sense since she lives in a society where women can wear dentata. In a world where anarchism and capitalism have seemingly joined forces to dispose of concepts like government and law, snow crash tells the tale of the unbelievably stupidly named hiro protagonist and his adventures in and out of the virtual reality known as the metaverse.
The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 224 pages and is available in paperback format. Snow crash us message board political discussion forum. Possibly the bestknown book by neal stephenson, snow crash is the tale of a swordslinging hacker who teams up with an extreme skateboarder in a post cyber punk disincorporated usa to fight snow crash a computer virus for the brain. About the only common ground that his work shares with others is that ink is applied to paper using the same letters, and then pages are bound to create a book. The book appeared on time magazines list of 100 alltime best englishlanguage novels written since 1923. By book titles cryptonomicon snow crash the diamond age. It is a cyberpunk novel involving everything from computer hacking to linguistics to sumerian mythology. Lexicon inhabits a us and australia so resolutely present day that it even name refs facebook and shudder linkedin. To the extent that a book can be described as original, snow crash, by neal stephenson is deserving of the moniker. Like many of stephensons other novels, it covers history. When i read snow crash, i was amazed that the book was written in the early 90s.
Vagina dentata latin for toothed vagina describes a folk tale in which a womans vagina is said to contain teeth, with the associated implication that sexual intercourse might result in injury, emasculation, or castration for the man involved. Right now, he is preparing to carry out his third mission of the. When we first meet hiro protagonist, he delivers pizzas for the mob in l. Snow crash is a mindaltering romp through a future america so bizarre, so outrageousyoull recognize it immediately. Digital rights management drm the publisher has supplied this book in encrypted form, which means that you need to install free software in order to unlock and read it.
If snow crash were a movie it would probably be rated pg, maaabye a mild r. His mother worked in a biochemistry laboratory, and her father was a biochemistry professor. Books on the broad reading group, oxford, use this site to coordinate their activities. Snow crash dentata futurismic nearfuture science fiction and. Occasional quotes from blogs, news, movies, books, overheard conversations defender of.
Futurismic nearfuture science fiction and fact since 2001. The theme for march was cyberpunk and we all chose snow crash to read and. Rape trap like snow crash dentata articles related to lifestyle. It is a world where the mafia controls pizza delivery, the united states exists as a patchwork of corporatefranchise citystates, and the internetincarnate as the metaverselooks something like last years hype would lead you to believe it. In fact, it seems even more plausible today than it did in 1992. But i disagree that the ideas were particularly good. 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 gigantic thriller of the information age. I tend to be older and more conservative than what i suspect the target audience is, but i feel the richer for having read snow crash. Like many of stephensons other novels, it covers history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryptography, memetics and philosophy. Read it snow crash by neal stephenson research it with articles try these articles to get started. Stephenson predicted a lot of what we now take for granted in day to day life and it is really kind of awesome. While the word avatar dates back to hindu mythology and had been used to describe an online representation of a person in the online rpg habitat, snow crash made the term popular. Pretty sure op is looking for snow crash but, i dunno, maybe they wanna go on a vagina dentata binge.
Stephenson now resides in a comfortable home in the western hemisphere and spends all of his time trying to retrofit an office into its generally dark, unlevel, and asbestosladen basement so that he can. Snow crash by neal stephenson can it truly be called a. Details of their monthly meetings in blackwell bookshop on broad street, oxford, and given as well as copies of the groups newsletter. In twentyfirstcentury america, a teenaged computer hacker finds himself fighting a computer virus that battles virtual reality technology and a deadly drug that turns humans into zombies. Praise for snow crash snow crash is a cross between neuromancer and thomas pynchons vineland. Snow crash continues to remain entertaining, with the stories and characters that are part tongueincheek and part all too real, and themes that are never out of style swords carsbikesteen rebellion badasseryadventurechases gangs. The deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed subcategory. Dentata by neal stephenson from snow crash technovelgy.
The personal website of author neal stephenson, unless its been hacked. It is suspected that the concept originally came into play as part of a scareem straight cautionary tale, warning of the dangers of sex. Funny then to later discover that the novel was written after a comic book attempt at the same story fell apart. Jun 02, 2011 snow crash is a smart, cool, funny, witty, and actionpacked adventure featuring a pair of unlikely heroes who must save the world from infocalypse. Apart from its frenetic action sequences and overt use. Snow crash has one of the most effective opening hooks in science fiction, a loving description of a hightech armored driver and car. Snow crash was written in the years 1988 through 1991 as the author listened to a great deal of loud, relentless, depressing music. Brilliantly realizedstephenson turns out to be an engaging guide to an onrushing tomorrow. Developer of the librarian, a researchindex ai described below. Snow crash by neal stephenson, first edition abebooks. Emanuel lagos a researcher who discovered the snow crash metavirus and told rife about it. Nothing says love like the destruction of company property. The bookpart of nivens known space seriescenters on two humans sent by mysterious alien to explore the titular.
Snow crash is a mindaltering romp through a future america so bizarre, so outrageous. Snow crash by neal stephenson goodreads share book. Neal stephenson, snow crash ninetynine percent of everything that goes on in most christian churches has nothing whatsoever to do with the actual religion. Snow crash is not a story or a novel or anything with a plot, in my opinion. 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. Oh, and theres a badass biker with glass knives and a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorbike, too. Stephenson predicted a lot of what we now take for granted in. A hes also a brilliant hacker and swordwielding genius, but his playspoorlywithothers personality means he. 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.
Barry restricts his descriptions of place to the names of cities and this minimalism does make for a lean, plotfocused. Aug 26, 2003 plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus thats striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neonlit streets on a searchanddestroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse. In the book, snow crash can take the form of a powerful narcotic or even a digital file, and opens people up to receiving a neurolinguistic virus that can reprogram their brains. One of times 100 best englishlanguage novels a mindaltering romp through a future america so bizarre, so outrageous, youll recognize it immediately only once in a great while does a writer come along who defies comparisona writer so original he redefines the way we look at the world. Possibly the bestknown book by neal stephenson, snow crash is basically the tale of a swordslinging hacker who teams up with a badass kourier in a post cyber punk disincorporated usa to fight snow crash a computer virus for the brain. Intelligent people all notice this sooner or later, and they conclude that the entire one hundred percent is bullshit, which is why atheism is connected with being intelligent in.
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