A wandering book -- the karma of literature! I read this book a few years ago, so maybe it's time to read it again. This is sci-fi, but of the futuristic cyber variety, not outer space and aliens. I loved it. It is a "cool, hip...thriller of the information age". The story takes place in the 21st century, Earth. "Hero 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 misson for the shadowy virtual villian 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."

This book will go out on book ray at the end of August (when I finally get home from travels).

The list:
Jessi626 (Germany)
bilbi (France)
ekranda (UK)
samulli (Germany)
tomHl (Wisconsin, USA)(revised -- that's an L after the H)
sejent (Kentucky
Queniene (Colorado)-- skipped
Kiri (California)(Kiri -- if you can mail to Australia, don't bother sending it back to me; otherwise, send to me, and I'll mail it to Australia. Thanks!))<--- book is headed here!
judygreeneyes (California)
davemurray101 (Australia)-- just added

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book is off by mail to jessi626 in Germany, the first stop in the book ray. Enjoy! I'd love to hear what you all think of the book!

The book arrived today. Thank you!
I have 1-2 other books before this one. But vacation is coming ;-)

I started the book, but couldn't get into it. Apparently Science-Fiction isn't my cup of tea. I haven't tried so many books in this genre yet, but didn't like any of it so far. Usually I'm tempted by the computer theme, but don't like the futuristic world of the book. Same with this book, sorry :-(

Hi Jessi626, I'm so sorry that you did not enjoy "Snow Crash". (maybe bilbi will like it better) I need to tell you, though, it really is not a good book for judging how you like science fiction. It is at a very extreme end of what is considered "science fiction", so mostly you either love it or hate it. If you wanted to try another sci-fi book that is really more mainstream for more people, try something like "Calculating God" by Robert Sawyer (or any of his books), or "Stardance" by Spider and Jeanne Robinson, or "Titan" by John Varley. You might find something you like! Let me know if you want to try one that I consider very "accessible" by people who usually don't read sci-fi, and I'll send you one.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to bilbi.
Thanks for your reply judygreeneyes. I'll try at least one of the books you mentioned :-)

Received today !
I can start it this afternoon !
Thanks for sharing \o/

I loved this book !
I had to check the publishing date several times because it all seems so believable a future... A life lived between reality and virtuality !

Thanks again for sharing this book.

I got this in the post last week - sorry it took me a while to journal it! I've got a bookray on the go now but will read this one as soon as i finish the other!

15 Dec Update: I've just started reading this but i've got a bad eye so it might take me a little longer than normal!

This is one of the best sci-fi's i've read for ages!!! once i got into it i was absorbed into another world entirely!! It took me ages to read it due to uni work and bad eyes but i got there in the end and i'm so glad i did!! I'm a little sad that i can't follow YT's and Hiro's story anymore...you know it wont be boring!

I was also shocked about the dates it was published but the only issue i had with it was near the end when you beame aware of one of the characters being born in the '70s ....sometimes it's best not to put any dates on sci-fi's - if you ignore that though it's a fantastic story!

I have contacted samulli and have an address..i hope to post it out early next week. Thank you so much for sharing this book i'm so glad i didn't skip over it!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

put in the post this afternoon - hope you enjoy!!

And here it is. :-)
It is the third bookray that arrived at my house in the last couple of days. Additionally I don't have much reading time right now, so it might take me a while to finish it.

Wow, this was quite an entertaining read. It took a while to get in gear, so to speak, but after a few chpters I could hardly put it down. Hiro and especially Y.T. are engaging characters and their world is fascinating. And the Metaverse seems so much cooler than our current internet. LOL
I can't really say I understood all the stuff about Sumer and all that, especially since towards the end it seemed to become a bit convoluted. But I enjoyed this book a lot. I will definitely seek out other books by the author.

Thanks for this ring, judygreeneyes! I have Tom's address already and will send off the book on Monday.

I drove home from work today through light snow to find Snow Crash in my mailbox. I've not read any Neal Stephenson before this, so am looking forward to it. I have just started The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol, and will read this next after that. Thanks to judygreeneyes for starting the bookray, and danke to samulli for sending it to me!

I've been reading science fiction since I was about ten, about forty years ago. Lately I've been getting recommendations to read some Neal Stephenson, so this 1992 book was my introduction to him. I enjoyed the story and found its very active plot engaging. There are a lot of speculative concepts pulled into this book, the Metaverse, the franchising of society, a human intelligence virus, Samurai and Aleut culture - but somehow it didn't seem as creative as I thought it should. I think my problem is that Stephenson directly explains everything about his world to the reader. I prefer the approach taken by William Gibson in Neuromancer where you are just thrown into the middle of it, and have to figure things out on your own. So the puzzle aspect was missing for me. Still, as I mentioned, the plot was a real wild ride, and I was kept wondering how things would go for Y.T. and Hiro. So I expect I will be reading more Neal Stephenson.

I started reading this book during a short vacation to Charleston, South Carolina. Here's a photo of me holding it in a wading fountain near the harbor. Liquid water in February is a miracle to a Wisconsinite!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Today, I mailed this book to Kentucky via Media Mail for the next person in the bookray.

Received in today's mail. I have two other rays to finish before this one. I'm looking forward to this.

I just could not get into this and gave up after fifty or so pages. I have been trying to contact Queniene for the last several weeks, both by PM and by e-mail, but have received no response, so I am sending this to Kiri using her RABCK address (as instructed on her BC profile). Enjoy!