Snowcrash

BookNotes author: Neal-Stephenson

Very 90’s novel, seduced by the glamour of the internet and the possibillities of a connected, virtual world. Managed to be quite prophetic and identified a number of trends that exist in the world today. The origin of avatar and metaverse, but people still use tapes.

• USA is broken into franchise, corporate states. Government exists in small pockets but doesn’t really do anything.
• Languages in all their variety and splendor are a virus that caused humanity to diverge and compete with one another.
• ‘Snow Crash’ is the opposite - it reduces people to drones.
• Some fairly tired cultural stereotypes outside the main characters.
• Uncomfortable scene with the rape of a fifteen year old girl. More uncomfortable because of tone, thrown away as a lighthearted moment instead of a serious issue. Ruined the whole book for me.
• A raft of immigrants in the pacific ocean feels like a right wing fantasy.
• What does it mean to live in a different reality simultaneously to ours?
• Obviously influenced (and is better than) Ready Player One. Neuromancer asks similar questions but is more philosophical, less shlocky.