Book Thoughts: Snow Crash
A couple days ago I finished the audiobook version of Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson.
I didn't know what to expect going in (having never read anything Stephenson) but I honestly wasn't super into the package as a whole, despite all the good stuff packed into it.
-The book itself was a big box of ideas -- considering it was from the 90s it did a lot with technology that either predicted or directly influenced the technology we have today. For that alone the book is absolutely worth a read to those interested in the history and inspirations of post-90's tech.
I was also very interested in the philosophical aspects the author plays with -- the way the story explores language, the mind, and the parallels that exist in software / hardware were fun, if not particularly deeply explored (after all this is a fun scifi romp, not a philosophy book).
I loved the post-law mega-franchised America Stephenson painted. I wish this got explored more than it did, when it does get explored it just felt like raw satire. The satirising of the future FBI worker experience was also spot-on and very entertaining.
Of course a big focal point of the book was the Metaverse -- a concept so beloved by tech nerds that Facebook flat-out stole the idea and name verbatim. I can see how this vision of technology would be a massive inspiration to tech lovers of the 90's and 2000s -- but unfortunately I'm reading from a post-metaverse timeline, and the reality of VR worlds is much more mundane and boring than the dream.
With all the good that was in the book, I found the overarching story extremely stupid. Maybe this is an era thing, like how "WHASAAAAAAAP" commercials were funny once. While there's a lot of interesting stuff going on in the front half, the book really loses its identity by the end. It could have chosen to focus itself as a portent of future tech, satire of the franchise-riddled america or a philosophical exploration of language and code -- but instead it decides it wants to be a dumb action flick. The final quarter of the novel is inane action sequences, shallow relationships, and "cool stuff happening".
I think I like my books a little more boring.