I have a guilty penchant for reading. I love books as sometimes it’s nice to be able to absorb a story at my own pace. Printed media has a great advantage of being readable and “pause” friendly unlike some digital media. As my teaser post had mentioned, my buddy Russ passed me Snow Crash to read and left me with the cryptic teaser: “You’ll never think of pizza delivery boys the same again after reading this book.” The cover’s teaser even leads the reader on about the premise:
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 missionfor the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about the Infocalypse. Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous… you’ll recognize it immediately.
from the back cover of Snow Crash
The book is interesting as it shows something like a post apocalyptic world where the corporations have bonded into sectors and even carry gang influences. In the nature of dualities, there’s also a computer realm called the Metaverse where people can log on and goggle in to a completely virtualized world. Highly skilled users who plug in can code to create their own tool/weapons, clothes, or even detail their looks to a highly customized, detailed avatar. Though early on, the story details a world where the trade of information is similar to the trade of hard goods. Pieces of intelligence be it a rejected movie script to even a pornographic video of the young pop star sleeping with a politician are all valued by those who collect and resell “intel data”. Hiro’s “job” in the Metaverse is an intel hunter and hacker to make a buck off of whatever data he can nab, repackage, and even sell. The story doesn’t stop there though…
The novel shows us a world where the Metaverse is almost a realm that is a sophisticated “internet” with respect to the present day. The more intense data mining hackers however are almost biologically linked to the Metaverse, so you can almost imagine our modern concepts like SPAM, spyware, and viruses would basically act like physical maladies to these hackers. Like human beings, some hackers do get bored and resort to odd things in boredom… Drug use does happen in the Metaverse, but usually it is bad code… Until someone ends up pedaling Snow Crash as the latest drug. When someone very near and dear to Hiro takes Snow Crash and basically is never heard from again, this begins a chain of events that shows theres an even greater force that’s marketing Snow Crash both in the Metaverse and in the physical world.
Theories of “information hygiene”, religion as a computer virus of sorts, and even a link to Sumerian myths are all part of a battle between good and evil. It almost parallels the concerns of those in the computer security industry and how common folks have no idea on how damaging opening an odd e-mail or running that one program that some user has no idea of what is inside the payload. The vision of a future world are simply amazing, but you almost feel drawn to the characters even if some of their existences are boring or plain messed up. The second half is a frantic race against time to try to understand the fundamental essence of language and the power of viral concepts. The action really picks up and just leaves you addicted to read until the end.
Snow Crash is one book I would recommend to anyone who’s fascinated by computer technologies merged with Sumerian myth and a concept of a Metaverse being almost a future vision of the online world. The image of the future America that is represented is one that almost seems possible, but takes much of it’s influence from overtones of the Vietnam War and some other political dealings. It is definitely one on my list of “Essential Books People Should Read Before They Die”.
