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The first book I dove in to start my science fiction odyssey is Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson. I first remember hearing about this book in various interviews with John Carmack between 1997 and 1999. I was pretty sure there was a .plan update back then too, but I couldn’t find it for linking.

The questions of Carmack were in the context of the technology he had revealed with Quake, the “true” 3D game that took to the internet more so than any game before it. I don’t remember John ever mentioning a specific preference for the book, but the memory forever associated Snow Crash as a book that the visionaries of computer programming had read.

I found that I loved the book. The dystopian future, heros, and humor kept me interested and engaged for the entire duration. The single element of the book that has stuck with me most was just how visionary and influential the book was. When reading the descriptions of the “metaverse” (the author’s better-sounding-word for “cyberspace”), I was taken aback constantly by how accurate the metaverse described current virtual worlds like World of Warcraft and Second Life. And every time, I had to remind myself that Snow Crash was written long before any of those virtual worlds existed. Instead, Snow Crash came first, and then all of these virtual worlds I’m now familiar with emulated it.

The hacker ethos permeated so much of the book, that after reading it I had to read more about Neil Stephenson. I wanted to know just how an author of novels came to know so much about the values and mannerisms of us: computer geeks, and even of me.

To use a tired and obtuse methodology of giving reviews a score, I think Snow Crash is a 9 out of 10.

I’ve recently taken to reading Science Fiction. I’ve rarely made time for fiction, focusing almost entirely on technical reading and philosophical non-fiction. However, it didn’t escape my notice that most of the visionaries of the world reference fiction often.

So I’ve started reading Science Fiction, starting with those books that are often cited as excellent and influential. I’ve also been posting my thoughts on The Book Barn forum on Something Awful. They have a thread dedicated to books you “just finished.” I’m going to start cross posting my thoughts here as well.