“See, the world is full of things more powerful than us. But if you know how to catch a ride, you can go places.”
Set in a dystopian America, Snow Crash offers a glimpse into a world where people escape from their daily lives into the Metaverse. Avatars can visit bars, go to concerts and talk to people from all over the world. They use googles to connect to the virtual reality while the real world is split into hundreds of factions where people are still striving to obtain the ultimate control. There is the mafia, religious sects and a millionaire who all want to be in charge. The mafia uses force, the religious try to convince people rationally and the millionaire is looking to hack into people’s brains.
I don’t normally read a lot of science fiction books, but I read an article about how Snow Crash influenced several technology leaders and added it to my to-read list. I didn’t have to wait long until the book was available from my library to check out as an ebook. This book is supposed to be where the idea of Google Earth came from.
Hiro Protagonist is a freelance hacker who stumbles upon a friend taking a drug called “Snow Crash” in the metaverse and ending up in a coma in real life. As he tries to track down what is going on, he uncovers a plot to try and reprogram people with a different language. A teenage girl, Y.T., becomes his unlikely sidekick and one small, kind action on her part helps change the entire course of mankind.
Snow Crash is fascinating, but adds a lot of philosophical thinking about religion and language into a science fiction world. Readers of deep science fiction will enjoy it as will people who like reading books that had a huge influence on our current technological world. The book is definitely for mature readers.
Do you have a favorite sci-fi book? Share it in the comments!