The story of why I read this book starts in April. I was going to Fresno for Juliette's wedding. I was carpooling with Justin, who was driving up from San Diego. I do not know Justin very well, his first semester at Berkeley was my last. However, we know a lot of the same people (53 mutual friends according to facebook) and were involved in similar activities. He explained the book and I was interested in reading it.
The main character, aptly named Hiro Protagonist, is a hacker and a great swordsman. His business card from the book is below. His dad was in the army when he was growing up (like me) and he graduated from Berkeley (like me). He mentioned meeting another character in his freshman physics lab section.
I enjoyed the universe Stephenson created. It had a slight dystopian feel. Everything is owned by a franchise of a massive corporation. Some things that are easy for us to imagine today would have been more fanciful when the book was published in 1992. For example, in the book there is a metaverse. It is a vast virtual reality world where people around the world can connect and interact with each other.
I don't want to give away too much of the story. Our hacker and swordfigher Hiro has to save the day. Some hackers are being infected by a virus and people are trying to figure out what it is. The investigation brings in Sumerian mythology, ideas about information, and even some glossolalia (speaking in tongues).
A lot of the book takes place in Southern California, so there are references to freeways around Los Angeles. However, the references were not imbued with a personal experience of living here. For example, the indefinite article the was left off when referring to "the 405." If the "the" is not there, it is wrong.
If you like science fiction, you should check out Snow Crash. If you like the world Stephenson creates in the first few pages, you should enjoy the book.
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