# Neuromancer or Snow Crash? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 14, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236 "2009-12-14T17:24:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/21 "2009-12-15T15:58:40Z")
> [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](#): > > That being said, Neal Stephenson can’t write a damn ending to save his life. Great ideas. . .and then GRIND go the brakes. I don’t think that anything else needed to happen, but I think that they conclusion needed to be paced better. It’s not that I wanted an epilogue; I just wanted to avoid narrative whiplash. Stephenson seems to have gotten better in this respect in his latest books (the _Baroque Cycle_ and, particularly, _Anathem_). In fact, in _Anathem_ he seems to have gone out of his way to poke fun at this tendency of his: It literally ends with a wedding! 😃 Though that being said, I didn’t find _Anathem_ to be as much sheer fun to read as _Snow Crash_. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/22 "2009-12-15T17:33:31Z")
Can I vote for _The Diamond Age_ instead? _Snow Crash_ was a fun and audacious read, but the Sumerian stuff just made my eyes glaze over after they rolled to the back of my head. I’ve never read any Gibson so I’ll refrain from making an actual vote in the poll. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/23 "2009-12-15T18:29:36Z")
Neither. Read [The Shockwave Rider](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shockwave_Rider) instead. While less well known, it’s a superior piece of cyberpunk to either of the two. ---
**Author:** ![Humble\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/47e85d/32.png) [@Humble\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humble_Servant)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/24 "2009-12-15T20:09:02Z")
Snow Crash has a sense of humor; Neuromancer doesn’t. I only just found out, 9 months later, that Hiro Protagonist should of course be pronounced “Hero,” not “Highro.” I larnt that right here on the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Keen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Commander\_Keen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Keen)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/25 "2009-12-15T20:33:06Z")
They’re both great but Neuromancer is better. ---
**Author:** ![A.Selene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ec8ea/32.png) [@A.Selene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Selene)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/26 "2009-12-15T21:42:02Z")
I read Snow Crash first, then Neuromancer. Neuromancer is certainly the more important book; as others have noted, it began the cyberpunk movement and continues to influence countless works of fiction. I understand it’s importance, and liked the novel, but it lacked the narrative zip of Snow Crash. Snow Crash is just so damn entertaining. It’s a fantastic blend of ideas, characters, and action. I recommend Neuromancer to my friends that like science fiction and want to better appreciate the genre and how it has developed. I recommend Snow Crash to my friends that like to read. I didn’t especially like The Diamond Age though. That one seemed to long and rambling, and I didn’t care as much about the characters. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/27 "2009-12-15T21:59:45Z")
If you can only read one, your choice will depend on what you’re looking for. _Neuromancer_ is a more serious read. Gibson defined the cyberpunk genre with it. If you’re not a fan of modern Japanese pop culture, it will be tough going for you. It’s one of those books that you just have to read if you’re serious about cyberpunk, because so much is built upon it. I liked the book, but when I got my SF/Fantasy book group to read it, 2/3 of them didn’t finish it. _Snow Crash_ is FUN. It’s tongue-in-cheek writing wrapped around a good plot. I thought it was, in many ways, a better book, but it wasn’t groundbreaking in the way that _Neuromancer_ was. ---
**Author:** ![bagga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@bagga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bagga)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/28 "2009-12-16T00:11:27Z")
Come on, people. There’s an option for ‘both’ in the poll and there’s absolutely no reason why all of you shouldn’t have clicked it 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/29 "2009-12-16T12:47:27Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:27, topic:521236”] If you’re not a fan of modern Japanese pop culture, it will be tough going for you. [/QUOTE] Explain? I don’t see this at all. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/30 "2009-12-16T13:13:54Z")
I picked Neuromancer because I actually got through it. And it’s certainly true that Gibson defined a style of writing for a long time. Snow Crash I’ve tried to read twice and both times put down thinking “I’m too old to enjoy this” or somesuch statement. It’s not true, of course, I’m forty-two and knee deep in technology. But reading it made me relive my feelings that I had when I went to grad school “I wish these damn kids had lives!” I didn’t adapt well returning to academia, especially an academia where the undergrads shared classes with grad students, having worked and lived on my own for several years. Clearly. Also, over the years I’ve begun to share David Brin’s critique of cyberpunk in that I don’t believe that high tech will bring about a dystopia or be endlessly dominated by young, testosterone-fueled boys. High tech is being dominated by middle-aged men who own and run large corporations. As an aside, I’d say my problems were inherently with Stephenson’s writing. But that’s contraindicated by my worship of ‘the Cryptonomicon’ (though that ending was weak, too). I’m a man easily distracted by math and physics and once famously derailed a meeting with an involved discussion of the physics of toast browning (I had noticed in my toaster over that morning that my toast didn’t brown until the last moment when it browned all at once). ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/31 "2009-12-16T13:16:53Z")
I love _Snow Crash_ and _Diamond Age_ but the lack of proper denouement always makes me want to track down Stephenson and punch him repeatedly in the face whilst shouting “WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST FINISH THE STORY, GOD ROT YOU!?!”. And then I read them again. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/32 "2009-12-16T15:32:41Z")
Neuromancer. Gibson was the best of the cyberpunk writers. ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/33 "2009-12-17T00:58:59Z")
I recently reread _Neuromancer_ and felt embarrassed that I once felt that it was a good book. The plot line is uninspired and the writing rigid. The _only_ thing the book has going for it is that it was one of the first to venture into that particular form of dystopia. _Snow Crash_, on the other hand, is without a doubt one of my favorite books. Great characters, intriguing and complicated plot, beautiful writing. I will never read _Neuromancer_ again; twice was more than enough. _Snow Crash_, on the other hand, is definitely on my periodic re-read list, along with the _Lord of the Rings_, KSR’s Mars trilogy, and (of course) _Cryptonomicon_ and the Baroque cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/34 "2009-12-17T01:24:54Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Yeah, and _Neuromancer_ has one of the great–yet totally outdated by technology–opening lines in SF History. > > “The sky was the color of a television set tuned to a dead channel”…which means that Neuromancer is using tech set before about 1988–or he’s saying that the sky is a cheery shade of blue. (It’s _still_ a great line, even if it’ll be meaningless in 50 years or so) I interpret the line under modern tech as being a sky that’s an electric, almost artificial blue: it co-opts the sky’s own color for the sake of technology, establishing a world in which there is no such thing as nature, if that makes sense. I like the new meaning better than the old one. And I voted **Neuromancer**. Yeah, nothing effing happens in it. I’ve read it half a dozen times, and I still can’t remember anything about the plot. But on almost every page there’s a lovely image. His prose is wonderful. (I say that not having read it in ten years; maybe I’d be embarrassed by it if I tried it again). ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/35 "2009-12-17T02:46:37Z")
I like Neuromancer but Snow Crash is just outstanding. I knew from the first page that I was going to enjoy it. However, yeah the ending was a little bit of a let down. I do have a question about the ending TBH, I always assumed that Uncle Enzo killed Raven at the airport, but if he did, how come the warhead never went off? ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/36 "2009-12-17T03:10:59Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > And I voted **Neuromancer**. Yeah, nothing effing happens in it. I’ve read it half a dozen times, and I still can’t remember anything about the plot. But on almost every page there’s a lovely image. His prose is wonderful. (I say that not having read it in ten years; maybe I’d be embarrassed by it if I tried it again). Just finished it and I agree about the imagery and language – both are stunning. But I also have to admit that my first thought after closing the thing was, _WTF was that all about?!_ ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/37 "2009-12-17T03:44:52Z")
I think all of you who are saying nothing happens in Neuromancer need to read more carefully, or perhaps you were dazzled by the prose. It’s a caper story. An eclectic team is gathered to commit a crime by a mysterious boss. The plot revolves around the process they go through to steal a mysterious object, but it turns out that the person who hired them IS the mysterious object, looking to be freed. Or so I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/38 "2009-12-17T10:10:56Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I do have a question about the ending TBH, I always assumed that Uncle Enzo killed Raven at the airport, but if he did, how come the warhead never went off? IIRC,Raven drives off in the pizza delivery car (which the one Mafia guy failed to deal with), pursued by others not important to the plot. It was a throwaway line and one of the many disappointing aspects of that ending. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/39 "2009-12-17T11:55:28Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > I think all of you who are saying nothing happens in Neuromancer need to read more carefully, or perhaps you were dazzled by the prose. It’s a caper story. An eclectic team is gathered to commit a crime by a mysterious boss. > > The plot revolves around the process they go through to steal a mysterious object, but it turns out that the person who hired them IS the mysterious object, looking to be freed. > > Or so I remember. I should write more carefully: while you’re right about the plot, I found the plot completely forgettable and not very interesting. It’s his prose that makes the book worth reading, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236/40 "2009-12-17T12:31:26Z")
I voted for Neuromancer. I agree that Snow Crash is more entertaining - I had a great time reading it. But Neuromancer somehow subtly changed my perspective to totally accept the world it portrayed. It blew my mind without any fireworks or crazy stuff happening. As a follow up I recommend _Dr. Adder_ by K. W. Jeter - written in 1972. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neuromancer-or-snow-crash/521236.md?page=3)