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.
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.
Neither. Read The Shockwave Rider instead. While less well known, it’s a superior piece of cyberpunk to either of the two.
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.
They’re both great but Neuromancer is better.
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.
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.
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 
Explain? I don’t see this at all.
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).
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.
Neuromancer. Gibson was the best of the cyberpunk writers.
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.
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).
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?
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?!
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.
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.
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.
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.