#26 Snow Crash

Neal Stephenson can predict the future. At least, he could, back when he wrote Snow Crash in 1992. Set in the not-too-distant future in what used to be the United States, he details a dystopia over run by computers and chaos. Hiro Protagonist, the story's, um...protagonist, delivers pizza for a living. But in the Metaverse, a cyberworld he visits (hello-Second Life), he's a super sword-wielding hero. He spends the whole book trying to thwart a villain who is trying to wreak havoc by releasing a virus into the Metaverse. (Sound familiar?) Stephenson even describes a 20th century version of Google Maps. It's eerie. Or they ripped his idea off.

On top of that, this book is very funny. And it didn't make me feel stupid, something I was concerned about, seeing as how it is all about computers and technology and Sumerian myth.(Naturally, isn't everything?) I'm looking forward to reading more of Stephenson's work, in the pile is Cryptonomicon, his most famous work, and Quicksilver, the first in a trilogy. Also in the pile are pretty much every other book on the planet. Except Tuesdays with Morrie. I'd rather rub crushed glass in my eyes.