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/lit/ - Literature

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7354573 No.7354573 [Reply] [Original]

Has anyone made it through this? Snow Crash was great sci fi with minimal cringe, this shit is filled with boring map descriptions and lame metaphors. Is Stephenson a one hit wonder?

>> No.7354583

i prefer infinite jest

>> No.7354591

>>7354573
>Snow Crash was great sci fi

>> No.7354596

On the subject of Stephenson, is Quicksilver anything like 'Q' by Luther Blissett?

>> No.7354603

I couldn't stand that book. I threw it away after about 100 pages.

Fucking 100 pages in, and not even a hint what the goddamn book is about. I think it's basically 1000 pages of side plot, with not discernible main plot.

>> No.7354639
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7354639

>>7354573
>>7354591
>>7354596
>>7354603
/lit/ards

>> No.7354641

>>7354573

I read the whole thing. I enjoyed it overall, even though I disagree with the core spiritual argument mostly because humans as a species won't last forever, hence no immortality.

>> No.7354650

>>7354641
Errr... what? I don't remember it making a spiritual argument...

>> No.7354659

>>7354639
>critical of those who say Snow Crash is great sci fi
>critical of those who say Snow Crash is not great sci fi

>> No.7354663

>>7354650

> Human beings are turing machines
> Human consciousness is software
> Therefore, human consciousness transcends individuals; what matters about the human being appears repeatedly as a recurring program on many machines

It was implicit throughout the whole text with all the focus on christianity and pagan gods.

>> No.7354665

>>7354639
What was wrong with my question?

>> No.7354670

>>7354659
Having an opinion is the most pleb thing you can do. :^)

>> No.7354684

>>7354573
Not a one hit wonder although his later books are all too long. The Big U is pretty fun, even though Neal has disowned it.

>> No.7354689

>>7354573
>snow crash
>stephenson's one hit
>not diamond age

>> No.7354723

>>7354663
That was Snow Crash.

>> No.7354725

>>7354689
Diamond Age is disappointingly uneven because it undercuts itself. I left scratching my head about what the message was.

>> No.7354727

>>7354723

No, Snow Crash was a bunch of horseshit about neurolinguistic programming.

>> No.7354762

>>7354727
I guess I missed it.

Things I remember about the book:
- Turing and Rudy are flaming gaymosauruses.
- Bobbeh Chowtoh
- The enigma code
- The buried treasure is related to the present much like James Camreon's hit movie, Titanic.
- Van-Eck Phreaking!!!???
- The awkward romantic subplot that immediately ruins the book between the neckbeard and Lara Croft.
- That cringey NoFap character arc where he stops jerking it and then blows an epic load in her in the back of a cab during a really awkward and gross non-erotic sex scene.

>> No.7354776

>>7354762

What I remember most is the archnemesis COLLECTIVIST MAN leaving the confines of his neckbeard dwelling to come attack the protagonists in the rainforest at the end of the novel. That was the biggest WTF to me.

>> No.7354780

>>7354573
reading at the moment, 150 pag in and i find it interesting, sorry m8.

>> No.7354795

>>7354573
What are this book and Snow Crash about? I've heard this book is very technical.

>> No.7354819 [DELETED] 
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7354819

>>7354573
It's is one of my favorite Neal's book.
This guy Charles Yu explains it better (pic related).

>> No.7354834

>>7354795
Cryptonomicon has a few chapters that are Turing rambling about basic cryptography, but you can safely skip those and the rest of the book still make sense.

Snow Crash is edgy 90s contemporary cyberpunk and feels like Quentin Tarantino meets The Matrix.

Cryptonomicon is a multiplot sweeping technohistorical epic that feels like Forrest Gump meets Titanic meets Saving Private Ryan meets Pirates of Silicon Valley.

>> No.7354847

>>7354762
Well put. There was some of this type of shit in Snow Crash's plot, but he definitely amps it up and glorifies the neckbeard complex in Cryptonomincon. I also don't remember any chapter-long setups for one-liners in Snow Crash.

>> No.7354967

>>7354670
Having two opinions that are mutually exclusive is the most pleb etc.

>> No.7354983

I liked it, but it was no Snow Crash.

And Snow Crash was no Diamond Age.

>> No.7355247

>>7354834
>feels like Quentin Tarantino meets The Matrix.
KEK
E
K

>> No.7355294

>>7354591
>with minimal cringe

>> No.7355692

>>7354762
>>7354776
You folks pretty much have an ungrown brain, I see.

>> No.7355707

>>7354967
Whoa, we got a hardliner Aristotelian here.

>> No.7355822
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7355822

>>7354573
>That Van Eck Phreaked email about jacking off to stockings

>> No.7355873

>>7354670
Fuck off with that creationist attitude of yours.

>> No.7355942
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7355942

>>7354573
>Reading this book changed my life.
>I stopped making excuses about being "smart but lazy" and started self learning
>It inspired me to become an engineer

Please stop bullying, you are making me feel bad.

>> No.7355961

I'm just over 200 pages in and considering giving up, it's just not that interesting. Slightly puzzled by the Qwghlm part; why is he trying to be Pratchett? It feels totally out of place with the rest of the book so far.

>> No.7356028

>>7355961

My guess is he couldn't bring himself to write about the Navajo because that would have too hard.

>> No.7357916

>>7354725
I felt the same way but I can't say I didn't enjoy the ride.I liked the ending in which those merpeople became a sort of computer and all