#2 in Computers & internet humor books
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Reddit mentions of Snow Crash
Sentiment score: 33
Reddit mentions: 75
We found 75 Reddit mentions of Snow Crash. Here are the top ones.
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Used Book in Good Condition
Specs:
| Color | Navy |
| Height | 8.2 Inches |
| Length | 5.4 Inches |
| Number of items | 1 |
| Release date | May 2000 |
| Weight | 1 Pounds |
| Width | 1.1 Inches |
Well, we hit the 10000 limit. Reserving this comment for the misc. section.
FREE TIME/FUN/MISC.
The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security
The Art of War
Steal This Computer Book 4.0: What They Won't Tell You about the Internet
How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails, and Vanish without a Trace
The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey
Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart
Casting the Net: From ARPANET to INTERNET and Beyond thanks sjhill
A Quarter Century of UNIX thanks sjhill
A Reading List For the Self-Taught Computer Scientist thanks zinver
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk thanks segamix
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable thanks AgonistAgent
Snow Crash thanks AgonistAgent
Cryptonomicon thanks Mirple
Yeah, it's a novel. I liked it.
Go read the book
Snow Crash by Stephenson is something of a modern classic, and a very fun read. I highly recommend it!
Hoookay.
To start off with, the two mandatory books are:
Neuromancer, by William Gibson: This is the big daddy, the first example of the genre. Especially notable for pre-dating the world wide web, but managing to predict it pretty well. We still use terminology (like cyberspace) coined by him today.
Snow Crash: Snow Crash (in my opinion) is the close to the genre, the book that took everything unseriously enough to lead us into the world of post-cyberpunk. An awesome book, and more readable than Neuromancer.
Movies:
Blade Runner: The visual inspiration for a ton of stuff, Blade Runner is the shit. Make sure you watch the Final Cut, because there are three versions.
The Matrix: Worlds inside computers are huge in cyberpunk, and The Matrix nails it. The aesthetics are pretty good too, given less sci-fi stuff in the computer world.
The Surrogates: Not the greatest movie in the world, and Bruce Willis has hilariously fake hair, but an interesting approach to a cyberpunk world.
Miscellaneous:
Psycho-Pass: The less well-known cyberpunk anime, Psycho-Pass treads interesting philosophical ground, and pairs it with a really fun cyberpunk police procedural. Season 2 is coming out this fall, mark your calendars.
Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex: The Ghost in the Shell movie is one of the leading lights of Cyberpunk, but I prefer the TV show for it's more drawn-out, easier to follow narrative. Drop magic into GitS, and you have Shadowrun, straight up and down. This is a must-see for anyone interested in the genre.
Akira: I confess, I haven't actually seen Akira, but it's another classic of the genre. Beware that without having read the manga, there are pretty decent chunks that just won't make sense.
My recommendations:
I absolutely love Snow Crash. Very humorous writing without becoming pure comedy. Great plot. Awesome concepts.
It was brutal. I wasn't that good. But there were many people who were superb. It was such a pleasure watching them perform.
Here are some sci-fi recommendations (you may have read them already, but I thought I'd offer anyway):
Serious Scifi:
Anathem the "multiverse" (multiple realities) and how all that works
Seveneves feminism meets eugenics—watch out!
The Culture series by Iain Banks, esp Book 2, the Player of Games Banks is dead, but wrote some of the best intellectual scifi ever
Brilliant, Visionary:
Accelerando brilliant and hilarious; and it's not a long book
Snowcrash classic
Neuromancer another classic
Tawdry yet Lyrical (in a good way):
Dhalgren beautiful, poetic, urban, stream of consciousness, and more sex than you can believe
Underrated Classics:
Voyage to Arcturus ignore the reviews and the bad cover of this edition (or buy a diff edition); this is the ONE book that every true scifi and fantasy fan should read before they die
Stress Pattern, by Neal Barrett, Jr. I can't find this on Amazon, but it is a book you should track down. It is possibly the WORST science fiction book ever written, and that is why you must read it. It's a half-assed attempt at a ripoff of Dune without any of the elegance or vision that Herbert had, about a giant worm that eats people on some distant planet. A random sample: "A few days later when I went to the edge of the grove to ride the Bhano I found him dead. I asked Rhamik what could have happened and he told me that life begins, Andrew, and life ends. Well, so it does."
> i will have to check out Neuromancer as it seems interesting.
the movie, Johnny Mnemonic, is also based off Neuromancer, but it's not super great at presenting the themes the book develops.
Snow Crash has a lot of Gibson/Neuromancer elements, but also includes some interesting concepts about language and religion.
here's Amazon links for both of them. $20 well spent IMO.
https://www.amazon.com/Neuromancer-William-Gibson/dp/0441569595
https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0553380958
Snow Crash
Open-world adventure/mystery game split between dystopian west coast and The Metaverse; player gets to move between the two whenever they want. At least two playable characters; Hiro and Y.T., or a new RPG player-character.
Tons of minigames including pizza-delivery, information brokering, skateboard couriering, racing (IRL and Metaverse). Main story could be a sequel to the novel.
Virtual Reality. Swords. Guns. Cars. Skateboards. Italian Mafia. Hackers. Cults. Drugs. Sumerian Myths. Nuclear Powered Robot Dogs. Why aren't you excited yet?
[1] [Neil Stephenson] (http://www.amazon.com/Neal-Stephenson/e/B000APS8L8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1342151712&sr=8-1) also delves into Cyberpunk. [2] Snow Crash is probably one of my favorite books.
Sure!
Cryptonomicon
Snow Crash
The Electric Church
Neuromancer
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
That should get you started. :)
Snow Crash, William Gibson started it, Neal Stephenson polished it and some argue finished it.
From Snowcrash
> Gargoyles represent the embarrassing side of the Central Intelligence Corporation. Instead of using laptops, they wear their computers on their bodies, broken up into separate modules that hang on the waist, on the back, on the headset. They serve as human surveillance devices, recording everything that happens around them. Nothing looks stupider; these getups are the modern-day equivalent of the slide-rule scabbard or the calculator pouch on the belt, marking the user as belonging to a class that is at once above and far below human society. They are a boon to Hiro because they embody the worst stereotype of the CIC stringer. They draw all the attention. The payoff for this self-imposed ostracism is that you can be in the Metaverse all the time, and gather intelligence all the time.
Snow Crash
Snow Crash
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Bantam-Spectra-Book/dp/0553380958
I'm assuming that you're looking for stories set in a recognisable, modern or near-future setting, in that case:
Well, my favorites are
The Moviegoer
The Road
A Confederacy of Dunces
Rendezvous with Rama
Watchmen
Snow Crash
Slaughterhouse-Five
Cat's Cradle
The Big Sleep
The Maltese Falcon
American Gods
A Clockwork Orange
Preacher
Fahrenheit 451
1984
Akira
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Lolita
Love in the Time of Cholera
Naked Lunch
Animal Farm
The Sandman
At the Mountains of Madness
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Brave New World
We
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Sounds like you might enjoy Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. I think Snow Crash is meant to be in the same universe - it's hilarious but not as dense. You might also like his Cryptonomicon, though it's not technically Sci Fi.
Tad Willams' Otherland Series is Epic Sci Fi with a huge amount of detail. Might be right up your alley.
Dune, Neuromancer and The Enderverse if you haven't already read those.
Insert SnowCrash joke here.
The Ender sequels (Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind) and The Mote in God's Eye all have a lot of soft science. This is probably true for a lot of stories involving first contact.
Edit - Snow Crash deals a lot with linguistics as well.
Here are some quick recommendations from my list of favorites for those who are interested (I hope mods are OK with links to make looking easier, otherwise I'll happily remove them). These books engaged and inspired me and my imagination:
The Alchemist:
>The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho continues to change the lives of its readers forever. With more than two million copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has established itself as a modern classic, universally admired.
>Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found.
The Three Body Problem is a Chinese Science Fiction novel that has recently become popular in the West thanks to a good translation (I recommend reading my synopsis and not the Amazon one, to avoid spoilers):
>Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project looks for signals in space from alien civilizations. Meanwhile, in the present day, a physicist joins a grizzled detective to investigate why famous scientists are all committing suicide.
Fahrenheit 451:
>Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.
The Art of Happiness (by the Dalai Lama):
>Nearly every time you see him, he's laughing, or at least smiling. And he makes everyone else around him feel like smiling. He's the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, a Nobel Prize winner, and a hugely sought-after speaker and statesman. Why is he so popular? Even after spending only a few minutes in his presence you can't help feeling happier.
Snow Crash:
>Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that’s striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse.
There's not nearly as many characters as Game of Thrones or Tolkien, so it's not that hard to follow the story line. But as TGSICaptain notes, it requires some extra 'commitment'. It's not a series you're going to read through quickly.
Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is shorter and is lots of fun. The story is absolutely hilarious at times.
A book. I liked it.
I think the best way is to suggest a few that got me into reading. One or two are YA, but well-written enough that I find it as worthwhile a read at 28 as it did at 14.
Ender's Game - Earth Has made contact with an alien species, and... It didn't go well. A program is started to teach a new generation of soldiers how to fight this alien threat. Children are not allowed to be children for long when the future of mankind is on the line. Also, it's being adapted into what is shaping up to be a pretty badass movie.
Snow Crash - Written in the 90's, but it essentially pioneered the concept of the online avatar, and predicted the rise of the MMO. Also, pizza-delivering ninjas. Trust me on this. It's good stuff.
Neuromancer Classic cyber-punk. Most sci-fi is like you see in star trek. Clean and sterile. Cyberpunk is the dirtier side of sci-fi. Organized crime, computer hacking, and a heist on a space station. And Molly. This book is the reason I have a thing for dangerous redheads.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Considered by most to be the very best in sci-fi humor. Lighthearted, hilarious, and I find I can read it in the course of about two days. It is absolutely, completely, and utterly amazing.
American Gods - What happens to the old gods when we start worshiping the new ones? Can the likes of Odin or Anubis compete with our new objects of worship. like television or internet? Remember, Gods only exist as long as folks believe in them. The old Gods aren't going down without a fight, though...
Hope some of these strike your fancy. It's admittedly more sci-fi than anything, but it's all soft sci-fi (Where the science isn't as important as the fiction, so story comes first), and nothing too out there. Please let me know if you decide to try any of these, and especially let me know if you enjoy them. I always like to hear if I help someone find a book they love.
As opposed to this snow crash?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0553380958/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1451837824&sr=1-1&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&keywords=stephenson+snow+crash
Yes, we agree, I was satirizing the OP with his "I should take a screenshot"
Someone else is downvoting us.
Snow Crash is a cyberpunk adventure book. It's been a long time since I've read it, but the plot contains (hinges upon, maybe) the idea that an ancient language took the form of forcible memes, words which forced people to act, and then pass the words along. Or something. It's good, regardless.
That's the only book of his I have read.
You can look at basically anything by Gibson if you want the same general setting.
And of course Snow Crash and The Diamond Age are heavily inspired by KWC's culture but the locations are very different.
I'm gonna stretch the rules and include some comics on this list:
Here you go.
I really liked Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson...
I started to read more when I was trying to unplug. TV/Netflix/phones can really pull you out of reality, make your brain weak as you begin to lose control of your thoughts. Just try not watching TV/youtube for 3 days...why is it so hard? Are we addicted to screens or are we just lazy. Research neuroplasticity, and how you can make your brain work for you (any how you fall into additive traps when you lose control of your attention). A lot of people on here are recommending meditation, I can't stress how important this is.
Start by reading someting that interests you...check out r/suggestmeabook if you need some help. Also, I can recommend some great books:
Best of luck.
Since searching wikipedia turned up the Timeline of Non-Sexual Social Nudity(TIL) I'm just going to guess you're you're looking for a more techie true to life rendition of the hacker archetype based on the amazon synopsis.
Based on that I'd recommend:
Cryptonomicon
just.go.read.it.right.now.
It may take a little effort to get into, damn thing is a tomb, but give it a chance. You will not be disappoint.
--------------
Stealing the Network Series
How to Own a Box
How to Own a Continent
How to Own an Identity
How to Own a Shadow
comments
These are told in a chapter/viewpoint style, each chapter is usually written by a different knowledgeable, and sometimes security famous, security dude. Out of those I've only read How to Own an Identity so far, but it was pretty good and and my guess is that the rest hold up to that standard, so dive in. They are a series from what I understand so reading them in order is probably a good idea, but not completely necessary.
_____
And then for flair (these are more scifi/cyberpunk-ish; so if that's not your thing avoid):
Snowcrash
comments
The main character's name is Hiro Protagonist. No seriously. He's a ninja, he's a hacker, he lives in a U-Store-it container, and he delivers pizza for the Mob in a post-collapse USA, can you really not read this book now?
--------------
The Diamond Age
comments
All about the practical social implications of nanotechnolgy told through the eyes of a young girl, her father, and an assortment of disposable associates.
--------------
The Sprawl Trilogy
Neuromancer
Count Zero
Mona Lisa Overdrive
comments
I've only read Neuromancer and Mona Lisa Overdrive, which were both great, so I'm guessing Count Zero is probably good too.
Similar to Snowcrash in the lone gun hacker sense, except with more drugs a little bit more of a scattered tone.
And if all else fails there's always the DEF CON reading list.
ninja edits because I suck at markdown
Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash
Believe it or not there are quite a few good sci-fi books exploring these ideas already. Here is an incomplete list you may want to check out:
For sheer 'play in the virtual world' stuff, you MUST read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. You'll blaze through that, so follow it up with Stephenson's The Diamond Age
Good YA dystopic future stuff:
The Windup Girl
Station Eleven
Finally, get into Neuromancer, by William Gibson. It's a fantastic--some would say genre-defining--cyberpunk novel.
Then go devour everything Stephenson and Gibson put out there. That should get you through at least the first half of the summer. Happy reading!
For fiction, you MUST read Daemon and Freedom(TM)
I also enjoyed Snowcrash and Cryptonomicon, though in my opinion the latter was a little bit of a difficult read. Worth it though.
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis (okay, okay, that's 11 books total. But worth every penny)
Or for text book, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Edits: fixed link.
Yes, Diamond Age is such a great spiritual successor to Snow Crash. Where Snow Crash has that frantic pace and hyper compressed events, Diamond Age takes its time and describes every molecule of the beauty in the book's events. These two works are such great testaments to Stephenson's skill because it's obvious he worked really hard to make them describe similar themes, but also compliment each other.
Have you seen the new covers? I like them, they do a good job of presenting them as companion pieces.
Snow Crash
Diamond Age
Can't blame facebook for trying to make the first go at a Metaverse or Oasis. There is like a 90% chance they either ruin the company or drive it straight into irrelevance, but I might be okay with the risk to reward ratio. Especially since other companies are coming out with VR stuff to compete (hopefully).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0553380958?pc_redir=1404734999&robot_redir=1
Snow crash
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0441569595/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1404785560&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40
Neuromancer
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0307887448/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1404785598&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40
Ready Player One
It'll be easier if I just link you to the collection of message board posts, that have been formatted for easier reading;
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Bantam-Spectra-Book/dp/0553380958
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Bantam-Spectra-Book/dp/0553380958
It is good but I almost got annoyed by the amount of nostalgia/references it makes. I kind of wonder how much I would have liked it had it not thrown around all the references. It was entertaining though. I think I liked Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson better to be honest (except the ending).
Bonus for some: I got the audio book from audible read by Wil Wheaton...so if you're a nerd that might be your cup of tea.
Snow Crash
Alternatively
I reference the character Raven in Snow Crash. He carries with him a nuke set to go off should he die. It's in the best interests of those around him to keep him alive.
As long as the US gov't is more fearful of the contents of that insurance file, they'll do everything they can to keep the nuke from going off. It's pretty safe to assume that Assange's "nuke" will go off if he fails to check-in to something periodically. The US is best letting him check-in.
Snow Crash
I'm halfway through Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I really like it so far! It's set in a not-too-distant future wherein people live both in reality and virtual reality, and everything belongs to or is a corporation, including the US. Hiro Protagonist ["'Stupid name.' 'But you'll never forget it.'"] is a freelance hacker attempting to get to the bottom of a dangerous drug/virus called Snow Crash, which is transmitted virtually but unusually has near-fatal effects in real life. Obviously there's a lot more to the story, but I like it for its unique premise. Stephenson makes some really intriguing intellectual connections, and I love his dry sense of humor. Check out the Amazon reviews, but watch out for spoilers, even in the editorial reviews (seriously though? So unprofessional).
> Would you say that a virus is a type of machine?
Yes, I would, though whether it's a living machine (or an agentive one) is much more controversial. This is addressed extensively in the Moreno & Mossio pieces I linked you to before, and I know that Estrada has a paper coming out about it soon as well (I recently reviewed the submission). You may also be interested in looking into Tibor Ganti's concept of the chemoton, the theoretically simplest cell, and its associated literature.
>Would you classify a language as a machine?
I don't think 'machine' is exactly the right word. I think language is a kind of "social technology," intended to scaffold our innate cognitive processes and extend our ability to do information processing, somewhat like how Lev Vygotsky thought of education's role during the zone of proximal development in childhood learning. Language works by piggybacking on our innate (i.e. biological) abilities to reason and work with abstract concepts, allowing us to transform significantly more complicated tasks into the kinds of semantic manipulation tasks we're good at. Andy Clark has a great piece called "Magic Words" that elaborates on this thesis.
>As in, a kind of mind virus that infects homo sapiens, a kind of terminal mental illness?
This sounds a lot like Richard Dawkins' meme theory. Dawkins postulated memes as the mental or cognitive analogue of genes: small units of self-replicating information, responsive to selective pressure, and able to spread from organism to organism. There have been a lot of criticisms of the analogy since Dawkins came up with it in the 70s, and most people don't take it terribly seriously as anything but a metaphor these days. I'm not sure it's quite right to see language as something like this in any case; natural languages are far too complex to be thought of as memes themselves, though they may contain memes, and certain languages may make the spreading of certain memes easier. I certainly don't see any reason to think that language is something like a "terminal mental illness." That is, it seems to me that language is, if anything, a monumentally helpful adaptation: the sort of thing that's let humans be as successful as we have been. This whole line of discussion reminds me a lot of Neal Stephenson's fantastic 1992 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, in which the plot revolves almost entirely around the idea of a "mind virus" spread through the linguistic manipulation of certain deep pathways in the brain. If you haven't read it, I suggest you do so immediately--it's a really great book, and it touches on a lot of the points that seem to interest you.
As to your point on education, well, I agree in some respects. I'm highly critical of a lot of what goes on in contemporary education, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that I'm an educator myself. Your critical view isn't as radical as you might think. I get the sense that you're rather young (that's not a criticism!). If you can get your hands on it, I suspect you'd enjoy Jerry Farber's classic piece of educational anarchist literature from 1970, The Student as Nigger. I enjoyed the hell out of it when I was in high school, and it led me to a lot of interests that I still pursue today.
I'm going to chip in Stephenson's Snow Crash should be on the list, as well as Gibson's Neuromancer.
I really liked An Agorist Primer by Konkin. Quite concise.
Complete Liberty is another good one (it's in the sidebar --> ).
I also enjoy the graphic novel Escape From Terra.
One of my favorite books is Snow Crash. It's not really a good book for advocating anarcho-capitalism, but the system in the book is essentially ancap, and it's just a fucking awesome book.
My other favorites have already been mentioned.
Edit: Ah! I forgot No Treason! Spooner dominates the constitution.
Every single one of these books has something different to offer you from the genre of scifi. Those three at the top are great entries into the genre. As what I perceive to be "deeper cuts", allow me to suggest my four favorite scifi novels:
Cheers!
Also, that mashup was fantastic. Thanks for sharing that! And thanks for the contest!! Disney is the best. :D
Click "first pages" on the left and enjoy.
I haven't read that myself, but based on the description and notes elsewhere in the thread I might recommend these:
For those details, read Snowcrash, Hiro Protagonist is the prototype of a professional pizza courier: delivers pizza, saves the world.
Ok, so I've read Grisham, Moore, and Asimov. Straight off the bat, read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I assume you've already read that, but just in case you haven't. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson, has Grisham's pacing, Moore's humor, and Asimov's themes. I think you'd enjoy that as well.
I'm always happy to get any kind of roleplaying book. Would really enjoy this Pathfinder one.
Or, if you're wanting more traditional books, I really need to read Snow Crash.
Snow Crash is a beautiful book, with Neal Stephenson being one of my favorite cyberpunk authors. Anathem is also a great book by him.
I highly, HIGHLY recommend getting the book, as it's only 10.20 + 6 day free shipping from Amazon right now.
Here is a list of some of my favorites so far:
It's roughly what happens in the first chapter of Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Good book, I recommend it :)
In California of the near future, when the U.S. is only a "Burbclave" (city-state), the Mafia is just another franchise chain (CosaNostrastet Pizza, Incorporated) and there are no laws to speak of, Hiro Protagonist follows clues from the Bible, ancient Sumer and high technology to help thwart an attempt to take control of civilization
Have you read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson? It's a SciFi novel but the narrative is heavily based upon the Babel narrative and Sumer language. It'd be a very fun read for someone interested in the topic (obviously the facts are bent a little bit). No question, just think you'd enjoy it!
No, I'd like to pick it up though.
This it?
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Bantam-Spectra-Book/dp/0553380958/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418667641&sr=8-1&keywords=Snow+crash
Snow Crash
I prefer this book... Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash
Snow Crash! Keywords: ninja, cyberpunk, hackers, augmented reality, linguistics, religion, malignant memes, corporate-run America
Also, Petersburg, by Bely. Ulysses + Metamorphosis + House of Leaves?
Pizza Delivery guys are hardcore.
SNOW CRASH SNOW CRASH SNOW CRASH. Freaking loved this book. If you take only 1 book away from my suggestions it's Snow Crash. https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0553380958/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467723357&sr=8-1&keywords=snow+crash
Annnnd here we go again. I'm doing this with all books, just because.
Allegiant
Berenstain Bears
Calvin and Hobbes
Dune
Edgar Allen Poe collection
Fahrenheit 451
Gulliver's Travels
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
If You Give A Mouse A Cookie
Julie of the Wolves
Kite Runner
Little House on the Prairie
Machine of Death
Neverending Story
Omnitopia Dawn (The book I'm reading now, actually!)
Pilgrim's Progress
Quarter Share (Also available free as a podiobook!)
Room
Snow Crash
[Tell-Tale Brain](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_9?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=tell-tale brain&sprefix=tell-tale%2Cstripbooks%2C222&rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3Atell-tale brain&ajr=2)
Uglies
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Watership Down
Xenocide
Year Zero
Zen and the Art of Knitting
For some reason, this whole story reminds me of Snow Crash.
no love for snow crash?
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Bantam-Spectra-Book/dp/0553380958/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314195084&sr=8-1
It's all about the karma!
Karma, It'll get you one day.
$0.01 used Paperback plus $3.99 for shipping!
Snow Crash
I'll add a couple to this list:
Snow Crash - without giving too much away, many parts of it deal with how religions evolve and borrow from older ones, and ultimately equates it to a mental virus. I've never been able to verify how much of what Stephenson wrote is true on his facts, though he does say he cited things appropriately in his book.
Space by James Michener. It's a historical fiction, following many different people from the roots of the space race in WWII up through the space shuttle, throwing in fictional characters into real events to show what it was really like as America emerged out of WWII from many aspects in our culture. One character in particular, Leo Strabismus, is a con-man of sorts, and is used to show the rise in evangelical denominations and the anti-science/we-have-the-answers-already paranoia that began to rise as a result (oddly directly following the huge push and fascination in science and a keen interest as a nation in "what's out there")