 US paperback cover | |
| Author | Neal Stephenson |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Jean-François Podevin |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction, cyberpunk, Postcyberpunk[1] |
| Publisher | Bantam Books (US) |
Publication date | June 1992 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 480 |
| ISBN | 0-553-08853-X (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 25026617 |
| 813/.54 20 | |
| LC Class | PS3569.T3868 S65 1992 |
Snow Crash is a science fiction novel by the American writer Neal Stephenson, published in 1992. Like many of Stephenson's novels, its themes include history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryptography, memetics, and philosophy.[2]
In his 1999 essay "In the Beginning... Was the Command Line", Stephenson explained the title of the novel as his term for a particular software failure mode on the early Macintosh computer. Stephenson wrote about the Macintosh "When the computer crashed and wrote gibberish into the bitmap, the result was something that looked vaguely like static on a broken television set—a 'snow crash'".[3] Stephenson has also mentioned that Julian Jaynes' book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind was one of the main influences on Snow Crash.[4]
Snow Crash was nominated for both the British Science Fiction Award in 1993 and the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1994.[5][6]
- ^ "You Need To Watch Dynamo Dream". 28 May 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2024. [better source needed]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
penguinwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Stephenson, Neal (2003). In the beginning ...was the command line. Perennial. ISBN 978-0-380-81593-7.
- ^ Mustich, James (2008-10-13). "Interviews – Neal Stephenson: Anathem – A Conversation with James Mustich, Editor-in-Chief of the Barnes & Noble Review". barnesandnoble.com. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
I'd had a similar reaction to yours when I'd first read The Origin of Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, and that, combined with the desire to use IT, were two elements from which Snow Crash grew.
- ^ "1993 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
- ^ "1994 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-10-24.