Every computer geek should read this book. Published in 1992, Snow Crash is science fiction at its best with an actual impact on the internet to its credit: this book popularized the term “avatar”.
The depth in Snow Crash’s plot is incredible: Sumerian language is the firmware programming language for the BIOS of the brain. This makes the brain susceptible to linguistic viruses. To make the brain immune to such viruses, Enki (a God in Sumerian mythology) creates a counter-virus that makes humanity speak in different languages. Linguistic viruses make a come-back in a form that only affects computer programmers. The internet has evolved into the metaverse, a 3D extension of the internet, that is prevalent and popular.
While the above paragraph looks a bit complicated and geeky, the way the book presents the plot and moves forward is excellent. There is lots of action revolving around bikes, internet and sword fights.
An excellent review of Snow Crash is available at Russ Allbery’s website.
