By Neal Stephenson

In the 21st-century world of Snow Crash, Los Angeles has seceded from the United States, and emphasis on individual sovereignty has created anarchic capitalism. People hustle to make a living in the real world and the collective virtual space called the metaverse.

Hiro Protagonist is a hacker and pizza delivery driver for the mob who, along with his skateboarding courier pal Yours Truly, sells intel to the post-apocalyptic equivalent of the CIA. When Hiro's friend Da5id suffers real-life brain damage after viewing a computer file called ‘Snow Crash’ in the metaverse, Hiro and Yours Truly team up to save the virtual and real world from the mysterious virus.

An influential, landmark novel that changed not only the cyberpunk genre but the Internet itself (among other things, Snow Crash helped popularize the use of the word ‘avatar’ in reference to online alter egos), Snow Crash is an unnerving, thrilling ride.

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