Het Babelvirus

Snow Crash is, as they call it, cyberpunk. I'm not very well-versed in that genre, but when people say that this book is a parody and response to the genre as it developed in the '80s, I believe it. Everything is extreme—the society, the action scenes, the combination of low and high tech, and the characters.

This book is recommended as an introduction to Stephenson's work, and I understand why. For me, this is already the fourth Stephenson book. And I feel like that influences my judgment.

The plot revolves around a virus that affects both the real world and the virtual reality. Stephenson creates a virtual world in his book, which he calls The Metaverse. Does this sound familiar? Only it was the early '90s when Stephenson wrote this book.

Through a wild story, Stephenson explores virtual and augmented reality concepts and the importance of information and knowledge in the digital age. The central idea of a virus that can infect both the virtual and real worlds serves as a framework for philosophizing about the nature of our consciousness, the influence of language, and whether our brains are programmable or not. At the same time, he describes the influence of large corporations on society and the fall of the government.

If I had read this book in the mid-‘90s, it would probably have blown me away. But, despite finding it a very good book, it doesn't do that now. Ironically, his later books have already covered this ground. Of course, Stephenson can't be blamed for this; he wrote this book in the early '90s, and I recognize his foresight and brilliance.

I currently rate the book at 4/4.5 stars.

A note on the translation: Because this is one of the few books by Stephenson that has been translated into Dutch, I decided to read the translation instead of the original. Something I usually find annoying is the translation of names, but in this case, I must say that the translation of the name Hiro Protagonist to Hiro Hoofdpersoon is very well done. It roughly means the same, and it also alliterates better.