Who's read Snow Crash?

I recently finished Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, which probably helped inspire Second Life. Since there's references to this book both in-world and on-forum, I'm curious as to who's read it.

If you have read it, feel free to explain how much you liked it (or hated it).
Links to older threads are fine with me.

Personally, I liked it. I normally don't like SciFi all that much, but I have some personal biases- I liked the Second Life-ish world in the book (was fun to compare the two), I'm a mythology buff , and I live in Los Angeles, where much of it takes place. I suppose one could argue that it's a bit dated, but then again, so is the Twilight Zone show, but it's still enjoyable.

I've read it, but it's been awhile.

I've been thinking about re-reading it. I may see if I can scrounge a copy at the library tomorrow.

-- jj

I've read it. It isn't the best book ever and the ending was really anti-climactic for me, but the ideas in it are fun in the same way that watching Back to the Future II is fun. I also live in Los Angeles so perhaps some of the enjoyment comes from knowing where things are.

The ideas in it are good and it's not a rip-off of William Gibson like I was expecting (because it falls into the cyberpunk genre). The most interesting parts of the book for me had nothing to do with the grid (or whatever it was called, I forgot), although those ideas were very solid. In fact, I'm sure many of could see the "Gargoyles" walking around jacked in all the time and many of us would probably be one. Most likely candidate would be Torley
The most interesting part of the book for me was the tie together between Sumerian mythology, the legend of Babel, and future computer viruses. Wow. That was excellent. That aspect of the story had me wondering where all the hardcore dub-listening techno Rastas were, but I guess they were still floating in space in Neuromancer.

The part where it was like a lot Gibson's books for me was in the way that the ideas were so cool but the storytelling was a little clumsy. The end felt a little bit too deus ex machina for me and it was a big anticlimax because the Hero, whose name is Hiro(aki) Protagonist doesn't fulfill the hero's quest. WTF? Instead, it's a minor character. Yeah. B!u3 b@ll3d. As a storyteller I'd give Stephenson a C+, but the ideas are good enough to warrant reading it-- Especially if you play SL or are interested in language.

So if you haven't read it, READ IT.

And then go read Hyperion by Dan Simmons for mixed-genre Sci Fi that is actually well-crafted too.