I have been hearing great things about his books and wondered what Texags suggested on the first one I pick up?

I mainly have been looking between Seveneves, Snow Crash, Anathem, Reamde, and Cryptonomicon. But, I am open to any suggestions.

I like lots of sci-fi, dystopia, post-apocalyptic, fantasy, cyber-punk, space opera, etc. type of books.

tia

many will say snow crash.

I say cryptonomicon

Damn it

I have to agree with Seattle. Though reamde was great.

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I have been hearing great things about his books and wondered what Texags suggested on the first one I pick up?

I mainly have been looking between Seveneves, Snow Crash, Anathem, Remade, and Cryptonomicon. But, I am open to any suggestions.

I like lots of sci-fi, dystopia, post-apocalyptic, fantasy, cyber-punk, space opera, etc. type of books.

tia

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The first act of seven eves was awesome, the second act, meh.

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I like lots of sci-fi, dystopia, post-apocalyptic, fantasy, cyber-punk, space opera, etc. type of books.

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This would point toward Snow Crash or Diamond Age, maybe Anathem if you want a healthy dose of philosophy and physics to go along with it.

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The first act of seven eves was awesome, the second act, meh.

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To be fair that can be said of all of his books

Of ones I've read.

Reamde - Really liked, lot of action and moved along well. Read "Ready Player One" about same time and thought compared well against each other.
Snow Crash - if into cyber-punk, believe one of the early ones that got it going. Enjoyed.
Cryptonomicon - gotta admit struggled a bit with this one, first book of his I read. Reminded me of Pychon's "Gravity Rainbow" in some ways. Definitely heavier than Snow Crash and Reamde.
Seveneves - Had it's moments and good concept, but a little disappointing for me

One thing I will say for his books is I remember them years after reading them which I can't say about every book I read.

"in the beginning was the command line" is a fun read for nerds. Not a story though.

The big u was disappointing.
I enjoyed the Baroque cycle..though I have to admit, I still need to finish the last book.

Snow crash was great but I liked Neuromancer better.

Haven't read sevenes

Cryptonomicon was the first book of his that I read. Loved it. Then it just ended.

Diamond age was fun

my personal favorite is anathem

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my personal favorite is anathem

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Can you say why? Is on my "To Read" list. No spoilers of course.

Snow Crash or Anathem is probably the best entry point...though be prepared for heavy disorientation during the first 100 pages or so of Anathem.

I personally didn't like Reamde but likely in the minority on that - thougt it is not as dense as some of his other books so could be a good introduction into his style.

Cryptonomicon (and the related Baroque Cycle) is a masterpiece in every sense of the word - definitely read these at some point (start with Cryptonomicon) but make sure you have some time set aside. They're a load.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! Snow Crash definitely seems like a good one to start with primarily due to it being about half the size as the other books.

Have any of his books been adapted to film or have plans to be adapted?

Thanks OP for starting this thread. I've often wondered the same thing.

Based on recommendations I was close to starting Snow Crash, but after reading the first few pages on the Look Inside in Amazon I was really put off - the concept of a badass pizza delivery ninja sounded kinda... stupid? I'm open to silly stuff, but does it get more serious?

Keep in mind that when the book was written people were literally dieing as drivers tried to make sure a pizza was delivered in 30mins or less.

Necromancer might be more in line with what you are looking for.

Snow Crash is the best starting point. And yes it gets more serious, though it's still a somewhat light cyberpunk novel.

Won't be as fun a read as it was in the early-90s when a lot of the stuff talked about seemed so far off -- but still a blast.

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Keep in mind that when the book was written people were literally dieing as drivers tried to make sure a pizza was delivered in 30mins or less.

Necromancer might be more in line with what you are looking for.

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Read that and enjoyed it. I'm sure one day I'll pick it up

Clavell - I like Anathem because it is a very unique book, with very unique language. It takes a while to get into the flow, similar to Clockwork Orange's unique wordplay and language. It was a good story and a lot of fun figuring things out as they developed. Seveneves and Reamde are also good, but I like unique stories so Anathem is still my favorite.

No love for The Diamond Age? That and Snow Crash have inspired a lot of things. I'm pretty sure the founders of Google are big fans.

I have to reread Cryptonomicom again, it has been a while.

I definitely want to read Seveneves.

The Baroque Cycle was an impressive piece of work.

Just started Anathem the other day. Very interesting concept.

Just finished Anathem. Awesome. Will think about that one for a long time.

Just started Anathem. First 50 pages were tedious to get through, hoping picks up from here.

Seveneves was fascinating!

kayakag said:

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Seveneves was fascinating!

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I just cannot read it.

The problem is with me, I just am not in the mood to try to get through a NS book at this time.

Has sat on the shelf for months.

It will. It takes a while to understand the world he is depositing you in.

Ol_Ag_02 said:

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I have been hearing great things about his books and wondered what Texags suggested on the first one I pick up?

I mainly have been looking between Seveneves, Snow Crash, Anathem, Remade, and Cryptonomicon. But, I am open to any suggestions.

I like lots of sci-fi, dystopia, post-apocalyptic, fantasy, cyber-punk, space opera, etc. type of books.

tia

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The first act of seven eves was awesome, the second act, meh.

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The second half of the first act was awesome, the second act was meh. The first half of the first act was nothing but people talking to each other or thinking to themselves. Made it hard to pay attention to the audiobook.

SheriffBarclay said:

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Just finished snow crash. Enjoyed it as a light read, but a lot of the linguistics history and tie in went over my head. I liked the dystopian world he created, and I liked that he didn't hold your hand through it, I felt like you had to infer a lot of the framework.

Not sure I'm ready to tackle Cryptonomicon.. Is it so abstract as to be indecipherable?

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Not at all. It has two main plotlines, one taking place during WW2 and another approximately current day, and both provide enough background to follow what's happening.

Finally got around to starting the system of the world. ...Damn I forgot who most of these people are