CyberPunk as a genre has been shaped heartily by Snow Crash. This kooky romp includes pizza mobsters, an analysis of viruses in linguistics and computers, the introduction of virtual and augmented reality, and capitalism to the nth degree. If any of these concepts remotely interest you, I'd say you're about to have a lot of fun with this. What a pulpy adventure for Neal to have written in the infancy of the internet!

With real history peppered throughout Snow Crash's vibrant, neon-lit landscape, most of Stephenson's writing decisions were way ahead of his time. It's a shame that some decisions didn't age well when others were so timeless in the future of Los Angeles' dystopia. It isn't lost on me that Y.T. is 15. Yikesarooni.