Stephenson, Neal

• Cryptonomicon (1999)

  [8/10]

  "An excellent character-based novel, with fun technology thrown in. Far better and more satisfying than Snow Crash."

• In the Beginning . . . Was the Command Line (1999)

  [5/10]

  "An interesting personal essay that documents Stephenson's personal choice for his computer operating system, explaining his progression from raw command line, to Macintosh, to Linux, and finally to BeOS."

• Quicksilver (2003)

  [6/10]

  "I think much of the story line gets bogged down with the interesting things Stephenson found in his research. These elements might have a bearing in the second or third volumes, but distracted from the immediate enjoyment of the novel."

• Snow Crash (1992)

  [7/10]

  "Stephenson smoothly conflates religion, linguistics, and programming into his storyline. Obviously, he did a lot of research for Snow Crash and much of that research appears in large blocks of exposition. I found the information interesting, but readers who like steady action will probably dislike the information dumps."

  Average score: 6.50