As I’ve mentioned elsewhere today, I still don’t know why the world of Snow Crash hadn’t been taken over by people with locally-sustainable military technology and a taste for conquest. It’s still a great book, though – and subversive in a way that’s different from the usual, trite shibboleths. (The sort-of sequel The Diamond Age is even more so.) Neal Stephenson’s a great writer.
Heh. I recommended this one to my youngest kid just last week.
One issue Neil Stephenson had was ending. Cryptonomicon sort of just ended.