I loved Snow Crash (and Zodiac and some of his earlier stuff), but to me, he really hit his stride when he went to the long-format books. I think Anathem was the first of them, and I've read it several times, too. Diamond Age really never grabbed me, even tho it's the one everyone talks about. REAMDE is basically a running firefight for 800 pages, and is incredibly well done (and has a fair bit less of a sci-fi element to it, if that helps).
I couldn’t get fifty pages into Anathem. I can’t remember a word and it hadn’t crossed my mind since, until I read your mention.
His quote from Diamond Age about education versus intelligence is probably my favorite ever, I cherish it, but nothing since DA has held my interest.
I loved Snow Crash (and Zodiac and some of his earlier stuff), but to me, he really hit his stride when he went to the long-format books. I think Anathem was the first of them, and I've read it several times, too. Diamond Age really never grabbed me, even tho it's the one everyone talks about. REAMDE is basically a running firefight for 800 pages, and is incredibly well done (and has a fair bit less of a sci-fi element to it, if that helps).
I also have Atmosphaera Incognita, which isn't quite... anything but a collector's item.