Re:I have the great forturne ... (Score 1)

I've read his other books, and I loved the Baroque Cycle. I actually started "late" with Cryptonomicon, then read Snow Crash (and re-read it a couple of times, and listened to the audio version in a car trip) followed by everything but "The Big U", which isn't exactly ubiquitous.

In the other comments, I notice a certain self-identification that I don't think I have. I think the issue is that I'm more of a "literary geek" than a "technical geek". I enjoy the worlds Stephenson builds, I enjoy his sense of play, I enjoy his imagination and his characterizations, and, apparently in contrast to most Slashdot readers, I love all the endings of his books.