I've often used the brontosaurus/apatosaurus story to explain how often popular ideas lag behind scientific discoveries. Literally over 100 years after it was discovered that the apatosaurus was what we had been calling the brontosaurus, there are books, movies, t-shirts, cups, and all sorts of things *at science museums* which continue the false naming convention. This is why science needs "activists" to continue to represent to the public their most recent discoveries.

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.