I have been consuming a fair number of short stories from the ‘outspoken authors’ series. These are often high brow sci fi with a moral, often pessimistic, bent. They led me to Neuromancer and now, Snow Crash, which famously inspired Zuckerberg’s ugly move to name-switch to Meta.

I enjoy these two books for their prophetic power, and for their 80’s Hollywood foot-to-the peddle pacing. But I’m curious to know what the literary community thinks of them. They read very much like boyish wet dreams at times (probably not unlike my own as a kid). I find myself, a mid 20’s techno-pessimist, at once annoyed and enthralled.

So I guess that’s my question: what is the breadth of their critical reception?