Headcrash

Rating:
Summary: A funnier, less complex version of "Snow Crash"
Review: "Headcrash" started out slowly for the first chapter, which was devoted to establishing the nerdy thought processes of the narrator. After that, it kicks into high gear and never lets up.

Set in 2005, the plot is kind of a funny version of Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" (without the Sumerian mythology) crossed with Jay McInerney's "Bright Lights, Big City," with some doses of William Gibson's "Neuromancer." The narrator works as a tech-nerd at a huge corporate conglomerate, with a horrible boss, gets fired, and is approached to cause some havoc at his former employer's information database.

Much of the novel is set in a virtually real Internet -- and for once, an author writing about virtual reality does NOT resort to the "if you die in here, you die in reality" trick.

Bethke pays homage along the way to an impressive collection of pop culture: "The Godfather," "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," "Sesame Street," "Brave New World," and "Doom" and other first person shooter games among others. He takes aim at political correctness (there's a law against Ethnic Humor).

Rating:
Summary: Stuff so lame should be pilloried, not rewarded
Review: Bruce Bethke managed to write a mostly unfunny novelization of three or four Dilbert strips. The book was relevant for some two weeks, I guess, and they were gone before the hardcover edition saw the light of day (perhaps the reviewers at the publishing house read the manuscript at that time?). The protagonist is an unmitigated, weapons-grade J.E.R.K. with the declared IQ of two million and the tested one around minus ten. Other characters rustle when moving around - they're paper, not even cardboard. The "reality" of 2005 is more like June 3, 1994, with snazzy car names. All in all, forget you saw this book. Buy something else, a Coke, a burger, anything would be healthier - even a pack of untipped Gauloises. The environmental impact would be smaller, too.

Rating:
Summary: HeadCrash - Funny, but a rubbish end
Review: From all the other rewiews you can see what the book is about, some applaud it others do it down.
The Humour of this book is rather good, its got a type of humour i can relate to easily
The cyberpunk view of how the nets gonna b like in the furutre with VR using datagloves, socks etc to feel and move in VR not excluding the haply named ProctoPod (which u don't wanna where that goes)
MAX_COOL AKA Jack Burroughs looses his job, but gets offered something in VR he cannot refuse, a hacking job that could get him £1mill in real life if he succeeds.
The storyline has twists n turns and you c ppl from Jacks (PYLE) VR past and who they are in real life.
However my gripe is with the end of the book, everything goes out of the window and the courtroom chapters simply are confusing beyond belief and i feel rushed when they were being put down into words.
However for some good laffs and a insight into how the net could turn out i recommend this book, as long as you don't wanna read it till the end, shut it at one of the end chapters and make ur own one up i think.

Rating:
Summary: OK if you enjoy the level of humor
Review: HeadCrash by Bruce Bethke is a cyber-satire with a great mix of action, plot and humor. Jack Burroughs, the protagonist, is a computer nerd who works for an exceptionally large corporation by day, and by night on the Internet as the too-cool Max_Kool. But, when Jack is fired, he takes up a job as a free-lance cyber-mercenary. The action and hilarity ensues from there including hand-to-hand combat with seven-foot virtual Vikings, Nazis, and cross-dressing mob girls.

Bethke's writing style is so entertaining and fluid that you don't ever want to put down the book. This book is like a cyberpunk version of the movie OfficeSpace, but unlike most other cyberpunk books, HeadCrash does not take itself seriously in the least. This comes as a refreshing change to anyone who has read many cyberpunk novels, but despite that, I would recommend this book to anyone (with the exception to young children, if you get my drift).

Rating:
Summary: If you're even slightly interested, READ THIS BOOK!
Review: HeadCrash by Bruce Bethke is a cyber-satire with a great mix of action, plot and humor. Jack Burroughs, the protagonist, is a computer nerd who works for an exceptionally large corporation by day, and by night on the Internet as the too-cool Max_Kool. But, when Jack is fired, he takes up a job as a free-lance cyber-mercenary. The action and hilarity ensues from there including hand-to-hand combat with seven-foot virtual Vikings, Nazis, and cross-dressing mob girls.

Bethke's writing style is so entertaining and fluid that you don't ever want to put down the book. This book is like a cyberpunk version of the movie OfficeSpace, but unlike most other cyberpunk books, HeadCrash does not take itself seriously in the least. This comes as a refreshing change to anyone who has read many cyberpunk novels, but despite that, I would recommend this book to anyone (with the exception to young children, if you get my drift).

Rating:
Summary: A parody is not an improvement
Review: I enjoyed Snowcrashed as a parody of Snow Crash and cyberpunk books. I do not share other reviewer's opinion that it is better than those other books. In fact, Headcrashed will only make sense if you have read those other books.

Rating:
Summary: Headcrash
Review: If you like sarcastic comedy then Headcrash is the book for you. I must say at times the comedy got a little annoying, but it kept me chuckling. Bethke did a great job of keeping his audience entertained. I thought the book was very interesting, and one of the best cyberpunk books I have ever read. Headcrash was one of the more believable futuristic novels if you don't count the talking bears, and dolls at the end. Headcrash can be compared to Snowcrash only in Snowcrash the characters could die in virtual reality, and in Headcrash virtual reality is what it was meant to be, a place to escape with out really getting hurt, or was it?

The protagonist in Headcrash, Jack, a.k.a Pyle, alias MAX_KOOL, was fired from his job, and was hired in virtual reality to steal files for another virtual user, Amber. The plot takes an exciting twist when Eliza, the assumed "bad" guy suddenly isn't so horrible. Through out the whole book you are left wondering "who are these virtual characters in real reality?" If you want to know, you have to read the whole book to find out. I must say the ending was very surprising, and kept me hoping there would be a sequel coming soon.

On a scale of 1 to 5 stars, one being the lowest, five being the highest I would give Headcrash 4 stars. I didn't give this book the full five stars because some parts of the book I found to be a little predictable and some parts were a little idiotic, but over all it was very entertaining, and you didn't have to sit down with a dictionary to get through the book. It was written in a very clear manner, as was Bethkes short story Cyberpunk.

Unlike many other cyberpunk books that jump from scene to scene, and have too many characters to keep track of, such as Slant, Headcrash flowed nicely, and the characters were well developed, and clearly separable.

Rating:
Summary: HeadCrash Won Me With Humor
Review: In a massive sea of cyberpunk books that take themselves way too seriously, HeadCrash is a shining example of how humor can turn an ordinary novel into a piece of literature that everyone should read. Bruce Bethke has created a book that is truly engaging for the reader.

One way he accomplished this is through an interesting plot line with numerous twists that kept me constantly on guard. HeadCrash follows the story of :cybergeek" Jack Burroughs; a.k.a. Pyle; a.k.a. MAX_KOOL. The story starts with Jack going through a management shake up at MDE, Monolithic Diversified Enterprises. Later on, after Jack suddenly finds himself in a sticky situation, the reader watches as Jack uses his cyberspace alter ego, MAX_KOOL, and an embarrassing way to interface with the internet, to do a hack job for a mysterious woman known only as Amber. Saying anymore about the plot would lessen the amazing experience that any reader would have reading this book. The engaging plot and Bethke's outrageously funny style of writing made reading this book a truly positive experience.

Rating:
Summary: Philip K. Dick is rolling over in his grave
Review: Neal Stephenson meets Alfred Bester and the result is quite wonderful. I read at least half of it out loud to my <long suffering> girlfriend. A *great* summer read.