I recently finished Snow Crash, a few months back I had read Diamond Age. I didn't dislike them, but I felt they were overrated. I think part of the problem is that when I read the books so much felt forced, like straight out of Popular Science, just to appeal to that crowd. As well as character stereotypes, from race to sex to general knowledge and personalities. They seemed to be typical cliches I find in all new books and films today. Take whatever the "norm" was thirty years ago and reverse it which can be just as insulting as the original.
What I eventually realized was that I most likely would have loved the books when they first came out in the early to mid-90s, when they were quite original. (And I did go in for patting myself on the back for recognizing tech/science references more
) The books definitely suck you in and keep you wanting to flip the pages. I'm not really sure why his books leave me like that while a book written 40 years ago doesn't suffer the same ravages of time. Perhaps it was the perception I had going into the book?
I'm probably going to give Anathem a try, I think keeping closer to the publication date helps with his works, at least for me.
-MJ