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Zodiac by Neal Stephenson
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Zodiac (1988)

by Neal Stephenson

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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3,061271,688 (3.63)34
activism (16) Boston (45) cyberpunk (49) ebook (17) eco-thriller (20) ecology (53) ecoterrorism (12) environment (55) environmental (10) environmentalism (48) fantasy (13) fiction (363) humor (16) mystery (14) Neal Stephenson (16) novel (45) own (21) owned (9) paperback (20) politics (12) pollution (16) read (56) science fiction (346) sf (93) sff (34) speculative fiction (13) Stephenson (10) thriller (67) to-read (10) unread (20)
  1. 00
    The River Why by David James Duncan (Benbreep)
    Benbreep: Both have environmental themes. Duncan is an even better writer than Stephenson (who is one of my favorite authors). The River Why is not a thriller, but like Stephenson, includes a lot a paragraphs that you want to read over again and appreciate for its craftsmanship. Great to read out loud with a spouse. My favorite novel.… (more)
  2. 11
    The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (CKmtl)
    CKmtl: Fans of one of these works of Ecological SF may enjoy the other.
  3. 00
    The Voice of the Butterfly by John Nichols (ShelfMonkey)
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English (26)  French (1)  All languages (27)
Showing 1-5 of 26 (next | show all)
This was read for ENG 360A Class taken in 2007.

Readings Environmental Novel English Class.

It was not required but I did some extra reading. ( )
  marysneedle | Mar 29, 2013 |
A fun read that takes you into a "what if" scenario in the present where corporations are dumping toxic waste in the waters off Boston.

Like "The Big U" it's set in an a plausible present day environment but while it's not as over-the-top as "The Big U" is, it's just as far out there with crazy but believable characters. The story reads well & the plot develops briskly as the situations get more intense, much as "Snow Crash" does rather than the deep reading of "Cryptonomicon" or intensity of the Baroque Cycle trilogy.

Well worth reading for an enjoyable story. ( )
  Falcon124 | Sep 21, 2012 |
Boston Harbor is under attack by corporations flooding the waterways with toxic waste. Fish are floating belly up, Lobster livers are puddles of PCB infested ooze and several citizens are developing a nasty rash. Sangamon Taylor, eco-warrior and former chemist, utilizes his brilliance to solve eco-crimes and expose the polluting mega-corporations. Zodiac resounds with Neal Stephenson's trademark wit and satirical storytelling ability. The characters are primarily caricatures and the book somehow maintains the reader's interest in spite of several multi-page chemistry lessons. Zodiac is a story that only Neal Stephenson could pull off. Highly recommended. ( )
  JechtShot | Jan 19, 2012 |
Great older Stephenson, before he got so complicated.(Don't get me wrong, I like his latr works, it's just that this harked back to "Snow Crash", whick was the first novel of his that I read & enjoyed) Eco-guerilla takes on the polluters with ingenuity and a sense of humor. Good stuff. ( )
  raypratt | Aug 21, 2011 |
This isn't Neal's best work, and I found the second half a little hard to read -- I think because it meandered, with several theories for who was responsible being interchanged. They were all reasonable theories, but the jump between each of them was jarring and could have been better done. The version of the book I was reading also had heaps of typographical errors -- single character substitutions and stuff like that -- which meant you needed to re-read sentences to make them make sense, which was pretty annoying. Overall not the worst book I've ever read, but certainly the worst Stephenson I've read.

http://www.stillhq.com/book/Neal_Stephenson/Zodiac.html ( )
  mikal | Oct 31, 2010 |
Showing 1-5 of 26 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (5 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Neal Stephensonprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Jensen, BruceCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Down by the river,

Down by the banks of the River Charles

That's where you'll find me

Along with muggers, lovers and thieves

Well I love that dirty water,

Oh Boston, you're my home.



       -- The Inmates
Dedication
First words
Roscommon came and laid waste to the garden an hour after dawn, about the time I usually get out of bed and he usually passes out on the shoulder of some freeway.
Quotations
Normally I never do nitrous before breakfast, but I couldn't refuse Bart a thing in the world, so I took the bag and inhaled as deep as I could.
Sangamon's Principle:

The simpler the molecule, the better the drug. So the best drug is oxygen. Only two atoms. The second-best, nitrous oxide -- a mere three atoms. The third best, ethanol -- nine. Past that, you're talking lots of atoms. Atoms are like people. Get lots of them together, never know what they'll do.
Now that I'd seen the faces of the people who were trying to scare me, I was a lot less scared, and a lot more interested. Maybe they were really making PCP, or maybe they had some other nasty secret. When I got back from Buffalo, I'd have to find out, and do these people some damage. In the meantime, I'd have to content myself with charging up tens of thousands of dollars' worth of lingerie on their credit card number.
Most of my colleagues go on backpacking trips when they have to do some thinking. I go to a good hardware store and head for the oiliest, dustiest corners. I strike up conversations with the oldest people who work there, we talk about machine vs. carriage bolts and whether to use a compression or a flare fitting. If they're really good, they don't hassle me. They let me wander around and think. Young hardware clerks have a lot of hubris. They think they can help you find anything and they ask a lot of stupid questions in the process. Old hardware clerks have learned the hard way that nothing in a hardware store ever gets bought for its nominal purpose. You buy something that was designed to do one thing, and you use it for another.
I don't like sewing machines. I don't understand how a needle with a thread going through the tip of it can interlock the thread by jamming itself into a little goddamn spool. It's contrary to nature and it irritates me.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0553573861, Paperback)

Believe it or not, some readers find Zodiac even more fun than Neal Stephenson's defining 1990s cyberpunk novel, Snow Crash. Zodiac is set in Boston, and hero Sangamon Taylor (S. T.) ironically describes his hilarious exploits in the first person. S. T. is a modern superhero, a self-proclaimed Toxic Spiderman. With stealth, spunk, and the backing of GEE (a non-profit environmental group) as his weapons, S. T. chases down the bad guys with James Bond-like Zen.

Cruising Boston Harbor with lab tests and scuba gear, S. T. rides in with the ecosystem cavalry on his 40-horsepower Zodiac raft. His job of tracking down poisonous runoff and embarrassing the powerful corporations who caused them becomes more sticky than usual; run-ins with a gang of satanic rock fans, a deranged geneticist, and a mysterious PCB contamination that may or may not be man-made--plus a falling-out with his competent ("I adore stress") girlfriend--all complicate his mission.

Stephenson/S. T.'s irreverent, facetious, esprit-filled voice make this near-future tale a joy to read.

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:38:47 -0500)

(see all 5 descriptions)

Sangamon Taylor is spreading the word about corporations piping toxic wastes into the water from his 40-horsepower Zodiac raft. Now, he's wanted by the FBI, the Mafia, and a group of Satan-worshipping drug dealers--the least of his problems. Because somewhere out there is an unhinged genetic engineer and a lab concocted bacterium that could destroy all ocean life.… (more)

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