Stephenson's first novel is now back in print. With a plot that meanders through academic catch-22s; massive, sonic stereo wars; neon-worshiping cults; and a campus-wide civil war, this scathing send-up of American college life presages the rise and fall of one of the most imaginative novelists writing today.

The New York Times Book Review called Neal Stephenson's most recent novel "electrifying" and "hilarious". but if you want to know Stephenson was doing twenty years before he wrote the epic Cryptonomicon, it's back-to-school time. Back to The Big U, that is, a hilarious send-up of American college life starring after years our of print, The Big U is required reading for anyone interested in the early work of this singular writer.