This is "the Word"-one man's word, certainly-about the art (and artifice) of the state of our computer-centric existence. And considering that the "one man" is Neal Stephenson, "the hacker Hemingway" (Newsweek)-acclaimed novelist, pragmatist, seer, nerd-friendly philosopher, and nationally bestselling author of groundbreaking literary works (Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, ect.)-the word is well worth hearing. Mostly well-reasoned examination and partial rant, Stephenson's In the Beginning...Was the Command Line is a thoughtful, irreverent, hilarious treatise on the cyber-culture past and present; on operating system tyrannies and downloaded popular revelations; on the Internet, Disney World, Big Bangs, not to mention the meaning of life itself.