The quote that Ryan paraphrases to Cheryl about the only crime worse than burning books was not reading them was from the writer Ray Bradbury. The actual quote is, "You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.".
In the opening scene, Ryan asks Cheryl if she has read the 1922 novel "Ulysses" by James Joyce, which she then proceeds to do via the Stream. The novel is known for its stream of consciousness narrative, which ties in with the title and themes of this episode.
After Dark Matters (1995), this is the second episode in which Blu Mankuma (Stanley) and Shane Thomas Meier (Mark) both appear.