Hello all, get out your thinking caps and state the FASA/FANPRO/WIZKIDS facts. I want a look at life for the everyday guy in the shadowrun world. Im not looking for opions I want page numbers and books. Is life in seattle really rough? or is that just the impression that people get from reading about redmond (which holds about 1/6 of seattle population, seattle source book pg 127, when compared with shadowrun 2nd edition main book pg. 272) anyone else?

There's a bucketload of information about the trials and tribulations of everyday life for a shadowrunner in Sprawl Survival Guide, which also contains a lot more on what life is like for the average joe in the Sixth World. Also you may want to combine the material in the original Seattle sb (if you can get your hands on it) with the New Seattle sb for a look at both the stats and the realities behind them. Seattle is much more the location book and New Seattle complements it more than replaces it with lots of background material about the forces at work in the sprawl.

The old second Ed. book, "The Neo-Anarchist's Guide to Real Life" is sort of useful in determining some mundane day-to-day concepts such as fashion, air travel, and such. The Big Black also has a section on the Seattle metroplex near the back, but I don't think that's much help.

Alternately, aren't there a bunch of Shadowrun novels?

Shadowrun novels are a good source as at least a couple of them focus on people with relatively "normal" jobs who get caught up in shadowy things.

The sourcebooks you want are mainly Neo-A's Guide to Real Life and Sprawl Survival Guide. Of lesser value on this particular subject are Matrix (one of the opening chapters talks about how non-deckers use the Matrix), Awakenings (some perspectives of magic from non-magical people), Shadowbeat (media-type stuff, with lots of focus on the music and simsense industries), and Corporate Shadowfiles (you have to dig in this one, but it gives you a peek into corporate politics most wageslaves have to deal with daily).

The Abstruse One