Neal Stephenson

[sir archely]

Just finished Anathem by Neal Stephenson, and I wanted to put out a high recommendation for this book. It's easily the best book I've read so far this year, and will very likely not be topped. It does start out quite slow, and I didn't realize there was a glossary for this thing, so maybe knowing that ahead of time and actually looking up terms would speed the early part of the book along, but even inferring meanings from the context for everything isn't too bad.

It's a hard book to describe. I picked it up more than a few times in the store and library because I like other Neal Stephenson books (most notably Snow Crash, which is brilliant) but put it back down after reading the jacket. The dust jacket synopsis in no way does this book justice. I finally got into it after a friend recommended it, and I'm glad I did. This book has everything: philosophy, math, mystery, ninjas, aliens, monks, interesting technology, romance, great dialogue, action sequences, wizards, etc. When I look back at the plot now, I'm not sure how Stephenson pulled it off, but really, the plot line is only half the story. One of the best jobs ever of integrating interesting philosophy and thoughtful dialogue into a fictional story. Interestingly, while reading a certain portion of this book, it caused me to feel a faint sensation of vertigo because of the movement of our planet. That sounds absurd, and of course I wasn't really feeling the earth moving, but it was a very strange realization of the earth as a kind of spaceship hurtling through the cosmos.

One of the best lines in the book (but a bit spoilery, so, be warned):

"I can't predict the future," I said, "but based on what little I know so far, I'm afraid it has to be a massive adventure or nothing."
"Great!"
"Probably the kind of adventure that ends in a mass burial."
That quieted her down a little bit. But after a while, she said: "Do you need transportation? Tools? Stuff?"
"Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs," I said. "We have a protractor."
"Okay, I'll go home and see if I can scrounge up a ruler and a piece of string."
"That'd be great."

If you aren't familiar with Neal Stephenson, be sure to also check out Snow Crash (which I think I first looked into because of an LT recommend somewhere on here) and The Diamond Age. I wasn't as much a fan of Cryptonomicon or Interface (originally written under the pseudonym of Stephen Bury), and I haven't read any of his Baroque Cycle to comment on that. Maybe others can?

[LaughingTurtle]

Indeed I do recall a long time ago in a far off land, providing said recommendation. It's hard to argue with a synopsis involving a villain driving a motorcycle with a nuke in the side car with POOR IMPULSE CONTROL tattooed on his head.

Though I actually haven't read anything else by him which one of these days I plan on remedying. May have to check out Anathem.

[Eyreplenh]

I can confirm that. I read the book after seeing aforementioned recommendation I have nothing more to add than what's already been said; Snow Crash is excellent. -and that Anathem will be read sometime soon!

[sir archely]

i guess i should mention that Anathem is nothing like Snow Crash. So just be forewarned that going into it expecting another Snow Crash story is folly.