Stephenson's vision of a nanotech future is captivating. The technology's interactions with the various cultures are definitely food for thought.

The sections dealing with the Drummers seemed bizarre and jarring at first, but in retrospect I think that effect is appropriate. Technologies do end up being used in rather weird ways compared to the initial intent of their designers. ( )

Decidido, Neal Stephenson se convierte de pleno derecho en uno de mis escritores favoritos. El final me supo a poco, pero el viaje superó todas mis expectativas. ( )

Decidido, Neal Stephenson se convierte de pleno derecho en uno de mis escritores favoritos. El final me supo a poco, pero el viaje superó todas mis expectativas. ( )

To be perfectly frank, I don't get it. The story begins with a man named Hackworth creating an interactive primer for his young daughter, but before he can give it to her he is mugged by a gang of boys. One of these boys grabs the book and brings it home for his little sister, Nell. The book itself is awesome: interactive, multifunctional, and just all around nifty. I wish I had one. Unfortunately, after this things start getting confusing. Hackworth lives with a group called the Drummers, who share a collective consciousness and have a lot of orgies. Then there's this group called the Fists of Righteous Harmony who start making trouble, and then there are a quarter of a million little Chinese girls getting together, and then there's this mysterious group called Cryptnet... Part of me feels what I've felt when reading other Stephenson books: that while he's excellent at world-building, he's not so hot at endings. There's also a possibility that I'm simply not smart enough to appreciate his work. I'm fine with that. I was kind of surprised at how meh I felt about the latter half of this book, since I enjoyed Snow Crash and Zodiac so much, but perhaps this marks a turning point in his writing. The next book he wrote was Cryptonomicon, on which I gave up after 250 pages. I guess I should stick with Stephenson's older works from now on. ( )

A case where the sum of the parts is not greater than the whole. i only finished it because of how much I enjoyed Anathem and Snow Crash and hoped it would all come together in the end, It did not.