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Loading... Anathem (2008)by Neal Stephenson
Stephenson has done it again, only better. The narrative here is less convoluted, with fewer characters to keep track of than The Baroque Cycle or Cryptonomicon. Instead his enormous gift for meticulously detailed invention is focused on the creation, not just of a world, but of an entire cosmology. One of the many, many things to love about this book is its unashamed and accessible celebration of intellect, knowledge and enquiry - everything from quantum physics to molecular biology to advanced geometry forms part of the warp and weft of the tale. It's more than a story set in an alternate reality - it's a novel of ideas about the meaning of reality itself and about how understanding transfers and transmutes between peoples and times. A feast for the enquiring mind. (  )1   Scriptopus | Apr 13, 2013 |  It's very good. It was hard to dive into, because of all the nomenclature. But once I got past the initial vocabulary hump, I enjoyed it immensely. It's thought-provoking, and in-depth, and just highly satisfying overall. I liked the breadth of the story -- it feels somewhat epic. A wonderful read, all in all. ( ) ezuk | Apr 3, 2013 | Oh wow. This was cool. Basically what you have here is a sort of alternate universe where they have these monasteries that are scientific instead of religious. And with lady and gentleman scientists both. And they sort of cloister themselves off for different periods of time, like 1 or 10 or 100 or 1000 years, so the outside society is constantly changing while the monasteries more or less stay the same. It also is about different philosophical/mathematical/scientific ideas that people in our world have thought of already, and explains them to you in an understandable way. I know this sounds annoying, but it isn't. What I love about Neal Stephenson's writing: --it makes you feel smart and teaches you things at the same time --even though the story is very involved, you always know exactly where you are and what is happening to whom --he is willing to spend a whole paragraph describing a vast collection of folding chairs and tables, just for the hell of it --he's kind of a goof --he can write a book that is 935 pages, and on page 500 or so you are already sad because it will eventually have to end. What I don't love: --he has this idea that only women can possibly understand interpersonal relationships, and men are clueless oafs. I don't believe this is true. --a 935-page book is freaking HEAVY. ( )1 JenneB | Apr 2, 2013 | There is a style of book that drops you in in the middle and expects you to sink or swim. This is not that book no matter how lost you feel at the beginning with the invented vocabulary (there is a glossary at the end though I think you will find that, other than proper nouns, learning the vocabulary from context clues and the in-text definitions is rewarding). It is also rewarding to pick up the book with as little information as possible, but knowing that you may want some information to decide if this is your type of book, consider the following: -It is told from the perspective of a monk (avout in book-vocabulary) and is very heavily infused with philosophy, thought experiments, dialogs (think Plato), and slow-living. There is physical action, but it is between hundred page stretches of slower-paced maneuvering. -If it happens to you like it happened to me, there will come a point 850 pages in where you will realize something that seems like a plot hole so large you could throw this book through it and you will want to. Keep reading. Not only is it not a plot hole, but it is neatly tied up into the story. I can't tell you anything more. -The last 50 pages are slower than anything you have read so far, but the last page makes it worth it. ( ) PizzaKarin | Apr 2, 2013 | Wonderfully inventive, intriguing and educational. Sometimes I felt the technical details were overdone, but I think that's because I'm not enough of a nerd to appreciate them. (  ) AJBraithwaite | Mar 31, 2013 |
 Seen through the eyes of a young ascetic named Erasmas, the universe of “Anathem” and its properties are revealed methodically over hundreds of pages, and at first, there is much joy to be found in watching this plausible other reality assemble itself and in observing how it parallels our own. Too much of the book is dominated by lengthy dialectical debates, whose conclusions are hardly earth-shattering (if you are reading this review, I suspect you already know how to divide a rectangular cake into eight equal servings) and which do little to promote a reader’s engagement with the characters of “Anathem,” any more than one cares about the interior lives of Pausanias or Eryximachus while reading “The Symposium.” What’s worse, the book’s fixation on dialogue leads Erasmas (and Stephenson) to simply tell us what is happening or has happened in pivotal scenes, instead of allowing us to see the events for ourselves through descriptive action.  The only catch to reading a novel as imposingly magnificent as this is that for the next few months, everything else seems small and obvious by comparison. Stephenson's world-building skills, honed by the exacting work he did on his recent Baroque Cycle trilogy, are at their best here. Anathem is that rarest of things: A stately novel of ideas packed with cool tech, terrific fight scenes, aliens, and even a little ESP.
 Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0061474096, Hardcover)For ten years Fraa Erasmas, a young avout, has lived in a cloistered sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside world. But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change—and Erasmas will become a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world, as he follows his destiny to the most inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond. (retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:33:39 -0500) Raz, a mathematician, is among a cohort of secluded scientists and philosophers who are called upon to save the world from impending catastrophe. |
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