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Loading... Anathemby Neal Stephenson
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  sdobie | Dec 29, 2009 |  I really want to like Neal Stephenson. I start each new novel of his with a sense of anticipation hoping “this will be the one.” Anathem wasn’t. The concept of having knowledge cloistered away to protect the general population was interesting, but not new. It’s impossible to do a review of Anathem and not acknowledge its similarities to Walter M. Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz. In Anathem, knowledge is allowed to evolve to a high level but eventually it leads to the potential destruction of a planet (note “a” planet as this is a work of speculative fiction) so all scholarly or learned people are interred into a monastic setting (“reconstituted”) with limited tools and resources. Eventually, the secular world (“extramuros”) needs their assistance (because they have the ability to learn and advance knowledge) and must release them to solve some problem- and the cycle repeats itself- continually. Once again, this was 981 pages (932 if you discount the required glossary and “calca” or theoretical proofs) that I had to struggle to finish. The plot moved along quite well, but the frequent speed bump of launching into theoretical discussions that only PhDs in quantum theory could completely follow made completing the book a chore. Also, the book literally uses a language of its own. Use the glossary! Some words are similar to true English, for example, “aut” is an “act” or rite but others are “made up” but are integral to understanding the book and the reader needs to be clear on their meaning upfront. I do have to say that the characters in Anathem were richer and more well defined than other Stephenson works. Fraa Erasmus or “Raz” is a classic, archetypal hero. Put in situations not of his choosing, he often needs to make choices that place him in danger to save others. The reader can actually build up a relationship and feel something which hasn’t happened in his past novels. For me, this was the best of Stephenson’s works but I still can’t say that I like his writing. Maybe the next one? (  ) pmtracy | Dec 24, 2009 | I approached this book cautiously. I'd failed to get into Cyrotnomicon once upon a time and so have been wary of any of his other tomes. This, however, has received much praise from members of my SciFi book group and the world generally that I felt justified in giving him another go. Why did no one tell me it was funny?? I loved it. There were only three problems - the first copy I had had some unexpectently blank pages which put me back about a week trying to get it replaced. The second was the inclusion of appendicies distorting my view of where the end was and therefore finishing it whilst waiting for my train. The final one was ... ***SPOILER ALERT*** ... feeling ill when reading about the bit with Erasmus and Jad on the spaceship - led to a night's sleep much as described in the book... Anyhoots, excellent book. Will have to reconsider others. (  ) penwing | Dec 18, 2009 | In the course of human history the progress of science is not following a straight line. Times of discoveries during antiquity were interrupted by a dark age before the advent of the modern industrial world. Inhabitants of an individual enlightened period probably think that humankind is, from then on, to follow a persistent path of new discoveries. Yet history tells us to expect the dark ages to come once more. Then what is the protective envelope that can preserve knowledge for the duration of such a period? Part of knowledge is information, but part of it is apprenticeship and cultivation of certain structure of thinking -- it needs guidance and uninterrupted care to be passed between the generations. The story of "Anathem" takes place during one such dark age. Big part of the book tells about the life of people in one knowledge capsule. They are monks who learn sciences, acquire and teach young apprentices, and impart discipline. Outside the wall of the monastery the humankind has degraded to a religious society -- uneducated consumers of gadgets and trinkets. For me the book successfully established a frame of thinking into which I couldn't help but see the seeds of that future in our very own modern times -- the main character travels in a world of rapacious consumerism, impatient reach for gratification, short attention spans, and the inexorable campaign of religion to sow distrust in science and impede progress. The story in the book develops on a planet in a time which could be two centuries in our own future. It is a science fiction of science not much more developed from what we have today, a thought experiment into which Stephenson uses the physics of our cosmos and by fudging the constants a little he provides for the possibility of parallel universes slightly different from ours. An excellent and detailed review here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/... Stephenson visits Google's headquarters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnq-2B... (  ) port22 | Dec 3, 2009 | Epic book, though the invented words made reading it a bit of a challenge. Took a few starts, but worth working your way through. ( ) toddje | Dec 3, 2009 | 
 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)Anathem, the latest invention by the New York Times bestselling author of Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle, is a magnificent creation: a work of great scope, intelligence, and imagination that ushers readers into a recognizable—yet strangely inverted—world. Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside—the Extramuros—for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago. Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent's gates—at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious "extras" in. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected." 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. Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros—a threat that only an unsteady alliance of saecular and avout can oppose—as, one by one, Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Suddenly burdened with a staggering responsibility, Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world—as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:18 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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Wikipedia in English (1)
Anathem is a very ambitious book that attempts to invent a new culture, explain a good portion of the history of science and tell a good story all in one, and mostly succeeds at it. I enjoyed the whole idea of a culture where science is known to be important, but is considered dangerous enough that the ordinary people of the world need to be kept isolated from it. Creating this entire alternate culture can bog the book down at times. The use of made-up words, for what seem to be fairly common things can be a little much, although some of the words do just sound right for what they are supposed to be. The book can get bogged down in trying to explain the difference between various mathic Orders such as Procians and Halikaarnians which are hard to keep straight throughout the book. As the book progresses though, there is more story, and it comes to a fast-paced conclusion with an ending that is more conclusive than a lot of Stephenson's other works. Overall. this is one of the top science fiction novels of the decade. (