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Loading... Cryptonomicon (original 1999; edition 2000)by Neal Stephenson
Work detailsCryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (1999)
1   sturlington | Jun 13, 2013 |  This is a very strange book. It's disjointed; it interrupts the story flow to discuss irrelevancies; it's crude- and yet it's entirely INCREDIBLE. Although it definitely has a plot, it's not the kind of work you read just "to see what happens." You read for the sheer enjoyment of the process. From a step-by-step recipe for a perfect bowl of cereal to a novel way to divide up an estate to mahtematical proof of why hookers are superior to masturbation- you find yourself amazed at the way the author is able to tie everything together and keep you turning the pages. To be sure, very serious subjects are discussed as well. A short discourse on the Holocaust will stay with you for a long time (We said "Never Again" so long ago, yet genocide still happens- why?). The absurdity and waste of war is shown repeatedly, sometimes with devastating precision and sometimes through humor. In fact, I personally consider it the best anti-war story I've ever seen because it manages to convey the horror of war while showing its occasional necessity. Admittedly, it's huge, and probably a literary critic would tell you it could be edited down, but it's a worwhile investment, both in money (about $9.00 as a bargain book at Amazon!) and time. (  ) MashaK99 | Jun 11, 2013 | If I had to use one word to describe this book, it would be epic. Epic in length (1100 pages or 42 hours) and epic in scope. The book switches back and forth to two time periods, World War II and the present. The World War II story focuses mainly on the Allied efforts to uncover German plans by breaking Enigma, the German encryption code. Once the code is broken, the Allies try to keep this from the Germans by staging events to make their actions appear more random rather than deliberate plans based on gathered intelligence. The present day story has many of the descendants of the World War II plot line working together to create a data haven in the Pacific that is located underwater to keep data safe from governments, terrorist groups and hackers. And to top it off, there are many complex subplots taking us all over the world from Norway to Japan. I have mixed feelings about this book. The characters were well scripted and parts of the story were enthralling and completely drew me in. But the scope of this book is large and the constant switching back and forth between time and place didn't work for me. I would be listening to part of the book, totally immersed in a story about Japanese prisoners of war and then it would switch to something about a modern day hacker. And at the end of the book, I felt that all the subplots, some fascinating, didn't necessarily add to the overall direction of the book. (  ) jmoncton | Jun 3, 2013 | Total can not get into this book. Within the first 60 pages it gets bogged down in conversations on mathematical theory. Sorry Neal Stephenson. I give up. (  ) NickVellis | May 6, 2013 | If this book had been written by just about anyone else, I don't know if I'd have had the patience for over 900 pages. But it's Neal Stephenson. Crytography, hackers, anarchy, and nerds. How could I give this anything but five stars? The only complaint, and I use the word loosely, is the traditional Stephenson ending. I felt that the last third of the book went to a strange place, killing one character and leaving another off-stage almost entirely, and then ending the story when it feels like there's more to wrap up. But I've come to accept it as an authorial quirk. ( )1 MattP225 | Apr 27, 2013 |
 ''Cryptonomicon,'' on the other hand, is a wet epic -- as eager to please as a young-adult novel, it wants to blow your mind while keeping you well fed and happy. For the most part, it succeeds. It's brain candy for bitheads.
References to this work on external resources.
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An American computer hacker operating in Southeast Asia attempts to break a World War II cypher to find the location of a missing shipment of gold. The gold was stolen by the Japanese during the war. By the author of The Diamond Age.
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Wikipedia in English (6)
We have to remember with Stephenson that it is the journey that counts, not the destination (which is why his endings can often feel abrupt and unsatisfying). Cryptonomicon takes the reader on a journey through two time periods, World War II and the late 1990s during the tech boom, and all over the world, from the hellish jungles of New Guinea to the depths of the ocean to the fictional countries of Kinakuta and Qwyghlmia. This is a spy story about the code-breakers of WWII outwitting the Axis powers, that morphs into a conspiracy story, and ends up as a hunt for buried treasure. Along the way, Stephenson imparts a lot of information about cryptography, data encryption, phreaking and the like (so if those things don't interest you, this is definitely not the book for you). Some chapters are actually extended math problems. This is not light reading.
The title refers to a fictional book, a cryptographer's bible, which contains all of the knowledge amassed by cryptographers that came before. The word cryptonomicon is a play on H.P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon, a fictional book detailing the history of the Old Ones. The characters use the Cryptonomicon to come up with better, more unbreakable codes, as well as to figure out how to break the codes of their adversaries. The most elite code-breakers actually write new sections for it.
I usually enjoy historical fiction, and the WWII sections of the novel were the most interesting to me--there are battles, escapes, betrayals, conspiracies, all sorts of good stuff. Sometimes I felt like the modern-day story got in the way of the good parts, and I wasn't nearly as invested in the 1990s characters. But it is hard to imagine the novel not structured this way, as the discoveries and exploits of the characters in one era mirror and enhance the other.
This has been called the "ultimate geek novel," and I do think it requires a certain amount of geekiness to enjoy it. If you're patient and willing to follow Stephenson through all the narrative twists and turns and time jumps, Cryptonomicon is a rewarding read.
Read because I like the author and it was a bargain book for the Kindle (2013). (