From the Bookshelf of Reading the Chunksters…

Cryptonomicon

Neal Stephenson

Start date: October 5, 2018

Finish date: January 11, 2019

Discussion: Cryptonomicon

Why we're reading this: Fun read
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Cryptonomicon

* Reading schedule
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last updated Dec 03, 2018 02:26AM

* Chapters 97-101 Cryptonomicon
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last updated Jun 07, 2019 12:19PM

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What Members Thought

Aug 14, 2018 Maru Kun rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 21st-century-lit, c-philippines

A Nerd-porn Fiesta: hackers bravely battling through carpal tunnel syndrome; Amazonian bodied virgins falling in love with chubby computer programmers; strangely conflicted weeaboo overtones; more fapping or thinking about fapping than anyone wants to read about; phreaking; the Riemann Zeta function.

Entertaining enough, the analysis of the conflict between Ares and Hera being the highlight of the novel, but a low signal to noise ratio leads to significant data redundancy in a nine hundred page n ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Dec 30, 2018 Linda rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018, boxalls-1001-books-before-death

I loved this book for the most part, although it was a journey, not a destination, to the last page. The last ~100 pages felt a bit drawn out, slowly tying up all the threads.

I’m not sure which story line I enjoyed more -the WWII cryptology bit with Lawrence Waterhouse, the adrenaline rush of war with Bobby Shaftoe, or the present day cryptocurrency bit with Randy Waterhouse. But it’s no contest that my favorite character was Bobby Shaftoe. Every time I pulled quotes that I liked, they inevitab ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Oct 19, 2023 Jess Penhallow rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: libby, own-hard-copy, boxall-s

This book was A LOT. Huge in length, scope and ideas. I feel like I've been reading it for ages and can't say that I'm not somewhat relieved that I finally finished it. Neal Stephenson is a master at world building and plotting. He has devised a very believable alternative history that is so close to reality that I had to constantly be looking up which parts came from history and which from his imagination. There are so many ideas about mathematics, finance and global politics and although I tri ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 26, 2015 Kaycie rated it it was ok

Shelves: 1001_read

I really really wanted to like this nerdy thriller, but it just was not for me.

My impression was influenced heavily by Stephenson's style...he appears incapable of describing anything at all without the use of a simile or metaphor. Sometimes his similes got to be so long and involved that they required significantly more explanation than a simple description would have (because he needed to explain the similie, then why it applies), and occasionally merited further similies (describing similies! ...more

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Apr 11, 2017 Alana rated it really liked it

Shelves: educational, historical-fiction, boxall-s-1001-books, spy, adventure, goodreads-groups

The geeky math nerd in me totally devoured this. It reminded me a bit of Ready Player One except MUCH more technical and detailed, and full of history....and very, very long. I actually enjoyed watching the encryption systems explained and the math worked out (the scene with the chain coming off the bicycle I found highly amusing) but I imagine those sections would be EXTREMELY tedious to someone who didn't care. My advise if you're not a math nerd....just skim those sections. You don't have to ...more

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