Anathem in The Sword and Laser

Jul 31, 2012 Ashley rated it really liked it

I admit, I’m a Stephenson fan. Not everyone is. I’ve read almost everything he’s ever put into print. His ideas thrill my imagination on a myriad of levels. Mostly though, he combines the excitement I get when doing recreational math with my love of a well turned phrase. Yes I said it, recreational math. Math makes me happy for some reason. It makes me feel as if the entire universe is spread out before me.

Anathem I recommend to very few, as much as I enjoyed it. You need to enjoy logic, mathema I admit, I’m a Stephenson fan. Not everyone is. I’ve read almost everything he’s ever put into print. His ideas thrill my imagination on a myriad of levels. Mostly though, he combines the excitement I get when doing recreational math with my love of a well turned phrase. Yes I said it, recreational math. Math makes me happy for some reason. It makes me feel as if the entire universe is spread out before me.

Anathem I recommend to very few, as much as I enjoyed it. You need to enjoy logic, mathematics, philosophy, and science fiction methinks. There aren’t a lot of people who fit that bill. It took me a bit to get into it, primarily because it was written in the first person. “I” don’t think that, you know? While first person isn’t as jarring as second, it still jars me, and it always says something about the quality of writing/story that I’m able to get past it. Even when I manage to read it I’m still mad at it, but not this time. I’m not entirely sure when Anathem drew me in, it was sneaky though. Every single time I was ready to put it down, Stephenson would do something that would guarentee I keep reading. So much so, that it was a totally different book at the end than the one I felt like I started reading.

Also? I really really recommend reading on the Kindle. I’m not a person who’s intimidated by length of tomes. Several that I have spoken to have mentioned the length of Anathem as holding them back, which drew a puzzled expression from me. It took me a bit to realize why my inner puzzlement was so great, because well, even with the progress bar, the Kindle is the great equalizer. So much so I just had to look up the page count, 960. Interesting. Which I suppose explains why it took me three days to read instead of one.

I’ve had a few conversations with various persons since reading it regarding Stephenson in general. It surprises me that I didn’t realize before his tendency to not commit to an ending and muddle about. I suppose because he was distracting me with his other hand whilst others were waiting for progression of plot. Silly me. But it explains why people I thought should love it, had some difficulty with Cryptonomicon. So much so, I need to re-examine my placement of it in the heirarchy of books I consider “good”.

Point is, Anathem stays on target throughout. Regardless of its length, it progresses, constantly. It avoids all the reasons people who say they enjoy the author don’t pick him up. Possibly his best work to date, even though I won’t claim its his most accessible. I wasn’t really interested in it until I kept noting the acclaim it was receiving, acclaim his other books didn’t really receive. Hmm, I’m not even sure why I wasn’t really interested in it come to think on it. Perhaps because of the long trudge it was to get through the Baroque cycle, hah, no, no perhaps about that. It was bloody work. And you might not know this, but I don’t actually like work. ...more

Like · see review

May 04, 2012 Eoghann Irving rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction

Neal Stephenson writes about big ideas. Frequently very big ideas. It can be a little off putting at times.

Certainly the first few chapters for Anathem were a struggle. Stephenson threw me head first into a new world with a new language and very little explanation. It was frustrating.

But perseverance sometimes pays off and it did in this case. Once I started to get a feel for the setting, the richness of it and some of the ideas that Stephenson was playing with started to shine.

Personally I foun ...more

Like · see review

Nov 29, 2011 Ada Graves rated it it was amazing

A literary orgasm.

Like · see review

Sep 01, 2009 Heather rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, favorites

As I delved into this volume I determined I was much too dense to understand a word of it. However, stubborness, and an unfolding storyline began to captivate my interest. I soon learned that there was a method to the theoric, mathic madness of Fraa Erasmus' world and became not only intrigued, but obsessed. ...more

Like · see review