Denae's Reviews > Cryptonomicon

Such a good book! I really wasn't certain about it at the beginning, but once I got into it it was fantastic. I still find the long ramblings about math a bit irritating and a lot like him showing off, but I also didn't really understand them. I found it odd that he over-explained so much of the computer/technology definitions. It was published in 2003, so I imagine most people who chose to read it would know the definition of RAM. Possibly not though. At any rate, I found it to be much less showy than and full of pop references than Snow Crash. I will probably be verbally crucified for this, but I found the distinct lack of worship of Japanese culture refreshing in comparison. (His preachy explanation of how people who were in the Pacific and therefore know it's called Nippon did grate on me tremendously.) At any rate, despite the things I perceived as flaws, it was an extraordinarily great read.