Sneak Peek At Neal Stephenson's "Anathem" 140
Shawn M. Smith writes "Neal Stephenson (Cryptonomicon, The Baroque Cycle) has a new novel coming out in just a couple weeks — Anathem. Boing Boing has an excerpt from the amazing glossary (including a definition for 'bulshytt') so take a peek at a copy of an abridged glossary of neologisms and language-bending goodies from the book."
Uhhhh (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:1, Insightful)
excruciating like the Baroque books
Interesting.In no way did I find the Baroque Cycle "excruciating". But then, I'm on the far side of 50, and I possess a well-developed attention span. Something sadly lacking in the current generation it seems...IMO, the Baroque Cycle is the best historical fiction written in the last 20 years.
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:5, Insightful)
I read all 3 Baroque books, and I don't know why but I found them immensely entertaining while everyone else I know stopped somewhere in the first book (which in subsequent publications was itself turned into 3 books). They were like a kid's serial novel from the 1800's or something. Like reading an entire narrative based on all the "150 years ago in Scientific American" sections. The only thing that frustrated me about the books at all was not knowing whether I actually knew any accurate history after reading them, since large portions of the events and characters are fiction with enough reality thrown in to make it interesting. (Kind of like some of the Illuminatus Trilogy that way.)
Re:Please, no Shaftoe/Waterhouse (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's an opinion to add to your dissenting column:
The Baroque Cycle is brilliant. Well worth the read. The philosophical argument that the differences between Leibnitz's worldview and Newton's still infect the discourse of modern american politics and religious thought - that alone is brilliant enough to make it worthwhile. On top of that, it's also damn fun.
Re:Please, no Shaftoe/Waterhouse (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:5, Insightful)
My belief is that Stephenson still hasn't found a way to finish a novel properly, so he keeps writing them longer and longer, trying to find the ending.
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
50% (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:5, Insightful)
You just didn't read enough into it.
p.s. There was soooo much going on in those first 500 pages that you have no idea about because you didn't finish the trilogy. If you get to System of the World, you'll be going back-and-forth between all three books, cross-referencing journal entries and passages, trying to figure out where all the gold is. I won't give spoilers, but there's a lot of hidden information in those first 500 pages, which is part of why it's so dry. Most encrypted messages require some additional material to obfuscate with.
That being said, Baroque Cycle is definitely his most sophisticated and challenging read. It may well be his War and Peace.