Neal Stephenson Anathem

[mrfiggins]

Anybody else really wish there were concents? I would totally be a tenner...maybe a hundreder. I am a total Ivory tower intellectual...it would be perfect for me.

[386D]

@mrfiggins Agreed

[eponodyne]

Although Anathem isn't as sprawling an effort as Cryptomicon or the Baroque Cycle, it is certainly a mighty effort. Mr Stephenson writes about the intersection of society and technology, and in Anathem he does this by tackling the question of FIrst Contact. He's placed this story in a world where science has been protected from societal upheavals due to reclusion; essentially, the monastic world and the secular world have switched roles.

Grand book. I got my mind blown every 50 pages or so.

[citrusponge]

"Bear with me"

Where's the bear?

[Kogerii]

Son tu bien? You sound almost like you're gonna cry sometimes when you're talking.

His metaphysical explanation for consciousness is pretty cool and (as far as I know) invented. His ideas have become longer as his writing continued. In Snow Crash a sentence would stand alone and be punchy. By the baroque cycle you'd have to read through a paragraph or page to get to the point that tied all the preceding comments together into something clever.

De histry crash course in Silver felt forced

[cyclos12]

@Kogerii I'm sure the Laurites could dispute that claim!

[GardnersGrendel]

Not only did he create a rich history for Arbre, but he also detailed a lot of the history of rational thought on earth. Many of the thoughts and ideas ascribed to Mathic or pre-Mathic scholars on Arbre have direct correlations to ideas discovered/discussed on earth. Hylean flow is in effect.

[popejaimie]

2nd book=zodiac

diamond age=4th or 5th book, depending on whether you count interface, which a)was only co-written by him, and b) was written under a pseudonym.

[dronetube]

2nd book = diamond age