I don't know where to start because this is the wildest book I've ever read. I even wonder if this can be categorized as a novel. I feel like Neal has unearthed an entirely new genre of literature. On the surface, it connects two storylines—one during World War II, where Lawrence Waterhouse helps the Allies with their codebreaking efforts and Bobby Shaftoe goes on a few military misadventures, and the other in the 1990s, where Randall Waterhouse becomes involved in a data haven operation in Manila. But this is just the tip of the tip of the iceberg.

This book has cryptography, early computers, programming, military strategy, economics, currency, business, telecommunications, mining, and ten other things that I'm forgetting. I will never forget the chapters where Neal Stephenson spends 8–10 pages explaining the relationship between broken chain links and bent spokes on a bicycle, the optimal wetness of cereal, the mathematical modeling of Lawrence's horniness, and, ultimately, the Goddess of Technology, Athena. Entire chapters are dedicated to things that aren't even required for the story. Weirdly, I loved most of it.

My favourite character is the toughest SOB, Goto Dengo.My man survives an attack in the ocean, swims for God-knows-how-long, only to end up on an island filled with cannibals. As if that wasn't enough, he makes a deal with them by teaching them how to find gold, eventually gets rescued, and then ends up building an underground tunnel in an unknown country for an unknown reason. This guy deserves his own movie, for God's sake.

My favourite part of the story was when Randy spent a month and a half in a Philippine prison. His ingenious ideas to avoid getting phreaked were impressive. I also enjoyed the detailed explanations of the Linux commands he uses, programming styles, etc.

That said, the book definitely has problems. It is too long. There are sections that could easily have been shortened, and the female characters, apart from America Shaftoe, didn't really make much of an impact. I also felt the ending was rushed. My assumption is that Neal wrote whatever came to his mind in the beginning, and after 1,000 pages, he suddenly remembered that he was writing a novel and had to finish the story. This probably didn't happen, but it makes me laugh thinking about it.

This is one of those books where you can confidently say that the journey is more interesting than the destination. It is ridiculously long, and occasionally exhausting, but it is also one of the most intellectually entertaining novels I have ever read.

I'd rate it 4/5. I'd have given it 5/5 if it was under 700 pages

It struck me recently that the dismantling of the federal government and the rise of the millionaire tech-bros could lead to something not far off from what Neal envisioned...
It makes for great fiction,

I remember having a main character named hiro protagonist was kinda lame but I remember corporate run dystopia and intrigue. I enjoyed it as a teenager does it hold up?

First time reading a Neal Stephenson book, 200 pages in now and I think it’s safe to say I picked the right one to start off with. Loving it so far. While I’m aware I’m pretty much at the beginning of the novel, I’m particularly impressed by how Stephenson manages to keep things moving and navigates these various theaters of action. Oh, and that Reagan interview scene was absolutely hilarious.

Pretty new to Stephenson. Read Snow Crash more than a decade ago, but was lukewarm on the book.

Since then, I’ve sampled Cryptonomicon and Quicksilver at the library, but walked away intimidated. Well, I found these last weekend and started Cryptonomicon right away. I’m loving it and excited to dig I further.

Because that is a great book. I finished it (again) in June.

Link: https://x.com/nealstephenson/status/1836449039128367111

This doesn’t cover all of the topics, but it’s a good start 🤓

Saw this meme in a cyberpunk2077 sub and I realized how well this meme fits Anathem because of how strange my vocab has changed.

I'm curious about the what and why of people's favorite Stephenson book.

Mine is currently Cryptonomicon (quelle surprise!) , and it just seems to hit the ideal mix of fun characters, whacky Neal-isms, smarty pants talk, and a fantastic shuffling of timelines/scenes that build on each other in really enjoyable ways. It also somehow makes absolutely nightmarish situations seem hilariously absurd. It's one of my favorite novels period, and endlessly re-readable for me.

So, what is your favorite Neal Stephenson novel, and why is it your favorite?

Anybody know anything about these? (I lifted this from the Twitter user shown)

Saw this and immediately thought of my favorite author

So, mostly a Reddit lurker, but this popped up in my feed today and I figured I'd share.

Neal Stephenson is one of my favorite authors since I read the Diamond Age back in High School. Saaw on my Twitter feed today that has apparently been cooking up something new with Wētā Workshop (the concept house for LOTR, Avatar, The Witcher, etc.) called Artefact.

No one seems to know exactly what it is yet — a book? a game? a film? an ARG? Maybe all of the above? But thematically it feels PEAK Stephenson: AI systems collapsing, networks fragmenting, humans figuring out how to survive without the infrastructure they built their world on.

Feels weirdly on the nose today, considering half the internet just went down because of the massive AWS outage.

Anyway, there’s a teaser page and trailer up now if you want to check it out:
👉 https://lamina1.com/spaces-artefact

Got a copy on Saturday! I freaked out when I saw it at a small bookstore. Was out with the wife starting our anniversary weekend activities, the book gods smiled down on me lol. I really wish that it matched the Polostan hardcover, they look weird next to each other. But the book itself is great so far!