Anathem

bonkey

Just started Mr. Stephenson's latest opus...and so far its shaping up to be interesting.

Its tough going so far...mostly because of the obscenely large amount of made-up terminology. The words are so similar to english terminology, though, it's slowly becoming easier, as my brain learns how to "decode" it all on the fly.

Reminded me of this xkcd, except that I've high hopes it'll be one of the "beating the odds" books at the right hand of the graph.

ETA: Its also the first book I've ever seen a trailer for.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

http://fora.tv/2008/09/09/Neal_Stephenson_Creates_a_New_Language_for_ANATHEM

video here of the author talking about it... but maybe you shoudn't watch it until you finish. I haven't read it so I don't know if there's many spoilers.

bonkey

Finally done.

What a book.

Now I can go look at that video

hivizman

A very interesting and thought-provoking book. When I finished it, I went back to the beginning and reread it - the book makes much more sense second time around.

Some of the ideas in Anathem reminded me a bit of John Brunner's The Infinitive of Go, first published around 1980. However, Brunner's book was much shorter and less philosophical.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/15879?in=00:41:17&out=00:50:33

another video related to this book, if anyone's interested.

Vokes

Is it any better the Baroque Cycle books?

I liked Quicksilver but though the latter books were only so-so.

bleg

Meant to buy this back in 2008, forgot til last month. Finished it yesterday. Really really enjoyed it.

ixoy

bleg wrote: »

Meant to buy this back in 2008, forgot til last month. Finished it yesterday. Really really enjoyed it.

Good to hear. It's the book I'm bringing with me on holidays later this year so I want to it be top notch since I'll be with it for 3 weeks.

mikhail

bonkey wrote: »

Reminded me of this xkcd, except that I've high hopes it'll be one of the "beating the odds" books at the right hand of the graph.

Yeah, there's a reason for that. Hover your mouse over the comic.

mikhail

I posted this elsewhere, but not on boards, so I think I'll more or less copy and paste.

I liked the book, but it's not flawless. I do think the criticism of his relationships some people have discussed (Ras' with Alia's specifically) is more or less explained away by Erasmas' age. I have two major problems:

Jad

Jad 's a magical* badass. He is essentially precognitive - though in the sense that he lives all possible outcomes and then picks one. He ultimately determines that the best outcome occurs without him. There's no suggestion that his death somehow spurred the others on to some great feat. There's no hint of how his presence might be screwing things up - it's not like the geometers (or whatever Stephenson wound up calling them) could tell that he was able to do this. Surely his talents would help with the negotiation? No, Jad is such a lame duck that his very existence screws up the outcome of the mission.

*by Arthur C. Clarke's famous definition.

The time at the convox

These chapters consisted entirely of filler; they don't fit with the rest of the book.

There's a long-winded argument which arrives at the conclusion that the Platonic ideal worlds (I forget the term) are a like time - only flowing in one direction. Later, it's established that attempts to travel backwards in time result in getting bumped up the stream of Platonic ideal worlds. Well thought out there Neil.

Also, Loghdhir, the senior guy, he spends most of the convox ridiculing the ideas being expressed, and then promptly turns around at the end and implies he was in on it the whole time. Why? Is he just being political at the end? There's no hint of that from Erasmas. Or was he actually in on it? Then why his behaviour at the convox? Is he trying to downplay the theory in case an extra makes the incredible leap from "there are multiple worlds" to "Fraa Jad and co. are freaking wizards? Again, no hint.

I hated those chapters, because they were a repetitive slog, and I can't shake the impression that Stephenson was just marking time so Erasmas didn't arrive at the convox and immediately get shoved onto a rocket. Some of his regular critics accuse him of showing off his research at the expense of momentum, and those chapters at the convox look open to that criticism.