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Anathem
 
 

Anathem [Kindle Edition]

Neal Stephenson
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (121 customer reviews)

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Review

"'The only catch to reading a novel as imposingly magnificent as this is that for the next few months, everything else seems small and obvious by comparison.' Christopher Brookmyre, Guardian 'Anathem is a brilliant, playful tour of the terrain where logic, mathematics, philosophy and quantum physics intersect, a novel of ideas par excellence, melding wordplay and mathematical theory with a gripping, human adventure.' The Times 'I think this novel is wonderful... Anathem is a call to move into the world.' Andrew McKie, Daily Telegraph 'Neal Stephenson's vertiginous new novel [holds], for me, a boundlessly engaging fascination that comes at the price of being made to feel infinitesimally small: not merely as a human being, but as a writer, too... The only catch to reading a novel as imposingly magnificent as this is that for the next few months, everything else seems small and obvious by comparison.' Christopher Brookmyre, Guardian 'You find yourself enveloped in the atmosphere of a good library, one populated by a cast of characters whose talking is anything but annoying - and often illuminating. Fabulous.' Jonathan Wright, SFX Magazine"

Product Description

Erasmas, "Razï", is a young avout living in the Concent, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers. Three times during history's darkest epochs, violence has invaded and devastated the cloistered community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe.

But they now prepare to open the Concentïs gates to the outside world, in celebration of a once-a-decade rite. Suddenly, Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planets and beyond.

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 3024 KB
  • Print Length: 1010 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 006147410X
  • Publisher: Atlantic Books (1 Aug 2010)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B0040QE3A8
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray:
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (121 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #446 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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More About the Author



Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer, known for his speculative fiction works, which have been variously categorized science fiction, historical fiction, maximalism, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk. Stephenson explores areas such as mathematics, cryptography, philosophy, currency, and the history of science. He also writes non-fiction articles about technology in publications such as Wired Magazine, and has worked part-time as an advisor for Blue Origin, a company (funded by Jeff Bezos) developing a manned sub-orbital launch system.

Born in Fort Meade, Maryland (home of the NSA and the National Cryptologic Museum) Stephenson came from a family comprising engineers and hard scientists he dubs "propeller heads". His father is a professor of electrical engineering whose father was a physics professor; his mother worked in a biochemistry laboratory, while her father was a biochemistry professor. Stephenson's family moved to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois in 1960 and then to Ames, Iowa in 1966 where he graduated from Ames High School in 1977. Stephenson furthered his studies at Boston University. He first specialized in physics, then switched to geography after he found that it would allow him to spend more time on the university mainframe. He graduated in 1981 with a B.A. in Geography and a minor in physics. Since 1984, Stephenson has lived mostly in the Pacific Northwest and currently resides in Seattle with his family.

Neal Stephenson is the author of the three-volume historical epic "The Baroque Cycle" (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World) and the novels Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Zodiac. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
84 of 89 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Rewarding reading if you persevere with it 12 Oct 2008
By wedge
Format:Hardcover
Anathem was a complete surprise to me. I had deliberately avoided reading anything about the book before I bought it, willing to trust the author to come up with another excellent novel comparable to Snow Crash, The Diamond Age or Cryptonomicon.

After reading the first 50 or 60 pages, I was wondering if I'd wasted my money. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. The many invented words peppered throughout the text didn't help either - you can immediately decipher many of them from context they're used in, but it is annoying to do it as often as Anathem requires.

However, I kept going, and by the time I'd gotten through the first 100 pages or so I found myself quite enjoying it. After another couple of hundred pages I was reluctant to put it down, and eventually ended up reading the last third of the book in a single session.

What I would say is that once you become familiar with the dialect used by the characters and get past the relatively slow opening chapters, Anathem becomes a far more engaging and interesting book. Sci-fi action sequences are interspersed with frequent philosophical or metaphysical discussions between various characters, which may of course not be to the liking of every reader, but I found it both interesting and entertaining.

Now that I've finished the book I am planning to wait a few weeks and then read it again, as I suspect that reading the opening chapters will be a far better experience the second time around.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Not really worth it 9 Sep 2009
Format:Hardcover
Just finished this one, after a long couple of weeks. First, the cons...

Anathem is certainly not a page turner, unless you don't mind skipping the drawn-out descriptions, or you are really that interested in architecture and engineering. I just couldn't comprehend the insistence on the particular way a joint was linked to a particular structure or how a certain arch spanned the distance between A and B. Maybe I was much more interested in the central idea of parallel universes, so I'll just ignore the 1/5th of the book that I ended up skipping. So let's concentrate on the rest.

The main idea is rather interesting. However, given the extent of the dialogue on the particulars of how parallel universes (or cosmi, according to Stephenson) could co-exist, the handling of the matter ends up being rather superficial. After a lengthy, repetitive introduction to the concepts, we end up wanting for more. After 800 pages of hints and preparation, we end up with a hasty conclusion, since the basic premises just don't add up to the end result. I won't go into the details, but the arrow of time is casually broken without any explanation as to how that could have happened. I would expect that of a short story, but after a tiresome, elaborate exposition on the particulars of space navigation, I certainly expected more respect to the laws of physics.

Now, to the pros. I finished the darned thing in a couple of weeks, and that says something. The guy can write! Yeah, I hate descriptions, but the world he created is consistent though complex, interesting though too similar to ours. Stephenson knows how to present parts of the whole picture, in minute fragments that keep you asking for more.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Admirable world building though heavy going 7 May 2009
By Tubby
Format:Hardcover
This is a large book and can become over-bearing at times when characters speak extensively about physics and geometry. I could not keep entirely up-to-date with the theoretical discussions. This is not to say that this book is not accessible but you will have to read things over twice, refer to the glossary several times and make an effort to read the book every couple of days to keep everything in mind.

The real major issue with this book, apart from the theoretical side (which others may take to and enjoy an awful lot) is the character development. I felt no attachment to any of the characters bar perhaps Erasmus who is the narrator; there is also a lack of humour.

I'm conscious that this all sounds rather negative but my 3 star rating reflects the fact that this book is intriguing and worth a go. I admire what Stephenson has created. The set-up is so well done that for this alone I would recommend this book.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars There is a universe where... 24 July 2009
Format:Hardcover
.. this book gets started a lot more quickly than it does in our universe.

I'm an unashamed Stephenson fan, but he tried my patience at the start of this book, and you can see from other reviewers that this is a common experience.

I did get to the point where I was thinking 'ok Neal, where is this going' but I had faith, and that faith was rewarded. The slow part at the start is exposition that I feel is ultimately necessary and a part of his literary creation. He describes a world with some similarities and many differences to our own; the exposition serves as backdrop and 'control' for the reader (and main character) on a journey through adventures and concepts that are startlingly at odds with what went before. In the end this made sense to me, like the chaotic writing in the London part of Gravity's Rainbow made sense as a representation of how the city was for people. In the end, there is a point to having an alternate world to compare with, too. Not just 'I made this stuff up for a laugh'.

I don't want to get all high-falutin though - if you liked the pirate story part of the Baroque Cycle like I did, the first part will test you a bit.

Like Stephenson's other works, this has some serious underpinnings, in this case really based around the collision of maths, philosophy and physics. Stephenson presents these topics in a coherent way with his story, without snapping the reader out of the world (well not too much, sometimes you stop to say 'ok what is the equivalent of this in my world').

I disagree that this book is some kind of exercise in snobbery because it tackles difficult subjects and it's a lengthy book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars A modern masterpiece
I found this book to be truly unputdownable. Initially, it read like a combination of Gormenghast and The Glass Bead Game, but it proved to be so much more. Read more
Published 17 days ago by impostor
3.0 out of 5 stars Preliminary review
I very much enjoyed the only neal S. novel I had read previous to this (Reamde) but did n't find this nearly as gripping and in fact gave up on it about half way through. Read more
Published 21 days ago by A. Frost
3.0 out of 5 stars Too Long!
An interesting idea made boring by the author's self indulgent waffling. How I wish he's been able to edit this book down to a third the size!
Published 22 days ago by Nikki MF
5.0 out of 5 stars Great!
Only Stephenson can create such a mixture of philosophical debate and fast paced action and not look silly. I recommend it.
Published 2 months ago by Lukasz Jezierski
5.0 out of 5 stars Awe-inspiring
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Anathem. I really didn't know what to expect, so there was a frequent sense of discovery and surprise as the plot developed. Never a dull moment. Read more
Published 2 months ago by T. Costick
4.0 out of 5 stars Not so much a review - more some buying advice
This is an enormously long book - close to 1000 pages. I was intending to read it at least partly on my daily commute, but it's just too heavy and bulky to carry with my work... Read more
Published 3 months ago by David Bradshaw
5.0 out of 5 stars One of his best books
Neal Stephenson is a variable writer. At his best, brilliant and un-put-downable. At his worst, verbose and badly edited. This is definitely one of the best. Read more
Published 4 months ago by BenST
5.0 out of 5 stars Best of Stephenson
In many of Neal Stephenson's books, his amazing inventiveness tends to overwhelm the plot and characterisation, and he's clever and knowledgeable enough that his fairly frequent... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Multiversal Masterwork
Anathem is Neal Stephenson's Thoughts from Plato's Cave, spiced with polycosmic quantum theory. What if there were not just one `real' universe outside the cave, but an infinity? Read more
Published 5 months ago by Steven Wyatt
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!
I didn't think Neal Stephenson could get any better after Quicksilver but this book just blew my mind! Read more
Published 5 months ago by L D'Arcy
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