Neal Stephenson, Anathem

[ellarien]

Bookblogging big books by Neal Stephenson is where I came in, nearly five years ago. I'm not finding this one much easier to discuss coherently, particularly because there doesn't seem to be much I can say even about the nature of the setting without getting deeper into spoiler territory than I like. It was an enormously entertaining read, full of ideas, with the sort of sneakily brilliant incluing that provided some wonderful "Aha" moments. The ideas and setting were mostly more interesting than the people, but I don't mind that, and at least some of the more technical digressions were shunted off into appendices that I must admit I mostly didn't bother with.



The bit with the dinosaur in the parking ramp is a good example of what I mean by sneaky incluing.

I don't think many-worlds theory really works that way. And it doesn't make for a very satisfactory ending, when the narrator can pretty much pick a timeline where things work out.


Would probably have made good travel reading, and I've recommended it as such to a colleague, but I read it in hardcover.

Comments

[desperance.livejournal.com]

...Except that if all possible worlds exist, then there must surely be one possible world where you do indeed get to pick your own timeline, mustn't there...?

Me, I read it in hospital: kinda like travelling without going anywhere. Also in hardback, but hey. In bed. I loved it also (tho' possibly not so much as I love the Baroque Cycle. I just gaze at that in awe, and wonder how the hell it's possible for one man to know so much). When Stephenson goes off on one, he just, y'know. Takes me with him.

[ellarien]

That's a bit too meta for a mere physicist ...

It's one of the better books I've read this year, I think.