Anyone a Neal Stephenson fan?

[Lord Avalon]

I read and liked his early stuff: Snow Crash, Diamond Age, Zodiac. Haven't gotten around to Cryptonomicon or his Baroque Cycle trilogy.

Anathem: (1) In Proto-Orth, a poetic or musical invocation of Our Mother Hylaea, which since the time of Adrakhones has been the climax of the daily liturgy (hence the Fluccish word Anthem meaning a song of great emotional resonance, esp. one that inspires listeners to sing along). Note: this sense is archaic, and used only in a ritual context where it is unlikely to be confused with the much more commonly used sense 2.
(2) In New Orth, an aut by which an incorrigible fraa or suur is ejected from the math and his or her work sequestered (hence the Fluccish word Anathema meaning intolerable statements or ideas). See Throwback.

- THE DICTIONARY, 4th edition, A.R. 3000

[DirtyMartini]

Originally posted by Ramo
Neal, though I've only read "Quicksilver." The premise sounded great, but I didn't enjoy the writing at all.

I couldn't get through Quicksilver the first time -- a friend told me to give it another try. I liked it the second time around, not sure why I got so bored the first. Cryptonomicon I liked a lot. Snow Crash was OK, I probably got to it too late after it was published (read it last year).

[David Floyd]

Also, Neal Stephenson is going to be in Austin, IIRC on 9/25 at Book People.

[DarkCloud]

Are you planning on seeing him there, perchance, DF?

[David Floyd]

*shrug* I dunno. I'll probably forget about it by then. But then again, if I'm off work, Book People is one of my semi-regular stops. It's great, there's basically a corner in Austin with Waterloo Ice House, Waterloo Records, Book People, Whole Foods, Starbucks, Seattle's Best, and an ice cream place all within 100 feet. I can kill hours in that area, and it has the added benefit of being, literally, walking distance from the downtown bar district.

[Agathon]

Went to a bookstore. They only had parts 2 and 3 of his three part, and no other works.

Fail.

[Pekka]

I didn't like sci-fi at all, until I read Stephenson. Snow Crash

[Nugog]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Yeah, Stephenson is not good at actually ending his stories.

That would be a fair criticism.

However he is still an excellent author.

[Blaupanzer]

Neal is a great author with a very strong orientation toward historical research. I am unaware of his newest, Anathem, however.

Snoopy, I must take issue with you on The Road. The book is boring and the characters are presented as though plunked down in the landscape with no real awareness as to how they got there. At least it seems that way thru the first 60 pages -- which was as far as I got.

[chequita guevara]

He is my favorite science fiction author. I haven't read The Road or his newest book.

I've read: Zodiac, Snowcrash, The Diamond Age, In the Beginning Was the Command Line, Cryptonomicon, and the Baroque series. Zodiac and Snowcrash are both funny, as well as good.

[Agathon]

OK thanks for the advice. I picked up Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon today (at a bookstore with less fail). Started reading the former, which is freakishly prescient.

[Kuciwalker]

Yeah, I think Snow Crash is possibly the most prescient single SF book I've read.

[Elok]

? I looked SC up on Wikipedia, and none of their summary seemed especially prescient to me. Was it just a bad summary? And if this Stephenson fellow actually named his main character "Hiro Protagonist," why has nobody yet beaten him to death? Is he just really big and strong, or does he have a bodyguard?

[Kuciwalker]

The main character renamed himself Hiro Protagonist.

And Snow Crash predicted Wikipedia, among other things.

Keep in mind it was published only a year after the World Wide Web was invented.

[chequita guevara]

Of all the books I mentioned, the only one I wouldn't recommend heartily is The Diamond Age. It's just okay. In the Beginning Was the Command Line... is not fiction, but musings on computer technology. It's very good, but you shouldn't pay money for it.

The Baroque Cycle trilogy I was completely uninterested in, but I saw some copies in the discount bin, so I picked them up. It's historical fiction, but it's one of the best stories I've ever read. You cannot understand how good those books are unless you read them, because the subjects seem so uninteresting. That is the work of a master story teller.