Rating: 
Summary: Poor Abridgement?
Review: I heard the audio book version. It was a poor job of condensation. I cannot tell whether I'd like the underlying book, but the audio version fails to link the events, skips through things that are apparently important to the story line, and glosses over much of the character definition. The features of the book that are lauded in the reviews are not present in the audio version.
Rating: 
Summary: Cryptonomicon - an excellent read.
Review: I found Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson to be a thoroughly entertaining work. The detail provided in the WWII era storyline provided a fascinating look into the state of cyptography for the time. Meanwhile, the colorful characters keep every page interesting. The intertwining of the modern day storyline with that in the past (WWII) also provides rich ground for introducing subtlties that go hand in hand with the crytographic overtones. Well written and entertaing describes this book. I was 500 pages into it before realizing that it was 900 pages long, and it would have been fine if it had been 1,500.
Rating:
Summary: Still on the edge and I've finished the book.
Review: Being recently interested in cryptography and cryptanalysis I was suggested to read this book in order to get an idea of the historical development of such subjects. Now I have a more serious appreciation for security and rights to privacy, and find myself deeply moved by world history and WWII. Neal Stephenson has given us such a creative novel that should be read by anyone interested in being truly enthralled from the Aknowledgement to the Appendix. I'm serious. GET THIS BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: An Extrordinary Book
Review: I've read most of what Neal Stephenson has published and enjoyed it all to a greater or lesser degree. This book was profoundly different from his other work. (As different as "An Instance of the Fingerpost," another superb novel, was for Iian Pears compared to his admirable detective novel series.) While nominally a science-fiction novel set to some degree in the Second World War, it is only so to the extent that Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" is a science-fiction novel set to some degree in the Second World War.Using crptography as a catalyst/excuse, Stephenson casts a 900 page web of magic over language. One doesn't need to be a linguist to enjoy what Stephenson is about, but a love of words is a real plus in understanding this remarkable fiction. The plot, unfortunately, is far too convoluted to describe here without transgressing the thousand word limit imposed by amazon.com center, but suffice it to say that if you enjoy puzzles, you will not be disappointed. If Sterne, Dickens, Eliot (George and T.S.), Ford, Joyce, Lessing, Faulkner, McElroy, Gaddis, Pynchon, Wallace, and, most recently, Zadie Smith, are in your literary pantheon, you should have read this book already. So buy it now.
Rating: 
Summary: Not wierd enough
Review: While this still harolds the unique style and perverted sense of humor that Stephenson is famous for, it doesn't seem to have the inspired vigor that Snow Crash or Diamond Age did. It drags on in places, covers the dryer historical details in a tedious and often unnecisary manner, but does occationally shine brightly enough that if you like Stephenson, it's reccomended. If you're a paranoid hacker and believe the world will be taken over by who has the best codes/crackers, then by all means enjoy. If you'd rather wait until Neil can come up with something so wacky and bizarre that you can't believe you just read that, then hold off, and he might get the signal.
Rating:
Summary: I have become a Neal Stephenson fan!
Review: I loved this book so much I promptly bought Snow Crash, which I also loved, and I'll read the others too now. What fascinated me about Cryptonomicon was the WWII story part. I have read all of the Ultra books, and this book picked up where the Ultra books left off. I felt like this book provided information I had always wanted to know about cracking codes and subterfuge. (I am not a computer programmer, so don't ask me why I always wanted to know these things). Stephenson is a very witty author, and I found myself laughing out loud at his characters and his comments. His characters are not only "true to life," but he has the ability to make them quirky and interesting. This is the mark of a novelist that does more than just crank out a good story. The story reads like a Custler Dirk Pitt novel, except that the wonderful quirky nerds really have to work hard to get the girl. I am really glad I bought this book and will now read everything by Stephenson.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much stuffing.
Review: Neal Stephenson might well have told his story in some 300 pages instead of 910 if he had left out things like a 17 page email from the story's main character. I found the insertion of Stephenson's pet 'ideas' annoying - they have little to do with the story. Snow Crash was substantially better.
Rating:
Summary: Another Stephenson Hit
Review: A great story that held my attention throughout. An intriguing mix of cryptography, hacking (in the true sense), and WWII espionage. Unlike anything else. Stephenson's attention to detail and knack for storytelling make this a top read.
Rating:
Summary: Cryptonomicon
Review: This will be at least as influential as "Snow Crash," a book that changed the nature of virtual online chatrooms. Of all his published works, this one is the most inticately dramatic. It covers 950 pages over 50 years. I find myself reading up on codes (a subject I previously thought boring), and noticing an upsurge in offshore data haven IPO's. Stephenson has become the Jules Verne prophet of the cyberpunk set, leaving William Gibson in the dust. Out of the last 5 books, two will become classics, not a bad record at all. Lookout Sterling, this author has really found his stride! Right now, he's the best of the genre and this is his best book yet! Ignore it at your own future peril.
Rating:
Summary: Lasting enjoyment
Review: It took me a few pages to get into Cryptonomicon because it's a fairly complex affair: Three main narratives (four if you count Goto's story) intertwined with each other. Two are set in WW2, one in the present. All of them operate on a truly global scale. It must have been tremendously difficult to write this book and Stephenson has done an awesome job! Once I found my way into the story, it was a rollercoaste: the suspense keeps building up and the book is full of action, ideas, strange characters and historical, geographical and cultural background. This book could have been your three standard novels: One US Marines in WW2 action-story, one historical novel about Turing/Enigma/Bletchley Park and one Cyber/Techno/Finance thriller about building a data-haven in SE Asia and creating a Virtual Currency. But then, even with three books you would still be missing the vicious humour of the story: In parts it felt like a cross between Catch 22 and a Ben Elton novel!
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