Cryptonomicon

Rating:
Summary: His best so far.
Review: First, it must be said that Stephenson either cannot or will not write an ending. I suffered through the "Big U", I loved "Snow Crash" and still have no idea what his point was with "Diamond Age" (The Chinese will someday rule the world? OK, fine. Kids with adult participation in their lives have unlimited potential? Duh.) and I really, really like this book. Still, when it comes time to end the stories, we seem to finish when he runs out of ink, and not when the tale has been told.

Each of his stories seem to be inflicted at some point with John Sayles disease: This is everything I know about (fill in the blank). So why four stars? When he is good, which is most of the time, the sermons about religion, math etc. really fade from your conciousness. The characters are vivid and compelling. The action is funny even while tragic. The sidebar on Yamamoto's death is very funny, very moving and does a terrific job of quickly summing up the dreadful waste of war. The best men, on meaniless tasks, set up to die by superiors that are clearly inferior men.

Cryptonomicon is better everytime I read it. I have read the entire work several times, as well as following the story lines of Bobby Shaftoe, Goto Dengo, Randy Waterhouse and Lawrence Waterhouse each separately. The story holds up until the end, where I had to wonder if our heroes could actually accomplish the goals they set if they were actually successful and, of course, the abrupt termination of a really good yarn.

If this IS the first of a series, I'm down for the rest of the tale. While he may not be my first choice to baby sit my kids, Stephenson can count on me to line up at story time!

Rating:
Summary: Lots of lo-ong winded fun
Review: I really enjoyed this book, and can recommend it. My only caveat is what other reviewers have mentioned--it's just overstuffed. I was riveted right up until the last few chapters, when he started ANOTHER tangent--this time about diving technology and I got the bends.

Still, the guy is smarter and more knowledgeable than the next five authors put together. Real fun.

Rating:
Summary: The Great American Novel? Close....but
Review: Where to start?
I really love the story, the characters, the plot twist, the suspense, but.... and there is always a but.
...Too much that is not driving the story and the many, many tangents. I think Stephenson is an amazing author and I will definitely read his other works.
The story has two time lines and 4 story lines.
The modern story line is about some modern day business/hacker genius setting up a data/crypto haven in S.E. Asia. The characters are interesting, developed, and the story moves evenly.
The historical story, taking place during WWII, has 3 story lines. The first follows a US Marine through his world from S.E. Asia to Europe and then back to the Pacific theater. The second story line follows a Crypto Expert from Pearl Harbor to Europe and then the Pacific Theater. The third story line follows a Japanese soldier through some harrowing times while in the Pacific.
I don't want to give anything away in the plot line.
The most interesting thing about this novel is how all the characters, past and present, are connected and that their actions intertwine with each others.
The novel is filled with war, love, intrigue, spies, religion, government, hacking, and more. It is one heck of a ride and a joyous one.
I think that this book is on the verge of one of the greatest modern fictions, but it falls just short of the mark.
The one problem the book does suffer from is unneeded tangents. I am not referring to the stories that are well spaced and mixed together to keep you guessing of what is to happen, but rather the extras long winded spots that really do not propel the story.
I must say that I do enjoy the Tangents that the author takes and they are well written, but it really slows the book down, which is already more then a night's read at 1,000+ pages. The tangents alone could make a companion book.
My suggestion would have been to cut the Tangents or put them in the back of the book as an Appendix. Something called "Further Mind Games and Thoughts." These would not impact the story line. Maybe a good editor was in order. I hope that this is taken into consideration in a 2nd Edition.
I am still giving it 5 stars and would definitely recommended it to anyone. I hope that this is not the Zenith of Mr. Stephenson's career, if so he still has accomplished what most authors never do and that is to write one hell of a great novel.

Rating:
Summary: Top 10 All Time Favorites
Review: This book is one of the top 10 books that I have ever read. It's got it all: adventure, valor, history, romance, technology . . .

Rating:
Summary: Hmm... Still in Beta. Needs more testing.
Review: I did enjoy this book, but Stephenson appears to revel in dissecting the intricacies of various subjects that don't seem to have any direct correlation with the story. I found this distracting.

Loads of neat detail for the tech-heads.

The book would have been just as effective at a manageable 500 pages.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinatingly exhausting
Review: You need a clear mind to read this--its great for traveling with. A 900 page hardcover text, this book draws the reader in and makes a great blend between two different story lines in two deifferent decades. Stephenson is a fantastic writer-- and by that I mean he is one who goes beyond things, I do not just comment on the greatness of his ability--but the fantasy is stretched only far enough that it is possible...and that's kind of scary. I included his work in a conference on Modern Fiction as a Self-Educational or Classroom TOol, along with Crichton.

Rating:
Summary: Can't imagine why you'd read a book about cryptography?
Review: Not a huge fan of his other work, frankly, but this was incredible. Codebreakers and accompanying derring-do were of no interest to me (or so I thought), so I don't know how I even ended up buying this, but I'm glad I did.

Despite the fact that this is a very thick book, with multiple storylines and zillions of characters, it seemed like a "quick read" because I was disinclined to put it down or start reading something else halfway through (a frequent habit of mine when a story flags).

Yeah, the female characters are kind of weak, but considering that military codebreakers and modern-day techno geeks are not overwhelmingly female, I didn't feel that the book was creating some artificial dearth in the face of real-life femme dominance of these industries.

Unfortunately, after epic chunks of interesting plots and asides and masterful weaving of past and present storylines, the ending is disorganized and rushed, which is typical of the Stephenson books I've read. Still, I liked this so well that I can't take away a star just because the author literally can't quit at the end of a story.

Rating:
Summary: Neal gets it right.
Review: I read both "Snow Crash" and "The Diamond Age" and had the same feelings about both: amazingly interesting concepts, good execution for the first 75%, and then a complete and total collapse in the final chapters. With "Cryptonomicon", Neal Stephenson finally gets it right. This book is an absorbing read from cover to cover and combines fiction with history and technical details in an extremely entertaining way.

Now if only he'd go back and re-write the endings of his other two books...

Rating:
Summary: A textbook, not a novel
Review: I read a couple hundred pages of this 1000+ sleeper before putting it down. Why bother wasting more time? The characters are so weak I just didn't give a damn, and I wasn't interested in a crypto primer.

It's like the author wanted to show off how clever his math demonstrations were, then used a WW2 setting to trick you into reading, thinking this was all actually going somewhere.

I'll pass, thanks.

Rating:
Summary: Sublime fiction; SIX stars would be more realistic
Review: Unbelieveably good from beginning to end. Three intimately engaging stories intertwined to make one incredible book. The reasearch required to construct the characters is unfathomable (note to Stephenson: Your fans are dying to read your stuff, but you can take ten years to put out another book half this good). The 900+ page novel enraptures the technophile, the history buff, the wanna-be Marine, the nerd, the genius and the idiot in all of us. If you like to read, and don't like "Cryptonomicon", I will buy it from you. The best part? It is the first in a projected trilogy from the best sci-fi writer alive.