Cryptonomicon

Rating:
Summary: BORING, SELF-INDULGENT, BORING
Review: This book was an incredible disappointment. The plot was VERY thin, not even as interesting as the jacket blurb. The style was self-indulgent, as if the author took his diary/journal and worked every buzz-concept and wired side box he had ever heard and melded it together with banal dialog. I took this on a 12 hour flight to London, and wanted to jump out of the plane after three hours. Terrible in concept, terrible in detail. Want to buy my copy?

Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly engaging hacker epic
Review: Tackling any book of 900+ pages is an effort... but when it's of the exceptional quality of Cryptonomicon, it's an effort to be enjoyed. I can't praise this book enough - part historical fiction, part hacker epic, you'll find yourself wrapped up in the not-so-implausible world that Stephenson creates.

Employees at dot coms will love his boilerplate business plan - so accurate it's almost eerie. Hackers will love his in-depth explanations of phreaking, data havens, and cryptanalysis. History buffs will love his attention to detail, his weaving of multiple WWII plot lines (Enigma, Bletchley Park, sub warfare, the battle in the pacific) and his ability to connect the past with the present. In short, there's something for everyone.

Reading Cryptonomicon was, for me, much like reading Stephen King's The Stand. It's an epic tale with almost too much to digest in one reading. The characters are real, you'll find yourself identifying closely with at least one of the characters, and you'll connect to the story in a very personal way.

To really enjoy the book, you'll need to embrace Stephenson's sometimes wandering eye... what seems like a digression (and the digressions may end up taking 40-50 pages) really is relevant, and the rides are often quite fun. Stephenson has a gift for making extraordinarily complex science and math digestible for laypeople, but you will have to pay attention. There's little here that can be ignored, or you'll find yourself skipping back a chapter or two to fill in a whole.

Apparently this book was close to twice as long when originally submitted, and Stephenson "ripped" much of it out in the interest of "brevity". (!) Fortunately for us, that means that the sequel/prequel can't be too far behind.

Rating:
Summary: Needless errors and waffle spoil the read
Review: Based on Neal's previous great books I expected a stimulating thought provoking good read, but was disappointed. What I got was a book that contained a litlle fascinating material mixed in with what I perceive as waffle. As an actuary with a minor interest in encryption, I have read some informative books, and am reasonably familiar with the mathematics. Perhaps the book would have seemed better if I did not have this background. Most disturbing were errors which would not have occurred if minimal and easy research had been done eg armed services ranks used in Australia are not the same as those used in the USA. When I read a book containing basic errors I find it most difficult to accept that other "factual" material is either correct or has sound foundations. Based on this book alone, I cannot recommend the author.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry it was only 900 pages
Review: I'm still trying to figure out whether a page-turner so clever, so crafted, can be considered great literature. Dang, that's a hard one. Or whether it really matters if the ending to the Odyssey was done "hit the brakes" style, and whether any of the handful of rough spots in this mountain of gems should be given the attention some of the other reviewers have given them. I read this book relatively slowly, because a third of the way through I realized it was too enjoyable to waste. Now I'm sorry it's over, and going back to reread some of the trophies I flagged.

Maybe some of the naysayers were looking for "get on with it" fast-pulp. Based of his very bright but uneven Snow Crash, I had expected a good sci-fi book. What I got blew me away. Cryptonomicon is a grand book, original, but if you want an idea, perhaps a cross between Laurence Sterne, Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, Pynchon and Tom Clancy. Absolutely stunning at times. At its worst, it's still a great paperback. You can't go wrong. Where did he GET all of this texture? Touches on so many important issues, so rich in vivid detail and observation, that it's fair to call it one of the first of a new generation of books born of the Web. Not in any trendy sense, but in that it bears the mark of the Infinitely Informed. That "click-through to keep going further" feeling.

p.s. World War II was arguably in the same general era as ours, as Stephenson more or less credibly points out. It's a stretch, but it works. I do truly shudder at the thought of a follow-up set in the 17th century. Mainly because Stephenson's strength is *precisely* in that which makes us "modern". Please, Neal, if you're reading this, don't do an Anne Rice.

Rating:
Summary: He really gets it
Review: If you're a hacker, or even think you know what one is, you need to read this book. Once you're done, you'll have an astoundingly accurate picture of what a hacker *really* is (not necessarily what CNN says we are), and you'll have enjoyed a well-written story to boot.

The plot is quite intricate, and jumps back and forth from WWII to the modern day with gleeful abandon. The characters are mostly well-written, though with so many, it's inevitable that you'll be left wanting to know some of them better (Randy's grandfather comes to mind here). Like Clancy, there's lots of technical information thrown in, but it really does advance the plot, not just display the author's technical prowess -- in most cases, anyway. This may be the first novel I've ever read with a Perl script in it, and definitely the first that devotes several pages to the proper way to eat Captain Crunch.

Be prepared to spend lots of time with this novel. If you're a hacker, you'll identify deeply with a number of the characters. If you're not, don't worry -- there's lots of other folk in there. And the story is great. Definitely a good investment of your entertainment dollar.

Rating:
Summary: Fastest 900 pages I have ever read.
Review: Okay. First a bit about me... I am a programmer with some interest in computer security, and I have been fascinated by the Enigma and WWII spying in general. I was a math major in college, and I enjoy a lot of technical stuff. I also know a little Japanese so I even caught some of the Japanese puns in this book.

So basically, I am the quintessential nerd -- the type of guy who could empty a cocktail party faster than a bomb scare. I'm like Dilbert, only not as good looking. That said, I would still recommend this book to normal people. It has a very good storyline (actually two simultaneous storylines almost 50 years apart), interesting characters, and relationships and details that tie together in fascinating ways.

A friend of mine who is an actress (in L.A. even nerds know actresses), said that she thought this book would be a bore but once she got started, was drawn in.

Rating:
Summary: Great high-tech panoramic book by a genius
Review: This is a great panoramic book written by a genius. Better again then his previous novels. It's suspenseful, thrilling, adventurous, funny and well-written. It's about World War II, espionage, U-boats, survival and the hiding of gold, and about the information age, high-tech startups, computers, cryptography and the searching of gold. The book jumps back and forth through space and time with every chapter, and involves so many interconnected stories that you sometimes lose track of what happened. But history is like that too. There are prolonged and detailed descriptions of all kinds of things and events but it never gets boring because they're invariable interesting, and because of the writing style. Allthough some of the characters are caricatures, most of them are interesting. There are some loose ends though. In the end not all characters are accounted for. And who in the ... was this fellow Andy Loeb exactly? And how does he suddenly show up at the end in a business suit with a bow and arrow in the middle of the jungle? It's a very male book too of course. I can't imagine women liking this book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: This is the best book that I have read in a long time. Stephenson weaves the story back and forth through time and place expertly.

This is a big story, with tons of details and characters. Most lines come together very nicely, but just enough is left open for a sequel.

If you have any interest in technology, history, or just good character development, get this book.

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This is a great book. I was very sorry to finish the book, but at least at that point I got a life back. The story is a great read. Typical stephenson story telling. My wife, who is non-technical, couldn't put the book down.

Rating:
Summary: "Brevity is the soul of wit" -- W. Shakespeare.
Review: "Wit", in Elizabethan context, meaning "intelligence" or "wisdom". Along those lines, I'll try to follow the Bard's aphorism in BRIEFLY reviewing *Cryptonomicon* -- perhaps Mr. Stephenson will find my example instructive.

OK -- take out all the bad similes, of which 2 or 3 pepper each page, and the novel instantly becomes no longer than 800 pages. Tighten the plot and remove extraneous details, and you've got no more than 600 pages. And this is most crucial -- leave all the "postmodern" whingeing to T. Pynchon and his countless imitators . . . suddenly you have a nice futuristic hybrid of a novel no longer than 450 pages. This would benefit *Cryptonomicon*, which has an inherently interesting story to tell but is weighted down with more ambition than Mr. Stephenson's talent can realize. He's a good sci-fi writer (especially when predicting scenarios of the near-future), and should stick to that genre. See "Snow Crash" as an example. But he really should drop the literary pretensions. Because *Cryptonomicon* tries to be both genre AND literary, it fails on both counts -- both urges work against each other. When I heard that Mr. Stephenson was embarking on a sequel which takes place in 1700, I shuddered.