Rating: 
Summary: Even better the second time
Review: I've just finished my first re-read of Cyptonomicon, and I enjoyed it just as much the second time as the first. This is not a book for casual reading. There is quite a lot of cleverness going on that requires that you pay attention.The concepts -- the tug between privacy and ease, the use and misuse of encryption, the contribution that secrecy and the breach of secrecy have in society -- are interesting topics and the novel goes some distance to inform, not just preach. By the way, after reading this book, I was compelled to read a couple of histories of WWII code breaking. Serious stuff!
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Summary: Neal's War and Peace
Review: This time Neal tells two stories in one, spanning several generations. ...and makes you wait 'till the last 50 pages to tie up all the *many* threads. It takes a few hundred pages to draw you in, but once it does you won't put it down and it's worth every page! There is less culturally-oriented social commentary than in Diamond Age and more relationship-oriented commentary...immensely entertaining, especially if you or your "better half" is a software engineer. And there's just enough of this to complement the fantastic story without getting in its way. Incidentally, it's not sci-fi. It tracks some modern day high-tech entrepreneurs as their business plan(s) are progressively mangled by events rooted in World War II. (It's worth buying for the business plan chapter alone!) Neal's best yet!
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Summary: XXth Century Time Warp
Review: Large books engender both fear and anticipation. Fear that one has bought a verbose crock, and anticipation that delight and wonderment may occur. Cryptonomicon is the latter all the way. Its characters are bizarre but fascinating, its view of technology innovative and its plot rich and complex. Best of all is its weave of the mid-century global war into the computerised present day world without dwelling on the events between, driving the reader to see how the world arrived where it is today. A Classic; all my family and several friends enjoyed it without exception.
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Summary: It's in the words
Review: The joy of reading Neil Stephenson is in the words. There's nothing in Cryptonomicon plot-wise that can't be found in a Len Deighton or (shudder) Clive Cussler novel, but the sturdily constructed and imaginatively embroidered plot constitutes about, oh, 5 percent of the worth and the fun of the book. The other 95 percent is Neil Stephenson's way with words. Neil is Mr. Word Choice. Mr. Clever Word Choice. Mr. This Word Will Make You Laugh at an Otherwise Inappropriate Time Choice. But ONE THOUSAND pages of Sardonic Word Choices? That should get old. Other writers tread the edge between sardonic and cynical. Stephen King does it but he bails out into the horrible. Tom Clancy does it (increasingly competently) but he bails out into the gory. Stephenson begins by righting himself on the knife-edge of his wit and starts off at a faster than normal walking tempo toward his destination. Then after a while is making headlong dashes right down that same gleaming divider as if he didn't know it was supposed to slice him in half with a somewhat silly result. But he keeps going and you're both reading the story and waiting for the literary wreck, which never comes. Aside from the hours you'll spend discovering that you don't need William F. Buckley's vocabulary to delight yourself with words, another pleasant aspect of Stephenson's books is that any character whose company you share for more than a pair of paragraphs turns out to be intelligent. You know those subplotted suspense potboilers where you're forced to spend every fifth chapter with some very determined person motivated by extreme and permanent hatred, but possessing the subtlety and mental skill of a tractor tire? Wrong book. Not found here. Cryptonomicon isn't science fiction, per se; it's a suspense novel set in a more or less Earth-normal setting, although a few proper names get changed for apparently whimsical reasons (Linux becomes Finux--"Finland", get it?). It could form the basis of additional works set in the near future, of course. I'm delighted to see an accomplished word-mangler like Stephenson enjoy success. He's exceedingly good at what he does, but don't think he's unique! If you enjoy his style you should check out some other authors with exceptional prose skills and a wry sense of humor: R. A. Lafferty, Robert Anton Wilson (I recommend the Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy), Fritz Leiber (Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories), early Fred Pohl, and of course Kurt Vonnegut.
Rating:
Summary: Superb yet defies genre boundaries
Review: In 1942, the US Navy assigns Captain Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse to Detachment 2702 in Bletchley Park, England, home of the Allies cryptography team. The Axis' codes have been previously broken. Thus, the job of this top-secret team is to keep the Nazis in the dark that the Allies know the deepest military secrets of Germany and Japan and use the information to maximize the war effort. Heading up the effort is US Marine Bobby Shaftoe. In the present time, Lawrence's grandson Randy Waterhouse has inherited the family's brilliant math gene. Using computers, he, like his grandfather is a cryptographic expert. Working in Southeast Asia, Randy is developing an encrypted massive data warehouse to keep out corporate and government spies. Randy works with Bobby's granddaughter Amy. However, as the present ties back to the past, everyone wants to either steal or shut down the efforts of Randy and Amy. The mind-boggling CRYPTONOMICON shows why Neal Stephenson is both a New York Times best selling author and a cult hero. The story line is actually two major plots that fully tie together in spite of the fifty plus years' difference. The characters feel genuine and the audience will root for Randy to best his opponents. However, this opus belongs to cryptography, which takes on an identity of its own. Although the depth of detail might turn off some readers, as at times it becomes difficult for those of us who think math is a second language to fully understand the coding provided by Mr. Stephenson, the fabulous novel remains fast-paced and exciting. Readers will devour the tale, codes and all. Set aside several days and enjoy the best cryptographic-based tale since Poe's Gold Bug introduced the concept to literature. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: A challenge worth the effort
Review: Stephenson has created a new world again. Yes, this is a long book. Yes, it is extremely technical. Yes, it makes you think. Yes, it is worth the effort! Most of the reviews I've seen here alternate between 'love it' and 'hate it'. My experience is that it was an excellent book, but not for its storylines as much as for its ideas. Like Snowcrash and Diamond Age, Stephenson has developed his crystal ball vision of the future in an entertaining format. His vision becomes so compelling as to become self-fulfilling - like Heinlein's invention of the waterbed, but on a much grander scale. I studied engineering in college and have worked in the computer industry for the last 7 years, but I still found Cryptonomicon challenging intellectually. I had to re-read certain passages to try to understand them. Unlike some of the reviewers here, I didn't mind that. If you are looking for a light, SnowCrash-like read, this is not the book for you. If you want a well written but dense and interesting novel, it is. Regarding all the comments about the end not being brought together, two comments. First, I think the storylines were fairly clearly related by the end of the book - anything more would have seemed artificial. Second, it is the first book in a Trilogy (it says so in the afterword), so I don't necessarily expect all the 'loose ends' to be tidied up.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read - could benefit from some editing.
Review: If you liked Snow Crash you will like Cryptonomicon. The character development has many nice touches. Swear words in the characters' dialogue is normal, but the use of swear words in the author's narrative bothered me. As did referring to Japanese as Nips. I approve of the inclusion of some technical computer science, math and cryptography.
Rating: 
Summary: A complete disappointment
Review: Riding on the wave of Stephenson's awe-inspiring sci-fi powerhouse Snow Crash, I immedietely jumped into this book with the same enthusiasm as other great followers to the tune of Ringworld Engineers (Niven), Ender's Shadow (Card) and The Return of the King (Tolkein). Does anyone have any water? Can someone please put this fire out? I was surprised it was such an upset because I remember one of my friends telling me that he liked it so much, he read it in 3 days. It took me 3 months! Stephenson goes absolutely nowhere in developing his plot for the length of the entire book (>900 pages!). Our protagonist, Randy Waterhouse, is nothing but a wimpy computer geek that can't make up his own mind and relies on his boss to think for him. His grandfather, in a separate storyline, is likewise a mathematical wimp/genius whose experiences regulary gave me a swift night's sleep. Then there's Bobby Shaftoe, in yet a third storyline, who was probably the reason that I had the nerve to finish the book. Reading Shaftoe's experience as a soldier in WWII was by far the best part of this novel. His relationship with Goto Dengo, secret missions and climatic end retained just enough entertainment value to get me to page 913. If it weren't for him, this would be the second book I would have ever put down in disgust (the first was the Legacy of Heorot). Of course, then there's the fact that Stephenson doesn't know how to end a book. When there are separate storylines, you generally expect the author to tie them together at some point. Although I'll admit the storylines had vague relationships, none of them were direct enough. When this book ended, I threw it across the room in complete disgust. I'm only glad I read it so that I can warn readers like yourself before you consider investing the time necessary to finish this disaster of a novel. What a waste of time... rating: 1 star
Rating: 
Summary: Some Sections are Amazingly Good, Overall Rather Poor
Review: This book is about 50-60% too long. There are some really good ideas and incredibly well-written parts, but the writing is very inconsistent. A good editor would've made him keep re-writing until the book as a whole was a diamond - unfortunately instead we got lots of gems scattered through the pages. And hey, some of the gems are as long as 3 paragraphs - but out of a 1000 page book? Worth reading if you've got lots of time to kill and don't mind reading so-so prose for long stretches of pages while waiting for the next gem to come along, but he is so clearly capable of so much better that it seems a shame to support half-baked efforts. Send his publisher a message and do everyone a favor by making NS do his best in the future. Borrow it from a library...
Rating:
Summary: The best Stephenson book yet
Review: I didn't really get into Snow Crash, and I loved the Diamond Age, so I figured I had a 50/50 chance of liking this book. And it didn't disappoint at all - I love the way Stephenson jumps around between plotlines, keeping your interest in the characters and their stories intact. And I love the detail he goes into (esp wrt the offshore data haven, the crypto, the war details) - he combined a lot of my favorite topics into one fascinating novel.
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