Rating: 
Summary: Let's see em put this N. Stephenson book in the Sci Fi sect.
Review: It has always bothered me that Neal's books wind up in the Science Fiction section at book stores. They should really create a "technology novel" section.This book was the best, a bit over my head at times, but that means I'll have to read it again. And that does not bother me at all. It's a great read, I had a hard time putting it down. Neal Stephenson just keeps getting better and better.
Rating:
Summary: Cryptonomicon: a Slamming Good Read!
Review: A super book! A great follow-up in the tradition of the Illuminatus Trilogy by R.A. Wilson. Neal Stephenson's attention to detail is thought provoking and enlightening. The book starts off in WWII and takes us to the present with flashbacks all the way. Each of the (past/present) stories are captivating and worthy on their own merit. Thank you Neal!
Rating:
Summary: great read
Review: Neal Stephenson's big sprawling book was a total delight to read. Full of sneaky asides about our culture and with a surprisingly tight story line considering the scope of all the threads. This is an author who is way smarter and way more talented than the rest of us..may he write for next fifty years.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable but flawed
Review: I liked this book. The plot kept me turning pages, the local lore was fascinating, the cryptanalysis is intriguing, and Stephenson has a way with words. This book was more absorbing than another ambitious and huge novel, DeLillo's Underworld (which is a snooze after the first chapter). So why only three stars? Well, first, I was much more taken with the World War II story than with the present-day story. Maybe war is just intrinsically more interesting than business and technology. But I think it's more than that. The main present-day character, Randy Waterhouse, is dull; he's a clueless geek, and it's hard to see how anyone could fall in love with him. And I do not want to read several pages describing how Randy eats his Cap'n Crunch! Another thing that rubbed me the wrong way was Stephenson's occasional lapse into a smarty-pants, overly precious narrative voice. His omniscient narrator sometimes comes across as having all of the nerdy superficiality of a Circuit City salesman. It's like Pynchon at his most annoying. Finally, a complaint about Avon Books. They should fire the proofreader for this novel! There are hundreds of typos, including plenty of grammatical mistakes, inconsistent spellings, and bad punctuation. (I volunteer to proofread Stephenson's next novel for a mere 1% of the gross!) OK, rant over. I still recommend this book, and look forward to reading the next novel in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps Stephenson's Best Novel To Date
Review: Having read all of his work, I am torn as to whether this one or Snow Crash is the best. But what a difficult choice, since they're both wonderful. Stephenson delights in plots which jump around in time and space but some of his earlier novels have been marred ever so slightly by the difficulty of transitioning from one time or locale to the next. That problem is entirely absent here - he jumps from WWII to the present day in almost every chapter but does it so smoothly you never lose track of the narrative. The plot is also thickly woven and the details showcase Stephenson penchant for exhaustive research. One cannot say enough good things about a book that teaches as it entertains, and Stephenson excels at this in every outing. Nothing's changed here - you will walk away from this book (pretty quickly, too, since it's so hard to put down) having learned more than you ever thought you'd want to know about encryption - and a few other things, too. Personally, I would suggest reading one of his other novels (Snow Crash or maybe Zodiac) first then reading this one but you can't really go wrong with any of them. One thing is certain: Stephenson is the hottest writer of speculative fiction today. Check it out!
Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: This is a wonderful book that goes a step way beyond any of his other books. You have to be awake to read it however, and if you are the type of person who likes Michael Crichton-lets-get-on with-the-plot type books, this isn't for you. It's slow and meandering but extremely entertaining. I disagree with the writer below who didn't like the various digressions in the book--I found them clever and funny, and at times milk was coming out of my nose I was laughing so hard. His careful use of metaphor hits you over the head like a sledgehammer at times, but you have to be a careful reader to catch the subtleties. You can tell that Stephenson was writing for the fun of it and it shows. And Mr. Stephenson, if you read this, there are a couple medical inaccuracies I'd like to correct. Morphine causes pupils to constrict like pinpoints, not dilate, and people don't eat big breakfasts before surgery.
Rating:
Summary: Amazed and amused
Review: Neil Stephenson's work, Cryptonomicon, is a must read for anyone interested in the issues of digital safety. How do we communicate safely? How do we bank safely? Stephenson explores these issues with great humor and fascinating characters that debate the issues of cryptography, of love, war, environmental safety, etc, etc. in this masterwork. It has been ages since a book has made me laugh out loud many times at the absurdities it reveals of its all-too-human characters. The addition of clever graphs and diagrams enhance the enjoyment of learning the art of cryptography (hiding words) and of tunnel digging (hiding treasure). If you like novels that stimulate your thinking about current events, that make you giggle and goggle with amazement at clever thoughts and characters, by all means read Cryptonomicon, and be sure to tell your friends! P.S. - don't be scared by its long length - the story and characters leave you running hard until you sadly enjoy the last page.
Rating:
Summary: Neal Stephenson's Best Book Yet
Review: Here's Neal Stephenson's dirty little secret...for better or worse, he's NOT a science fiction writer. What he is is a damned good writer who knows technology and makes it an integral part of everything he writes. I just finished reading Cryptonomicon for the second time (a massive undertaking) and enjoyed it even more than the first time. I loved it first time through, but I was rewarded on the second pass with even more cross-overs between past and present I hadn't noticed before. Being a techno-geek myself, I appreciate main character Randy Waterhouse's worldview and the author's inclusion of some computer program source code in the text. The programming is not intrusive, though, and could easily be skimmed without much loss for those who are not so tech-savvy. Stephenson continues to prove himself a versatile, genre and style hopping writer. Zodiac, Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, and Cryptonomicon each are very different, but they are unified by Stephenson's skills of observation and character development. Read 'em all!
Rating: 
Summary: ...the answer is 'Yes!'
Review: An excellent read, Cryptonomicon swings rhythmically between between two WWII characters and two in the present whose narratives cross tangentially: mathematical ubergenius Lawrence Waterhouse, cynical roughneck Bobby Shaftoe and their grandchildren Randy and America. This engaging structure echoes the parallel between the archaic codebreaking universe of Enigma machines and vacuum tubes and modern cryptography and network security. Note that the book's pace also swings, from adrenaline-pumping to deliberate and expository; it's not uniformly a page-turner. The depth of historical detail adds greatly, but the lengthy Cap'n Crunch diatribe and an equation for Lawrence's libido are superfluous. I also wish the only prominent woman, Amy Shaftoe, was more developed than being a mere prop in Randy's story. Overall, the entwined plots make this a rapid read for its length, worthy of its acclaim (anointed the quintessential cypherpunk epic of 99/00, though as much by the Luddite press and its own publishers as the crypto-hacker community). Separately, while I don't blame Stephenson, Avon's editing was notably shoddy; the book contains typos and errors of continuity and grammar. A 4096-bit crypto key morphs into a 4069-bit key. A 'T' in a partially decrypted message becomes the third 'R' in "Attack Pearl Harbor December Seven." Randy powers his laptop with "a twelve-bolt adapter." What are evil publishing conglomerates for, if not to catch these things? Nonetheless, if you have any question about whether to pick up this book...
Rating:
Summary: Almost brilliant (again)
Review: Neal - if you read this, get an editor! As in Stephenson's otehr books, this is a marvellous complex soup of thrills, wit, great characters, fascinating research and downright superb writing. Also as in his other books it ends suddenly, with no sense of closure, leaving lots of loose ends and a number of major enigmas (what the hell was Andrew Loeb up to?, Why wasn't Root dead). Still - despite its faults, a memorable book, full of startling images that does a fantastic job or interweaving 2 timelines. The bit about 'Card-based role-playing games' (sic) is, sadly, utter bunk. Stephenson obviously knows OF Magic: the Gathering, but knows nothing ABOUT it. It made me wonder how much of the rest, which seemed to be well-researched, was equally inaccurate. Still - a great book.
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