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Tangent, but Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson[1] is a good novel that touches on WWII cryptography topics really well, going decently mathematically deep into t
by emsal 6y ago
Tangent, but Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson[1] is a good novel that touches on WWII cryptography topics really well, going decently mathematically deep into the mechanics of how they work. I'm about 75% of the way through.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon
- LMYahooTFY 6y agoSerendipitous, I'm also about 75% of the way through! It's one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. Perhaps the most. I very highly recommend it, though I imagine much of HN's audience has done so or is at least aware of it.
- rjknight 6y agoI'm also 75% of the way through... my fourth read-through. It's notable how my opinion of the major characters changes each time I read it.
- 3001 6y agoPlease reply your take when you are 99% of the way through
- killion 6y agoI had the exact same thought. There is no feeling like the frustration of a disappointing ending after being engrossed in a Neal Stephenson book. When they were paper books at least you could throw them across the room. Now that would break my phone.
- ridruejo 6y agoShare your frustration. This one did not disappoint me though
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- kkylin 6y agoI haven't been disappointed by the endings of his more recent novels: Cryptonomicon, Anathem, Seveneves. (I did not enjoy time spent on REAMDE, that being the only exception.)
- jgon 6y agoOf those 3 I was only somewhat happy with Anathem. I couldn't finish REAMDE and Seveneves convinced me that I may not read another one of his books again, unless it debuts to unanimous critical acclaim or something similar. I thought the ending of Cryptonomicon was pretty weak but the rest of the novel leading up to it was so fantastic that I didn't care. Honestly I found the Baroque Cycle to have the best ending of any of his works, and I would describe it as the one time I was happy with both the journey and the destination of a Stephenson novel.
- kkylin 6y agoOf those three I was initially least interested in reading Anathem. Maybe as a result, I was most pleasantly surprised by it. Agree that none of these compare to the Baroque Cycle.
- dharmab 6y agoI've devoured several of his books multiple times but could not finish REAMDE.
- kkylin 6y agoYeah, I kinda forced myself through that one. Not sure it was a good decision.
- robbiep 6y agoI read Reamde after Dodge and it made a lot more sense
- kkylin 6y agoThat's interesting. I haven't read Dodge. Thanks!
- InTheArena 6y agoI loved the ending to the baroque cycle, but otherwise. Yeah. This.
- comboy 6y agoIt's .. fine. To me NS books are not much about the plot though. I'm floored how many things that guy knows and how creatively he connect them.
- emsal 6y agoThat's true, I don't even remember the ending to Snow Crash which I read some ~6 years ago. The unraveling premise that comes about in the ~3rd quarter of the book is what stuck with me. Think it'll be the same for Cryptonomicon.
- LMYahooTFY 6y agoI've finished it. I thoroughly loved it. I don't want to go into any spoiling detail if you haven't read it? It's only been some hours, so I'm honestly still processing a lot of it. I'll definitely be rereading it. It's considerably grander in scale than Snow Crash, his only other Novel I've read so far, but I'm quite excited to read his other novels.
- tomjen3 6y agoA great book. If you want to explorer some of the same themes I recommend his Baroque cycle, which carries on with other characters that are the current charecters distant ancestors.
- lallysingh 6y agoIf you enjoyed Cryptonomicon and like Stephenson, don't read the Baroque cycle. Skip his work forward until Reamde.
- odiroot 6y agoThe audiobook narrated by the author is just hilarious. I was alternating reading with listening for fun.
- anonymousisme 6y agoI read it again last year and picked up on a few things that had slipped past my understanding the first time around. I had originally assumed that the present day Enoch Root was the child of Bobby's Nordic girlfriend, but it was obviously not the case upon my second reading. A few web searches revealed the supernatural nature of Root. I always wondered if Stephenson chose the name "Enoch Root" on a dare, or maybe he has some other story. It's probably something related to an "Enterprise NOC Root" computer account.
- knowaveragejoe 6y agoEnoch is a character in multiple biblical stories: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoch_(ancestor_of_Noah) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoch_(ancestor_of_Noah) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoch_(son_of_Cain) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoch_(son_of_Cain)
- mercurialshark 6y agoYes and when Neal was asked about Enoch during a speaking appearance, he noted that Enoch was one of the first people in the bible whose death wasn't recorded/noted. Apparently, most people early in the bible that were mentioned had both birth/death notated. At some point they stopped bothering with so many new parties introduced and he was one of (if not the) first to not have their story/death brought to a conclusion.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- mark242 6y agoEnoch Root is a pretty interesting guy. You should read the Baroque Cycle series to get a little bit of his backstory.
- robbiep 6y agoHe's also in Dodge