Status
Available
Publication
Arrow (2000), Edition: 1, 928 pages
Description
Fiction. Science Fiction. Historical Fiction. HTML: Neal Stephenson hacks into the secret histories of nations and the private obsessions of men, decrypting with dazzling virtuosity the forces that shaped this century. In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse - mathematical genius and young Captain in the U.S. Navy - is assigned to Detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Waterhouse and Detachment 2702 - commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe - is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence has cracked the enemy's fabled Enigma code. It is a game, a cryptographic chess match between Waterhouse and his German counterpart, translated into action by the gung-ho Shaftoe and his forces. Fast-forward to the present, where Waterhouse's crypto-hacker grandson, Randy, is attempting to create a "data haven" in Southeast Asia - a place where encrypted data can be stored and exchanged free of repression and scrutiny. As governments and multinationals attack the endeavor, Randy joins forces with Shaftoe's tough-as-nails granddaughter, Amy, to secretly salvage a sunken Nazi submarine that holds the key to keeping the dream of a data haven afloat. But soon their scheme brings to light a massive conspiracy, with its roots in Detachment 2702, linked to an unbreakable Nazi code called Arethusa. And it will represent the path to unimaginable riches and a future of personal and digital liberty...or to universal totalitarianism reborn. A breathtaking tour de force, and Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon is profound and prophetic, hypnotic and hyper-driven, as it leaps forward and back between World War II and the World Wide Web, hinting all the while at a dark day-after-tomorrow. It is a work of great art, thought, and creative daring..… (more)
Media reviews
You'd think such a web of narratives would be hard to follow. Certainly, it's difficult to summarize. But Stephenson, whose science-fiction novels Snow Crash (1992) and The Diamond Age (1995) have been critical and commercial successes despite difficult plotting, has made a quantum jump here as a
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writer. In addition to his bravura style and interesting authorial choices (Stephenson tells each of his narratives in the present tense, regardless of when they occur chronologically), the book is so tightly plotted that you never lose the thread.
But Stephenson is not an author who's content just to tell good stories. Throughout the book, he takes on the task of explaining the relatively abstruse technical disciplines surrounding cryptology, almost always in ways that a reasonably intelligent educated adult can understand. As I read the book I marked in the margins where Stephenson found opportunities to explain the number theory that underlies modern cryptography; "traffic analysis" (deriving military intelligence from where and when messages are sent and received, without actually decoding them); steganography (hiding secret messages within other, non-secret communications); the electronics of computer monitors (and the security problems created by those monitors); the advantages to Unix-like operating systems compared to Windows or the Mac OS; the theory of monetary systems; and the strategies behind high-tech business litigation. Stephenson assumes that his readers are capable of learning the complex underpinnings of modern technological life. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member pinprick
It took me a little while to really get into this book, but once I did, I couldn't put it down. There was a so much going on at first it took me a while to absorb it all, but all that exposition was worth it. If you had told me I would be so in love with a book about math, cryptography, and WWII, I
The characters and scenarios Stephenson creates and describes are seated firmly in historical fact, but follow a different arc. What I enjoy about fiction that employs alternate history is when an author can seamlessly weave what is true about the story into what is imagined that could have been, as Stephenson does so well. It was bittersweet to see Alan Turing treated so well, knowing what the English government subjected him to after they discovered he was gay. The history of the Philippines and their involvement in WWII was also fascinating, and I enjoyed how Stephenson wove together generations of stories into one cohesive whole. It was tremendously satisfying to see what the children and grandchildren of the protagonists got up to, how their ancestors had set things up that would unfold years and years later. The interconnectedness of the stories, the narratives, was done so well.
I probably can't give a very good or critical review of this book because I did enjoy it so much. It was one of those books where I grew so fond of the characters that I became biased. I think it's most important to note that I don't believe I was the books "target audience," I'm a woman who isn't really isn't into math or science or war stories, but still found it so well-written, so wonderful, that I enjoyed every minute of reading it, and would recommend it without haste to anyone else. If that isn't the mark of a good book, I'm not sure what is.
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would have laughed at you, and yet, it turned out to be true. This book was a rollicking good time, funny and sweet and sad and illuminating; and even though it was quite lengthy, I was sad to see it end. I was truly surprised by how much I enjoyed reading this book; I was never terribly interested in the topics covered, and didn't think I knew enough about WWII to understand what was going on. The characters made the subject matter entirely relatable and enjoyable, however, and I found myself doing additional reading about WWII and cryptography because I was so fascinated with the story. The characters and scenarios Stephenson creates and describes are seated firmly in historical fact, but follow a different arc. What I enjoy about fiction that employs alternate history is when an author can seamlessly weave what is true about the story into what is imagined that could have been, as Stephenson does so well. It was bittersweet to see Alan Turing treated so well, knowing what the English government subjected him to after they discovered he was gay. The history of the Philippines and their involvement in WWII was also fascinating, and I enjoyed how Stephenson wove together generations of stories into one cohesive whole. It was tremendously satisfying to see what the children and grandchildren of the protagonists got up to, how their ancestors had set things up that would unfold years and years later. The interconnectedness of the stories, the narratives, was done so well.
I probably can't give a very good or critical review of this book because I did enjoy it so much. It was one of those books where I grew so fond of the characters that I became biased. I think it's most important to note that I don't believe I was the books "target audience," I'm a woman who isn't really isn't into math or science or war stories, but still found it so well-written, so wonderful, that I enjoyed every minute of reading it, and would recommend it without haste to anyone else. If that isn't the mark of a good book, I'm not sure what is.
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LibraryThing member cajela
This is another re-read for me, inspired by reading Anathem. It's brilliant. Part historical novel, part thriller, and part popular science, it's a wild ride mixing the bloody horrors of war with the intellectual calm of mathematics.
Cryptonomicon follows the stories of several men whose lives
Stephenson is wonderfully detailed, and loves to drop into explanatory mode. You learn about Van Eck freaking, cryptography, corporate law, geek culture, and how Randy likes to eat his Cap'n Crunch cereal. I find these digressions fascinating and oddly restful: they act as little intervals in the action.
I think I have to go re-read the whole Baroque cycle, System of the World, now. There's more interweaving to be found there; with the Shaftoes and Roots and Qwghlmians...
Cryptonomicon follows the stories of several men whose lives
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intersect over events connected with WW2 encryption. They are Lawrence the mathematician and friend of Alan Turing; Goto Dengo, a Japanese engineer; Bobby Shaftoe, a US marine; and Randy the modern hacker - that's hacker in the honourable sense. All the story threads eventually tie up together, but I'll avoid spoilers.Stephenson is wonderfully detailed, and loves to drop into explanatory mode. You learn about Van Eck freaking, cryptography, corporate law, geek culture, and how Randy likes to eat his Cap'n Crunch cereal. I find these digressions fascinating and oddly restful: they act as little intervals in the action.
I think I have to go re-read the whole Baroque cycle, System of the World, now. There's more interweaving to be found there; with the Shaftoes and Roots and Qwghlmians...
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LibraryThing member mrtall
Neal Stephenson’s massive, eclectic, fascinating and occasionally hilarious Cryptonomicon defies categories (and editing). It’s a wide-ranging and exciting historical novel that also manages to be an ur-text for techies and geeks.
Briefly – although where Stephenson is concerned, that’s a
The book’s title is nod to the Waterhouse clan’s gift for cryptography, with Lawrence both creating and breaking codes with the help of novelized historical figures such as Alan Turing, and Randy leveraging his crypto skilz to protect – and gain – secret knowledge that’s vital to increasing his company’s value for its shareholders.
All this sounds immensely dull, but Cryptonomicon is anything but. It’s sometimes uneven, and its ending is perhaps a bit rushed (endings are Stephenson’s bête noire) but this book is loaded with memorable characters, scenes and tasty historical tidbits. It’s also the pre-sequel (written before but set historically later) to Stephenson’s monumental Baroque Cycle (those who have read that work will already have recognized the Shaftoe and Waterhouse names).
How does one select and present a microcosm of Stephenson’s genius? Well, there is a well-known scene in this book in which Randy Waterhouse eats a bowl of Cap’n Crunch breakfast cereal – and nothing else happens. It goes on for pages, and it’s one of the more riveting sequences you will ever read.
Highly recommended.
Briefly – although where Stephenson is concerned, that’s a
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relative concept – Cryptonomicon traces the history of three generations of two very different but equally representative American families: the math-n-engineering-focused Waterhouses, and the hardy and adventurous warrior Shaftoes. Lawrence Waterhouse and Bobby Shaftoe play key roles at many junctures and on several fronts in WWII, and their grandchildren Randy and Amy meet up in a very modern business-technology venture. The book’s title is nod to the Waterhouse clan’s gift for cryptography, with Lawrence both creating and breaking codes with the help of novelized historical figures such as Alan Turing, and Randy leveraging his crypto skilz to protect – and gain – secret knowledge that’s vital to increasing his company’s value for its shareholders.
All this sounds immensely dull, but Cryptonomicon is anything but. It’s sometimes uneven, and its ending is perhaps a bit rushed (endings are Stephenson’s bête noire) but this book is loaded with memorable characters, scenes and tasty historical tidbits. It’s also the pre-sequel (written before but set historically later) to Stephenson’s monumental Baroque Cycle (those who have read that work will already have recognized the Shaftoe and Waterhouse names).
How does one select and present a microcosm of Stephenson’s genius? Well, there is a well-known scene in this book in which Randy Waterhouse eats a bowl of Cap’n Crunch breakfast cereal – and nothing else happens. It goes on for pages, and it’s one of the more riveting sequences you will ever read.
Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member paradoxosalpha
Cryptonomicon is mostly spent see-sawing across a half-century divide of two generations between World War II and the late 1990s. Its central topic is cryptology, and it was written written when one could still be idealistic about cryptocurrency. It is an enormously long novel made up of short,
My favorite chapter was certainly "Organ" (569 ff.), which built on the running conceit that the electronic computer had been inspired by the programmability of a pipe organ. But it also punned on the organ of generation belonging to 1940s viewpoint character Lawrence Waterhouse, whose libido takes center stage for most of the chapter. It offers hilarious notions regarding a global Ejaculation Control Conspiracy, and supplements this theory with a walk-on character's paranoia about the Bavarian Illuminati's engineering of the well-tempered musical tuning system as a medium for subliminal corruption.
Cameos by historical figures, including Alan Turing, Ronald Reagan, and General MacArthur, are handled amusingly. Although Stephenson's acknowledgments page disclaims any supposition that the book is a roman à clef regarding his own family, there are certainly some other characters and businesses given new names to insulate our actual world from their fictional deployment. For reasons I can't quite fathom, for example, he calls the Linux operating system Finux.
The ubiquitous use of present tense, general narrative sprawl, and conspiracy theorizing all reminded me of the work of Thomas Pynchon, and in particular Gravity's Rainbow. (Pynchon later tried out a hacker yarn of his own in Bleeding Edge as well.) Although Stephenson is published as a genre author, I think the comparable Pynchon books are actually more science-fictional than Cryptonomicon.
I have read other reader reaction that took issue with the end of this book. I didn't find it weak or dismaying at all, but I think the last five chapters (after "Return") need to be read as denouement, or they will suffer the appearance of anticlimax.
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single-sitting chapters, and it includes such apparent digressions as a gratuitous Penthouse "reader's" letter (365) and a functional Perl script (480). My favorite chapter was certainly "Organ" (569 ff.), which built on the running conceit that the electronic computer had been inspired by the programmability of a pipe organ. But it also punned on the organ of generation belonging to 1940s viewpoint character Lawrence Waterhouse, whose libido takes center stage for most of the chapter. It offers hilarious notions regarding a global Ejaculation Control Conspiracy, and supplements this theory with a walk-on character's paranoia about the Bavarian Illuminati's engineering of the well-tempered musical tuning system as a medium for subliminal corruption.
Cameos by historical figures, including Alan Turing, Ronald Reagan, and General MacArthur, are handled amusingly. Although Stephenson's acknowledgments page disclaims any supposition that the book is a roman à clef regarding his own family, there are certainly some other characters and businesses given new names to insulate our actual world from their fictional deployment. For reasons I can't quite fathom, for example, he calls the Linux operating system Finux.
The ubiquitous use of present tense, general narrative sprawl, and conspiracy theorizing all reminded me of the work of Thomas Pynchon, and in particular Gravity's Rainbow. (Pynchon later tried out a hacker yarn of his own in Bleeding Edge as well.) Although Stephenson is published as a genre author, I think the comparable Pynchon books are actually more science-fictional than Cryptonomicon.
I have read other reader reaction that took issue with the end of this book. I didn't find it weak or dismaying at all, but I think the last five chapters (after "Return") need to be read as denouement, or they will suffer the appearance of anticlimax.
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LibraryThing member TadAD
I have to say I was little disappointed in this book. I enjoyed it, but I expected to love it. This one, I felt, needed some editing.
The plot structure jumps between two distinct stories, one set in the World War II, one in the immediate future. The "past" stories deal with breaking Nazi codes and
The "future" stories, though occasionally leavened with a bit of humor, were less interesting to me. There just wasn't enough meat in the story and the characters were two-dimensional. The ending of the book is abrupt and disappointingly trite and here the wished-for editor would have asked Stephenson to flesh it out a bit more.
This is not a cyberpunk novel like Snow Crash (or even a borderline cyberpunk novel like The Diamond Age), nor is it a novel that rests its weight on plot and characterization. This is a novel where the main elements are the ideas and response of cultures to those ideas. It's arguably not even a science fiction story, though the focus on ideas and culture shock is a theme of cyberpunk and its derivatives.
Over the years, I've heard this book described as the perfect book for the 15-year-old, nerdy male who is going to find the technology cool, Randy Waterhouse's obsession with sex titillating, and the hacking exciting. Now that I've read it, I think that statement is pretty accurate.
My recommendation for this book really depends on what type of reader you are.
If the technology of encryption and computer security isn't terribly interesting to you, or if intricate plots or deep characters are critical for you, you might want to pass this by—there might not be enough other stuff there to warrant the 1100+ page effort.
On the other hand, if you're the type of person who enjoys technically-oriented stories, or are interested in cryptography or modern computer security, are not dismayed by a lot of technical content, generally like all genres of science fiction, this is probably worth the read.
I have to say I was little disappointed in this book. I enjoyed it, but I expected to love it. This one, I felt, needed some editing.
The plot structure jumps between two distinct stories, one set in the World War II, one in the immediate future. The "past" stories deal with breaking Nazi codes and the efforts to disguise the success of this effort from them. They read a bit like a thriller...a thriller with a lot of techno-speak in it...and I enjoyed them, though I wouldn't have minded an editor cutting down the page count in the beginning parts.
The "future" stories, though occasionally leavened with a bit of humor, were less interesting to me. There just wasn't enough meat in the story and the characters were two-dimensional. The ending of the book is abrupt and disappointingly trite and here the wished-for editor would have asked Stephenson to flesh it out a bit more.
This is not a cyberpunk novel like Snow Crash (or even a borderline cyberpunk novel like The Diamond Age), nor is it a novel that rests its weight on plot and characterization. This is a novel where the main elements are the ideas and response of cultures to those ideas. It's arguably not even a science fiction story, though the focus on ideas and culture shock is a theme of cyberpunk and its derivatives.
Over the years, I've heard this book described as the perfect book for the 15-year-old, nerdy male who is going to find the technology cool, Randy Waterhouse's obsession with sex titillating, and the hacking exciting. Now that I've read it, I think that statement is pretty accurate.
My recommendation for this book really depends on what type of reader you are.
If the technology of encryption and computer security isn't terribly interesting to you, or if intricate plots or deep characters are critical for you, you might want to pass this by—there might not be enough other stuff there to warrant the 1100+ page effort.
On the other hand, if you're the type of person who enjoys technically-oriented stories, or are interested in cryptography or modern computer security, are not dismayed by a lot of technical content, generally like all genres of science fiction, this is probably worth the read.
Since I am interested in cryptography, mildly conversant with computer security, enjoy science fiction, and was once a 15-year-old male, my reaction is a mild recommendation.
The plot structure jumps between two distinct stories, one set in the World War II, one in the immediate future. The "past" stories deal with breaking Nazi codes and
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the efforts to disguise the success of this effort from them. They read a bit like a thriller...a thriller with a lot of techno-speak in it...and I enjoyed them, though I wouldn't have minded an editor cutting down the page count in the beginning parts.The "future" stories, though occasionally leavened with a bit of humor, were less interesting to me. There just wasn't enough meat in the story and the characters were two-dimensional. The ending of the book is abrupt and disappointingly trite and here the wished-for editor would have asked Stephenson to flesh it out a bit more.
This is not a cyberpunk novel like Snow Crash (or even a borderline cyberpunk novel like The Diamond Age), nor is it a novel that rests its weight on plot and characterization. This is a novel where the main elements are the ideas and response of cultures to those ideas. It's arguably not even a science fiction story, though the focus on ideas and culture shock is a theme of cyberpunk and its derivatives.
Over the years, I've heard this book described as the perfect book for the 15-year-old, nerdy male who is going to find the technology cool, Randy Waterhouse's obsession with sex titillating, and the hacking exciting. Now that I've read it, I think that statement is pretty accurate.
My recommendation for this book really depends on what type of reader you are.
If the technology of encryption and computer security isn't terribly interesting to you, or if intricate plots or deep characters are critical for you, you might want to pass this by—there might not be enough other stuff there to warrant the 1100+ page effort.
On the other hand, if you're the type of person who enjoys technically-oriented stories, or are interested in cryptography or modern computer security, are not dismayed by a lot of technical content, generally like all genres of science fiction, this is probably worth the read.
I have to say I was little disappointed in this book. I enjoyed it, but I expected to love it. This one, I felt, needed some editing.
The plot structure jumps between two distinct stories, one set in the World War II, one in the immediate future. The "past" stories deal with breaking Nazi codes and the efforts to disguise the success of this effort from them. They read a bit like a thriller...a thriller with a lot of techno-speak in it...and I enjoyed them, though I wouldn't have minded an editor cutting down the page count in the beginning parts.
The "future" stories, though occasionally leavened with a bit of humor, were less interesting to me. There just wasn't enough meat in the story and the characters were two-dimensional. The ending of the book is abrupt and disappointingly trite and here the wished-for editor would have asked Stephenson to flesh it out a bit more.
This is not a cyberpunk novel like Snow Crash (or even a borderline cyberpunk novel like The Diamond Age), nor is it a novel that rests its weight on plot and characterization. This is a novel where the main elements are the ideas and response of cultures to those ideas. It's arguably not even a science fiction story, though the focus on ideas and culture shock is a theme of cyberpunk and its derivatives.
Over the years, I've heard this book described as the perfect book for the 15-year-old, nerdy male who is going to find the technology cool, Randy Waterhouse's obsession with sex titillating, and the hacking exciting. Now that I've read it, I think that statement is pretty accurate.
My recommendation for this book really depends on what type of reader you are.
If the technology of encryption and computer security isn't terribly interesting to you, or if intricate plots or deep characters are critical for you, you might want to pass this by—there might not be enough other stuff there to warrant the 1100+ page effort.
On the other hand, if you're the type of person who enjoys technically-oriented stories, or are interested in cryptography or modern computer security, are not dismayed by a lot of technical content, generally like all genres of science fiction, this is probably worth the read.
Since I am interested in cryptography, mildly conversant with computer security, enjoy science fiction, and was once a 15-year-old male, my reaction is a mild recommendation.
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LibraryThing member veritatem.dilexi
I have pretty mixed feelings about this book. It is quite an epic romp, covering WWII and modern day simultaneously. The book tries to accomplish a lot in its 1000+ pages, and I don't think it quite makes it to the masterpiece finish line, but the ride is tons of fun. Definitely recommended to
The biggest problem I had with the book was the lack of female characters or perspective...Cryptonomicon feels very much like a book written by a man, for men. The only, very few female characters are secretaries and/or sex objects, and are often described as being the polar opposite of the tech-savvy or battle-ready men. I don't think the overarching misogyny was really intentional, and I've heard that his other books contain some female main characters, but the constant feeling of "This book is full of computers and war! We are men! Only men do those things! Arr!" was pretty disappointing.
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anyone with an interest in computers or cryptology.The biggest problem I had with the book was the lack of female characters or perspective...Cryptonomicon feels very much like a book written by a man, for men. The only, very few female characters are secretaries and/or sex objects, and are often described as being the polar opposite of the tech-savvy or battle-ready men. I don't think the overarching misogyny was really intentional, and I've heard that his other books contain some female main characters, but the constant feeling of "This book is full of computers and war! We are men! Only men do those things! Arr!" was pretty disappointing.
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LibraryThing member Cecrow
Understandable why this book receives so many recommendations. Reminds me distantly of the tv series 'Lost' in the interesting connections it gradually draws while moving between past and present, events in each inspiring questions answered in the other, mysteries gradually unravelling while new
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ones are simultaneously created. Lots of technology-speak, but presented so well that it doesn't go over your head. Fantastic writing style that drew me right in, no matter what tangent the narrative wanders off on. It all comes together despite criticism of Stephenson's ability to end a novel and felt just right to me. He's inserted two make-believe countries for the sake of telling his story and for all I know invented some of the computer technology referred to, but I would definitely not classify this as sci-fi. Will nonetheless probably hold special appeal for fans of that genre as well as computer nerds, math whizzes, cryptoanalysts - but also for just about anyone who appreciates a story extremely well told. Show Less
LibraryThing member shawnd
This is a wonderful, long book that rarely drags. It's a combination of historical fiction and modern thriller. The narrator, Randy Waterhouse, is the grandson of Lawrence Waterhouse, a fictional mathematical genius who gets partnered with Alan Turing the founder of artificial intelligence, etc, at
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the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton. In parallel, the book covers, without being plodding, a long course of history of the story of behind-the-scenes WWII code-breaking and models of the very first computers. Meanwhile, in the modern day, Randy and a cadre of eccentric computer/IT/software buddies are starting a business and somehow latch on to a truly amazing breakthrough in Southeast Asia. Everything from WWII warfare hand-to-hand and aviation vs. the Japanese to a humorous view of pre-revenue seed stage startups and the between-the-lines satire of their business plans are included in this Pynchonesque novel. While the ending is a bit trite and probably made for a Hollywood movie, the book overall is truly unique and is much better written than earlier Stephenson novels. Show Less
LibraryThing member RobertDay
This densely-packed, complex novel explores a range of stories centring on cryptanalysis and the fate of Nazi looted gold during World War 2. Action is centred fairly much in the Phillipines, but with excursions to Shanghai, Bletchley Park, North Africa, the north of Scotland, the coast of Norway,
Much of the writing is in a rather circular style, sometimes reminiscent of P.G. Wodehouse and almost as funny; other segments have more in common with William Gibson, especially his very near future 'Blue Ant' novels. Some of the wartime segments bear more than a passing resemblence to 'Catch-22', especially those involving General MacArthur. The action switches between World War 2 and the "present day" (1990s), where two entrepreneurs are trying to establish a data haven and cryptocurrency vault in the Phillippines. Although Stephenson has a reputation as a science fiction writer, this is not particularly a science fiction novel, although Stephenson writes with an sf writer's sensibilities; he knows the hacker community and their interests and attitudes, and that includes accepting science-fictional ideas as a given.
The technology in this novel is around twenty years out of date, but only in terms of detail. A reader who knows anything about IT will be at home here, and will have a proper understanding of the technological implications of what the characters are trying to do and how they are trying to do it. With all the hype about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies about at the moment, it's interesting to see the genesis of those things in fictional form.
And then, towards the end, there is a stunning scene between two of the protagonists which throws the whole Nazi gold story into sharp relief.
Ultimately, this book is about the foundations of our modern world - power, money, information and the rise of Pacific Rim economies. Plus some hints of conspiracy theories which don't involve the Usual Suspects...
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the Gulf of Bothnia and West Coast America, as intertwined fates work out their destinies. Along the way, readers will pick up a lot of coincidental stuff about cryptanalysis. The highly mathematical parts can be skimmed (I would suggest skimming rather than skipping, as they are central to the story).Much of the writing is in a rather circular style, sometimes reminiscent of P.G. Wodehouse and almost as funny; other segments have more in common with William Gibson, especially his very near future 'Blue Ant' novels. Some of the wartime segments bear more than a passing resemblence to 'Catch-22', especially those involving General MacArthur. The action switches between World War 2 and the "present day" (1990s), where two entrepreneurs are trying to establish a data haven and cryptocurrency vault in the Phillippines. Although Stephenson has a reputation as a science fiction writer, this is not particularly a science fiction novel, although Stephenson writes with an sf writer's sensibilities; he knows the hacker community and their interests and attitudes, and that includes accepting science-fictional ideas as a given.
The technology in this novel is around twenty years out of date, but only in terms of detail. A reader who knows anything about IT will be at home here, and will have a proper understanding of the technological implications of what the characters are trying to do and how they are trying to do it. With all the hype about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies about at the moment, it's interesting to see the genesis of those things in fictional form.
And then, towards the end, there is a stunning scene between two of the protagonists which throws the whole Nazi gold story into sharp relief.
Ultimately, this book is about the foundations of our modern world - power, money, information and the rise of Pacific Rim economies. Plus some hints of conspiracy theories which don't involve the Usual Suspects...
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LibraryThing member PghDragonMan
If you’ve read any of the Baroque Cycle, you might be amazed that Cryptonomicon was actually written before Quicksilver. It is as if James Clavel had written Whirlwind, then decided “Oh yes, I guess I should write Tai-pan and King Rat to explain how all these characters fit together”. That is
Having got that little bit of housekeeping out of the way, Cryptonomicon, by itself, is simply amazing. It ranks right in there as one of the best adventure stories I’ve read, one of the best (loosely) historical novels I’ve read and certainly the most amazing primer on Cryptology I’ve read.
This book has a lot more going for it than just geek appeal: the characters created for this book almost feel alive, even the ones Stephenson created out of whole cloth. You can’t help yourself but to hope Randy ends up with Amy; despite knowing his beginnings, you will end up hoping General Wing does not succeed; you understand just how wise Goto Dengo was with his decision regarding the wealth he knows about. Some characters are not totally original, Enoch Root could be modeled after Gandalf for example, but the use Stephenson puts the characters is flawless.
Adventure story lovers should enjoy this as will lovers of puzzles and riddles. Historical fiction aficionados may turn their noses up at some of the liberties with history Stephenson takes, but there is not enough of an alternate outcome for me to say this is an Alternate History novel either. It is unique. I saw the word elsewhere, but it is apt, so I’ll pass it on: this is cypherpunk at its best.
I will have to put this as a full Five Star read. While not an easy read, the enjoyment makes up for any tedium encountered, and there are not too many slack points in this story. With the Cryptonomicon, I am elevating Neal Stephenson to Favorite Author status.
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exactly what Neal Stephenson has done: Cryptonomicon is actually the grand sequel to the epic Baroque Cycle, and yet, chronologically, it was published first.Having got that little bit of housekeeping out of the way, Cryptonomicon, by itself, is simply amazing. It ranks right in there as one of the best adventure stories I’ve read, one of the best (loosely) historical novels I’ve read and certainly the most amazing primer on Cryptology I’ve read.
This book has a lot more going for it than just geek appeal: the characters created for this book almost feel alive, even the ones Stephenson created out of whole cloth. You can’t help yourself but to hope Randy ends up with Amy; despite knowing his beginnings, you will end up hoping General Wing does not succeed; you understand just how wise Goto Dengo was with his decision regarding the wealth he knows about. Some characters are not totally original, Enoch Root could be modeled after Gandalf for example, but the use Stephenson puts the characters is flawless.
Adventure story lovers should enjoy this as will lovers of puzzles and riddles. Historical fiction aficionados may turn their noses up at some of the liberties with history Stephenson takes, but there is not enough of an alternate outcome for me to say this is an Alternate History novel either. It is unique. I saw the word elsewhere, but it is apt, so I’ll pass it on: this is cypherpunk at its best.
I will have to put this as a full Five Star read. While not an easy read, the enjoyment makes up for any tedium encountered, and there are not too many slack points in this story. With the Cryptonomicon, I am elevating Neal Stephenson to Favorite Author status.
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LibraryThing member Anterocide
I kept passing by this title at the bookstore and I finally gave in and picked it up. At first I was tearing through the book, unable to put it down. The story was great and Stephenson's language and descriptions were unique and often humorous. Then around the 700 page mark, the language which was
I kept with it, and I'm glad I did because the storyline did manage to pick up again (mostly through the past time line story arc), and the crypto system was truly interesting. That being said, the language continued to grate and detract from instead of enhancing the story. That, coupled with the book taking on a "small world" experience where everyone's grandchildren ended up doing the same as their grandparents and reuniting to finish what was started, and the abrupt ending made the book seem hastily put together at the end (for a 1000+ page book that's saying something) and somewhat contrived.
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earlier so refreshing started to grate. This coupled with the present time line story arc feeling less flushed out, and more of an outline or the bare skeleton of the story led me to wrestle with deciding to continue on or drop the book for something else.I kept with it, and I'm glad I did because the storyline did manage to pick up again (mostly through the past time line story arc), and the crypto system was truly interesting. That being said, the language continued to grate and detract from instead of enhancing the story. That, coupled with the book taking on a "small world" experience where everyone's grandchildren ended up doing the same as their grandparents and reuniting to finish what was started, and the abrupt ending made the book seem hastily put together at the end (for a 1000+ page book that's saying something) and somewhat contrived.
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LibraryThing member JasonSmith
There are certain books that I reread every year and since 1999 this has been one of them. It’s a huge sprawling novel and to try to describe all of its plot lines would be an exercise in futility, but suffice it to say that in this multigenerational work are contemporary hackers, WWII code
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breakers, crusty treasure divers, psychotic marines and Japanese mine engineers. There’s plenty of math (which can be skipped if you desire), but the quality of writing, the richness of characters and the complexity of plot make this one of my all-time favorite reads. Show Less
LibraryThing member willszal
My middle school math teacher went to MIT with the “Car Talk” guys. He came up with many of the silly names at the end of the show. Anyways, cryptography was an important part of our eclectic curriculum. After graduating high school I taught an advanced middle school math class, and included
More recently I have set myself up with GPG Tools, and am of the political opinion that data privacy is a right. I don’t have anything against search warrants, but am opposed to sweeping collection programs on principle. I also have a fascination with money, including its history and its future. So when a nerdy friend recommended this book, I naturally dove right into it.
Sprawling is one word that comes to mind when describing this book. It may be the largest single volume I've ever read. In audio edition, it's forty-three hours long.
The story is split between two time periods with a lot of interconnection: World War II cryptanalysis and 1990's tech boom crypto-currency.
Some reviews I read said it was exceedingly technical. Yes, a lot of this book’s beauty are its technical passages. But I think a broad swath of the American population are nerdy enough to appreciate it. For example, I’ve taken calculus and linear algebra, but I didn’t actually need to be fresh with any of this stuff to understand the book.
The historical accuracy of the book is stunning. I had a basic understanding of World War II history coming into this book. I assumed many of the more obscure references were just invented for the narrative. But upon consulting Wikipedia, I learned that very little of the context is fictional, and I learned a lot of great new stuff about that era.
Although the story line splits its time more or less equally between the two periods, whereas the WWII storyline feels wrapped of at by the end of the book, the ‘90s one is just winding up. I wish we the book had kept going to explore what might happen with that story.
Stephenson brilliantly foreshadowed an era where Bitcoin is a household name [although not yet dominant]. It’s unfortunate that nothing has yet emerged paralleling the scope of the cryptocurrency of this book.
It’s a beautiful and engaging book.
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cryptography for them as well.More recently I have set myself up with GPG Tools, and am of the political opinion that data privacy is a right. I don’t have anything against search warrants, but am opposed to sweeping collection programs on principle. I also have a fascination with money, including its history and its future. So when a nerdy friend recommended this book, I naturally dove right into it.
Sprawling is one word that comes to mind when describing this book. It may be the largest single volume I've ever read. In audio edition, it's forty-three hours long.
The story is split between two time periods with a lot of interconnection: World War II cryptanalysis and 1990's tech boom crypto-currency.
Some reviews I read said it was exceedingly technical. Yes, a lot of this book’s beauty are its technical passages. But I think a broad swath of the American population are nerdy enough to appreciate it. For example, I’ve taken calculus and linear algebra, but I didn’t actually need to be fresh with any of this stuff to understand the book.
The historical accuracy of the book is stunning. I had a basic understanding of World War II history coming into this book. I assumed many of the more obscure references were just invented for the narrative. But upon consulting Wikipedia, I learned that very little of the context is fictional, and I learned a lot of great new stuff about that era.
Although the story line splits its time more or less equally between the two periods, whereas the WWII storyline feels wrapped of at by the end of the book, the ‘90s one is just winding up. I wish we the book had kept going to explore what might happen with that story.
Stephenson brilliantly foreshadowed an era where Bitcoin is a household name [although not yet dominant]. It’s unfortunate that nothing has yet emerged paralleling the scope of the cryptocurrency of this book.
It’s a beautiful and engaging book.
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LibraryThing member Fips
This is a book with much promise. Neal Stephenson is a very decent writer; his prose can be both engaging and exciting, without pandering to the reader in the way many techno-thriller authors choose. Unfortunately, this is also a book that seems to have been written in an ecstasy of authorship,
Cryptonomicon is essentially several smaller storylines all rolled into one. There are two distinct timeframes, and several major/minor characters all pursuing their own goals, occasionally overlapping along the way. The problem is that all the hopping backwards and forwards simply adds pages, as Stephenson has to constantly remind us who we're reading about, where they are and what they're doing. By which point, we've moved back 50 years and half-way around the world to another thread in the story. If you put the book down for a few days, you'll probably find yourself reading a few chapters just to get your head around what all the various characters are currently up to, before you can continue on to something fresh.
All of which isn't to say the book doesn't have its moments. There's clearly a lot of time, effort and research gone into this book, and this shows, particularly in the historical timeframe and the bits dealing with cryptography. Isoroku Yamamoto's death, for instance, is featured as a nice allusion to the importance of what the main characters are up to. Yet for all its breadth, this novel is a pure geek's heaven, and despite the oodles of space given over to something like Van Eck phreaking, there's little space to give the characters anything more than a lick of paint. Others have commented that the female characters are wooden objects in a male-dominated world: I'd go as far as to say the entire piece is being played out by marionettes.
Whilst I wasn't exactly expecting inner drama from a book like this, and could have suspended my disbelief for a few lack-lustre characters, there's only so much fantasy I can take whilst reading a book gushing with technical detail. I've no doubt many readers would be quite satisfied with the defence of 'artistic license' but I found myself confusedly shaking my head a number of times reading Cryptonomicon, trying to work out quite whether I was supposed to be taking what I was reading seriously. Not satisfied with creating characters and events, Stephenson creates new countries and languages.
After a few hundred pages I was already getting a bit weary of some of the characters, and a number of far-fetched/unbelievable events and entirely fictitious 'facts' had strained my enjoyment of the plot. But persisting for several hundred more pages didn't produce much in the way of a reward. The picture that gradually gets revealed over this meandering epic really isn't equal to the effort that the author (and reader!) put into it.
This book has been described elsewhere as "the ultimate geek novel." You'll either love the book--for the winding journey, the nauseating detail, the multi-page descriptions, possibly even the cardboard-cutout characters--or like me you'll find the whole escapade rather tedious, unbelievable, unnecessarily long, and ultimately disappointing.
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without enough time and consideration given to making the book a reader's choice. My copy weighed in at over 1100 pages, which is a very long expanse for Stephenson to ultimately say very little.Cryptonomicon is essentially several smaller storylines all rolled into one. There are two distinct timeframes, and several major/minor characters all pursuing their own goals, occasionally overlapping along the way. The problem is that all the hopping backwards and forwards simply adds pages, as Stephenson has to constantly remind us who we're reading about, where they are and what they're doing. By which point, we've moved back 50 years and half-way around the world to another thread in the story. If you put the book down for a few days, you'll probably find yourself reading a few chapters just to get your head around what all the various characters are currently up to, before you can continue on to something fresh.
All of which isn't to say the book doesn't have its moments. There's clearly a lot of time, effort and research gone into this book, and this shows, particularly in the historical timeframe and the bits dealing with cryptography. Isoroku Yamamoto's death, for instance, is featured as a nice allusion to the importance of what the main characters are up to. Yet for all its breadth, this novel is a pure geek's heaven, and despite the oodles of space given over to something like Van Eck phreaking, there's little space to give the characters anything more than a lick of paint. Others have commented that the female characters are wooden objects in a male-dominated world: I'd go as far as to say the entire piece is being played out by marionettes.
Whilst I wasn't exactly expecting inner drama from a book like this, and could have suspended my disbelief for a few lack-lustre characters, there's only so much fantasy I can take whilst reading a book gushing with technical detail. I've no doubt many readers would be quite satisfied with the defence of 'artistic license' but I found myself confusedly shaking my head a number of times reading Cryptonomicon, trying to work out quite whether I was supposed to be taking what I was reading seriously. Not satisfied with creating characters and events, Stephenson creates new countries and languages.
After a few hundred pages I was already getting a bit weary of some of the characters, and a number of far-fetched/unbelievable events and entirely fictitious 'facts' had strained my enjoyment of the plot. But persisting for several hundred more pages didn't produce much in the way of a reward. The picture that gradually gets revealed over this meandering epic really isn't equal to the effort that the author (and reader!) put into it.
This book has been described elsewhere as "the ultimate geek novel." You'll either love the book--for the winding journey, the nauseating detail, the multi-page descriptions, possibly even the cardboard-cutout characters--or like me you'll find the whole escapade rather tedious, unbelievable, unnecessarily long, and ultimately disappointing.
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LibraryThing member KevlarRelic
Long and eclectic, this book took me months to read. I would be sucked into the story and for several chapters I couldn't put it down, and then one of the many digressions would jar me out of it, and it would take a while before I came back.
Regardless I liked, maybe even loved this book.
Three
-Randy is a present day computer programmer who embarks on an adventurous start up tech company venture in the Philippines.
-Lawrence Waterhouse is a mathematical genius who works as a top code breaker during the second world war.
-Bobby Shaftoe is a second world war marine, and is appropriately hardcore action hero awesome.
These three storylines cross and interweave (eventually) into one epic storyline involving lots of cryptography, secret missions, hacking, and especially hidden gold.
Unlike many of the other reviewers singing this book's praise here on LibraryThing, I wasn't very interested in the topics covered in this book before I started reading. But I am now. Neal Stephenson makes everything sound so fascinating and darned cool that I've looked up among other things, vann eck phreaking, Alan Turning, Data havens, Turing Bombes, and the thousand other really neat things talked about in this book.
Give it a try, and don't stop reading until you are a third of the way through. That is where it starts to really pick up.
All in all, It's an entertaining and informative read, a treasure trove of fascinating historical facts, mixed with exciting intrigue.
Regardless I liked, maybe even loved this book.
Three
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point of view characters, two different time lines. -Randy is a present day computer programmer who embarks on an adventurous start up tech company venture in the Philippines.
-Lawrence Waterhouse is a mathematical genius who works as a top code breaker during the second world war.
-Bobby Shaftoe is a second world war marine, and is appropriately hardcore action hero awesome.
These three storylines cross and interweave (eventually) into one epic storyline involving lots of cryptography, secret missions, hacking, and especially hidden gold.
Unlike many of the other reviewers singing this book's praise here on LibraryThing, I wasn't very interested in the topics covered in this book before I started reading. But I am now. Neal Stephenson makes everything sound so fascinating and darned cool that I've looked up among other things, vann eck phreaking, Alan Turning, Data havens, Turing Bombes, and the thousand other really neat things talked about in this book.
Give it a try, and don't stop reading until you are a third of the way through. That is where it starts to really pick up.
All in all, It's an entertaining and informative read, a treasure trove of fascinating historical facts, mixed with exciting intrigue.
Show Less
LibraryThing member kaipakartik
The first book of Neal Stephenson's that I picked up was Anathem and I found that to be really tough going. This one though turned out to be a totally different beast( and a beast it is, at around 1100 pages). I was hooked in the first 100 pages(although admittedly it took me really long to
Cryptonomicon connects two story lines one based in World war 2 and the other in 1990s internet era and they are connected by some strange family coincidences.
There is a lot of math and computer science going on here and Neal Stephenson does an admirable job of explaining it all. This is a geek novel if ever there was one with the most developed character being a fantasy card playing, slightly round around the paunches unix loving geek.The novel is very detailed in everything that it does and Stephenson takes great pains to explain everything that is being talked about and even goes so far as to provide equations. Heck there is a perl script thrown in with the actual text and the appendix contains a treatise on Solitaire by Bruce Schneider of all people.
This being a world war novel, Stephenson takes it into his hands to talk about the various cultures the novel is based in from Germany to Philippines to Japan(which he refers to as Nippon). In fact Nippon and Germany are disparaged and dealt with a tad harshly but then again the most heroic characters turn out to be a German and Nip so its certainly a weird mix,
One thing though that clearly comes through is the fact that Stephenson clearly loves to write about Crypto and the world war.
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finish)Cryptonomicon connects two story lines one based in World war 2 and the other in 1990s internet era and they are connected by some strange family coincidences.
There is a lot of math and computer science going on here and Neal Stephenson does an admirable job of explaining it all. This is a geek novel if ever there was one with the most developed character being a fantasy card playing, slightly round around the paunches unix loving geek.The novel is very detailed in everything that it does and Stephenson takes great pains to explain everything that is being talked about and even goes so far as to provide equations. Heck there is a perl script thrown in with the actual text and the appendix contains a treatise on Solitaire by Bruce Schneider of all people.
This being a world war novel, Stephenson takes it into his hands to talk about the various cultures the novel is based in from Germany to Philippines to Japan(which he refers to as Nippon). In fact Nippon and Germany are disparaged and dealt with a tad harshly but then again the most heroic characters turn out to be a German and Nip so its certainly a weird mix,
One thing though that clearly comes through is the fact that Stephenson clearly loves to write about Crypto and the world war.
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LibraryThing member goblin67
My favorite novel of all time: encryption, perl code, wizards, gaming, generational saga, love, war, math, Alan Turing... this book is crammed with my favorite things! And the writing is amazing (far better than this reviewer's lame ramblings.)
LibraryThing member BruceAir
I somehow missed Stephenson's novels when they first appeared. Cryptonomicon is a wild (long) ride. It's a zestfully written tale that weaves WWII cryptography and modern high-tech business. Enjoy this one on the beach, but have a dictionary handy. You'll learn some new words.
LibraryThing member kkisser
This is one of those books you have to just let unfold and enjoy, letting it carry you along (and not just because it's over 900 pages long). The lengthy digressions about cryptology (complete with equations) and history and math and well, everything. It's a brilliant book, the sort of thing that
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takes over your brain and camps out in your dreams for the days and weeks you'll spend reading it. And that is a good thing! By the end, Stephenson had me convinced that the Allies won WWII, not through superior tactics and firepower, but through superior math. Show Less
LibraryThing member Kplatypus
Cryptonomicon was my introduction to Neal Stephenson, and it still ranks as one of my favorite books. The book is made up of several stories, told in alternating chapters and taking place in different time periods. Eventually the stories begin to collide, adding whole new dimensions to an already
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complex plot. One story is that of a young cryptographer during World War II, and deals with problems ranging from how to the newest German enigma machine, the existence or non-existence of Turing machines, and how to seduce the young woman of one's dreams. Another follows a band of soldiers, also during World War II. And then there's the modern-day treasure hunt. Yes, there are random math equations scattered throughout the book. No, you don't need to know calculus to read it, though it does make some of the jokes funnier if you do. Stephenson is a master of his craft, and here he weaves together so many threads that it could have easily become a mess, but is instead a masterpiece. As always with Stephenson, so worth the work. Show Less
LibraryThing member sturlington
Cryptonomicon is a sprawling epic about code breakers during World War II and computer hackers during the '90s Internet boom.
After spending over a month reading this book, I have to ask myself if it was worth it. The answer is both yes and no. This was an entertaining, suspenseful novel, and as
We have to remember with Stephenson that it is the journey that counts, not the destination (which is why his endings can often feel abrupt and unsatisfying). Cryptonomicon takes the reader on a journey through two time periods, World War II and the late 1990s during the tech boom, and all over the world, from the hellish jungles of New Guinea to the depths of the ocean to the fictional countries of Kinakuta and Qwyghlm. This is a spy story about the code-breakers of WWII outwitting the Axis powers, that morphs into a conspiracy story, and ends up as a hunt for buried treasure. Along the way, Stephenson imparts a lot of information about cryptography, data encryption, phreaking and the like (so if those things don't interest you, this is definitely not the book for you). Some chapters are actually extended math problems. This is not light reading.
I usually enjoy historical fiction, and the WWII sections of the novel were the most interesting to me--there are battles, escapes, betrayals, conspiracies, all sorts of good stuff. Sometimes I felt like the modern-day story got in the way of the good parts, and I wasn't nearly as invested in the 1990s characters. But it is hard to imagine the novel not structured this way, as the discoveries and exploits of the characters in one era mirror and enhance the other.
This has been called the "ultimate geek novel," and I do think it requires a certain amount of geekiness to enjoy it. If you're patient and willing to follow Stephenson through all the narrative twists and turns and time jumps, Cryptonomicon is a rewarding read.
Read because I like the author and it was a bargain book for the Kindle (2013).
After spending over a month reading this book, I have to ask myself if it was worth it. The answer is both yes and no. This was an entertaining, suspenseful novel, and as
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with any novel by Stephenson, I felt like it taught me something and gave me a lot of things to think about. Would I go through this again? I'm not sure I would, which is why I hesitate to pick up another of Stephenson's weighty books.We have to remember with Stephenson that it is the journey that counts, not the destination (which is why his endings can often feel abrupt and unsatisfying). Cryptonomicon takes the reader on a journey through two time periods, World War II and the late 1990s during the tech boom, and all over the world, from the hellish jungles of New Guinea to the depths of the ocean to the fictional countries of Kinakuta and Qwyghlm. This is a spy story about the code-breakers of WWII outwitting the Axis powers, that morphs into a conspiracy story, and ends up as a hunt for buried treasure. Along the way, Stephenson imparts a lot of information about cryptography, data encryption, phreaking and the like (so if those things don't interest you, this is definitely not the book for you). Some chapters are actually extended math problems. This is not light reading.
I usually enjoy historical fiction, and the WWII sections of the novel were the most interesting to me--there are battles, escapes, betrayals, conspiracies, all sorts of good stuff. Sometimes I felt like the modern-day story got in the way of the good parts, and I wasn't nearly as invested in the 1990s characters. But it is hard to imagine the novel not structured this way, as the discoveries and exploits of the characters in one era mirror and enhance the other.
This has been called the "ultimate geek novel," and I do think it requires a certain amount of geekiness to enjoy it. If you're patient and willing to follow Stephenson through all the narrative twists and turns and time jumps, Cryptonomicon is a rewarding read.
Read because I like the author and it was a bargain book for the Kindle (2013).
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LibraryThing member Othemts
A decade or so ago I read and enjoyed Neal Stephenson's 8-book series, The Baroque Cycle. I've finally followed up on reading this single-volume tome that has connections to that series, albeit set in a different time. All of these books are historical novels that incorporate Stephenson's interests
Cryptonomicon features two interweaving plot lines. The first story is set during World War II and focuses the Allies' effort to win the war by breaking Germany's enigma code. Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse is an American mathmetician who works with the historical figure Alan Turing at Bletchley Park and is put in charge of a detachment that stages events behind enemy lines to deceive the Germans on how the Allies are gathering intelligence, when in actuality they've broken Enigma. Bobby Shaftoe is an experienced Marine Raider drafted into the detachment who has various adventures around the world - many of them ludicrous. Goto Dengo is a Japanese officer and engineer who suffers some of the worst effects of the Allies cryptographic knowledge in some of the most gruesome descriptions of war in the book, and then is put in charge of Japan's efforts to bury gold in caverns in the Phillipines.
The other storyline is set in the 1990s and tells the story of a tech startup company co-lead by Randy Waterhouse (Lawrence's grandson). His company sets up a data haven on fictional island sultanate near the Phillipines. He hires Vietnam veteran Doug Shaftoe (Bobby's son) and his daughter Amy to do the underwater surveying for laying cables. Complications arise when the discover gold under the sea. The ageless Enoch Root plays a part in both stories.
I found the World War II story more interesting than the 1990s story. There just isn't much that grabbed me aboutthe tech-bros and the nerd culture only faintly hides a toxic masculinity. In fact, this book is a sausage fest, with Amy Shaftoe the only promiment female character, and her major role is as Randy's love interest. The Baroque Cycle was also tilted heavily toward male characters but it least it had Eliza who had agency as a spy and financier and was a major driver of the plot.
So I guess this is a half-good novel? Albeit the signifigance of the WWII story would be less apparent without the 1990s story.
Favorite Passages:
Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker’s game because they almost always turn out to be—or to be indistinguishable from—self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time.
“You know what this is? It’s one of those men-are-from-Mars, women-are-from-Venus things.” “I have not heard of this phrase but I understand immediately what you are saying.” “It’s one of those American books where once you’ve heard the title you don’t even need to read it,” Randy says. “Then I won’t.”
“Some complain that e-mail is impersonal—that your contact with me, during the e-mail phase of our relationship, was mediated by wires and screens and cables. Some would say that’s not as good as conversing face-to-face. And yet our seeing of things is always mediated by corneas, retinas, optic nerves, and some neural machinery that takes the information from the optic nerve and propagates it into our minds. So, is looking at words on a screen so very much inferior? I think not; at least then you are conscious of the distortions. Whereas, when you see someone with your eyes, you forget about the distortions and imagine you are experiencing them purely and immediately.”
“But before this war, all of this gold was out here, in the sunlight. In the world. Yet look what happened.” Goto Dengo shudders. “Wealth that is stored up in gold is dead. It rots and stinks. True wealth is made every day by men getting up out of bed and going to work. By schoolchildren doing their lessons, improving their minds. Tell those men that if they want wealth, they should come to Nippon with me after the war. We will start businesses and build buildings.”
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in cryptography, mathematics, currency, banking, and philosophy. They also include characters from the Waterhouse and Shaftoe families and the mysterious Enoch Root. Cryptonomicon was published prior to The Baroque Cycle, but the latter is set in the 17th and 18th centuries, while Cryptonomicon is a 20th century story.Cryptonomicon features two interweaving plot lines. The first story is set during World War II and focuses the Allies' effort to win the war by breaking Germany's enigma code. Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse is an American mathmetician who works with the historical figure Alan Turing at Bletchley Park and is put in charge of a detachment that stages events behind enemy lines to deceive the Germans on how the Allies are gathering intelligence, when in actuality they've broken Enigma. Bobby Shaftoe is an experienced Marine Raider drafted into the detachment who has various adventures around the world - many of them ludicrous. Goto Dengo is a Japanese officer and engineer who suffers some of the worst effects of the Allies cryptographic knowledge in some of the most gruesome descriptions of war in the book, and then is put in charge of Japan's efforts to bury gold in caverns in the Phillipines.
The other storyline is set in the 1990s and tells the story of a tech startup company co-lead by Randy Waterhouse (Lawrence's grandson). His company sets up a data haven on fictional island sultanate near the Phillipines. He hires Vietnam veteran Doug Shaftoe (Bobby's son) and his daughter Amy to do the underwater surveying for laying cables. Complications arise when the discover gold under the sea. The ageless Enoch Root plays a part in both stories.
I found the World War II story more interesting than the 1990s story. There just isn't much that grabbed me aboutthe tech-bros and the nerd culture only faintly hides a toxic masculinity. In fact, this book is a sausage fest, with Amy Shaftoe the only promiment female character, and her major role is as Randy's love interest. The Baroque Cycle was also tilted heavily toward male characters but it least it had Eliza who had agency as a spy and financier and was a major driver of the plot.
So I guess this is a half-good novel? Albeit the signifigance of the WWII story would be less apparent without the 1990s story.
Favorite Passages:
Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker’s game because they almost always turn out to be—or to be indistinguishable from—self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time.
“You know what this is? It’s one of those men-are-from-Mars, women-are-from-Venus things.” “I have not heard of this phrase but I understand immediately what you are saying.” “It’s one of those American books where once you’ve heard the title you don’t even need to read it,” Randy says. “Then I won’t.”
“Some complain that e-mail is impersonal—that your contact with me, during the e-mail phase of our relationship, was mediated by wires and screens and cables. Some would say that’s not as good as conversing face-to-face. And yet our seeing of things is always mediated by corneas, retinas, optic nerves, and some neural machinery that takes the information from the optic nerve and propagates it into our minds. So, is looking at words on a screen so very much inferior? I think not; at least then you are conscious of the distortions. Whereas, when you see someone with your eyes, you forget about the distortions and imagine you are experiencing them purely and immediately.”
“But before this war, all of this gold was out here, in the sunlight. In the world. Yet look what happened.” Goto Dengo shudders. “Wealth that is stored up in gold is dead. It rots and stinks. True wealth is made every day by men getting up out of bed and going to work. By schoolchildren doing their lessons, improving their minds. Tell those men that if they want wealth, they should come to Nippon with me after the war. We will start businesses and build buildings.”
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LibraryThing member AsYouKnow_Bob
clearly, I grew up reading the same sort of "Boy's Big Book of WWII" that NS grew up with: this book seemed to be written specifically for me.
I don't know of a book I've enjoyed more.
I don't know of a book I've enjoyed more.
LibraryThing member storming
Didn't finish. (Stopped at page 400 when I realized I didn't really care what happened.)
LibraryThing member dchaikin
NS has his own style. He's writes with arrogance, but his own kind, and he pulls it off because he has great information, a lots energy, and his humor works. He's fun. Cryptonomcon is his take on WWII with massive pointless death, violence and greed mixed with something like philosophy, code
I could gripe about the length, the interesting, but awkward characters, the meh ending etc. But, I think that misses the point. Anyway, this book needed to be 900 pages, it makes it more of an experience. A shorter book would go through you too fast. And some things need to stick - like Goto's story.
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breaking, and an alternative look at the birth of computers. It's essentially a 900 page thriller, and it doesn't lag. If you like the 1st paragraph you can just carry on through. I could gripe about the length, the interesting, but awkward characters, the meh ending etc. But, I think that misses the point. Anyway, this book needed to be 900 pages, it makes it more of an experience. A shorter book would go through you too fast. And some things need to stick - like Goto's story.
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Subjects
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 2000)
Locus Award (Finalist — Science Fiction Novel — 2000)
SF Site Reader's Choice (1999)
SF Site Editor's Choice (#1 — 1999)
Salon Book Award (Fiction — 1999)
Arthur C. Clarke Award (Shortlist — 2000)
Prometheus Award (Nominee — Novel — 2000)
Marble Faun (Ukraine) (2004)
Language
Original language
English