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Cryptonomicon

Avon

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Average customer rating: 4 stars

Great historical fiction

Although I'm a computer engineer the part of the book that I found most interesting was the historical part. Took a real interest in it and found myself reading a lot of Wikipedia articles about many of the historical figures presented in this book. Almost all of these are present in the WWII storyline.

The modern-day storyline revolves mostly around cryptography, business plans, various intrigues some of which you might like, some of which might put you off. I found the modern-day story line not so interesting as the WWII one but mostly because the former is shaped by the latter. The plot twists only become clear towards the last third of the book and that's when the action really catches you.

Neal Stephenson uses a very "unusual" language. I am not a native English speaker so by "unusual" I mean somewhat hard to follow but not necessarily unenjoyable. I read most of this book with an English dictionary sitting right next to me and it was pretty worn out by the time I finished. So beware if you do not master the English language.

Even if it is a long and not an easy book to read I truly recommend it. Don't be discouraged by a slow start. Subjects like WWII history, cryptography (even for people who have no idea what this means), mining :), data heavens, financial uses of berried gold together with some great characters and great story telling (especially the WWII storyline) make this book a must read.

qwerty = azerty [q, 1^5.3, @ zeta 12]/.15^&

Cryptonomicon is a boys own ripping tale for nerds. Beloved of math geeks, and fantasy hard guys, this tells the multigenerational story of the do-something Shafetoes (USMC) and the Waterhouses (math geeks) and the practical engineers between them (the Japanese mining family the Goto Dengos) as their stories intertwine at the dawn of the internet and WWII.

But it isn't Michener telling a tale of the rise of a segment of civilization (although Seattle's transition from a mining and timber town to a technology metropolis is explored...as is the tattered history of the Philippines).

But the backdrop always returns to cryptology and the algorithms behind it and information theory. Historical figures both great (Turning) and small (Goring) make walk on appearances which keeps the narrative grounded in plausible history while also allowing for fantastic asides (erotic fixations, bizarre sub-cultures, inept secret societies, U-boats, the horrors of "the bends).

Stephenson's style is breezy and compelling, he never lets the math bog you down nor the characters he pushes around get too wooden, and so even with its incredible length this is a readable tale. A five page ode to the correct way to eat Captain Crunch cereal is the finest prose passage on the quintessence of eating since "How to Cook a Wolf."

Now, if you can find the factor of two prime numbers encrypted in the above three paragraphs, then this book is for you. If you don't know what I just wrote, don't bother. If this review made you smile, you'll like Stephenson's prose.

Cryptonomicon

Very well written. Moved a little slow at times, but the rest of it more than made up for it. One of the funniest books I have ever read.

His best work

This book is largely responsible for my fascination with cryptography now, next to "The Code Book". I lost a lot of sleep for a week or so reading it, but was a little surprised to see its average ratings. After some reflection on it though, I guess it does deserve some criticisms. I felt at some points it droned on like a Socratic dialog or an episode of "The X-Files", and other times I was disappointed with the anticlimactic events in contrast to what I hoped for each character. Stephenson's dark humor is all there though, more so than his previous books as one of the chapters I got the most laughs than anything else I've read. Also, compared to his post-cyberpunk books, the suspension of disbelief is easier to roll with in this, even though he still makes stuff up - it is a fiction after all.

Good, but frustrating

I started reading Neal Stephenson with Snowcrash - probably the best possible place to start reading Neal Stephenson. Cryptonomicon was the second book of his I read, and it startled me not only with it's not only with its writing, but its absolute departure from Snowcrash. Aside from a technological arc its about as different from SC as you can get; that was Cyberpunk, this is more like Historical Fiction blended technological.

The book alternates between three plotlines, neither of which seem to have any particular direction in mind. The first is centered around young Bobby Shaftoe, a WWII marine, and his unabashed traipsings around the world. The second involves a naval cryptographer, Lawrence Waterhouse and his similar travels all over the place at about the same time. The third involves Lawrence's grandson, Randy Waterhouse, as he spends most of the book (with this portion of the plotline set in the late 90's) navigating a corporate and legal labyrinthe involved with setting up a data haven in the Philliphines. Towards the end of the book the book somewhat abruptly shifts to him conducting a search for a big pile of gold.

Honestly, I liked the book, Stephenson lends himself to interesting character development (Bobby Shaftoe certainly is), but he rambles his way through the book flying off to parts unknown to make minor points. At one point he spent 2 or 3 pages, discussing a wisdom tooth removal to make a minor metaphor for a character. Other times, he discusses highly technical topics, involving encryption or hacking which may confuse some people.

None of the plots seemed to go in any particular direction. I kept looking for a goal or an objective to any of the plotlines, something interesting, but it really lacked. It was sort of like a guy following each of the main characters around with a notepad and then writing a book out of the notes. I got up, read emails, went to a business meeting, met someone interesting, had drinks at the bar, etc. The book is around 1100 pages, so props be to you, if you can take all of that.