4 ms·

It's HN so most of you probably already know and love Neal Stephenson's writing, but any time Enigma comes up I feel compelled to recommend "Cryptonomicon", one

It's HN so most of you probably already know and love Neal Stephenson's writing, but any time Enigma comes up I feel compelled to recommend "Cryptonomicon", one of my all-time favorite novels in any genre.

smabie 6y ago
Honestly, I don't think Stephenson is a very good writer. His writing is didactic and pompous. William Gibson on the other hand crafts perfect sentences, each and every time. I read cryptonomicon when I was 15 and thoroughly convinced myself that it was "awesome." After reading it again when I was older, I realized that I wanted to like it, because of what it said about the kind of person I aspired to be at the time.
cantrevealname 6y ago
I want to love that book -- it's everything I'm interested in -- but oh my god that book is so verbose. For example, he spends 1.5 pages describing what the clouds in the sky look like and it has nothing to do with the plot. I tried twice to read it but gave up at halfway. It's 918 pages, but I think it could lose at least 300 pages and still keep all the brilliant ideas. If someone created a condensed version of it, I think the book could reach a whole new audience.
- Spooky23 6y ago
  I always felt like an inferior geek for not liking that book and others.
- jki275 6y ago
  I never felt that way about the book. He is verbose, but it all contributes in some way. A lot of writing is setting things up, and he does it so masterfully in Cryptonomicon.
- infogulch 6y ago
  I learned patience reading Moby Dick at 14, after trying and failing at 12. I am now a very patient person. And I treasure the concept of the end of a sentence.
- justicezyx 6y ago
  My solution is using audible, and listen through the book during whatever time that I can just do passive listening. Just finished the power broker, with 50 hours+ time. I think audible is particularly good for light content, novels, biography, etc. Audible for things with dense content, like historical studies are not working well. I listened 20+ hours of the fall and decline of Rome, and I cannot even remember the names of the Rome emperors mentioned so far.
- AlisdairO 6y ago
  Yeah, I think a lot of that comes down to whether you enjoy his writing style. I would read what Stephenson writes even if it's devoid of ideas, just for the joy of the style. For myself, the scene where he describes Randy eating breakfast in Cryptonomican is one of my favourite passages in any book (partly because I identify with the source material :-) ), but others have cited that to me as an example of gross excess.
- TedDoesntTalk 6y ago
  Reminds me of Stephen King novels.
- enahs-sf 6y ago
  I listened to it as a book on tape on a very long road trip and it was perfect. Don't think I could have made it through otherwise.
- C1sc0cat 6y ago
  I have never under stood the dislike of longer form writing - this is part of Stephenson's style. You don't think say the digression on the Galvanick Lucifer isn't a glorious read?
- ascagnel_ 6y ago
  Paraphrasing another quote: reading a novel is like inviting an author over as a house-guest for a few days; reading a Neal Stephenson novel is like having him sleep on your couch for a month, coming and going at all hours of the day.
eru 6y ago
If you want a mathematically treatment, The Pleasures of Counting is an excellent book about this and sundry other marvelous topics.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  Even the index of The Pleasures of Counting has its gems. (A footnote remarks that a discarded alternative for the title had been The Joy of x.) On having broken 4-rotor Naval enigma decisively (p.389): "A more demonstrative age might have celebrated such a victory with a massive piece of statuary, perhaps showing a handsome but well-draped female representing Science with the armoured God of War prostate under her foot, or perhaps the giant figures of Blackett and Turing gazing forever over the Western Approaches." see also https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23597523 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23597523

smabie 6y ago

Honestly, I don't think Stephenson is a very good writer. His writing is didactic and pompous. William Gibson on the other hand crafts perfect sentences, each and every time. I read cryptonomicon when I was 15 and thoroughly convinced myself that it was "awesome." After reading it again when I was older, I realized that I wanted to like it, because of what it said about the kind of person I aspired to be at the time.

cantrevealname 6y ago

I want to love that book -- it's everything I'm interested in -- but oh my god that book is so verbose. For example, he spends 1.5 pages describing what the clouds in the sky look like and it has nothing to do with the plot. I tried twice to read it but gave up at halfway. It's 918 pages, but I think it could lose at least 300 pages and still keep all the brilliant ideas. If someone created a condensed version of it, I think the book could reach a whole new audience.

Spooky23 6y ago
I always felt like an inferior geek for not liking that book and others.
jki275 6y ago
I never felt that way about the book. He is verbose, but it all contributes in some way. A lot of writing is setting things up, and he does it so masterfully in Cryptonomicon.
infogulch 6y ago
I learned patience reading Moby Dick at 14, after trying and failing at 12. I am now a very patient person. And I treasure the concept of the end of a sentence.
justicezyx 6y ago
My solution is using audible, and listen through the book during whatever time that I can just do passive listening. Just finished the power broker, with 50 hours+ time. I think audible is particularly good for light content, novels, biography, etc. Audible for things with dense content, like historical studies are not working well. I listened 20+ hours of the fall and decline of Rome, and I cannot even remember the names of the Rome emperors mentioned so far.
AlisdairO 6y ago
Yeah, I think a lot of that comes down to whether you enjoy his writing style. I would read what Stephenson writes even if it's devoid of ideas, just for the joy of the style. For myself, the scene where he describes Randy eating breakfast in Cryptonomican is one of my favourite passages in any book (partly because I identify with the source material :-) ), but others have cited that to me as an example of gross excess.
TedDoesntTalk 6y ago
Reminds me of Stephen King novels.
enahs-sf 6y ago
I listened to it as a book on tape on a very long road trip and it was perfect. Don't think I could have made it through otherwise.
C1sc0cat 6y ago
I have never under stood the dislike of longer form writing - this is part of Stephenson's style. You don't think say the digression on the Galvanick Lucifer isn't a glorious read?
ascagnel_ 6y ago
Paraphrasing another quote: reading a novel is like inviting an author over as a house-guest for a few days; reading a Neal Stephenson novel is like having him sleep on your couch for a month, coming and going at all hours of the day.

eru 6y ago

If you want a mathematically treatment, The Pleasures of Counting is an excellent book about this and sundry other marvelous topics.

082349872349872 6y ago
Even the index of The Pleasures of Counting has its gems. (A footnote remarks that a discarded alternative for the title had been The Joy of x.) On having broken 4-rotor Naval enigma decisively (p.389): "A more demonstrative age might have celebrated such a victory with a massive piece of statuary, perhaps showing a handsome but well-draped female representing Science with the armoured God of War prostate under her foot, or perhaps the giant figures of Blackett and Turing gazing forever over the Western Approaches." see also https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23597523 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23597523