7 ms·

I really enjoy Stephenson's work. If you have yet to read any of his stuff i'd recommend starting with Cryptonomicon

zabzonk 5y ago
Nah, Snow Crash. And then Anathem.
karlshea 5y ago
Totally agree, it was my intro to his work. I’d also recommend “Mother Earth Mother Board”, an essay of his also in Wired about the laying of an intercontinental fiber cable. Hugely enjoyable and a good peek into his writing.
- Fnoord 5y ago
  My intro to his work was his essay: In the Beginning... Was the Command Line [1]. Back then I didn't read Snow Crash; a couple of years ago I did. Loved it! I haven't been able to get through Cryptonomicon. I did like Diamond Age, but as another commentor said it falls off at the end. Written by someone with bad attention span when it comes to reading fiction (easily bored/distracted). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Beginning..._Was_the_Command_Line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Beginning..._Was_the_Co...
mrintegrity 5y ago
Snowcrash is where i would begin (where i did begin). It was some years ago now so i don't really remember why I hated cryptonomicon but I did, iirc, the plot jumped around all the time, I couldn't care about the protagonists. Am I remembering correctly that the whole plot ultimately revolved around a large stash of gold?
- RandallBrown 5y ago
  Cryptonomicon is a fictionalized telling of how Alan Turing cracked the enigma code and how that led to the future of computing. The timeline does jump around between world war 2 and "modern" times. There was a large stash of gold, but I don't remember that being particularly important in the grand scheme of the book. It's one of my favorite books of all time.
  - teekert 5y ago
    I love science fiction and read a lot of it, but I just couldn't get through Cryptonomicon, I just have the feeling that after a lot of pages nothing is really happening. Should I just keep reading until it gets better then? The start seems super slow with 0 interesting developments.
    - dagw 5y ago
      Honestly, and I say this as someone who loved the book, it doesn't get 'better'. If you don't like the prose and structure of the first 50-100 pages you probably won't like the book.
      - teekert 5y ago
        Thanx, that's all I needed to know. I have sometimes pushed through hundreds of pages because I knew something was coming, but if nothing is coming I really prefer to spend my time otherwise :)
        ZeroGravitas 5y ago
        I was going to offer the same advice (and generalize it to anyone who writes big books, whether its the count of monte cristo or modern sci-fi epics) people who write long books, and therefore people who read them, generally aren't in it for the destination, but the journey. Having said that, there are some authors mentioned in this thread that didnt immediately click with me that are now my favorites. There's usually at least one (relatively) short book that should give you an entryway to try them out, without the full commitment.
        teekert 5y ago
        I don't mind long books, I wrestled through the first 400-500 pages of Atlas Shrugged and couldn't put it down after that anymore. Also, the entire Foundation trilogy went down quite well. I can appreciate a journey, but perhaps not all journeys. It's a good tip to try short books of writers first, I'll do that. Although generally I let myself be guided by reviews, and it works for me in general, Cryptonomicon is one of the outliers.
jillesvangurp 5y ago
I even enjoy his lesser novels and have read all of his novels multiple times. So, I've been looking forward to this one and just finished my second re-read of Fall, which has grown on me since it came out; probably one of his least accessible novels. Half of the fun in that one is all the back references to his past novels (e.g. Cryptonomicon, The Baroque Cycle, REAMDE) with characters and events being referred to. So, maybe don't start with that one. Snow Crash, the Diamond Age, and Cryptonomicon are probably all good ones to start with and all still very much on topic despite being a few decades old now.
michaelbuckbee 5y ago
Cryptonomicon is one of my favorite books of all time, but as Stephenson's success has risen so has lack of editing. He's the one author that I think would really benefit from releasing both a "mainstream" copy of his works and then a "director's cut" of the same story.
- lindseymysse 5y ago
  I agree with this. Snow Crash and Zodiak were such taut novels, Diamond Age was a little lush, and Cryptonomicon was a slog for me and then I tuned out. My favorite remains Zodiak -- I read it over and over as a teenager and when I moved to Dorchester, MA years later had deja vu when I realized how well he captured the Boston area. I used to do stealth rides on my bicycle around Boston late at night because, yes, the cabbies will try to kill you. Fun times.
  - tgv 5y ago
    And let's not mention Seveneves.
    - pengaru 5y ago
      Seveneves was alright, but Anathem, fuck me do I have better things to do. Anathem was the first time I felt a complete disrespect for my time from Stephenson.
      - unionpivo 5y ago
        Funny Anathem is still my favorite book from him. Read it 4 times by now, which is quite rare for me. Seveneves I didn't particular like and sometimes skipped pages at a time. Just goes to show how peoples taste is different.
        aaronbrethorst 5y ago
        Anathem is definitely my favorite novel of his, too. Seveneves: just stop after act 2. Pretend the last couple hundred pages of the book don’t exist. Fall: this is the first Stephenson book that I ended up skimming. I could not bring myself to care about the endless retelling of Paradise Lost. And yes, I’ve even read The Big U. It was better than Fall, imo.
ryanSrich 5y ago
Snow crash or seveneves are more accessible imo. That’s where I would start. No doubt cryptonomicon is an amazing piece of work, but it’s a beast to get through. Not as much of a beast as Anathem, but still tough.
- nitrogen 5y ago
  Anathem is my favorite book of his, but I definitely had to pause and reread and just decide not to fully absorb the detailed architectural descriptions of the maths/monasteries in the early pages.
  - ryanSrich 5y ago
    I lost count of how many times I started and stopped anathem before finally pushing through to finish it. It has to be at least 5 or 6. It’s worth it imo, but I agree there are entire sections that I will never fully understand.
  - krageon 5y ago
    You could tragically gloss over 90% of that and still have a very solid story.
beambot 5y ago
Diamond Age, Snowcrash, and Seveneves are much more accessible and (IMHO) better.
- ncmncm 5y ago
  If you want a book where several things are happening on every single page, Reamde is for you. People treat it like it is not his style because it is an absolute romp. It sends up every action/sf trope in one book. Russians, crashing a business jet, plasma cutter, off-grid extremists, you name it, it's in there.
fho 5y ago
English is not my primary language and I had a really hard time getting into the Cryptonomicon. Started three times over 20 years and didn't make it over the first 100 pages the first two times. Having now finished it I can say that it is definitely worth it, but I would recommend to start with something simpler, e.g. Diamond Age.
andyjohnson0 5y ago
I find him frustratingly variable. I enjoyed Snow Crash and reamde and some of his non-fiction work. A lot of the rest (including Cryptonomicon and Seveneves) seems over-long, over-digressive, and annoyingly inconclusive. I don't know why - he's clearly an intelligent and thoughtful author.
Gatsky 5y ago
I have read Snow Crash and The Diamond Age. I highly recommend The Diamond Age, it’s just so… interesting. And stunning in parts.

Nah, Snow Crash. And then Anathem.

Totally agree, it was my intro to his work. I’d also recommend “Mother Earth Mother Board”, an essay of his also in Wired about the laying of an intercontinental fiber cable. Hugely enjoyable and a good peek into his writing.

Fnoord 5y ago
My intro to his work was his essay: In the Beginning... Was the Command Line [1]. Back then I didn't read Snow Crash; a couple of years ago I did. Loved it! I haven't been able to get through Cryptonomicon. I did like Diamond Age, but as another commentor said it falls off at the end. Written by someone with bad attention span when it comes to reading fiction (easily bored/distracted). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Beginning..._Was_the_Command_Line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Beginning..._Was_the_Co...

mrintegrity 5y ago

Snowcrash is where i would begin (where i did begin). It was some years ago now so i don't really remember why I hated cryptonomicon but I did, iirc, the plot jumped around all the time, I couldn't care about the protagonists. Am I remembering correctly that the whole plot ultimately revolved around a large stash of gold?

RandallBrown 5y ago
Cryptonomicon is a fictionalized telling of how Alan Turing cracked the enigma code and how that led to the future of computing. The timeline does jump around between world war 2 and "modern" times. There was a large stash of gold, but I don't remember that being particularly important in the grand scheme of the book. It's one of my favorite books of all time.
- teekert 5y ago
  I love science fiction and read a lot of it, but I just couldn't get through Cryptonomicon, I just have the feeling that after a lot of pages nothing is really happening. Should I just keep reading until it gets better then? The start seems super slow with 0 interesting developments.
  - dagw 5y ago
    Honestly, and I say this as someone who loved the book, it doesn't get 'better'. If you don't like the prose and structure of the first 50-100 pages you probably won't like the book.
    - teekert 5y ago
      Thanx, that's all I needed to know. I have sometimes pushed through hundreds of pages because I knew something was coming, but if nothing is coming I really prefer to spend my time otherwise :)
      - ZeroGravitas 5y ago
        I was going to offer the same advice (and generalize it to anyone who writes big books, whether its the count of monte cristo or modern sci-fi epics) people who write long books, and therefore people who read them, generally aren't in it for the destination, but the journey. Having said that, there are some authors mentioned in this thread that didnt immediately click with me that are now my favorites. There's usually at least one (relatively) short book that should give you an entryway to try them out, without the full commitment.
        teekert 5y ago
        I don't mind long books, I wrestled through the first 400-500 pages of Atlas Shrugged and couldn't put it down after that anymore. Also, the entire Foundation trilogy went down quite well. I can appreciate a journey, but perhaps not all journeys. It's a good tip to try short books of writers first, I'll do that. Although generally I let myself be guided by reviews, and it works for me in general, Cryptonomicon is one of the outliers.

jillesvangurp 5y ago

I even enjoy his lesser novels and have read all of his novels multiple times. So, I've been looking forward to this one and just finished my second re-read of Fall, which has grown on me since it came out; probably one of his least accessible novels. Half of the fun in that one is all the back references to his past novels (e.g. Cryptonomicon, The Baroque Cycle, REAMDE) with characters and events being referred to. So, maybe don't start with that one. Snow Crash, the Diamond Age, and Cryptonomicon are probably all good ones to start with and all still very much on topic despite being a few decades old now.

michaelbuckbee 5y ago

Cryptonomicon is one of my favorite books of all time, but as Stephenson's success has risen so has lack of editing. He's the one author that I think would really benefit from releasing both a "mainstream" copy of his works and then a "director's cut" of the same story.

lindseymysse 5y ago
I agree with this. Snow Crash and Zodiak were such taut novels, Diamond Age was a little lush, and Cryptonomicon was a slog for me and then I tuned out. My favorite remains Zodiak -- I read it over and over as a teenager and when I moved to Dorchester, MA years later had deja vu when I realized how well he captured the Boston area. I used to do stealth rides on my bicycle around Boston late at night because, yes, the cabbies will try to kill you. Fun times.
- tgv 5y ago
  And let's not mention Seveneves.
  - pengaru 5y ago
    Seveneves was alright, but Anathem, fuck me do I have better things to do. Anathem was the first time I felt a complete disrespect for my time from Stephenson.
    - unionpivo 5y ago
      Funny Anathem is still my favorite book from him. Read it 4 times by now, which is quite rare for me. Seveneves I didn't particular like and sometimes skipped pages at a time. Just goes to show how peoples taste is different.
      - aaronbrethorst 5y ago
        Anathem is definitely my favorite novel of his, too. Seveneves: just stop after act 2. Pretend the last couple hundred pages of the book don’t exist. Fall: this is the first Stephenson book that I ended up skimming. I could not bring myself to care about the endless retelling of Paradise Lost. And yes, I’ve even read The Big U. It was better than Fall, imo.

ryanSrich 5y ago

Snow crash or seveneves are more accessible imo. That’s where I would start. No doubt cryptonomicon is an amazing piece of work, but it’s a beast to get through. Not as much of a beast as Anathem, but still tough.

nitrogen 5y ago
Anathem is my favorite book of his, but I definitely had to pause and reread and just decide not to fully absorb the detailed architectural descriptions of the maths/monasteries in the early pages.
- ryanSrich 5y ago
  I lost count of how many times I started and stopped anathem before finally pushing through to finish it. It has to be at least 5 or 6. It’s worth it imo, but I agree there are entire sections that I will never fully understand.
- krageon 5y ago
  You could tragically gloss over 90% of that and still have a very solid story.

beambot 5y ago

Diamond Age, Snowcrash, and Seveneves are much more accessible and (IMHO) better.

ncmncm 5y ago
If you want a book where several things are happening on every single page, Reamde is for you. People treat it like it is not his style because it is an absolute romp. It sends up every action/sf trope in one book. Russians, crashing a business jet, plasma cutter, off-grid extremists, you name it, it's in there.

fho 5y ago

English is not my primary language and I had a really hard time getting into the Cryptonomicon. Started three times over 20 years and didn't make it over the first 100 pages the first two times. Having now finished it I can say that it is definitely worth it, but I would recommend to start with something simpler, e.g. Diamond Age.

andyjohnson0 5y ago

I find him frustratingly variable. I enjoyed Snow Crash and reamde and some of his non-fiction work. A lot of the rest (including Cryptonomicon and Seveneves) seems over-long, over-digressive, and annoyingly inconclusive. I don't know why - he's clearly an intelligent and thoughtful author.

Gatsky 5y ago

I have read Snow Crash and The Diamond Age. I highly recommend The Diamond Age, it’s just so… interesting. And stunning in parts.