3 ms·

I wish I could get the time back in invested in reading "Cryptonomicon." I had high hopes after "Snow Crash", but they never materialized. It's my fault: I knew

I wish I could get the time back in invested in reading "Cryptonomicon." I had high hopes after "Snow Crash", but they never materialized. It's my fault: I knew I should have quit after the author indulged himself by going on about his furniture sorting algorithm. Inexcusable in a book over a 1000 pages long. "What is your favorite rambling, tangential aside from a Neal Stephenson novel and why?" https://old.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/362bej/what_is_your_favorite_rambling_tangential_aside/cra0zxo/ https://old.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/362bej/what_is_you...

jameshart 4y ago
It's not the author's furniture sorting algorithm. It's the Waterhouse family's. It tells us a considerable amount about the Waterhouse family's particular dysfunctions, and the various Shaftoes' ability to tolerate, or slot into supporting roles around that, and in particular it digs deeply into the conflicts that arise between hyperrational people who think 'we can build an algorithm that will permit a fair and equitable distribution of wealth' and the reality of people who will abuse the properties of that algorithm to make sure they get what they want. If you think that was an irrelevant aside to the rest of the book's themes, I dunno what to tell you.
- labrador 4y ago
  Snow Crash appears on at lists of the best Science Fiction books of all time, while Cryptonomicon is in no danger of appearing on any list of favorite Science Fiction books. Cryptonomicon is 25 times less popular than Snow Crash on Amazon (rank #6,737 vs #153,999) and no one on reddit challenged the assertion that Stephenson sometimes writes "rambling, tangential asides." I prefer my Science Fiction books have a good story, not teach me about math and game theory. There are better books for that. If you liked Cryptonomicon, congratulations, you have the same taste as the author. I stand by my disappointment going from Snow Crash to Cryptonomicon.
  - scombridae 4y ago
    I stand by my disappointment going from Snow Crash to Cryptonomicon. If by "disappointment" you mean Cryptonomicon stretched the turgidity of Snow Crash to its theoretical page limit, you may have a point.
  - jameshart 4y ago
    “Cryptonomicon is in no danger of appearing on any list of favorite Science Fiction books” That’s an odd claim. It was a Hugo nominee and won the Locus award the year it came out. But it also shows up on lists of the best books of the 1990s, not just ‘sci fi’ lists. You don’t have to have liked it, but trying to argue that the ‘rambling asides’ which are the signature of what many people love about Stephenson’s work somehow make it objectively worse sci fi than Snow Crash is a bizarre way to approach literature.
    - labrador 4y ago
      Cryptonomicon is trash but will continued to be held up by Sci Fi snobs to signal their refined tastes. It's ever been so in the two decades since I suffered through it.
      - Cd00d 4y ago
        Okay, you didn't like Cryptonomicon. Maybe you don't like longer books, which is fine. Personally, it's my favorite book of all time. I'm not a Sci Fi snob and rarely read the genre, so I'm not sure what the signaling is.
        labrador 4y ago
        Never mind me, I'm just on a tear over this book because invariably some intellectual insinuates that I'm not bright enough to understand it. I have a strict policy of not commenting on this book that I hate with a passion because I always get caught in the same loop with other people about it, but in a moment of weakness I did once again.
criddell 4y ago
I consider the entire bit about Sumerian history in Snow Crash to be an unnecessary aside. I actually really enjoyed Cryptonomicon. For it being a long book, I thought it moved pretty good.
ngc248 4y ago
Oh yes, I read snow crash when I was a kid. Bought Cryptonomicon and it was a slog, it got a a bit better later on, but I dropped it and never went back.
smolder 4y ago
The stuff about the physics of chains/whips in Seveneves comes to mind. It seemed like something that tickled Stephenson's brain and so he had to write it into something.

jameshart 4y ago

It's not the author's furniture sorting algorithm. It's the Waterhouse family's. It tells us a considerable amount about the Waterhouse family's particular dysfunctions, and the various Shaftoes' ability to tolerate, or slot into supporting roles around that, and in particular it digs deeply into the conflicts that arise between hyperrational people who think 'we can build an algorithm that will permit a fair and equitable distribution of wealth' and the reality of people who will abuse the properties of that algorithm to make sure they get what they want. If you think that was an irrelevant aside to the rest of the book's themes, I dunno what to tell you.

labrador 4y ago
Snow Crash appears on at lists of the best Science Fiction books of all time, while Cryptonomicon is in no danger of appearing on any list of favorite Science Fiction books. Cryptonomicon is 25 times less popular than Snow Crash on Amazon (rank #6,737 vs #153,999) and no one on reddit challenged the assertion that Stephenson sometimes writes "rambling, tangential asides." I prefer my Science Fiction books have a good story, not teach me about math and game theory. There are better books for that. If you liked Cryptonomicon, congratulations, you have the same taste as the author. I stand by my disappointment going from Snow Crash to Cryptonomicon.
- scombridae 4y ago
  I stand by my disappointment going from Snow Crash to Cryptonomicon. If by "disappointment" you mean Cryptonomicon stretched the turgidity of Snow Crash to its theoretical page limit, you may have a point.
- jameshart 4y ago
  “Cryptonomicon is in no danger of appearing on any list of favorite Science Fiction books” That’s an odd claim. It was a Hugo nominee and won the Locus award the year it came out. But it also shows up on lists of the best books of the 1990s, not just ‘sci fi’ lists. You don’t have to have liked it, but trying to argue that the ‘rambling asides’ which are the signature of what many people love about Stephenson’s work somehow make it objectively worse sci fi than Snow Crash is a bizarre way to approach literature.
  - labrador 4y ago
    Cryptonomicon is trash but will continued to be held up by Sci Fi snobs to signal their refined tastes. It's ever been so in the two decades since I suffered through it.
    - Cd00d 4y ago
      Okay, you didn't like Cryptonomicon. Maybe you don't like longer books, which is fine. Personally, it's my favorite book of all time. I'm not a Sci Fi snob and rarely read the genre, so I'm not sure what the signaling is.
      - labrador 4y ago
        Never mind me, I'm just on a tear over this book because invariably some intellectual insinuates that I'm not bright enough to understand it. I have a strict policy of not commenting on this book that I hate with a passion because I always get caught in the same loop with other people about it, but in a moment of weakness I did once again.

criddell 4y ago

I consider the entire bit about Sumerian history in Snow Crash to be an unnecessary aside. I actually really enjoyed Cryptonomicon. For it being a long book, I thought it moved pretty good.

ngc248 4y ago

Oh yes, I read snow crash when I was a kid. Bought Cryptonomicon and it was a slog, it got a a bit better later on, but I dropped it and never went back.

smolder 4y ago

The stuff about the physics of chains/whips in Seveneves comes to mind. It seemed like something that tickled Stephenson's brain and so he had to write it into something.