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Cryptonomicon by Neil Stephenson had a subplot where a main character used morse code on his keyboard, or some other layered encoding on top of the keyboard, to
by efitz 2y ago
Cryptonomicon by Neil Stephenson had a subplot where a main character used morse code on his keyboard, or some other layered encoding on top of the keyboard, to write software and communicate surreptitiously even while his screen was being recorded.
- linsomniac 2y agoJinx
- wsintra2022 2y agoCame across that book just recently in one of those free book libraries, tell me, was it a good read?
- cynusx 2y agoCryptonomicon is one of the best reads on the planet, it's famous.
- stavros 2y agoIs it now, though? I read it and didn't manage to get into it much, and don't really remember anything from it. I think it's one of those works of art that were so revolutionary that they started a whole genre, but now they seem badly done and clichéd just because everyone has copied them and iterated on them.
- fellerts 2y agoI found it witty and somewhat educational, but man is it long. I read it on the kindle and when I thought that I must be getting close to the end, I had only read 30% of it. It takes some determination to get through.
- flir 2y agoSome of the tech's a bit long-in-the-tooth (the whole data haven concept), but the genre was already well-established when the book turned up (Gravity's Rainbow (1973) in particular and postmodern literature in general). I, personally, enjoy it.
- albrewer 2y agoI got about halfway through and forgot I was in the middle of reading it. The story never really grabbed me. I say this as someone who usually rips through a book a week.
- SamBam 2y agoIf you're a computer nerd, yes, definitely. There are plenty of people I wouldn't recommend it to, though.
- themadturk 2y agoIt is a story of technology and history. It grew out of the author's interest in the way we communicate, and also out of his interest in WWII legends. It's huge, and hugely readable. It's a very good read if the intersection of those things interest you.
- groby_b 2y agoYes, it's an amazing book. But skip the last 20 pages, they're deeply unsatisfying writing.
- roughly 2y agoThe Neal Stephenson experience. That, and the 20-page grad-level dissertation on some esoteric subject randomly in the middle of the book. The man’s truly one of the best out there, and I’m convinced a more aggressive editor would ruin him, but it wouldn’t be a Stephenson without some real head scratching authorial decisions.
- imp0cat 2y agoSo true about the endings! And he's actually aware of it. Well, I'm reasonably happy with all of my endings, but I know that some people feel differently. But as you've noticed, they're different, it's not always the same thing. All I can say is different books end in different ways, and different people have different tastes in what they want to see. I'm well aware that there are certain people frustrated with the endings of some of my books. But I also think that it's one of these things where people's preconceived ideas sometimes drive the way they perceive things. ... So I think that my experience is that once you've written a book with a controversial ending and that meme gets going of Stephenson can't write endings, then that gets slapped on to everything you do, no matter how elaborate the ending is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnq-2BJwatE&t=654s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnq-2BJwatE&t=654s
- nocoiner 2y agoIt’s not a meme, the man really can’t write an ending to save his life. But generally the pages other than the last ~25 make it totally worth it (other than that post-death MMORPG book, that one was terrible and just a slog the whole way through).
- roughly 2y ago> other than that post-death MMORPG book, that one was terrible and just a slog the whole way through Literally everything about that book except the main plot was fantastic. It read terrifyingly prophetic once he could peel himself away from whatever greek fable bullshit he was on about on the main thread.
- paranoidrobot 2y agoI've read it probably a dozen times or more. I'm actually mid-way through it again after not having read it for a year or two. I think it's still a great story. The technology is definitely dated. There is also some language that will offend or make some people uncomfortable (Racial slurs epithets, among them).
- altairprime 2y agoA lot of my guy friends have a crush on a lead character in it (not Elias or Elon, but a similar name?) and praise it extensively. I apparently read it one time and remember nothing about it, so YMMV but if you’re into hacker guys, you’ll apparently love it!
- tessellated 2y agoEnoch Root?
- altairprime 2y agoEnoch! Yes!
- tessellated 2y agoI have read and can recommend everything by the author between and not including 'The Big U' and 'REAMDE'. REAMDE disappointed me so much, that I haven't touched his later novels. 'Snow Crash' reads like a graphic novel, 'Anathem' is just unique and maybe in my fav top 10 (not considering 'A Canticle for Leibowitz' :), 'Cryptonomicon' + 'The Baroque Cycle' are slow but very rewarding. 'The Diamond Age', what can I say, do yourself a favour and start reading it now. Sure I forgot one or two, it's been a long time.
- Crespyl 2y agoSpecifically, IIRC, the character used the "Scroll Lock" LED to blink out some coordinates in Morse, to avoid the location being displayed on-screen and thus captured by Van Eck phreaking[0]. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Eck_phreaking https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Eck_phreaking