6 ms·

Snow Crash for old school howling-metal cyberpunk. The Baroque Cycle for a semi-fictional view of the beginnings of science - the Newton and Hooke era. Anathe

Snow Crash for old school howling-metal cyberpunk. The Baroque Cycle for a semi-fictional view of the beginnings of science - the Newton and Hooke era. Anathem for an interesting take on the philosophy of science disguised as a sci-fi epic.

RickHull 12y ago
All are fantastic. I was put off by the beginning of Snow Crash initially, as there are some tongue-in-cheek bits that struck me as too campy. But I might not say that now, having read it a few times. The Baroque Cycle is a massive piece of work spanning 3 volumes, comprised of 8 nominally independent books. If it seems intimidating, just try the first one and see if you're not hooked. I'd love it if there was twice as much material. Anathem is by far my favorite. Its hooks take longer to set, but for me they set much deeper. There is a lot going on in this book, and it will truly blow your mind if you let it.
- mattmanser 12y ago
  I'm reading Snow Crash at the moment for the first time. The beginning is actually really tough going as a completely new reader today. It's just so ridiculous. I can see where he was coming from, as I grew up in that era, but it's actually pretty bizarre now given the reality is nation states, religion and banks turned out to be so much more powerful than corporations. Which is one of the perils of predictions in ageing sci-fi. I've been on a sci-fi kick recently of all the classics I never read (William Gibson, Ender's Game, The Mars Trilogy, Forever War, Starship Troopers, A Canticle For Leibowitz, Philip K. Dick, Hyperion Cantos, Ringworld) and re-reading some I've not read for a long time (Foundation Series). I personally found that Snow Crash is by far the most dated book. Even Ringworld and the foundation series were better.
  - ajslater 12y ago
    It was bizarre then. I was very skeptical the first few pages. I did not understand that the adolescent cheese was tongue in cheek until the second chapter.
  - patcon 12y ago
    Vernor Vinge is another great hard sci-fi author. "A Fire Upon the Deep" is a space opera epic if I've ever read one. Currently finishing up "Rainbows End", and wasn't sucked totally in until maybe 1/3 through, but now I'm hooked :)
    - tekromancr 12y ago
      Rainbow's End is one of my favorite books. I have probably read it 4 or 5 times since 2007. I find the ideas in it have gotten more accurate as time goes on.
  - walterbell 12y ago
    Have you read R.A. Lafferty?
  - Florin_Andrei 12y ago
    > Snow Crash is by far the most dated book All cyberpunk is like that, for reasons that are pretty obvious. > Even Ringworld and the foundation series were better. Of course. Physical reality changes much more slowly.
    - mattmanser 12y ago
      I mention other cyberpunk that's not dated, I've read 2 or 3 of the Neuromancer series and that hasn't fared anywhere near as badly, the only glaring plot point I noticed in that is that no-one had mobile phones. And when I refer to Foundation & Ringworld I meant that they are from the 60s and so have some weird cultural ideals as well as some (unintentional) misogyny & racism in the foundation series.
  - notahacker 12y ago
    I dunno, I find Snow Crash dates much better than most cyberpunk - William Gibson included - precisely because the ridiculousness was intentional. Neal no more believed we'd actually be living in an anarcho-capitalist dystopia with samurai-wielding hipster-heros delivering pizzas for the Mafia than Aldous Huxley believed we'd actually be letter-graded and programmed into praising his Fordship from birth. Some of the space opera, on the other hand, was so earnest and certain that we'd be flying around at light-speed by now you feel almost disappointed for the authors.
  - RandallBrown 12y ago
    Check out the Old Man's War series by John Scalzi. It's kind of a Starship Troopers meets Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (A bit less absurd.)
- Florin_Andrei 12y ago
  > Anathem is by far my favorite. Its hooks take longer to set, but for me they set much deeper. There is a lot going on in this book, and it will truly blow your mind if you let it. I've a major in Physics and it took me a couple readings to figure out all (well, most of) the connections therein. My favorite game to play while reading Anathem was figuring out where are the borders between historical fact (translated into the fictional world of Arbre, of course), current hypotheses within present-day science, and just downright fiction. Quick quiz: is "geometrodynamics" Stephenson's invention, or a term used in the real world? You get puzzles like that at every step, some easier, some harder. A few examples that stand out: Actual history of science - well, Thelenes, Adrakhones, Saunt Tredegarh, Saunt Muncoster, etc. (again, real people disguised under the mask of Arbran characters) Current hypotheses - the whole Multiverse thing, the Fraa Paphlagon / Hugh Everett parallel. Out-and-out fiction - eh... this is harder. The Wick, maybe? And then there's Fraa Jad, all alone in a category of his own. :) I daresay one of the most striking, memorable characters in all sci-fi - if you get the point of the whole book.
  - lcedp 12y ago
    Yes, I enjoy too. [1] is a good helper [1] http://anathem.wikia.com/wiki/Earth%E2%80%93Arbre_Correlations http://anathem.wikia.com/wiki/Earth%E2%80%93Arbre_Correlatio...
Fuzzwah 12y ago
I would also highly recommend: The Mongoliad semi-fictional view of mid-thirteenth century Mongol invasion of Europe Reamde MMO gold farming, social networking, criminal methods of the Russian mafia, Islamic terrorists
- jkaunisv1 12y ago
  Man I am almost done Reamde and would not recommend that to anyone. I have a massive vocabulary and I was still looking up words every few pages. Every time I suspected it was a synonym for a simpler word, and every time I was right. Writing aside I've found the plot pretty slow with not much interesting happening for most of the Zula portions (ie. middle half of the book). Maybe Stephenson's level of detail just isn't for me but it really wants for editing.
  - dripton 12y ago
    Tastes differ. I thought it was a fun story and a quick easy read. I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone. My wife, mother, and sister, all of whom are big readers but none of whom are really in the target nerd demographic, all liked it. Anathem and Diamond Age were harder for me because of the depth of ideas. I had to slow down and think to get through them. Baroque Cycle was harder because of the sheer number of characters with multiple and/or similar names, which is realistic but annoying. There's a list of characters in the back of the first book, which helps, but it's annoying to have to keep the first book handy when you're reading the others. Stephenson does have a reputation for starting great books and not knowing how to finish them. But I think I've gotten more than my money's worth out of all of them.
    - Naga 12y ago
      I loved the Baroque Cycle, but I am also a history fan so a lot of the names were already familiar to me.
  - Florin_Andrei 12y ago
    If you're familiar with his style, and you take Reamde for what it really is - stuff he played with while taking a break from "real work" after the massive Baroque trilogy - then it makes sense and it's quite enjoyable.
rasur 12y ago
Have you not read 'The Diamond Age'? IMO it is one of his best works. Nanotech/Networks/Crypto for the masses to understand. I read, loved and was caught up in the VR fever of the 90's via Snow Crash, and love his other books, but TDA is the one I'll never get rid of.
- NotOscarWilde 12y ago
  I loved The Diamond Age as well, although I remember mostly bits and pieces now: * cult sex scenes * a forced-participation theater that humiliates you using Occulus Rift-technology * the Kill Bill-esque ending * ... and, most of all, the idea of continous education using an immersive Minecraft-like book/world that expands in complexity as your education grows. Too bad we (the hackers) never completed even a crude version of the Primer (the book in the last bullet point) for the young geeks out there.
  - rasur 12y ago
    Someone endowed of clue should get going with a kickstarter for at least a film version of TDA, if not a lot of what was described therein :) Damn, I'm going to have to read it again now. Still, it's about time for a refresh...
    - r00fus 12y ago
      Read the book in college, recently re-read as an audiobook - still relevant, still tantalizing.
    - WalterSear 12y ago
      IMHO, it would do better with the Studio Ghibli treatment, than a live action movie.
  - fixedd 12y ago
    * They built everything with DIAMONDS... because it was cheap.
  - chriswarbo 12y ago
markc 12y ago
Don't for get Cryptonomicon!

RickHull 12y ago

All are fantastic. I was put off by the beginning of Snow Crash initially, as there are some tongue-in-cheek bits that struck me as too campy. But I might not say that now, having read it a few times. The Baroque Cycle is a massive piece of work spanning 3 volumes, comprised of 8 nominally independent books. If it seems intimidating, just try the first one and see if you're not hooked. I'd love it if there was twice as much material. Anathem is by far my favorite. Its hooks take longer to set, but for me they set much deeper. There is a lot going on in this book, and it will truly blow your mind if you let it.

mattmanser 12y ago
I'm reading Snow Crash at the moment for the first time. The beginning is actually really tough going as a completely new reader today. It's just so ridiculous. I can see where he was coming from, as I grew up in that era, but it's actually pretty bizarre now given the reality is nation states, religion and banks turned out to be so much more powerful than corporations. Which is one of the perils of predictions in ageing sci-fi. I've been on a sci-fi kick recently of all the classics I never read (William Gibson, Ender's Game, The Mars Trilogy, Forever War, Starship Troopers, A Canticle For Leibowitz, Philip K. Dick, Hyperion Cantos, Ringworld) and re-reading some I've not read for a long time (Foundation Series). I personally found that Snow Crash is by far the most dated book. Even Ringworld and the foundation series were better.
- ajslater 12y ago
  It was bizarre then. I was very skeptical the first few pages. I did not understand that the adolescent cheese was tongue in cheek until the second chapter.
- patcon 12y ago
  Vernor Vinge is another great hard sci-fi author. "A Fire Upon the Deep" is a space opera epic if I've ever read one. Currently finishing up "Rainbows End", and wasn't sucked totally in until maybe 1/3 through, but now I'm hooked :)
  - tekromancr 12y ago
    Rainbow's End is one of my favorite books. I have probably read it 4 or 5 times since 2007. I find the ideas in it have gotten more accurate as time goes on.
- walterbell 12y ago
  Have you read R.A. Lafferty?
- Florin_Andrei 12y ago
  > Snow Crash is by far the most dated book All cyberpunk is like that, for reasons that are pretty obvious. > Even Ringworld and the foundation series were better. Of course. Physical reality changes much more slowly.
  - mattmanser 12y ago
    I mention other cyberpunk that's not dated, I've read 2 or 3 of the Neuromancer series and that hasn't fared anywhere near as badly, the only glaring plot point I noticed in that is that no-one had mobile phones. And when I refer to Foundation & Ringworld I meant that they are from the 60s and so have some weird cultural ideals as well as some (unintentional) misogyny & racism in the foundation series.
- notahacker 12y ago
  I dunno, I find Snow Crash dates much better than most cyberpunk - William Gibson included - precisely because the ridiculousness was intentional. Neal no more believed we'd actually be living in an anarcho-capitalist dystopia with samurai-wielding hipster-heros delivering pizzas for the Mafia than Aldous Huxley believed we'd actually be letter-graded and programmed into praising his Fordship from birth. Some of the space opera, on the other hand, was so earnest and certain that we'd be flying around at light-speed by now you feel almost disappointed for the authors.
- RandallBrown 12y ago
  Check out the Old Man's War series by John Scalzi. It's kind of a Starship Troopers meets Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (A bit less absurd.)
Florin_Andrei 12y ago
> Anathem is by far my favorite. Its hooks take longer to set, but for me they set much deeper. There is a lot going on in this book, and it will truly blow your mind if you let it. I've a major in Physics and it took me a couple readings to figure out all (well, most of) the connections therein. My favorite game to play while reading Anathem was figuring out where are the borders between historical fact (translated into the fictional world of Arbre, of course), current hypotheses within present-day science, and just downright fiction. Quick quiz: is "geometrodynamics" Stephenson's invention, or a term used in the real world? You get puzzles like that at every step, some easier, some harder. A few examples that stand out: Actual history of science - well, Thelenes, Adrakhones, Saunt Tredegarh, Saunt Muncoster, etc. (again, real people disguised under the mask of Arbran characters) Current hypotheses - the whole Multiverse thing, the Fraa Paphlagon / Hugh Everett parallel. Out-and-out fiction - eh... this is harder. The Wick, maybe? And then there's Fraa Jad, all alone in a category of his own. :) I daresay one of the most striking, memorable characters in all sci-fi - if you get the point of the whole book.
- lcedp 12y ago
  Yes, I enjoy too. [1] is a good helper [1] http://anathem.wikia.com/wiki/Earth%E2%80%93Arbre_Correlations http://anathem.wikia.com/wiki/Earth%E2%80%93Arbre_Correlatio...

Fuzzwah 12y ago

I would also highly recommend: The Mongoliad semi-fictional view of mid-thirteenth century Mongol invasion of Europe Reamde MMO gold farming, social networking, criminal methods of the Russian mafia, Islamic terrorists

jkaunisv1 12y ago
Man I am almost done Reamde and would not recommend that to anyone. I have a massive vocabulary and I was still looking up words every few pages. Every time I suspected it was a synonym for a simpler word, and every time I was right. Writing aside I've found the plot pretty slow with not much interesting happening for most of the Zula portions (ie. middle half of the book). Maybe Stephenson's level of detail just isn't for me but it really wants for editing.
- dripton 12y ago
  Tastes differ. I thought it was a fun story and a quick easy read. I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone. My wife, mother, and sister, all of whom are big readers but none of whom are really in the target nerd demographic, all liked it. Anathem and Diamond Age were harder for me because of the depth of ideas. I had to slow down and think to get through them. Baroque Cycle was harder because of the sheer number of characters with multiple and/or similar names, which is realistic but annoying. There's a list of characters in the back of the first book, which helps, but it's annoying to have to keep the first book handy when you're reading the others. Stephenson does have a reputation for starting great books and not knowing how to finish them. But I think I've gotten more than my money's worth out of all of them.
  - Naga 12y ago
    I loved the Baroque Cycle, but I am also a history fan so a lot of the names were already familiar to me.
- Florin_Andrei 12y ago
  If you're familiar with his style, and you take Reamde for what it really is - stuff he played with while taking a break from "real work" after the massive Baroque trilogy - then it makes sense and it's quite enjoyable.

rasur 12y ago

Have you not read 'The Diamond Age'? IMO it is one of his best works. Nanotech/Networks/Crypto for the masses to understand. I read, loved and was caught up in the VR fever of the 90's via Snow Crash, and love his other books, but TDA is the one I'll never get rid of.

NotOscarWilde 12y ago
I loved The Diamond Age as well, although I remember mostly bits and pieces now: * cult sex scenes * a forced-participation theater that humiliates you using Occulus Rift-technology * the Kill Bill-esque ending * ... and, most of all, the idea of continous education using an immersive Minecraft-like book/world that expands in complexity as your education grows. Too bad we (the hackers) never completed even a crude version of the Primer (the book in the last bullet point) for the young geeks out there.
- rasur 12y ago
  Someone endowed of clue should get going with a kickstarter for at least a film version of TDA, if not a lot of what was described therein :) Damn, I'm going to have to read it again now. Still, it's about time for a refresh...
  - r00fus 12y ago
    Read the book in college, recently re-read as an audiobook - still relevant, still tantalizing.
  - WalterSear 12y ago
    IMHO, it would do better with the Studio Ghibli treatment, than a live action movie.
- fixedd 12y ago
  * They built everything with DIAMONDS... because it was cheap.
- chriswarbo 12y ago

markc 12y ago

Don't for get Cryptonomicon!