Yeah, just let me repeat what the other replies to you have said, Anathem is very much worth reading. It starts out kind of confined and a little slow. But it s

Yeah, just let me repeat what the other replies to you have said, Anathem is very much worth reading. It starts out kind of confined and a little slow. But it starts picking up steam and then goes off in a wonderful direction I never ever expected. For me it's in his top three books along with Snow Crash and Diamond Age. It's also on a very short list of "books I will definitely read again at some point". If the Baroque Cycle doesn't appeal up front, you're probably fine skipping it. I liked them, but I really had to push myself through large parts of each book. I kind of felt like they needed to be edited down a bit.