Books The Long Now
posted by on September 9 at 15:02 PM
It’s possible that those of you who care about this already know it, but Neal Stephenson’s new novel, Anathem, is officially released today. It’s his first book in four years. If you buy Anathem at the University Book Store, you can buy a ticket to Stephenson’s reading there next week.
If you’d like to know more about Anathem before you buy it, The Long Now Foundation is hosting a live webcast with Stephenson at 7 pm tonight. He’ll discuss the book and maybe read a little bit, also. And it’s free.
I’m kind of fond of the Long Now folks. They’re trying to build a 10,000 year clock. Here’s their mission:
The Long Now Foundation uses five digit dates, the extra zero is to solve the deca-millennium bug which will come into effect in about 8,000 years.
The Y10K problem is real, folks, and if we don’t get started on it now, we’ll be in real trouble.
I still wanna read Cryptonomicon. Is it worth slogging (ha) through all 3600 pages?
@1 - Yes. Read it. It gets dry but I love it nonetheless. And some day I'll go back and actually finish the Baroque Cycle.
@1: It's good, but it takes a while to get going. Also gets kind of mathematically esoteric, if you enjoy or can handle that, but some of the WWII action stuff is pretty cool.
Sorry, I already saw the play.
Hecta-millennium bug?
Yes @1: I think you should read it.
Cryptonomicon is great, but I never did make it through Quicksilver so I missed the related trilogy. Currently finally reading The Diamond Age, seems good so far!
@1 928 pages in hard cover actually. But if you think that one is torturously long, try the Baroque Cycle, all three volumes total 2688 pages of very dense righting. Interesting stuff, but proves that reading a Stephenson novel is an endurance trial.
I've been reading Stephenson since Zodiac (which much qualify as a short story since it's less than an inch thick)
Cryptonomicon is pretty gripping once it gets going--I stayed up all night reading the last quarter. Even the Baroque cycle is a crackin' good yarn if you give yourself about a year to read it.
Does anyone know if "The Long Now" has an actual end? That seems to be Neal's biggest weakness--his books tend to stop, not end.
@1 - It's good, but it takes a while to get going. Also gets kind of bogged down in the WWII action, if you enjoy or can handle that, but some of the mathematically esoteric stuff is pretty cool.
I am so excited to read this! I'd have my nose happily buried in the book right now if Amazon had bothered to actually get it to me today, instead of sending it to Roseburg and Portland on its way to me.
@1 Definitely worth the slog.
I started with the Baroque cycle, then went to Cryptonomon, then Snow Crash, and just read the Diamond Age. They're all fun.
Ayn Rand, Neal Stephenson, L. Ron Hubbard. Any of these authors on your bookshelf is a major red flag.
@13 Putting Neal Stephenson in the same category as Ayn Rand and L. Ron Hubbard seems absurd to me. Why do you feel he belongs on this list? Am I missing his weird celebrity church or the cult of college boys pontificating about his philosophy?
'Cryptonomicon' was an amazing book; I've read it twice. 'Interface' (under a pseudonym, Stephen Bury, and co-written with J. Frederick George) is a witty political thriller, and highly recommended (wubba wubba).
I'm halfway through the first in the Baroque Cycle now, and it's starting to click. Don't think I'll get to 'Anathem' any time soon, but am looking forward to it nonetheless.
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