Slog: News & Arts

RSS icon Comments on The Long Now

1

I still wanna read Cryptonomicon. Is it worth slogging (ha) through all 3600 pages?

Posted by Jason Josephes | September 9, 2008 3:04 PM
2

@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.

Posted by Chris B | September 9, 2008 3:08 PM
3

@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.

Posted by Ziggity | September 9, 2008 3:09 PM
4

Sorry, I already saw the play.

Posted by COMTE | September 9, 2008 3:17 PM
5

Hecta-millennium bug?

Posted by w7ngman | September 9, 2008 3:17 PM
6

Yes @1: I think you should read it.

Posted by Paul Constant | September 9, 2008 3:18 PM
7

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!

Posted by A | September 9, 2008 3:20 PM
8

@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.

Posted by pragmatic | September 9, 2008 3:24 PM
9

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.

Posted by Westside forever | September 9, 2008 3:52 PM
10

@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.

Posted by Alan | September 9, 2008 3:53 PM
11

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.

Posted by PopTart | September 9, 2008 4:10 PM
12

I started with the Baroque cycle, then went to Cryptonomon, then Snow Crash, and just read the Diamond Age. They're all fun.

Posted by power forward | September 9, 2008 5:27 PM
13

Ayn Rand, Neal Stephenson, L. Ron Hubbard. Any of these authors on your bookshelf is a major red flag.

Posted by jrrrl | September 9, 2008 8:59 PM
14

@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?

Posted by PopTart | September 10, 2008 8:03 AM
15

'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.

Posted by Stephen | September 10, 2008 2:15 PM

Comments Closed

Comments are closed on this post.