Anathem

[neonelephant]

I finished Anathem over the weekend. It has been a long time since I've been up past sunrise doing anything, much less finishing a book. Needless to say, I enjoyed it a great deal, although there are 150ish pages in the middle that drag a bit.

Like Snow Crash and The Big U (and, I suppose, Interface, although my memories of that are hazy), it is

Comments

[mbrubeck]

Pretty much my thoughts exactly. I was surprised (in a good way, mostly) by how linear the storytelling was and how un-showy the prose. The philosophical content was right up my alley, of course. (I've always had an unhealthy fascination with the arrow of time and other fundamental physical mysteries.)

"Rather let me say that the book has fewer issues with straying from the plot thread at hand in order to run on for three pages about the look of seventeenth-century London."

...or the mouthfeel of Cap'n Crunch...

[neonelephant]

Heck, I feel like I've got an unabashed desire to plane everyone now. In my better moments I have enough sense to keep it on a leash.

I think I can also do without the Book. That seems like cruel and unusual punishment :-)

[zudini]

Regarding Anathem: I enjoyed it but not as much as I enjoyed Cryptonomicon. I found the philosophy a little slow and tedious.

Regarding your fascinating question: why do you think that isolation is bad? I saw below why you think the desire to plane is bad, but I'm not convinced. It's true that the better debater is not always right, but I think that vigorous debate is better at finding truth (on average) than any alternative I know of.

[toddler_hiway]

Just finished it. My take

[neonelephant]

The ice bits (and some of the stuff leading up to that) were the only bits that really dragged for me, although I agree that the conversations were the highlight of the book.