SHUCKS, JEFF. I caught your insanely late post and was JUST about to grab you on #e for an epic insanely late-night chat but you were NOT THERE and I cannot in good conscience call anyone at an hour this ungodly. Hope your night is good, though, and if you read this tonight you can totally call me, becaue I am seemingly unsleepable tonight. *sadface*
I'm full of trepidation for this new Stephenson book. After reading Quicksilver, i don't know if i could handle another huge book that treats me the way Stepheneson does... detail overload with a low story arc. I feel I should finish the Baroque Cycle, but another 1700 pages of Jack Shaftoe and Eliza...
Also, airport time rocks for catching up on paper reading...
Yeah, you really should finish. All the weirdness with Quicksilver was fixed for me right at the beginning of the Confusion. The Baroque Cycle was the only thing he's written that DOES come to a proper end - a magnificent end.
The way I remember it - which is also hazy - the last 300 pages of System of the World were devoted to wrapping up the entire lives of Daniel and Jack. It wasn't so much about the physical stuff as it was the characters coming to terms with their own mortality, yet knowing they'd helped change the world they were about to leave.
I haven't picked it up yet. I'm was going to get an electronic copy for my Reader, but I can't seem to find it. :( Stephenson's going to be at my local bookstore tonight for a book signing, etc. Maybe I'll pick up the treeware then.
In the mean time, I read The Ghost Brigades by Scalzi instead. Finished it and am half way through The Sagan Diary. That man is a fucking genius. Weak words to describe how he makes me feel. If it's not clear, I highly, highly recommend The Sagan Diary, but only if you've read Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades. Context is everything.
Yeah, I tend to read everything an author has written in order, whether or not they're allegedly part of a series... so I can track the growth of the voice. Which is the main reason Anathem, coming after the unbelievable amazing awesomeness of The Baroque Cycle, was disappointing. Blerg.
There just isn't much story for the first two hundred or so pages, because there's so much world-building to do.
I kept memorizing things in the glossary, and then coming across long expositional passages where the concepts were explained much more lucidly. If you get all the way through the ten days of Apert, you'll be okay.
The timeline at the beginning, though, I had to keep going back to constantly.
This is the first Stephenson i've really been interested to read, because it seems to get beyond the technofetishism and libertarianism that seem to run through his work. And monasteries as a cultural preservation tool are a current hot interest of mine (for the past year+). I've got a hold on the book at the library, along with 172 other people.
Well, I definitely wouldn't say it gets beyond technofetishism. The avout (monks) are disdainful of people like you and me who are surrounded by gadgets, but they carry "newmatter" with them everywhere and they feel something akin to national pride when they wind their giant clock. And even the last 150 pages are crammed with dispassionate elaborate descriptions of - let's see, trying very hard to avoid spoilers here - a very very large and complicated piece of technology. Yes.
As for libertarianism, the book sort of stands back and laughs at politics as a whole.
At the same time, you can tell he's trying to reach out beyond his core geek audience by writing in a more, I guess, humanitarian fashion - sticking to first-person and a relatively short time frame of less than a year. And he goes out of his way to put emotional moments in there, all the typical Campbellian touchstones. But I think he robbed himself of the opportunity to do what he does best.
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Also, airport time rocks for catching up on paper reading...
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In the mean time, I read The Ghost Brigades by Scalzi instead. Finished it and am half way through The Sagan Diary. That man is a fucking genius. Weak words to describe how he makes me feel. If it's not clear, I highly, highly recommend The Sagan Diary, but only if you've read Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades. Context is everything.
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I'm just started it and I'm wondering if I'm not smart enough to follow. Or I'm just too tired to keep looking at the glossary.
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I kept memorizing things in the glossary, and then coming across long expositional passages where the concepts were explained much more lucidly. If you get all the way through the ten days of Apert, you'll be okay.
The timeline at the beginning, though, I had to keep going back to constantly.
Reply
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As for libertarianism, the book sort of stands back and laughs at politics as a whole.
At the same time, you can tell he's trying to reach out beyond his core geek audience by writing in a more, I guess, humanitarian fashion - sticking to first-person and a relatively short time frame of less than a year. And he goes out of his way to put emotional moments in there, all the typical Campbellian touchstones. But I think he robbed himself of the opportunity to do what he does best.
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