Neal Stephenson's new novel "Anathem" is now in print:

[phantom power]

http://www.nealstephenson.com/anathem/

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. Excellent!

I know what I'm taking on vacation, then. :hi:

[phantom power]

2. I can say the first 25 pages are super.

Takes a certain amount of time to read a Neal Stephenson book.

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. Yes, indeed

And every one of his books is completely different from every other. I greatly enjoyed Cryptonomicon

[phantom power]

4. OK, I'm now a couple hundred pages in...

I must say, little bits of this book are seeming perilously close to grumpy social commentary. He keeps bringing up the saecular population's affections for "drinking sugar water" and "wearing oversized baggy clothes," etc.

Of course, those are just little bits of a large book. Still, every so often I suddenly get the feeling that I'm reading James Kunstler on his grouchier "get-off-my-lawn" days. It feels a bit weird, reading that in a Neal Stephenson book.

[phantom power]

5. Two things(*) are bugging me from this book (minor-to-moderate spoilers)

1) The polycosmos model that these people are supposedly working from supports strict uni-directional information flow between any two cosmi, with no cycles. And yet, the Geometers' ship is described as traveling against this flow. I don't recall any mention of this huge violation of the model, or how it would force them to re-think it.

2) Another property of the polycosmic universe apparently is that atomic nuclei (and their constituent particles) can form under one set of physical laws, and yet once formed remain stable (or for that matter exist at all) in a cosmos that embodies different laws. That required some heavy duty suspension of disbelief on my part.

(*)I bet there are more than two things, but that's a good start.

[vixengrl]

6. I am un-bugged by his polycosmosal inconsistencies

because I'll chalk the author up as being among the Rhetors. (All authors technically are--as Creators of their universe). I found this as a satisfying read, as a person who is generally "pro-multiverse" and likes to see speculative fic that creates an alternate history, and I appreciate his idea of a convergence of sentient humanoids following greatly similar lines of philosophical and mathematical development. It was also cool from the perspective of seeing the protagonist go from a callow youth in the maths to going through an important mission--I liked that his characters felt real and the alternate language bits were sometimes humorous.

[phantom power]

7. Their final orbital assault was some great reading.

I think it was the best underdog space warfare I've read since Footfall.

[TechBear_Seattle]

8. I just finished that section. I agree

It gets a bit disjointed when the Narrative keeps changing, but once you figure out what is happening (and how), it is fascinating. Stephenson has really outdone himself, yet again.

[TechBear_Seattle]

9. The change in language was interesting

Towards the end, Fraa Erasmus and the other avout are using idiomatic language with words like "I'm" and "dude." I think that started creeping in after Apert and really became apparent when they were sent on the Peregrine; I remember the speech patterns early in the story (and at mathic events like the Convox) as being more formal. It is one of those tiny details that Stephenson excels at, and which makes you reread the book two or three times so you can try and catch when it happens.

[phantom power]

11. I think part of what bugs me is...

that Anathem is arguably a 900-page homage to the value of clarity of thought. But his cosmology doesn't hold up well under scrutiny, imo.

[phantom power]

10. A couple other thoughts.

1) There are one or two allusions to the creation of the Math/Saeculum separation as a reaction to the uncontrolled acceleration of science and technology. So, that system represents an avoidance of the hypothetical singularity. In fact, it's reminiscent of Frank Herbert's Jihad, which he used specifically because he felt that uncontrolled expansion of computation would result in a singularity, although he wrote Dune before Vinge popularized the term.

2) I've become interested in the practice of invented vocabulary. Obviously, there's plenty of that in Anathem. Some of it is functional, in the sense that it describes ideas, objects, social institution, etc, that don't exist in our world. Some of it is not directly functional, like "theorics" or "speely" or "jeejaw." There are perfectly adequate English words for those. The purpose of words like that is atmospherics. It provides the feel of inhabiting a world that is not quite like our own, and comes from a tradition going back at least as far as Tolkien.

It's like the habit of filming movies about ancient Rome using English accents. Provides some kind of intuitive sense that these people were speaking a foreign language, even while they're speaking English. I wonder how the British perceive this.

[Fumesucker]

12. Just finished it..

Got if for Christmas after mentioning it to a family member when we were wandering around the bookstore.

Second the idea that the description of space warfare was excellent.. Although I can recall a Clarke space warfare short that was even more one sided, a single man in a suit against a space dreadnought damned if I can shake loose the name of the story though.

I did catch Stephenson using the term "isosceles triangle" though, the name derives from the Greek iso (same) and skelos (leg), since there were no Grecians :) on Arbre that term should have been something else in order to remain completely consistent.

Good, entertaining and thought provoking read, it's a shame there is no one else I know IRL that would get more than about five pages into it before giving up.

[Dr. Strange]

13. Well, the isosceles reference could be explained away...

by saying that that's the only term Stephenson knew (and he didn't want to make up a term like "figgly triangle" or some such).

On the other hand, I found the reference to "the dark side of the moon" rather curious. Interesting that Arbre would have tidally-locked moon as well.