Honestly, I think The Diamond Age is a much better book. I guess it really depends on what was a problem for you. Cryptonomicron doesn’t involve any future tech to speak of, but it’s still Stephenson with all that implies.
Cyberpunk is generally associated with the nihilism of Sterling and Gibson, which I intensely dislike. Stephenson, for all his faults (I.e. his inability to end books properly) isn’t into that. You could also look into things like Angel Station by Walter Jon Williams, which is an antidote for the attitude IMHO.
I’m not familiar with Stephenson but have some love for cyberpunk story so I’ll give this a try for $2 but 1000 pages??? Wow, is this another Stephen King tome?
It’s my favorite book of his and easily worth $2. It’s remarkable how interesting Stephenson manages to make subjects I’m not normally passionate about in the slightest, and there’s a lot of wry humor as well. I suspect, like Anathem, people who are intimately familiar with the topics involved probably end up feeling like they’re being lectured on a subject they already know, but I’m not one of those people.
I suppose Cryptonomicon is a lot more interesting if you’re learning new things. I was already familiar with all the cryptography material. I did learn one new thing - eating cereal and milk separately is a superior experience to mixing the two.
I would say anything by Michael Lewis you would probably love. The big short was fantastic. I think you can get some of his books Moneyball maybe??? for free if you are a prime member
Leviathan Wakes is $1.99 today as the Kindle daily deal. A bunch of people on the forum seem to like it, based on the monthly book threads. I’m reading it right now and would totally recommend it so far.
I read Leviathan Wakes last year. I really liked it a lot. The best way to describe it is as a hard sci-fi horror detective noir novel. Im looking forwards to the sequel.
There’s a workaround to that. Use a VPN. I use a paid VPN called Always VPN. They cost $8 for 5Gb download (it will take thousands of Kindle books to reach that size, so it’s really just a one time cost) and purchase Kindle US book via that VPN. Amazon stop bugging me since :)
Yeah, that’s what I finally decided. I skipped Cryptonomicon for now. Eventually when I can get through Diamond Age, THEN I might go for Cryptonomicon.
I did buy Leviathan Wakes though. It’ll have to wait until I get through “Name of the King (KingKiller Chronicle Part I)” though. What with the Torment Kickstarter having that author as a writer on that game, and everyone praising his books, I decided to see it for myself. And I have to admit, 12% through the book, I’m really enjoying it so far.
Man that’s some fun reading material ahead of you. Leviathan Wakes was great, and so is Name of the Wind, which is what I assume you mean. The second King Killer book drops off precipitously in quality from the first but I still enjoyed it as well.
O’Reilly Books (technical book publisher…the one with all the animals on the covers of their books) is having a 50% off sale today on e-books (60% for orders >$100), in celebration of the “Day Against DRM.”
That’s pretty smart. That publisher has had that book (the first of a series featuring that character) on their website for free for the last couple of years. I always meant to read it, but now, with it available on my Kindle App, I’ll be even shorter on excuses.
Btw, I finished Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind. Soooooo good. I recommended to anyone who enjoys books about school/college, like Ender’s Game, Shadow’s Crossing (Robin Hobb), Harry Potter, etc.
I couldn’t resist picking up the sequel, even though it was $10. Leviathan Wakes and On Basilisk Station will have to wait.
