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Cryptonomicon
  
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Cryptonomicon [Abridged] (Audio Cassette)

by Neal Stephenson (Author), Scott Brick (Narrator)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (685 customer reviews)
Price: CDN$ 34.93 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
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Product Description

From Amazon.com

Neal Stephenson enjoys cult status among science fiction fans and techie types thanks to Snow Crash, which so completely redefined conventional notions of the high-tech future that it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. But if his cyberpunk classic was big, Cryptonomicon is huge... gargantuan... massive, not just in size (a hefty 918 pages including appendices) but in scope and appeal. It's the hip, readable heir to Gravity's Rainbow and the Illuminatus trilogy. And it's only the first of a proposed series--for more information, read our interview with Stephenson.

Cryptonomicon zooms all over the world, careening conspiratorially back and forth between two time periods--World War II and the present. Our 1940s heroes are the brilliant mathematician Lawrence Waterhouse, cryptanalyst extraordinaire, and gung ho, morphine-addicted marine Bobby Shaftoe. They're part of Detachment 2702, an Allied group trying to break Axis communication codes while simultaneously preventing the enemy from figuring out that their codes have been broken. Their job boils down to layer upon layer of deception. Dr. Alan Turing is also a member of 2702, and he explains the unit's strange workings to Waterhouse. "When we want to sink a convoy, we send out an observation plane first.... Of course, to observe is not its real duty--we already know exactly where the convoy is. Its real duty is to be observed.... Then, when we come round and sink them, the Germans will not find it suspicious."

All of this secrecy resonates in the present-day story line, in which the grandchildren of the WWII heroes--inimitable programming geek Randy Waterhouse and the lovely and powerful Amy Shaftoe--team up to help create an offshore data haven in Southeast Asia and maybe uncover some gold once destined for Nazi coffers. To top off the paranoiac tone of the book, the mysterious Enoch Root, key member of Detachment 2702 and the Societas Eruditorum, pops up with an unbreakable encryption scheme left over from WWII to befuddle the 1990s protagonists with conspiratorial ties.

Cryptonomicon is vintage Stephenson from start to finish: short on plot, but long on detail so precise it's exhausting. Every page has a math problem, a quotable in-joke, an amazing idea, or a bit of sharp prose. Cryptonomicon is also packed with truly weird characters, funky tech, and crypto--all the crypto you'll ever need, in fact, not to mention all the computer jargon of the moment. A word to the wise: if you read this book in one sitting, you may die of information overload (and starvation). --Therese Littleton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



From Library Journal

Computer expert Randy Waterhouse spearheads a movement to create a safe haven for data in a world where information equals power and big business and government seek to control the flow of knowledge. His ambitions collide with a top-secret conspiracy with links to the encryption wars of World War II and his grandfather's work in preventing the Nazis from discovering that the Allies had cracked their supposedly unbreakable Enigma code. The author of Snow Crash (LJ 4/1/92) focuses his eclectic vision on a story of epic proportions, encompassing both the beginnings of information technology in the 1940s and the blossoming of the present cybertech revolution. Stephenson's freewheeling prose and ironic voice lend a sense of familiarity to a story that transcends the genre and demands a wide readership among fans of technothrillers as well as a general audience. Highly recommended.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Cryptonomicon
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Customer Reviews

685 Reviews
5 star:
 (365)
4 star:
 (183)
3 star:
 (66)
2 star:
 (29)
1 star:
 (42)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (685 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
5.0 out of 5 stars Woe to Hyse!, Aug 3 2004
By eric bergeron (Laval, Qc. Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cryptonomicon (Mass Market Paperback)
I have been saying this (woe to hyse) outloud for over a year now and still get a kick out of it (read it-you'll get it). So much so that I am re-reading the novel. Before derailing into incomprehensible semi pretentious litterary babble (see Quicksilver & co.), Stephenson created a gem with Cryptonomicon.
The style is a notch away (above?) from mainstreem thrillers. The digressions are hilarious. The observations keen. The humour witty and tongue in cheek. The history informative. The breeziest 1200 page read ever. Does with words what Bach did with notes.
All in all a terrific effort worth all the praise it has garnered.
Woe to Hyse!
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5.0 out of 5 stars Easily the coolest book I've ever read, Jul 14 2004
By Thomas J. Muehleman "tmuehleman" (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Cryptonomicon (Mass Market Paperback)
I've read Cryptonomicon twice now and am convinced that while this is very tough read, it is both highly entertaining and extremely educational. Stephenson has a tendency to weigh the reader down with minutae, but it's the kind of information that'll make you hit the internet to learn even more about. The plot switches back and forth between two eras: 1940s in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of WWII and in present day. If you're a technically minded person interested in historical fiction, cryptography, and the evolution of currency (i know, sounds weird but is highly interesting written by Stephenson), this is a must read.
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5.0 out of 5 stars High entertainment, Jun 27 2004
By Wendy K. Laubach (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Cryptonomicon (Mass Market Paperback)
I enjoyed this book from start to finish, and went right to the computer to order more books by the author.

The style can be a little trying -- the metaphor density is about 6 to the page -- and it can get a little arch. Still, most of the flourishes are pretty fresh, while some are genuinely startling.

One review on this site complained of the overly "freakish" characters. That's certainly fair. If your taste doesn't run to characters who are extreme outsiders, you won't enjoy the book. Personally, I found the characters engaging.

Science fiction writers like to work a Theory of Everything into their plots. This author has a handful of Theories of Everything. I didn't mind. Most of the theories were interesting enough to serve as enhancements of the story rather than annoying digressions.

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 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars "Glory"
Plot Summary: How to summarize this plot...Well, It starts with 2 professors and 1 student riding bikes at a late 1930's Princeton talking about zeta functions and building a... Read more
Published on Jun 26 2004 by Brian Niehaus

5.0 out of 5 stars A Post-Modern Masterpiece.
This is a large, messy post-modern masterpiece. The novel's nearest comparisons are not science fiction (since this is not a SIFI novel or not much of one) but other novels that... Read more
Published on Jun 21 2004 by D. N. Goldman

5.0 out of 5 stars simply stated.
better than jesus, heroin, and peanut butter.
Published on Jun 12 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars Yet another opinion...
I really having nothing more to add to the more intelligent review here, except to say: Quit classifying this book as cyberpunk!! Read more
Published on Jun 9 2004 by Thradar

5.0 out of 5 stars Most enjoyable read of my adult life.
I really loved SNOW CRASH, but was a little daunted by the length of this book. I bought it when it first came out, but my son borrowed it and never gave it back. Read more
Published on Jun 8 2004 by Mamazabakaka

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5.0 out of 5 stars Typical Stephenson - just bigger
Neal Stephenson tends to write for smart people, ergo, smart people tend to like his work. He writes in their language, the stuff of computers and math and physics and hackers... Read more
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4.0 out of 5 stars It was ok.
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Published on May 21 2004 by mad2rite

1.0 out of 5 stars Poetic Murder.
I am sorry, but I heard such wonderful things about this book, and as I attempt to read it, I am frankly annoyed at best. The man misuses, abuses, and downright ignores style. Read more
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