Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon

Pros: Stephenson builds a gothic cathedral of a book
Cons: It falls down

the quick and dirty:

Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon is a thousand pages of his agile, informative, thought-provoking, and frequently hilarious digressions. Unfortunately, this leaves only about a hundred-fifty pages for a story to...

Pros: Laughed out loud on several occasions; and Shaftoe's story hooked me from page one.
Cons: Drags a bit in places, especially when Stephenson describes phenomena piecemeal.

... to enjoy Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon". Nor do you need to be a war buff, well versed in 1930's and 1940's World history. It is not necessary for you to know any Latin, German, Japanese, or Tagalog; know Number Theory; or know about computers ...

Pros: Story balanced deftly between two timelines · quirky characters · runaway prose
Cons: Weak ending · length and digressions may irritate some

EXTREMELY SERIOUS WARNING: Unless you are as smart as Johann Karl Friedrich Gauss, savvy as a half-blind Calcutta boot-black, tough as General William Tecumseh Sherman... emotionally resilient as a Red Sox fan, and as generally able to take...

Pros: Well written and plotted. Fun story about an odd-ball topic.
Cons: Math. A bit precious at times. The gay-sex thing. Long.

That's code, folks. A very simple code. If you can't break it with less than ten minute's casual inspection... you may not like this book. Most fiction books are written with the "general reader" in mind. Little more is expected of readers ...

Pros: A rewarding romp through World War II "black ops" and modern-day infotech skulduggery.
Cons: It's long; it requires your attention. Not a quick or "throwaway" read.

It's science fiction ... or maybe not. It's a thriller. Or is it a historical novel? Political tract disguised as a novel? Love story in the guise of digital cash/encryption tutorial? Some people would say that Cryptonomicon suffers from ...

Pros: Fun, fast paced, intriguing
Cons: The ending

When I first read a few reviews of Cryptonomicon in places like the LA Times, I figured that I'd never read it myself. That's because the reviews began with an in-depth description of the first few pages of the book and a progressively sketchier outline...

Pros: Authentically exposes the techie view of life, science, sex, everything in a highly entertaining format.
Cons: Forgoes technical postmodernist purity for Crichtonesque readability.

This cyber-thriller is one of only a few books that has ever totally and completely engaged me. For the first 80 pages, I felt the book was written for me alone to read. This seriously disturbed me.

I should explain. I have been course 6-3...

Pros: engaging, cerebral, geeky, funny, bait for overweight programmers (if you're in the market); a must read for entrepreneurs
Cons: bulky, bait for overweight programmers (if you're not in the market)

Cryptonomicon should come with an instructor's manual. Since there isn't one to my knowledge, I feel compelled to offer advice for readers embarking on this labyrinthian escapade.

1. Take notes. The story traverses several generations,...

Pros: An multi-generational epic that is chock full of good stuff!
Cons: Neal is not normal. Neal is weird. Deal with it. :) Ending too abrupt.

Okay, honestly now, can you imagine getting hyped about learning about the underground world of computer data encryption? Data encryption? Sexy it is not.

Now for the surprise: Neal Stephenson makes it sexy! Of course, he throws a lot...

Pros: There is a good book in here somewhere
Cons: Bloated

I almost titled this epinion "New needs a new editor," but the real problem with Cryptonomicon is that it appears to have lacked any editor at all.

There are some great stories in this book. The novel weaves two main plot lines, one...

Pros: Quirky Characters, learn about codebreaking
Cons: some might be turned off by lengthy math dissertations

... Shaftoe says "C'mon, Otto. Stop whining, pull some more diamonds out of your a**hole, and get it done. it beats being tortured to death by Germans."

Dialog like this permeates the story. One of the major protagonists is a...

Pros: You can't really break it down in a sentence.
Cons: Length...but that could be a good thing, too.

First off let me preface this with the concerns some people have had over the book. Some people have complained about the way Stephenson goes off on tangets in this novel, more so than his others, since it is much longer. Well, I rather liked that....

Pros: Funny, well written, informative.
Cons: Charlton Heston would like it.

I read "Cryptonomicon" coming from an angle which I now realise was probably very bizarre: I'd never heard of him. I lost track of SF around William Gibson (unless you count Britain's own overrated combination of your best remembered bits of...

Pros: most of the book
Cons: slow start, abrupt end

Cryptonomicon is a Godzilla among books. Not only does it dwarf the competition (at 900+ pages) but, also like the Japanese titan, nobody knows where it came from or where its going, we only know that it covers a lot of territory while its here and sure...

Pros: Funny, witty, unique story
Cons: Disturbing and confusing at parts

I went on vacation this past summer with my family and a friend who had recently purchased "Cryptonomicon". I can't recall seeing my friend without the book for more than a couple of hours during the trip until he finally finished it, at which...