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Guests | October 15, 2009

Michelle Wildgen: IMG A Few Initial and Not-Comprehensive Meditations on Group Novels



I am a sucker for a book about a group. What reminded me of this was Joanna Smith Rakoff's A Fortunate Age, her homage to Mary McCarthy's endlessly re-readable... Continue »

Cryptonomicon

by Neal Stephenson

Cryptonomicon Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

With this extraordinary first volume in what promises to be an epoch-making masterpiece, Neal Stephenson hacks into the secret histories of nations and the private obsessions of men, decrypting with dazzling virtuosity the forces that shaped this century.

In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse — mathematical genius and young Captain in the U.S. Navy — is assigned to detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Watrehouse and Detatchment 2702 — commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe — is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence has cracked the enemy's fabled Enigma code. It is a game, a cryptographic chess match between Waterhouse and his German counterpart, translated into action by the gung-ho Shaftoe and his forces.

Fast-forward to the present, where Waterhouse's crypto-hacker grandson, Randy, is attempting to create a "data haven" in Southeast Asia — a place where encrypted data can be stored and exchanged free of repression and scrutiny. As governments and multinationals attack the endeavor, Randy joins forces with Shaftoe's tough-as-nails grandaughter, Amy, to secretly salvage a sunken Nazi sumarine that holds the key to keeping the dream of a data haven afloat. But soon their scheme brings to light a massive conspiracy with its roots in Detachment 2702 linked to an unbreakable Nazi code called Arethusa. And it will represent the path to unimaginable riches and a future of personal and digital liberty...or to universal totalitarianism reborn.

A breathtaking tour de force, and Neal Stephenson's most accomplished and affecting work to date, Cryptonomicon is profound and prophetic, hypnotic and hyper-driven, as it leaps forward and back between World War II and the World Wide Web, hinting all the while at a dark day-after-tomorrow.

Review:

"A powerfully imagined story revolving around a vast conspiracy affecting history and different generations in one family who attempt to unravel its secrets." Seattle Post Intelligencer

Review:

"Suspenseful...moves along as such a fantastic clip." Wall Street Journal

Review:

"There is a scope here, a wildness, that you rarely find in fiction today. Buckle up." Minneapolis Star Tribune

About the Author

Neal Stephenson issueth from a Clan of yeomen, itinerant Parsons, ingenieurs, and Natural Philosophers that hath long dwelt in bucolick marches and rural Shires of his native Land, and trod the Corridors of her 'Varsities. At a young age, finding himself in a pretty Humour for the writing of Romances, and discourse of Natural Philosophy and Technologick Arts, he took up the Pen, and hath not since laid it down.

Other books by Neal Stephenson:

In the Beginning . . . Was the Command Line

Cryptonomicon

The Diamond Age

Snow Crash

Zodiac

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Mark, April 21, 2006 (view all comments by Mark)
Don't let the length of this book intimidate you, it is excellent! Neal Stephenson does a great job of weaving stories and characters from different time periods together. It's impressive the way he keeps several plot lines going at the same time, most of which could have made good books by themselves, and brings them all together in a way that fits. He also develops his characters well. Each is unique and identifiable, and they're consistent in their actions and words. There are a lot of scenes that are so much fun they repay several re-readings. Be careful to have some free time available when you get into this book. Things will get put off when you get into the story.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780060512804
Author:
Stephenson, Neal
Publisher:
Avon Books
Author:
by Neal Stephenson
Location:
New York
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Espionage/Intrigue
Subject:
World war, 1939-1945
Subject:
Thrillers
Subject:
Historical - General
Subject:
Science Fiction - High Tech
Subject:
Cryptography
Subject:
Adventure fiction
Subject:
Data encryption.
Subject:
World War, 19
Subject:
Science / High Tech
Subject:
Gold
Series Volume:
no. 788
Publication Date:
November 2002
Binding:
Mass Market Paperbound
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
1168
Dimensions:
6.76x4.30x1.95 in. 1.19 lbs.

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