shopping cart
Powell's 2010 Puddly Awards
Call us:  800-878-7323 HELP
McAfee SECURE helps keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams.
Interviews | December 1, 2009

Megan: IMG A Meaty Tale: The Powells.com Interview with Julie Powell



juliepowellJulie Powell charmed readers with Julie and Julia, in which she chronicled her quest to cook, in one year, every recipe out of Julia Child's... Continue »
  1. $17.49 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$8.99
New Mass Market
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
Qty Store Section
1 Airport Science Fiction and Fantasy- A to Z
4 Beaverton Science Fiction and Fantasy- A to Z
5 Burnside Science Fiction and Fantasy- A to Z
8 Hawthorne Science Fiction and Fantasy- A to Z
25 Local Warehouse Popular Fiction- Technothrillers
21 Remote Warehouse Science Fiction and Fantasy- High Tech

More copies of this ISBN:

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

Add a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
Nancy McClure, January 4, 2010 (view all comments by Nancy McClure)
It was hard to decide whether to read this book headlong or with particular care. I wanted to read it headlong, because it's so full of events and I didn't want to lose track of the interweaving scenarios. On the other hand, I wanted to pause and absorb ideas, because Stephenson can effortlessly include more ideas on a page than most writers can in a chapter.

It's educational about what was going on during WWII, and I know the crypto included is good because it was provided by Bruce Schneier, who writes the afterward.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
Karl Knaub, January 3, 2010 (view all comments by Karl Knaub)
This is the most fun I've had reading a book as an adult. A non-stop adventure ride plus diversions to finance, cryptography, WWII lore, and mathematics (ever wonder what the mathematically correct way is to divvy up a complicated inheritance - wonder no more). I know I should be commenting on the literary merits of the book, and there are greater prose stylists, but...relax and have some fun for once.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
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.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(17 of 30 readers found this comment helpful)
View all 3 comments

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.

Other books you might like

  1. $4.00 Used Mass Market add to wish list

    Passage

    Connie Willis
  2. $4.95 Used Mass Market add to wish list

    Pattern Recognition

    William Gibson
  3. $14.95 New Trade Paper add to wish list
  4. $7.95 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    Snow Crash

    Neal Stephenson
  5. $14.00 New Trade Paper add to wish list

    Cosmicomics

    Italo Calvino
  6. $4.95 Used Mass Market add to wish list

    Neuromancer

    William Gibson

Related Aisles

  • back to top

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.