I was a big fan of Neal Stephenson during his cyber phase (Snow Crash, The Diamond Age). I completely skipped out on his historical phase (Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle), but wanted to catch up with his most recent book, Anathem, which I can only hope is the beginning of a new philosophical phase.
In my review below I've kept spoilers to a minimum, but it would be impossible to discuss such a lengthy book without delving past the initial mysteries. So be warned that there are some spoilers below.
I was particularly tickled by Anathem because of the way it treated alternate universes. That's not to discount the fact that I got a huge kick out of Stephenson's invented language. Of course Stephenson also wove physics, technology, and mathematics into his adventure- and he drew the plot together with a fascinating dose of philosophy and spirituality. This may sound like a lot of topics to cover while writing the story of an alien invasion- but Stephenson took 960 pages to draw all these subjects into an intriguing plot, and he made (nearly) every page exciting while doing it.
For years I cited Robert Heinlein as my favorite science fiction writer. He largely won that place through Number of the Beast, in which he explored the consequences of small party that learned to travel between the multitude of alternate universes. Heinlein leaned toward a fantasy aesthetic in his interpretation of alternate universes, having his party travel to worlds such as Oz, become real because his characters imagined them. I was enamoured by the idea that imaginary people could dream imaginary characters into existence- especially when those characters shared my own fictional references.
Stephenson does not fail to pull the heart strings of the familiar when writing a tale of alternate universe interaction. But first he extrapolates a carefully researched scientific and philosophical framework to explain how interaction between different universes becomes possible.
Another difference between Number of the Beast and Anathem- Heinlein starts his adventure from our universe, and travels to a multitude of others. In Anathem, the story begins in Arbre, a world hauntingly similar to ours- but which is clearly not Earth past, present, or future. Stephenson creates this sense of other-worldliness through the vocabulary of his created Arbran language. After spending months reading Anathem, "reticulum" seems a perfectly valid synonym for the Internet, and I might almost ask my husband if he felt like going to see a "speely" (movie). Continuing his manipulation of linguistics, Stephenson then cleverly creates a sense of pleasant notstalgia and connection when Earth words (in French) begin to seep into the Arbran vocabulary. Stephenson then deepens this sense of familiarity using the same trick Heinlein used- by tipping his hat to golden age spec fiction. Gets me every time.
Released in September 2008, Anathem is now 17th on Amazon's science fiction bestseller list. Interestingly, as of today, the Kindle edition of the book is not even in the top 100 of the Kindle's science fiction bestseller list. I, myself, read the book in print. The discrepancy may be explained by the fact that the Calcas (mathematical proofs) in the back of the book are more comfortable to flip to (and in some cases easier to view) in paper format. Perhaps readers were lured by the bundling of the book with companion CD (IOLET: Music from the World of Anathem) when the book was released. Perhaps there is simply more satisfaction weighing a huge, 960-page book in one's hands than comparing its storage space to other books saved to memory. At any rate, Anathem is selling much better in print than in Kindle format.
In my review below I've kept spoilers to a minimum, but it would be impossible to discuss such a lengthy book without delving past the initial mysteries. So be warned that there are some spoilers below.
I was particularly tickled by Anathem because of the way it treated alternate universes. That's not to discount the fact that I got a huge kick out of Stephenson's invented language. Of course Stephenson also wove physics, technology, and mathematics into his adventure- and he drew the plot together with a fascinating dose of philosophy and spirituality. This may sound like a lot of topics to cover while writing the story of an alien invasion- but Stephenson took 960 pages to draw all these subjects into an intriguing plot, and he made (nearly) every page exciting while doing it.
For years I cited Robert Heinlein as my favorite science fiction writer. He largely won that place through Number of the Beast, in which he explored the consequences of small party that learned to travel between the multitude of alternate universes. Heinlein leaned toward a fantasy aesthetic in his interpretation of alternate universes, having his party travel to worlds such as Oz, become real because his characters imagined them. I was enamoured by the idea that imaginary people could dream imaginary characters into existence- especially when those characters shared my own fictional references.
Stephenson does not fail to pull the heart strings of the familiar when writing a tale of alternate universe interaction. But first he extrapolates a carefully researched scientific and philosophical framework to explain how interaction between different universes becomes possible.
Another difference between Number of the Beast and Anathem- Heinlein starts his adventure from our universe, and travels to a multitude of others. In Anathem, the story begins in Arbre, a world hauntingly similar to ours- but which is clearly not Earth past, present, or future. Stephenson creates this sense of other-worldliness through the vocabulary of his created Arbran language. After spending months reading Anathem, "reticulum" seems a perfectly valid synonym for the Internet, and I might almost ask my husband if he felt like going to see a "speely" (movie). Continuing his manipulation of linguistics, Stephenson then cleverly creates a sense of pleasant notstalgia and connection when Earth words (in French) begin to seep into the Arbran vocabulary. Stephenson then deepens this sense of familiarity using the same trick Heinlein used- by tipping his hat to golden age spec fiction. Gets me every time.
Released in September 2008, Anathem is now 17th on Amazon's science fiction bestseller list. Interestingly, as of today, the Kindle edition of the book is not even in the top 100 of the Kindle's science fiction bestseller list. I, myself, read the book in print. The discrepancy may be explained by the fact that the Calcas (mathematical proofs) in the back of the book are more comfortable to flip to (and in some cases easier to view) in paper format. Perhaps readers were lured by the bundling of the book with companion CD (IOLET: Music from the World of Anathem) when the book was released. Perhaps there is simply more satisfaction weighing a huge, 960-page book in one's hands than comparing its storage space to other books saved to memory. At any rate, Anathem is selling much better in print than in Kindle format.
