Anathem

On an episode of the Think Relevance Podcast, a book was mentioned where monk chants were used to convey and solve mathematical problems. That was the first I'd heard of Neal Stephenson, and knew I had to check it out. The Anathem world is different from our own. It's a world where scientists and mathematicians live in the equivalent of buddhist monasteries with limited access to the outside world — some only interacting with it every 100 years. The abundance of made up terminology takes some getting used to in this book, but it's worth the ride.