Cryptonomicon

Another Neal Stephenson story following 2 story lines: one following code breakers in World War II, another a group of dot com entrepreneurs. Featuring fictionalized versions of names from the time including Alan Turing made it easier to identify with the characters. The first half of this very long book was tough to get through, with most of the payoff towards the end. The detailed descriptions of cryptography and theories about a digital currency were the most interesting part.

I selected Cryptonomicon because it appears on io9's “The Twenty Science Fiction Novels that Will Change Your Life” list. (http://io9.com/361597/the-twenty-science-fiction-novels-that-will-change-your-life) I started working my way through the list last spring and when I ran across a copy of Cryptonomicon in my favorite used book store, I decided the time had arrived.

Rarely does it take me so long to finish a book! I believe I started this one toward the end of August and didn't finish it until the end of October. Granted, it is over 900 pages long, but even so I'm usually a pretty quick reader. But this book was “chewy”. I had to intersperse several other lighter reads into the middle of it to give myself a break now and then.

A novel set in two different eras, the early 21st century and World War II, its subject matter is complex and requires a great deal of concentration. As the title suggest, cryptology plays a major role in the book's plot. And not on a superficial level either. Sometimes the descriptions of the development of the different codes wanders into higher order mathematical concepts I only wish I could truly understand. I wanted to pull out my calculus and differential equations textbooks so I could start studying math again! Granted it wasn't all super technobabble...you had your guy chases girl, gets into trouble and then wins girl plot lines in there too. Not to mention good guy/bad guy drama on the order of a James Bond film. But the codes and the intrigue behind them really drives the story. I'd recommend Cryptonomicon to anyone with an interest in codes, cryptology, encryption technology and also possessing just enough geek to see it through. I BARELY did... :-)

Executive Summary: If you're a computer or math geek, this book is a must read. If you like geeky humor mixed with world war 2, and random side tangents, this might also be a book for you.Audio book: I listened to the unabridged audio book by William Dufris. This is the first that I have listened by him. While he didn't do distinct voices for all the characters he did do some as well as a few accents. His German accent was particularly good.The audio suffers a bit from being unabridged, but thankfully in only a few places. I imagine the book has a bunch of white space/different font for some of the these parts where codes are written out, but Mr. Dufris is forced to read everything out and it can be a bit tedious.This is my only relatively minor complaint. For a 42+ hour book, this occurred very infrequently.Full ReviewThis book has been on my to read list for a long time. [b:Snow Crash 830 Snow Crash Neal Stephenson http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320544000s/830.jpg 493634] is one of my favorite books. While this book is more historical fiction than sci-fi (and certainly not cyberpunk), it has the same geeky humor that I loved in [b:Snow Crash 830 Snow Crash Neal Stephenson http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320544000s/830.jpg 493634] so much.The book has two time periods: The 1940's starting shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the mid-late 90s. There are several point of view characters for the 40's timeline, but the primary one is Lawrence Waterhouse, an often misunderstood and awkward mathematical genius.Waterhouse gets blown off by Einstein but becomes friends with Alan Turing. He eventually is put to work breaking codes of both the Japanese and later the Germans during the war.Meanwhile in the “present” Randall is Unix Guru working with his friend Abby to set up their next business venture in the Philippines.The other point of view characters include Goto Dango, a Japanese soldier, and Bobby Shafto an American soldier. Their stories augment the main narrative of Waterhouse's.This book has several tangents, including one on beards and another on bicycles. Many of his tangents turn ordinary thinking into mathematical equations. I found most of them interesting if not amusing, but they are of little importance to the story, so I can see people complaining of the excess in what is a rather lengthy book.The stories of the two timelines eventually converge in a way that wasn't very apparent to me until about the midway point or so.I really enjoyed the book, although I'd be happy with some follow-up as I was left with several questions, though mostly minor ones.Most of my questions relate to the historical accuracy of many events in the story. People like Alan Turing were quite real, as was his involvement in the British efforts to break German codes during the war. There is work involving the Enigma, but the names of the Japanese codes appear to have been changed, as well as replacing several of the people involved with fictional characters.At some point I hope to find/read a non-fiction book (or books) on the breaking of codes in World War 2, and I am now fascinated by it.

Reading Neal Stephenson's The Cryptonomicon was, simply, a divine reading experience - must have been the most fun reading a book I've had in a long time. Stephenson always has this skill of taking several different story threads, seemingly completely unrelated to each other, and then combining them together in ways that are completely novel, and yet at the same time make complete sense when you look at them in retrospect. This skill is especially notable in Cryptonomicon, because the stories start out separated not only in place, but in time, as well: we start with a US Marine, Bobby Shaftoe, fighting World War II in Shanghai; Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse, a slightly-autistic American math wizard who attends Princeton and is a contemporary of Alan Turing; and Randy Waterhouse, a hacker and computer geek engaging in a new e-business endeavour at the end of the 20th Century. The ways in which these storylines dovetail themselves is an amazing feat of plotting - I couldn't help but think that reading this would be akin to watching Haydn compose a piece of music.

As far as the plots are concerned, I don't want to give away too much to anyone that might eventually want to read the book. Let's just say that, like Stephenson's other books, this one can safely be said to have it all: hacking, cryptography, Nazis, gold, Nazi gold, action, suspense, computers, sex, comedy, haiku, oddly-named Welsh stereotypes... all that and yet I've barely scratched the surface.

One of the reasons I think Stephenson's work is so wonderful is that, although he's a science fiction writer, he never forgets that the ‘fiction' should be primary to the story, and that the science in the story should serve the fiction elements. At the same time, though, he manages to balance this with science that is completely believable and well thought-out; the only other writer that I can think of that can make the process of reaching scientific conclusions that thrilling is Robert J Sawyer, which definitely puts Stephenson in august company.

I'm seriously considering lifting my current book-buying embargo to pick up Quicksilver, the next part of Stephenson's epic. I don't know what it is that would cause an author to write an 1,100 page novel, and then think “what I really need to do now is discuss those same ideas without the limitations of a single novel”, but this is one time that I am really glad that he did.

Yet another Stephenson beast - 900+ pages! Too long. But very interesting, with two storylines (WWII and 90s). As usual with his books, you can learn a ton about a variety of topics while enjoying the story and (male) characters, if you don't mind the digressions and meandering. This one was heavy on maths, cryptography, digital currency (it's a book from 1999!), history, warfare, tactical deception, codebreaking, mining and a few other areas. Took me almost 5 months to finish though.

Another Neal Stephenson story following 2 story lines: one following code breakers in World War II, another a group of dot com entrepreneurs. Featuring fictionalized versions of names from the time including Alan Turing made it easier to identify with the characters. The first half of this very long book was tough to get through, with most of the payoff towards the end. The detailed descriptions of cryptography and theories about a digital currency were the most interesting part.

I stopped at about 3 hours. That SHOULD be long enough to get a sense of where a book is going and if it draws you in and yet the author was still describing his main characters [in 3 different storylines no less].

Also the author would tangent now and again to topics that had no relevance, in my opinion, to moving a storyline forward.

Just too verbose of an author for my taste.

Im zweiten Weltkrieg: Lawrence Waterhouse ist Kryptoanalytiker. Bobby Shaftoe ist ein amerikanischer Kriegsheld. Goto Dengo ist ein japanischer Kriegsheld. Enoch Root gehört zu einem Geheimbund. Rudolf von Hacklheber ist ein deutscher Mathematiker. Gemeinsam gründen sie eine Verschwörung die eine Menge Gold in einer Höhle nahe Manila betrifft. In der Gegenwart machen sich die Enkeln Randy Waterhouse und Amy Shaftoe daran diese Verschwörung aufzudecken.

Wow, what an enjoyable read!

Neal Stephenson is one of those authors that until a couple of years ago had been notable because I had several of his books on my “to read” list (and on my shelves) who always seemed to get high praise, but for one reason or another, other books always kept leaping ahead of those. Now having read 4 of his books in the last 3 years (Snowcrash, The Diamond Age, Seveneves, and now Cryptonomicon), I think I'm going to have to read through everything he puts out. I think the main reason for my previous hesitation is the length of some of his works - he likes to publish thick books. Sometimes that's what I'm looking for, sometimes not. Also, he jumps genres and themes like no other author I've previously read.

Anyway, as for Cryptonomicon, here are a few things you should know:
1. This is not in any way, shape, or form a science fiction novel.
2. It isn't related to anything in the horror genre, either (in case you're thinking it is due to the Necronomicon, which is totally unrelated).
3. It IS historical speculative fiction with action and adventure
4. If you don't know anything about code-breaking, you will learn a lot. If you do, you'll have great fun with this one.

If you have a geeky background (like me), this book will likely hit your groove early and keep you happy for the entirety.

The construction of the book is interesting. There are essentially 2 timelines, one set in the WW2 era (late 30's to mid 40's) and one set in the “modern” era (2000-ish). The characters are wildly different, but through their efforts in the war, they intermingle around Bobby Shaftoe (early era) who seems to be the glue that ultimately binds them together. Lawrence Waterhouse is the “other” main character in the early era and you might also consider him the center of the whole story. He is the lead American cryptographer helping break codes to turn the tide of the war.

In the “modern era” story, the primary character is Randy Waterhouse, grandson of Lawrence mentioned above. Both eras have intriguing stories that ultimately come together in the modern era and weave it all together.

Along the way, you meet Historical figures such as Alan Turing and Douglas MacArthur. Travel around the world several times (with particular attention to the Philippines and Bletchley Park in Britain). Both eras have an interesting connection with cryptography, with Lawrence being a key contributor to the Cryptonomicon (a tome of Allied knowledge of code systems and code-breaking) and Randy working with a company focused on using cryptography to protect data and ultimately trying to establish an international data crypt storage facility/bank.

Other characters in the book flesh it out very well and really make the story about the people behind the events that they all seem to be caught up in and yet are out of their control. Bobby Shaftoe is an almost Forrest Gump type character who always seems to find himself in the middle of things, yet his single-minded determination and positive attitude take him extremely far. Goto Dengo is a Japanese officer who Shaftoe befriends early, before America is brought into the war with Pearl Harbor. Enoch Root is a somewhat mysterious figure who is a former member of the clergy who saves Shaftoe's life and ends up traveling with him on most of his adventures and yet also works with Lawrence Waterhouse and even makes it into the modern era storyline intact.

If the topic of cryptography seems intimidating to you, or boring, don't let that sway you from picking this up for a read. While there is some technical jargon, the whole book has much more of an adventure feel to it. The pace is pretty fast-paced and moves you right along from beginning to end. That said, if you have some interest in computers or crypto, then I suspect that will just add to your enjoyment.

Did I find any negatives to the book? There was some language, which I tend to find unnecessary, but others seem to think adds to the “grittiness” or authenticity of a book that is often about conversations between soldiers. There is some sex and sexual references that might be off-putting to some, but at the end of the day don't add up to any kind of deal-breaker. It might make it more appropriate for college-age readers, but some of the technical discussions would probably attract adult readers more than teenagers anyway.

I listened to the audiobook version and it weighed in at a hefty 42 hours and 53 minutes, but I enjoyed it immensely. As things wrapped up in the end, I really didn't want it to end at all. To me, that's a sign of a truly good book. Great world-building. Personable characters who change and grow. And a fantastic plot. All told, this is simply a fantastic book.

I found the book extremely difficult to “enjoy”. I marveled at the explanations of the cryptographic functions but was at a loss in the overwhelming history details. It was like reading a collection of thoughts or ideas. The narrative was an easy one to follow but not all that interesting in the end. It is not the point of the book I know, but I could have had a bit more story to go with my meanderings.

Loved the WW2-era storyline and the cryptography. The first half of the “modern” storyline dragged for me, probably because the technology of the late 90s is no longer cutting-edge enough to be interesting but not antiquated enough to be interesting, either. The second half redeems it, though, and I can see why this was supposedly required reading for employees in the early days of Paypal.