Cryptonomicon

[jack]

Cryptonomicon, for all its flaws, is still one of my most favourite books, mostly because so much of it is in the randomly geeky style I love so much, and I reread it every few years.

I've definitely got to the point where I skip over several long passages of exposition (not, you understand, exposition about the plot, but exposition about breakfast cereal and simplistic explanations of out-of-date encryption algorithms).

But each time, I notice both (a) more political opinions aired (if not all necessarily endorsed) that I would have serious issues with and (b) more minor characters where despite a lack of overt characterisation, I suddenly really empathise with them.

Comments

[seryn]

I read it, twice. I have a signed hardcover I got after the author reading (which was the scene with the oral surgeon). It's not my favorite Stephenson book. I hated all the goopy historical stuff that went on and on without differentiating what had been subjected to artistic license.

The geeky parts were good, but 70% of the book was set in the past.

I have not read a single book of Stephenson's since I saw him interviewed (afterward) on the subject of artificial intelligence. He said there was no need for artificial intelligence, people should have more children. I think we don't take good enough care of the people who already exist and we squander the minds of the brightest dealing with vanity based issues or oppress them with mandatory semi-poverty. But mostly I think the raising of children requires the active participation of the adults involved and that means they aren't really doing anything phenomenal to better the world overall.

There's a new show on TV this season, Body Of Proof, where the woman was a renowned neurosurgeon who became a medical examiner after an accident, but her daughter hates her for not having been there as a parent. No one makes a show about how children hate their fathers for working. So I worry about the concept that "people" need to have more children since it actually subtracts people from the intellectual pool.


Additionally, returning from my own digression back to the book, I found the line with "imperial pint" to be repugnant.