I think Stephenson is a genius but honestly I slog through large parts of his books. He always creates a dozen threads, over hundreds and hundreds of pages, and on the last three pages they tie together beautifully and you end the book with an ache in your heart because of how beautiful it was. Even when I know that's coming I sometimes can't make it. He's like the anti-Stephen King: the middle drags but the ending is wonderful.

Anathem is the exception. I couldn't put it down. It's one of those books that infected the way I think and little things remind me of it all the time.

As much as I loved Snow Crash, and got into Quicksilver, I just could not crack Cryptonomicon or Anathem. :(

I should try again.

9 days after my son was born his umbilical stump fell off and I could not help lament to my wife that he was no longer eligible for the 100-year gate

I've read it twice and enjoyed it both times. It has some slow parts for sure, especially at the start, but it does setup the framework for how the characters view the outside world which I find really fascinating.

*Edit:
I think it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking of them as monks who only follow faith and prohibit secular technology but the whole point is that they are enclaves of philosophers and mathematicians. It's like refusing to use a calculator in order to train your mind to better work with numbers. If you did that you wouldn't be confused by finally using a calculator, its use would be simple and obvious.

I really like how Stephenson starts his books (okay, up to Seveneves), but I find they fall apart in the second half. I really noticed it when I tried to reread Diamond Age - the first half is amazing, but the second half feels like he was working through a contractual obligation.

I think Anathem is probably one of his more consistent books: it doesn't trail off like the others. Yeah, it gets trippy, but it's still fun.

I liked Anathem a lot. I think I enjoyed all of Neal Stephenson's books up to (but excluding) Seveneves, whereupon I gave up on him. Anathem is one of my favourite books.

The whole notion of monks in space seems absurd because of how people see monks. But this is both ahistorical and contrary to the way they work in the book. Copernicus and Mendel were monks. And these particular ones were all about learning maths and theorics (physics). They didn't optimise for technology, because they weren't allowed, but they optimised for learning, for extracting information out of tiny details. I think they'd do alright in a scientific(ish) mission.

I hadn't heard of this book. I'll have to look into it. I'm pretty happy there seems to be so much activity in the book and sci-fi/fantasy communities on here lately. Keep it up!

I enjoyed it, but I took the whole book as an elaborate philosophical joke or thought experiment: “What if Plato’s world of forms was literally another world, and recursive?”

I really liked it the first time. It's been a few years, and I really want to read it again. Something about learning a weird dialect of English really tickled my brain. Also trying to figure out what the heck was going on at the end of the book was a really fun puzzle for me.

I enjoyed the book overall, but Stephenson really does need an editor. He also loves to do random expositions of the stuff he learned about which have little to do with the plot, and it really reads like he's just trying to show off. I find authors like Peter Watts have more respect for the reader where they leave things for you to figure out yourself, which results in a more enjoyable experience.

i really enjoyed Anathem. the only other Stephenson books ive completed were Seveneves and Polostan, which I also liked but not at much as Anathem. i couldn't get into snowcrash on my first attempt for some reason, first few chapters just didnt vibe with me.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved the beginning as well and didn't think it was too long.

I think seveneves is the best but some of his books just drag fall, dodge in hell