I'm wondering if any of you have read any Neal Stephenson books.
He wrote 'the Diamond Age,' 'Snow Crash,' 'Zodiac,' 'Cryptonomicon' and some others. I really like his work-it bears some similarity towards Thomas Pynchon ('Gravity's Rainbow'). A friend of mine, who just finished 'the Diamond Age' asked me if I thought the schoolmistress (from the private school Nell attends with Fiona and Elizabeth) was YT from 'Snow Crash.'
The schoolmistress says that she used to be a thrasher (=skateboarder), so it's certainly plausible. If any of you have read these books, what do you think? And if you haven't, maybe you should check 'em out-they're excellant. Oooh, I started a sentance with a conjunction. Screw you, SAT II Writing test!
I didn't post this in the general discussion forum because their 20,000+ posts intimidate me.

Not sure why this is in the WOLP forum, but...

I've read both "Snow Crash" and "Cryptonomicon", and really liked both. "Snow Crash" was quite a while ago, so I don't remember a lot of specific details. As a Math major, having taken a number of university courses related to coding and encryption, I was quite impressed with how "Cryptonomicon" used the story to put some of the basic concepts of cryptology in very understandable terms. The story was good, too. :)

Rhys

If you liked the writing, you should definately read "the Diamond Age" and "Zodiac." If you really liked the writing, you should read "The Big U," too. He's got a new one out, "Quicksilver," but I haven't read it yet...I just started "Infinite Jest."
As I said, this is in the WOLP forum because the general discussion forum intimidates me. Irrational? Perhaps.
Some call these crazy eyes. THAT'S DETERMINATION!

I've read 'The Big U', which I enjoyed, but think that that's all so far...


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"Don't wake the sleepers."

I've read most of his, my favourites being Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon. Started reading Quicksilver, but it's sooo slooooow. Obviously well-researched, but a bit of plot might not go amiss.

Started reading Great Expectations (finally) instead. Now there's a cracking tale.

:-)

But the headmistress! Dost thou thinkest she is yon Kourier?

Don't let the general discussion forum scare you. We're not that scary, honest!



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There's a hole in my creativity bucket and it's all leaked out.

Mr. Fforde's books remind me often of Neal Stephenson, and Gibson of course, in that they have such wonderful ideas in them. The key difference with Fforde's work is that his stronger characterizations personalize the ideas and make them part of a whole. Well developed characters are in short supply in the cyber-fiction genre, IMHO.

I will post to the general forum if I ever have anything useful to say, I promise.

:) Cool. Though I must say that having something useful to say might be out of place in there... ;)



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There's a hole in my creativity bucket and it's all leaked out.

Snowcrash was/is a seminal book. IMHO. But it has been so long since I read that I have completely internalized it....

Oh, most definately. But I still have no idea if that headmistress from the Diamond Age is actually Y.T.

Loved Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon. The others had their moments, but didn't knock me out.

A question: Somewhere I got the idea that Cryptonomicon was supposed to the the first volume of a triology. Did I make that up?

Loved Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon. The others had their moments, but didn't knock me out.

A question: Somewhere I got the idea that Cryptonomicon was supposed to the the first volume of a triology. Did I make that up?

Quicksilver is part of a trilogy which precedes Cryptonomicon. I didn't like it much though, and have given up on it...

Another piece of SF that I think some of you might like is a short story about time-travel, called 'The Chronic Argonauts', which H.G. Wells wrote before his better-known work 'The Time Machine'... I think that it would fit quite well nicely into the Nextian Earth's time-line. The complete text is available online, at several of the sites that are listed when one googles for its title.


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Logic is like Fire, a good servant but a bad master.