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Anathem | 
 enlarge | Author: Neal Stephenson
Publisher: William Morrow
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $14.75
You Save: $15.20 (51%)
New (39) Used (17) Collectible (2) from $13.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 100
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 960
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.8
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.5 x 2.2
ISBN: 0061474096
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780061474095
ASIN: 0061474096
Publication Date: September 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Anathem, the latest invention by the New York Times bestselling author of Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle, is a magnificent creation: a work of great scope, intelligence, and imagination that ushers readers into a recognizable—yet strangely inverted—world. Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside—the Extramuros—for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago. Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent's gates—at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious "extras" in. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected." But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change. Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros—a threat that only an unsteady alliance of saecular and avout can oppose—as, one by one, Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Suddenly burdened with a staggering responsibility, Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world—as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 42 more reviews...
Brilliant but not for the lazy reader October 7, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
It's interesting looking through the wide range of reviews already here for this book. It appears some readers want to be "spoon fed" and can't accept why, for instance, Stephenson would say "jeejah" instead of PDA or mobile phone. Partly because the concept is not properly captured by either term and partly because there is an explanation coming in a couple of hundred pages as to _why_ things on Arbre are _like_ Earth but not the same. It's important to the plot that we have an ongoing sense that this is "like" Earth but not "identical" to Earth. If the reader isn't able to mentally substitute "mobile communication/computing device" for "jeejah" after the first few occurrences then they shouldn't be reading speculative fiction.
Like Stephenson's previous work, Anathem expects the reader to bring an open, attentive mind to the process. This is not a novel to be lightly dipped into and read like some throwaway pulp adventure. It contains some quite detailed discourse on areas of philosophy and cosmology (amongst many other things). It is driven more by ideas than by people or situations.
Anathem is highly recommended for the reader who wants to have their mind exercised by what they're reading. It is definitely not recommended for readers who wish to simply sit back and be entertained - they should go see a mindless action film or equivalent.
 Amazing Speculative Fiction: Stephenson's Best Yet October 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Stir together geek culture, quantum mechanics, steam-punk, and cyber-punk; mix in a dash of classic kung fu and a bit of Aristotle/Descartes/Heidegger (but not in any real punishing way), then pour it all into a tall glass of string theory. That's Anathem.
This is Stephenson's best book since Snow Crash. Like what Snow Crash did for cyber-punk, Anathem does for speculative fiction: it turns the present on it's head through envisioning a radical, alternative near-present.
Possibly the best science/speculative fiction book I've ever read!
Monyafeek! October 6, 2008
I approached Stephenson's new novel with moderate expectations, considering it likely that Anathem would prove to be less imaginative and engrossing than his earlier work because, well, how could he keep it up?! Foolish of me.
Once again, Neal Stephenson has brought us a fascinating world in astonishing detail, lovingly rendered and filled with characters we come to care for greatly. I hated to close the book, but know that it will reward additional readings.
Thank you, Mr. Stephenson. I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next.
Enjoyable, but not quite on the level of Cryptonomicon or the Baroque Cycle October 5, 2008
I love reading Neal Stephenson. I think that in general he manages to make complex ideas understandable to his readership & essential to the stories that he tells. The Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon are two of my absolute favorite works of speculative fiction literature.
That said, I was a touch disappointed by Anathem. I felt there was a little too much invented language & culture. At times it feels like Neal's making up words because he can, not because he needs to or because it helps to communicate something that readers wouldn't have gotten from standard English terminology. Though Stephenson is willing to create all of this new language & devotes quite a lot of pages to making this understandable to us, at other times I can't help but feeling that the characters talk too much like modern college students or younger adults. If these characters are cloistered for over a decade, it seems odd to me that they are concerned about looking "cool". Some of the characters' values seem too close to what we'd expect from members of the outside world for ultra-bright monastic students of scientific theory.
I also felt that some of the speculative technology & theory were left quite vague. Details are glossed over where they would have been interesting to the reader. This leaves me feeling like I'm being kept in the dark in order to make something seem mystical. This approach feels lazy to me. It's not like there aren't 20+ page sections of the book devoted to the explanation of an idea or technology. It's just that the ideas that move the crucial portions of the plot in the second half of the book aren't given this treatment.
Perhaps I was just disappointed not to find the ideas that have been mined in the last two books, but I think there's another factor at work here. This is such a huge project of world creation that I think it was impossible to refine this book as much as recent works. Because all of the characters & situations had to be created from whole cloth there was less time spent on the details. The end result, though is that this book has a less finished feeling.
The book is good & well worth the time it takes. Just don't go into it expecting the clarity of thought & language that you're used to. This is in some ways sort of a trip back to books like The Diamond Age, Snow Crash & even The Big U. It's a little clumsier than what dedicated readers of Stephenson have grown used to, though it is an exciting tale of adventure, told through the lens of science & technology in an alternate world.
My verdict: not the first book I'd recommend to new Stephenson readers (that will probably always be Cryptonomicon), but if you like his other books you should pick this one up too.
One of my top ten favorites October 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Anathem reads like a historical novel and a lot of the history is only implied within the story. This creates mystery and when the mysteries are explained, or when you are granted an insight, it's extremely satisfying, in the same sort of way that Lost. Stephenson, as always, does some very, very clever things with this narrative. He creates a unique, interest world, full of characters that make me smirk. The concepts are brilliant, in that I think about them when I'm not reading the book. He makes you invest a lot in the book, and then he gives you a good return on the investment.
This is a book of big ideas and high concepts. I loved A Canticle for Leibowitz and I loved In The Name of the Rose, and Anathem feels like a Neal Stephenson engineered mash-up of those two books. For me, it was a page-turner, but it's not Michael Crichton. I wouldn't recommend it to my aunt's book club.
I'm a huge Stephenson fan. Not so much of the early cyberpunk, but Cryptnomicon and the Baroque Cycle are also in my top ten list. If you loved those, you will love Anathem. If you like Neal Stephenson, buy this now!
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