To those who know my reading habits, it might come as a surprise that I have pushed off all other books I was reading aside in favor of Neal Stephenson’s latest, Anathem. I am also trying to read it slowly, so it will last a long time. If any of you have seen the book itself in the stores or in a friend’s (or your own) house, you might well respond that it’s going to last a long time anyway. It’s almost as thick as my copy of War and Peace.
For once, Stephenson is creating a completely non-Earth world, called Arbre, though parallels are many in the history of its inhabitants. Within this society are sprinkled many “maths,” what we would call universities or research centers. These, however, are not open to the public, except for special times called Apert, which come along every one, ten, hundred, or thousand years, depending on the math. At all other times, the scholars are holed up inside, doing research and scientific or scholarly work. At one of the more interesting points in Arbre’s history, our hero, Fraa Erasmas, is called out of one of these safe havens to participate in some astounding and urgent developments.
I am quite enjoying the book so far. I have a regular hardback copy of it, though I am doing most of the reading on the Kindle (from Amazon). This saves me a lot of wear and tear on arms and shoulders, it being quite the huge hardback, and as well I have the huge hardback sitting here for the purpose of looking things up in it. Stephenson has created a very detailed world, and one I enjoy the complexity of.
It’s hard to write about the book without giving away spoilers, so I’ll just pass along the link to it…
white pebble 