Erasmas, “Razï,” is a young avout living in the Concent, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers. Three times during history’s darkest epochs, violence has invaded and devastated the cloistered community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe.
But they now prepare to open the Concentïs gates to the outside world, in celebration of a … once-a-decade rite. Suddenly, 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 planets and beyond.
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Stephenson is one of the best
Well thought out sci-fi exploring wonderful ideas in an exciting story.
Neal Stephenson has created an epic book that creates a world very close to ours, but yet not the same. This book is all about immersion into a different world, with different rules and different cultures. And it works.
Be ready to follow a young monk on his travels with his mentors as he unravels the mysteries of his world and others who …
Starts slow, real slow. But once into it, I liked it a lot.
Another great book by Neal Stephenson. Makes you think and very original.
I adore Neal Stephenson and have read most of his books – Snow Crash is the best; Reamde was thoroughly entertaining; Crypotomicon is a fairly hard read but has wonderful true spy stories. But Anathem was the most boring book EVER. Such an interesting story line but each page was more boring the last to the very end of the book. Some people loved …
One of the most remarkable books I’ve ever read with references to so many scientific theories I’m sure I missed a lot of them. This was the first book of Stephenson’s that I read and I was hooked immediately.
This guy invented cyberpunk and steampunk. Do I need to say more?
All of his books are immensely entertaining and educational page turners of approximately 900 page duration. And by page turner I mean edge of my seat can’t put it down until it’s ended. His “Baroque Cycle” is 3 seperate 900 page books that had me calling in sick at work for about a …
This was not as engaging a book as others by Neal Stephenson. He crafts the world and its interactions well. I did not find it raising as profound an insight as his other works and I really had to keep pushing myself along to read it, unlike the Baroque Trilogy, which was similarly rich.
Lots of good stuff in this book, but its flaws really covered the good stuff up. I had to skim lightly over many pages in the first section of the book, as I don’t care to know in any kind of detail how clocks work, for example, and where almost nothing happened.
I didn’t mind the new terminology as many other reviewers did, even enjoyed …
Great book. One of my favorite writers. His books are just never predictable in where they are going.
Intellectually stimulating and still entertaining.
A cerebral read full of inventions and philosophy. Also read my favorite by this author, Cryptonomicon.