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Anathem
by: Neal Stephenson

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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780061474095
ISBN: 0061474096
Label: William Morrow
Manufacturer: William Morrow
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 960
Publication Date: September 01, 2008
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: September 09, 2008
Sales Rank: 112
Studio: William Morrow

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Editorial Review:

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.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Another world
The story in Anathem takes place on a kind of alternative earth ("Arbre") where sholars ("Avouts") have sealed themselves off in closterlike milieus ("Concent") from the outside society ("The Saecular"). We soon learn that this has gone on for thousands of years, and that civilisation has developed, flourished and degenerated several times. Only on very rare occasions ("Apert") do the doors to the Concents for ten days and it's maths open for the saeculars. We follow fraa Erasmas, a young avout in the Concent of Saunt Edhard in year 3689, after the so called Reconstitution, awaiting the new Apert when he will meet his family for the first time in ten years. The scope widens as several avouts are called on by the Saecular to help solve a problem or crisis. And a strange object has been spotted on the sky... The word "Anathem" refers to when an avout is cast out from the Concent.

Some reviewers have been ... Read More

Rating:

- ambitious but meandering
Ambitious in scope but leaves several elements of story undeveloped and seems to overly focus on minutia of daily life of main character's community. Would be nice to read a tighter, more coherent story.

Rating:

- Classic
I wish there were more books like Anathem. As a fan of science fiction and non-fiction material dealing with "big questions", theoretical physics, philosophy, metaphysics, et al., this novel felt like i was having my cake and eating it too. Calling it an "instant classic" might be over-enthusiastic, then again it may not be!

I've read several other titles by Neal Stephenson and I feel like he did a much better job with this book than he did with Cryptonomicon or The Baroque Cycle (which I never finished --- I got bored!). The pacing is much better and even though other people here have pointed out that a lot of the "dialog" could be removed without much impact on the plot, I found it really satisfying to have these ideas tied into the narrative. The concepts presented are profound and I was thinking about this book for days after finishing it.

Highly recommended!

Rating:

- Starts nicely, trickles away
Platonism, squidgy-widgy "landscape" physics, and very old-school Robert Heinlein-ish SF furniture. Plus a comic Frenchman. Oh, and some martial arts stuff.

It's fun, mainly, and every now and then there's a paragraph of damn good writing. But once again NS seems to run out of steam, or interest, or insight, or discipline, or something, part way through the book. Most of the last half is just a not particularly inspired SF adventure story, which could have been told with a fraction of the words, and which shows clear signs of sloppy self-indulgence.

If he had actually followed through and written a book which really did say something about Platonism & its rivals, it could have been much, much better. But at the end of the day, perhaps he just isn't up to it.

(And given that the whole tenor is sort of Goedel-ish, why not have Goedel himself or at least some caricature oops analog ... Read More

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