Cryptonomicon

I can't believe I didn't finish a book partially about Alan Turning. But I got 300 pages in and there was absolutely no plot, just a bunch of desperate attempts at humor

I have a few books from my “younger” years that I just couldn't finish, and this is one of them. I remember being very disappointed, as I am a huge fan of [b:Snow Crash 830 Snow Crash Neal Stephenson http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312497352s/830.jpg 493634], and this book is not at all like that one. But, I have matured somewhat, and may give it another go someday.

First of all, I wouldn't recommend this to the average person. It's a very long read (I'm only half-way through it), and it has a lot to do with Alan Turing and the revolutionary work he was doing with the Enigma machine during WWII. It also has about 4 subplots which, as far as I have gotten, haven't really crossed paths completely yet. The jumping around between the plots made me lose some interest, but I have a feeling this complexity will be rewarding in the end. It's also a very long read. But, if you're interested in the subject matter, the first few pages will hook you.

Didn't catch me after reading over 100 pages. Sometimes the switch bewteen the people confused me and overall I don't enjoy war settings.

I stopped at about 3 hours. That SHOULD be long enough to get a sense of where a book is going and if it draws you in and yet the author was still describing his main characters [in 3 different storylines no less].

Also the author would tangent now and again to topics that had no relevance, in my opinion, to moving a storyline forward.

Just too verbose of an author for my taste.

Wow... this is what Gravity's Rainbow would have been, had it been any good.

Yet another Stephenson beast - 900+ pages! Too long. But very interesting, with two storylines (WWII and 90s). As usual with his books, you can learn a ton about a variety of topics while enjoying the story and (male) characters, if you don't mind the digressions and meandering. This one was heavy on maths, cryptography, digital currency (it's a book from 1999!), history, warfare, tactical deception, codebreaking, mining and a few other areas. Took me almost 5 months to finish though.

9/10

I loved the characters! Loved them. But the point of the story kind of fell apart and turned into a treasure hunt.

It's longer than I think it had to be to tell its story, but the plots converge and resolve well and the ending is very satisfying in my opinion.

I found the book extremely difficult to “enjoy”. I marveled at the explanations of the cryptographic functions but was at a loss in the overwhelming history details. It was like reading a collection of thoughts or ideas. The narrative was an easy one to follow but not all that interesting in the end. It is not the point of the book I know, but I could have had a bit more story to go with my meanderings.

Aunque pueda ser difícil recomendar este libro de Neal Stephenson, la verdad es que no me queda otra opción. Sí, es un libro denso de 850 páginas que se sienten como 1500. Sí, hay páginas enteras dedicadas a lenguajes de programación, a divagaciones tecnológicas y a sucesos tan puntuales en la historia, que puede ser fácil sentirse abrumado. Y se siente como si tuviera un público muy definido. Al no entrar en esta categoría el gozo del libro quizá no sea el mismo (sufrí con algunos capítulos). Y aunque había veces que el texto era muy pesado, otras veces fue ágil e interesante. Incluso muy entretenido. Me pareció un libro genial a pesar de las dificultades que me planteó. Pero entiendo, fue por las carencias propias sobre temas que el libro da por hecho que manejas. Y preparate a googlear como nunca lo has hecho en tu vida. Aquí vas a aprender miles de cosas. Y como plus, al final del libro viene un sistema de encriptación para usar con tus amigos frikis. Tal vez en buenas manos, las manos de alguien que conozca estos temas, pueda ser un libro mucho más ameno. Pero si consideras que tus conocimientos en matemáticas son tan vastos que puedes transformar actividades mundanas en complejas sumatorias de Riemann, si para ti cualquier triva histórica se resuelve haciendo memoria por unos segundos, tal vez el libro te pueda interesar. Esta historia tan vasta se trata sobre la segunda guerra mundial, su repercusión en cierto tipo de negocios de nuestra época y la relación de esto con la criptografía. ¿Qué es la criptografía? No tenía ni idea de que se trataba del arte de los mensajes codificados, su creación, su naturaleza y su envío. El libro demuestra que su importancia fue tal en la segunda guerra mundial que la victoria sobre los nazis fue prácticamente gracias a su eficiencia. Y es interesante ver sus repercusiones. Por ejemplo, ¿Como destruyes ciertos cargueros enemigos sin hacerle notar al enemigo que sabías perfectamente, en un inmenso mar como el Atlántico, donde estaban exactamente? ¿Como le haces creer al enemigo que no sabes nada? Tendrías que ser cuidadoso al decidir que batallas perder, cuales ganar. Es como ganar con trampa en el casino sin que la casa se entere. De esto va el criptonomicon. Es un libro grande de sucesos más que de personajes. Y a pesar de tratar un tema tan oscuro y triste como la guerra (que de hecho no analiza tanto la guerra de manera filosófica, es más bien un hecho que existe y que te exige usar tu cabeza o ser molido por esa lucha de continentes), la actividad más idiota de la humanidad, los personajes se dan un momento para componer algunas líneas bastante cómicas. Alan Turing, el matemático a quien le debemos la computación, tiene un rol bastante genial en ese libro. Es en este universo donde Waterhause, un matemático; Shaftoe, un soldado de primera línea en Filipinas y Andy, un hombre de negocios digitales en el siglo XXI, descubren que el mundo de la criptografía tiene más poder del que pensaban. Tanto para bien como para el mal.

4.5 stars. My favourite, so far, book by Stephenson. Finally he managed to cut those annoying (for me) omnipresent pop-references and women are not as oversexualised as it was in his previous books. The plot is great and really engaging. Putting it in two historical periods was a great decision. As the story unveils we get more and more characters and threads, however everything at some point starts to connect and converge to the same point to culminate with a satisfactory ending. I also really enjoyed the cryptology theme. Even though some parts were somehow incorrect, as a whole it credible and to be honest quite amazing how Stephenson could in 1999 create, albeit only on paper, the idea of cryptocurrencies (disclaimer - I haven't heard about any earlier reference to it, at least not in cultural works).
The size of this book is scary. Almost 1200 pages with typical to the author tendency to extensive descriptions of the world, ideas, characters and so on. Even though he goes to extreme with those descriptions, he also manages to keep them engaging and the story doesn't feel boring at any point. I definitely see it as an achievement. It might have been a bit shorter, but I suppose we would lose a bit of Stephenson's style in a backlash.
Every book by Stephenson I read is full of wild and imaginative ideas. This one however feels to me as the first one where he managed to create a compelling story as well. And even though cryptology stands in the middle of the book it doesn't take over the story telling and character building. I will definitely reach for his other works now.

I'm giving up on Cryptonomicon. It's fine I guess–the prose is solid, most of the characters are interesting, and there is lots of engineering–but I just can't for the life of me get into it. The good stuff is few and far between, with lots of long-winded unexplained homages to crypto-guys to pad the length. And fuck me is the length padded.

After pounding away on it for a month I realize that I just don't care. I'd been reading it to see how everything tied together, but a quick google search suggests the ending does not pay off. Anathem had the same problem, except that it was an interesting read the whole way through – something that unfortunately can't be said of Cryptonomicon.

It took me two attempts to finish this behemoth of a book, but it was so worth it.

Bloated and pretentious with just enough moments with a little zip to keep me listening until the end. The only thing that made this one tolerable was the ‘skip ahead 30 seconds' button.

Wow, what an enjoyable read!

Neal Stephenson is one of those authors that until a couple of years ago had been notable because I had several of his books on my “to read” list (and on my shelves) who always seemed to get high praise, but for one reason or another, other books always kept leaping ahead of those. Now having read 4 of his books in the last 3 years (Snowcrash, The Diamond Age, Seveneves, and now Cryptonomicon), I think I'm going to have to read through everything he puts out. I think the main reason for my previous hesitation is the length of some of his works - he likes to publish thick books. Sometimes that's what I'm looking for, sometimes not. Also, he jumps genres and themes like no other author I've previously read.

Anyway, as for Cryptonomicon, here are a few things you should know:
1. This is not in any way, shape, or form a science fiction novel.
2. It isn't related to anything in the horror genre, either (in case you're thinking it is due to the Necronomicon, which is totally unrelated).
3. It IS historical speculative fiction with action and adventure
4. If you don't know anything about code-breaking, you will learn a lot. If you do, you'll have great fun with this one.

If you have a geeky background (like me), this book will likely hit your groove early and keep you happy for the entirety.

The construction of the book is interesting. There are essentially 2 timelines, one set in the WW2 era (late 30's to mid 40's) and one set in the “modern” era (2000-ish). The characters are wildly different, but through their efforts in the war, they intermingle around Bobby Shaftoe (early era) who seems to be the glue that ultimately binds them together. Lawrence Waterhouse is the “other” main character in the early era and you might also consider him the center of the whole story. He is the lead American cryptographer helping break codes to turn the tide of the war.

In the “modern era” story, the primary character is Randy Waterhouse, grandson of Lawrence mentioned above. Both eras have intriguing stories that ultimately come together in the modern era and weave it all together.

Along the way, you meet Historical figures such as Alan Turing and Douglas MacArthur. Travel around the world several times (with particular attention to the Philippines and Bletchley Park in Britain). Both eras have an interesting connection with cryptography, with Lawrence being a key contributor to the Cryptonomicon (a tome of Allied knowledge of code systems and code-breaking) and Randy working with a company focused on using cryptography to protect data and ultimately trying to establish an international data crypt storage facility/bank.

Other characters in the book flesh it out very well and really make the story about the people behind the events that they all seem to be caught up in and yet are out of their control. Bobby Shaftoe is an almost Forrest Gump type character who always seems to find himself in the middle of things, yet his single-minded determination and positive attitude take him extremely far. Goto Dengo is a Japanese officer who Shaftoe befriends early, before America is brought into the war with Pearl Harbor. Enoch Root is a somewhat mysterious figure who is a former member of the clergy who saves Shaftoe's life and ends up traveling with him on most of his adventures and yet also works with Lawrence Waterhouse and even makes it into the modern era storyline intact.

If the topic of cryptography seems intimidating to you, or boring, don't let that sway you from picking this up for a read. While there is some technical jargon, the whole book has much more of an adventure feel to it. The pace is pretty fast-paced and moves you right along from beginning to end. That said, if you have some interest in computers or crypto, then I suspect that will just add to your enjoyment.

Did I find any negatives to the book? There was some language, which I tend to find unnecessary, but others seem to think adds to the “grittiness” or authenticity of a book that is often about conversations between soldiers. There is some sex and sexual references that might be off-putting to some, but at the end of the day don't add up to any kind of deal-breaker. It might make it more appropriate for college-age readers, but some of the technical discussions would probably attract adult readers more than teenagers anyway.

I listened to the audiobook version and it weighed in at a hefty 42 hours and 53 minutes, but I enjoyed it immensely. As things wrapped up in the end, I really didn't want it to end at all. To me, that's a sign of a truly good book. Great world-building. Personable characters who change and grow. And a fantastic plot. All told, this is simply a fantastic book.

Loved the WW2-era storyline and the cryptography. The first half of the “modern” storyline dragged for me, probably because the technology of the late 90s is no longer cutting-edge enough to be interesting but not antiquated enough to be interesting, either. The second half redeems it, though, and I can see why this was supposedly required reading for employees in the early days of Paypal.

Long, confusing at times, but never boring. I have enjoyed the read, mostly as a geek!

Reread the WW2 timeline, enjoyed it again.

FALSE

So boring, I either could not or did not want to understand what was happening. Something about mathematicians.

A rough start for the first... quarter or so of the book. Just a bit confusing until all of the threads and timelines being jumped between are pretty well solidified in your head.

That said, this was a fantastic novel. Not as fun as Snow Crash, but absolutely fascinating. Definitely deserves all of the praise it's received over the years.

Another Neal Stephenson story following 2 story lines: one following code breakers in World War II, another a group of dot com entrepreneurs. Featuring fictionalized versions of names from the time including Alan Turing made it easier to identify with the characters. The first half of this very long book was tough to get through, with most of the payoff towards the end. The detailed descriptions of cryptography and theories about a digital currency were the most interesting part.

Another Neal Stephenson story following 2 story lines: one following code breakers in World War II, another a group of dot com entrepreneurs. Featuring fictionalized versions of names from the time including Alan Turing made it easier to identify with the characters. The first half of this very long book was tough to get through, with most of the payoff towards the end. The detailed descriptions of cryptography and theories about a digital currency were the most interesting part.

Executive Summary: If you're a computer or math geek, this book is a must read. If you like geeky humor mixed with world war 2, and random side tangents, this might also be a book for you.Audio book: I listened to the unabridged audio book by William Dufris. This is the first that I have listened by him. While he didn't do distinct voices for all the characters he did do some as well as a few accents. His German accent was particularly good.The audio suffers a bit from being unabridged, but thankfully in only a few places. I imagine the book has a bunch of white space/different font for some of the these parts where codes are written out, but Mr. Dufris is forced to read everything out and it can be a bit tedious.This is my only relatively minor complaint. For a 42+ hour book, this occurred very infrequently.Full ReviewThis book has been on my to read list for a long time. [b:Snow Crash 830 Snow Crash Neal Stephenson http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320544000s/830.jpg 493634] is one of my favorite books. While this book is more historical fiction than sci-fi (and certainly not cyberpunk), it has the same geeky humor that I loved in [b:Snow Crash 830 Snow Crash Neal Stephenson http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320544000s/830.jpg 493634] so much.The book has two time periods: The 1940's starting shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the mid-late 90s. There are several point of view characters for the 40's timeline, but the primary one is Lawrence Waterhouse, an often misunderstood and awkward mathematical genius.Waterhouse gets blown off by Einstein but becomes friends with Alan Turing. He eventually is put to work breaking codes of both the Japanese and later the Germans during the war.Meanwhile in the “present” Randall is Unix Guru working with his friend Abby to set up their next business venture in the Philippines.The other point of view characters include Goto Dango, a Japanese soldier, and Bobby Shafto an American soldier. Their stories augment the main narrative of Waterhouse's.This book has several tangents, including one on beards and another on bicycles. Many of his tangents turn ordinary thinking into mathematical equations. I found most of them interesting if not amusing, but they are of little importance to the story, so I can see people complaining of the excess in what is a rather lengthy book.The stories of the two timelines eventually converge in a way that wasn't very apparent to me until about the midway point or so.I really enjoyed the book, although I'd be happy with some follow-up as I was left with several questions, though mostly minor ones.Most of my questions relate to the historical accuracy of many events in the story. People like Alan Turing were quite real, as was his involvement in the British efforts to break German codes during the war. There is work involving the Enigma, but the names of the Japanese codes appear to have been changed, as well as replacing several of the people involved with fictional characters.At some point I hope to find/read a non-fiction book (or books) on the breaking of codes in World War 2, and I am now fascinated by it.