Anathem

Anathem is excellent; why do you call it “so, so bad”?

Mary Renault. Fire From Heaven. I think she was ahead of the curve in recognizing that Alexander had monstrous qualities at a time when he was still seen as a kind of superhero. Tolkein. The Silmarillion. I’ve bounced off this book a dozen times over decades, despite deeply enjoying The Hobbit and LoTR. This time I discovered that the best way to read it is backwards, tracing connections to characters you already know. Stephenson. Anathem. I think I’ll skip the end next time. The first time I read it, I was confused; this time I understood exactly what was happening but I thought it was a bit pointless. Still worth it for the first 3/4 of the novel. Lots of short stories. I was expecting to like Mark Twain better, but ours is a much more earnest era, and no match for his Gilded Age cynicism. What passes for cynicism today is Twain in his sunniest mood. At any rate, I appreciate Twain, but I enjoy EM Forster, Henry James, JG Ballard, William Gibson, and lots of others I’m forgetting at the moment.

I consolidated the comments for my reference later. Someone else might also find it useful: # Fiction Books Recommended for Programmers (HN Thread 46128404) ## Adrian Tchaikovsky - *Children of Time* — Science Fiction (Evolution, Space Opera) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-tim... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time) ## Rick Cook — Wizardry Series - *Wizard’s Bane* — Fantasy, Programming/Magic Mashup https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112616.Wizard_s_Bane - *Wizardry Series (overview)* https://www.goodreads.com/series/43084-wiz ## James P. Hogan - *Inherit the Stars* — Hard Science Fiction https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743568.Inherit_the_Stars - *Code of the Lifemaker* — Sci-Fi, Artificial Life https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/296722.Code_of_the_Lifem... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/296722.Code_of_the_Lifemaker) - *The Two Faces of Tomorrow* — AI, Hard Science Fiction https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218017.The_Two_Faces_of_... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218017.The_Two_Faces_of_Tomorrow) ## D. F. Jones — Colossus Trilogy - *Colossus* — AI, Classic Sci-Fi Thriller…

Anathem and The Diamond Age too

For me, some of the best books I read this year, are: - Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, I have seen many narratives on the fault at the core of current values and goals of human civilization, but never saw a laid out alternative. Whatever it might be, I like the book for attempting at presenting one. - Solaris by Stanislaw Lem, I like this book for extremely original thoughts. This books was so thin (~200 pages), yet it was grand. I also wrote a review [0]. - The Happiness Trap by Russ Hariss, was very helpful to me in sorting through some things. Very practical book. - Anathem by Neal Stephenson, one of the most original book, and probably the best one by Stephenson. Very original ideas, mind expanding. - Permutation City by Greg Egan, this book raised the standard for possibly all SciFi book that I will read in the future. Extremely original and grand ideas. - The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt, another book that lays out alternatives to what is now considered mainstream.…

"A Canticle for Leibowitz" I'd recommend also "Anathem" by Stephenson

"A Canticle For Leibowitz" "The Sparrow" "Lord of Light" "The Immortal" "Hyperion" "The Last Question" "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" "Stranger in a Strange Land" "The City and the Stars" "Childhood's End" "Anathem" "Eifelheim" "A Case of Conscience" "VALIS" trilogy "The Book of Strange New Things" "Behold The Man" "The God Engines" "Book of the New Sun" "The Parable of the Sower" "The Dosadi Experiment" "Grass" "Project Pope" "Calculating God" "Factoring Humanity" "Jesus on Mars" "Surface Detail

Dragon's Egg, by Robert L. Forward Nexus Trilogy, by Ramez Naam Anathem, By Neal Stephenson

Neal Stephenson's Anathem

The rare book that I've read three times. That and his Anathem, IMHO, are superlative and make up for his habit of droning on. BTW stay away from REAMDE. His action scenes are awkward and stumbling, without tension or grace.

I find myself re-listening to large portions of my audible library fairly often. I pick up so much more on additional read/listen-throughs. I listen to or read Snow Crash at least once a year. I just enjoy most everything about it. Anathem required a couple listens, and a third listen was just for comfort food. The Altered Carbon trilogy has depth and sublime world-building that I have now enjoyed at least a half dozen times. I second mentions of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (and will mention The Long, Dark Tea Time of the Soul as well). Ender’s Game is also comfort food for me. Breaking from the speculative fiction reco’s above... The Power of Vulnerability (Brené Brown) is more lecture series than audiobook, but as for non fiction I’ve recently given multiple listens to, that tops the list. I borrowed “Landline” from the local library, read it twice and then bought it so I could continue to read it when I want to. I think I was in just the right age group and life situation for this novel to hit home for me. Your mileage may vary, but IMO read it without knowing anything about it in advance if you’re going to read it. That means don’t read the back cover etc.…

Anathem by Neal Stephenson features a bifurcated world where a scholar-monk-class of mathematicians lives in walled-off areas that mingle with the rest of the world only on fixed dates. Some every year, some every ten years, and others only every 100 years. There is a lot more to it, but I don't want to give anything away.

William Gibson. The Bridge trilogy and the Sprawl trilogy, at a minimum. They still feel like maps to the future even now. You have to work at it, the map is not the territory after all, but the realisations about the impact of technology, progress, and the choices we make when we let society work a certain way have been profound, for me at least. Also The Peripheral, and Gibson’s essay in Wired about undersea cables, and... yeah. Having read Gibson feels like a superpower. As others have said: - The Hitch Hiker’s Guide - Stepehnson’s Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, Seveneves, Anathem (aside: totally surprised how much love there is for Anathem, I remember it not being received very kindly at the time by people around me, though I liked it.) - The Culture series (special shout out to The Player of Games.)

I have a post at my blog here: http://westby.io/5-books-ive-read-2018-1/ Some other books I read that I'd recommend: - Anathem - Deep Work - A Canticle for Leibowitz - Into Thin Air - Shoe Dog - Happiness Hypothesis

Cryptonomicon is one of my favorite books of all time (I'm probably due for a re-read at this point). I would also recommend "Seveneves", one of Neal Stephenson's most recent books. "Anathem" was also very enjoyable.

Isaac Asimov is one of the classics, of course. I'm particularly fond of the robot novels (all four of the Elijah Baley ones especially) and the entire Foundation series. Of course, you also can't miss the robot short stories. Oh, and The End of Eternity! At some point I found Charles Stross' Accelerando, which is freely available online (along with a bunch of other short stories), and found everything I've read (which is most of it at this point, I think) enjoyably fast-paced. In particular the Laundry series (of which I've bought every iteration as soon as they came out over the past few years) -- though arguably these maybe cross-over from SF into fantasy a bit -- and the Halting State trilogy.…

My hardback copy of Anathem self destructed through continual re-reading of favourite parts. However, I now also have it on Audible so I can listen to it on my jeejah... ;-)

Anathem by Neal Stephenson, along with Seveneves.

You would probably enjoy Anathem by Neal Stephenson. It's also about deep time.

Re-reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson, because it's so god damn good. The Mandibles recently. It was okay. The economic ideas were interesting, but the story dragged. The Accusation by Bandi was good if you like North Korea stuff. The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O - Was decent for a Stephenson novel, but definitely niche sci-fi/fantasy. The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse. Didn't like it. Really didn't like the ending.

Been a big Stephenson fan since Cryptonomicon. Enjoyed the Baroque Trilogy, Anathem & Reamde, but non of them are as good as Cryptonomicon. It's a bit like be an Umberto Eco fan - nothing since Name of the Rose has been quite as good. Or Wes Anderson for that matter; there's been good stuff, but nothing's touched the heights of Royal Tenenbaums.

Neal Stephenson's Anathem is fairly mind blowing if read in the correct mindset.

The two books I've read by Stephenson and really enjoyed. Never really got into the Baroque cycle because it's so long winded, but that should also be good.

Your opinion is very good. The "and then something magic happens" solution in fantasy is what really turns me off. But in SF it is sometimes hard to distinct magic from plausible albeit far fetched science. Is FTL possible given the science of tomorrow, or magic? If you want to have (imho) really, really good SF, chec out Ted Chiang. Very low production, but he takes science in SF very seriosly. His collection of short stories is some of the best I've ever read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stories_of_Your_Life_and_Others Somebody else mentioned Anathem. And if one want deep mathematics mixed with wild ideas, language theory I strongly recommend it. It is hard to get going (at least it was for me). But very rewarding. Probably the best read the last year. Finally, if one really wants to go the "no magic" route. I strongly recommend Netptunes Brood by Charles stross. The book is based on the idea that FTL is not possible, and as a consequence how the economics behind interstellar migration and stable exchange currencies works. Bitcoing and slow money. Just that somebody actually has been considering the finance structure behind generation ships makes it worth reading.…

Doubtless there'll be lots of strong opinions, and (hopefully, usefully) lots of duplicates that you can then tote up to get a bit of a consensus. Iain M. Banks - all his Culture books are fantastic, but I'll single out 'Excession' since you seek titles. Neal Stephenson's 'Anathem' Stephen Donaldson (most famous for the Thomas Covenant tri-trilogy) wrote a 5-book 'Gap Series'. I have very fond memories of it, though it's been two decades since I read it. Philip K. Dick wrote a tonne of good stuff (and a bit of meh) but my two favourite are Clans of the Alphane Moon (the first Dick I read), and Valis (a bit more conventional to have on the favourite list) Ursula Le Guin also has a huge body of excellent work - Left Hand of Darkness, and The Dispossessed are my favourites. I really loved Roger Zelazny's Lord Of Light, though I understand it's not conventionally considered his best work.

Neal Stephenson, Anathem Iain M Banks, Use of Weapons Greg Egan, Diaspora and Permutation City Frank Herbert, Dune Kim Stanley Robinson, the Mars trilogy Vernon Vinge: A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky [Note to Hollywood: can we please have a Culture movie?]

Diamond age: a young ladies illustrated primer. Anathem. Halting state. Accelerando. Rant: an oral biography of buster casey. Enders game. The laundry files.

Anathem (especially the last third of it) is an awesome reading. It's slow-building and the first two thirds took some will to get through, but it was really worth the struggle. Incredibly high-concept (for me at least).

Haha, Sorry, wish I could edit that now. No more posting to HN after more than three beers :) . Anathema was just a typo but I changed N[ie|ea]l back and forth a few times. My stupidity aside, awesome author and Anathem is definitely worth a read.

If the OP is looking for a page turner, then Stephenson's Snow Crash is another great recommendation. Anathem was slower to me, and Reamde was good. But if I was to pick up Stephenson's stuff again I go to Snow Crash, then Cryptonomicon as my one, two.

If I had to pick a personal favorite(not necessarily best) book of all time, it would be Anathem.

Finally got around to reading Anathem by Neil Stephenson. Amazing book. The thing I love about Stephenson's writing is that not only am I entertained, not only do I learn something... but that the process of understanding the story actually teaches me new ways to think.

Neal Stephenson's "Anathem". Seriously one of the best novels I've ever read. He's an excellent writer, and after about the first fifty pages I couldn't put it down.

"Anathem" by Neal Stephenson is the best book I've read in years. The first 50 pages or so are a slog, but after that I couldn't put it down. "What is the What" by Dave Eggers is also phenomenal.

Recent favorites of mine: Anathem - Neal Stephenson A People's Tragedy: Russian Revolution, 1891-1924 - Orlando Figes The Big Short - Michael Lewis

Anathem by Neil Stephenson (Fiction)

Non-fiction: Coders at Work by Peter Siebel and Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston - I loved reading about the founder's stories and first-hand perspectives of notable programmers. The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton - really interesting perspective on "work" and various types of careers and people that find happiness in them/work itself. Superfreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner - even if you don't agree with their arguments or think that the authors are all fluff, I think that their writing style is exceptionally clear and easy to understand. The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb - some really interesting ideas and analysis, although the book could have been 1/2 as short Fiction: Anathem by Neal Stephenson - starts out slow but after the first 200 pages it became a really great story that I couldn't put down. Life of Pi by Yann Martel - loved the main story of the book, the controversial ending didn't bother me too much because I don't feel like it takes away from the story at all. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson - cheap fun and suspenseful…

Anathem, by Neal Stephenson Consider Phlebas, by Iain M. Banks Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins Business Stripped Bare, by Richard Branson Programming Collective Intelligence, by Toby Segaran Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig

Anathem started slow but ended up being one of his better efforts, I think. Like classic Stephenson, it's short on plot but long on details and interesting dialog between characters.

Charles Stross, 'Accelerando' Stephenson, 'Anathem' (first 150 pages slow)

Although actually released in late 2008, my favorite book for 2009 was Neal Stephenson's Anathem.

Dune by Frank Herbert and Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Right now, Anathem by Neal Stephenson is my favorite. I read through the comments before adding my 2 cents. I saw a lot of my favorite books, including a few by Neal Stephenson. But I did not see Anathem. Hmmm... I also saw a few references to James Clavell's Shogan. Excellent book. But I liked Tai Pan more, and in fact, I would say that this is my second favorite. Just to add another title that nobody here is likely mention, the first book that I read that blew my mind (admittedly in my very young days) was "When the Lion feeds" by Wilbur Smith.

Not only don't be put off by it's size, but don't be put off by the press it got from when it was released. The book is way better than anyone could possibly sum up in a blurb.