Some great surprises, mind-bending brain food, seemingly random digressions (though some are pulled out and put in the back), and funny too, the humor being the thing I missed most in the Baroque cycle, though the last two books of it redeemed (to some extent) the slog that was quicksilver.

This is coming from someone who’s read all of Stephenson’s stuff and think’s its all worth reading, though quicksilver was 1000 pages of dry lead-in IMHO ;)

Most atheists, like most Christians, aren’t very religious. But the few who are…

yeh :)

If Neil’s past books are anything to go by, in ten centuries I’ll still be reading it :o)

I’m looking forward to Anthem, but I wish I had more time to read, or was a much faster reader :o(

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmos_clock

No, I mean it. Why aren’t books edited by crowd sourcing / beta test?

Decisions, decisions.

You’ve been asked before not to include your blog link in your comments. Final warning.

I love Stephenson’s “digressions”. I love the Baroque Cycle just the way it is. Usually I can blast through a book in so time at all. It was a delight to come back to the same book for a week or two. His style is not spare, his books are filled with goodies, but nutritious goodies. It’s stuff for your brain to chew on.

I loaned the Baroque Cycle to a friend/roommate and watched in humbled amazement as she polished them off in four days and then came back to me to ask for more!

I learned my lesson with The Diamond Age – in the last chapter or two, as soon as you sense a godawful pointless and thematically jarring happy ending, put the book down immediately; do not read another word. One of the reasons I loved the Baroque Cycle was that, as a trilogy, the endings of the first two books were really just chapter endings. The inevitable sucky ending didn’t come until the third book.

As for Stephenson: I read Snow Crash. That was enough. Not reading any more by him.

Pl – rgnlfth.cm

The storyline of Goto Dengo in Cryptonomicon was really compelling to me. I think a valid way to read that book would be to read just the parts having to do with that character, and only read the rest as your motivation dictates.

But really, I found the whole thing pretty damn fabulous.

It’s enormous though – you could rob a bank with this thing, and mine’s not even a hardcover. I groaned when I saw it, just because of the whole I’m Too Famous To Need an Editor phenomena that tends to happen. But actually, about 2/3 through I don’t know what I would cut. It’s all fascinating and terribly funny.

But I never actually finished the Baroque Cycle (Dropped out about halfway through The Confusion, but I’ve read every other one of his books including Zodiak and The Big U). So take that for what it’s worth.

My initial question still stands, Did Neal ever answer the questions readers submitted?

Neal seems to have three distinct fanbases:
1. The ones who never got over Neuromancer and only like the books where he’s channeling Bill Gibson.
2. The ones who appreciate the convoluted storylines and textured histories of Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle.
3. The Venn-diagram overlap of the two, which appears to be tiny.

I’m a #3, but I try not to evangelize.

What always amuses me is the endless carping over the way he chooses to end his novels. People seem to forget that it’s about the journey, not the destination. If you think you could do a better job, go pick up a Montblanc and get started.

WHAT? She is aynesthesia. Can put you to sleep quicker than a blow to the head.

Unless the reader is 16 years old.

Fair, I was being snarky.

But hey, I really like his writing; I’ve read almost all his books – I have just taken to skipping the last chapter or two.

At least he’s not a playwright or a director – it’s fine to put down a novel, very rude and disturbing to walk out of a show…