[amphibian]

Fist Gamet, on May 14 2009, 05:41 PM, said:

Perusing amazon for new reads...am I right in thinking Cryptonomicon is the place to start with Stephenson?

Do it in this order: Snow Crash (best place to start and short enough to leave off if you dislike his writing style).

Then Cryptonomicon (his best).

Then Diamond Age, the Baroque Cycle and lastly, Anathem.

[stone monkey]

Distressing as it is, I find myself disagreeing with teholbeddict. Do not, under any circumstances, start reading Stephenson (who is way cool, and somewhat shorter than I expected, in person btw) with The Baroque Cycle. For those not used to his foibles Quicksilver will be incredibly annoying; as, iirc, Mal found out. To my mind, it doesn't even work properly as a novel; it's more a 900 page prologue where Stephenson introduces his themes.

Cryptonomicon or Snow Crash are most definitely the places to start. They also have links with his other books Snow Crash shares a character (possibly) with The Diamond Age and would appear to be set before it; and Cryptonomicon is set approx 400 years after The Baroque Cycle

Anathem works as a standalone and I suppose you could start there.

This post has been edited by stone monkey: 14 May 2009 - 11:53 PM

[amphibian]

stone monkey, on May 14 2009, 07:52 PM, said:

Distressing as it is, I find myself disagreeing with teholbeddict. Do not, under any circumstances, start reading Stephenson (who is way cool, and somewhat shorter than I expected, in person btw) with The Baroque Cycle. For those not used to his foibles Quicksilver will be incredibly annoying; as, iirc, Mal found out. To my mind, it doesn't even work properly as a novel; it's more a 900 page prologue where Stephenson introduces his themes.

Cryptonomicon or Snow Crash are most definitely the places to start. They also have links with his other books Snow Crash shares a character (possibly) with The Diamond Age and would appear to be set before it; and Cryptonomicon is set approx 400 years after The Baroque Cycle

Anathem works as a standalone and I suppose you could start there.

As good as Anathem was, it also happens to be a doorstopper of a book. The smaller works are less of an investment of time and energy and thus not so much of a sunk cost in case of not liking Stephenson's style.

Which I think should never happen, because Stephenson is ridiculously awesome.

Snow Crash and Diamond Age do share a character. It's subtle, but a nice bonus for those who've read both.

[Yellow]

Fist Gamet, on May 14 2009, 10:41 PM, said:

Perusing amazon for new reads...am I right in thinking Cryptonomicon is the place to start with Stephenson?

Disagreeing with Tehol here, Crypto is the best place to start. It's also the best out of the four I've read of his so far.

If you like cryptography or maths at all, you should read this book. It also makes a nice change (for me, at least) to see WWII from the pacific point of view rather than the European.

It took me 80% of the book to work out what the actual plot really was, but by the end it was just a great reading experience and a really nice break from all the fantasy I'd been reading at the time. Inspired me to read Churchill's history of the second world war (only up to volume 1 so far ) and find out more about WWII crypto.

[teholbeddict]

You may want to go with the advice of the others over my own advice in this instance. Crytonomicon is my least favourite of Stephenson's books, I did like it, but I am not a maths fan and this book was full of it, this probably factored into my original suggestion. The Baroque Cycle trilogy is clearly my favourite of his works and in my opinion it's also his best, I have re-read it several times. Stone Monkey does have a very valid point about Quick Silver though. Personally if I had to leave the Baroque Cycle out and go with something else I would start with Anathem or Snow Crash. Stephenson is one of my favourite authors hands down, so for me there really is no wrong choice, but his writing style is not for everyone. Having said all of this, I'm sure I have been of no help here and further confused you! Sorry it really wasn't my intention.

This post has been edited by teholbeddict: 15 May 2009 - 03:58 PM

[Fist Gamet]

That's great advice, guys, thanks for taking the time, appreciate it. From what I can tell I need to read Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon and Anathem at the same time

On the other point regarding Asher...suggestions?

[Yellow]

I guess the general consensus is to forget Asher and read Stephenson

[teholbeddict]

Yellow, on May 15 2009, 11:19 AM, said:

I guess the general consensus is to forget Asher and read Stephenson

I agree just go straight fot the Stephenson material, I promise you won't regret it!

[alestar]

amphibian, on May 14 2009, 11:16 PM, said:

Fist Gamet, on May 14 2009, 05:41 PM, said:

Perusing amazon for new reads...am I right in thinking Cryptonomicon is the place to start with Stephenson?

Do it in this order: Snow Crash (best place to start and short enough to leave off if you dislike his writing style).

Then Cryptonomicon (his best).

Then Diamond Age, the Baroque Cycle and lastly, Anathem.

I agree with Snow Crash as the place to start, but as I mentioned in another thread, I found Diamond Age went into the toilet about 2/3 of the way in...I never even finished it (which is rare, after 100 pages I almost always go the distance...).

Could be just me though, but I find Stephenson is like two writers in one: one writes really intriguing story lines with interesting characters and the other drones on for hundreds of pages at a time, like some half loaded history professor.

I've often wondered if he gets paid by the word...

[stone monkey]

The Diamond Age is a fairly weird book in places and the end is imo somewhat out there. But I think the genius of the thing lies in what the reader picks up about the stories Stephenson chooses not to tell.

[Dolorous Menhir]

You must read Cryptonomicon before the Baroque Cycle.

amphibian, on May 15 2009, 02:19 AM, said:

Snow Crash and Diamond Age do share a character. It's subtle, but a nice bonus for those who've read both.

I've read both, but the shared character doesn't spring to mind. Which is it?

[stone monkey]

Spoiler

One of the teachers at the girls school, the one in the wheelchair with the smartwheels (Miss Matheson iirc) is YT... probably. It's quite subtle

[alestar]

stone monkey, on May 15 2009, 06:56 PM, said:

Spoiler

One of the teachers at the girls school, the one in the wheelchair with the smartwheels (Miss Matheson iirc) is YT... probably. It's quite subtle

You think? I didn't get that...but then again, I read them about 2 years apart...

[Fist Gamet]

Well, just finished Snow Crash and really enjoyed it. I liked the writing style so I am looking forwards to Cryptonomicon in the near future.
Thanks for the recommendations, guys.

[RangerSG]

Fist Gamet, on Aug 20 2009, 12:16 PM, said:

Well, just finished Snow Crash and really enjoyed it. I liked the writing style so I am looking forwards to Cryptonomicon in the near future.
Thanks for the recommendations, guys.

I loved Snow Crash and I love The Baroque Cycle as well. Quicksilver is perhaps an odd book for the first half. The second half of it (when you get to Jack and Eliza) to me reads much more straightforward (not that Stephenson is ever going to be typical and linear). Anathem is an amazing bit of worldbuilding. But I don't put it on the same level as the others, mainly because I didn't think as much of the characters as I did Jack, Eliza, and Daniel.

And I agree that Stephenson's style is great and he rounds out my trifecta of 'today's awesome authors' w/ Butcher and SE.

This post has been edited by RangerSG: 20 August 2009 - 09:17 PM

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Anathem might be my second favorite NS book, behind only Cryptonomicon. They've all been brillliant though.

[Abyss]

SNOW CRASH is good fun cyberworld sf with enuf action/violence and satire to keep the story moving. It's an entirely enjoyable introduction to Stephenson. It's like Gibson but less dark and grim.

DIAMOND AGE is an interesting read. Not as good, but good enough. It's a VERY intelligent story.

CRYPTO'... i really liked the book up to a point

Spoiler

but i found the ending (both of them) disconnected and disappointing. It was enuf to put me off reading BAROQUE CYCLE, which seems like volumes of the parts of Crypto i liked least

.


I find it interesting no one has mentioned ZODIAC. I haven't read it but it seems to be the red-headed stepchild of NS's work.

- Abyss, always wanted to get into a chain gun duel...

[Fist Gamet]

Yes, it did remind me of Gibson at times, and that is a good thing. For me, it wasn't quite up there with Morgan or Reynolds but very, very close.

[stone monkey]

I read first read Snow Crash back in the mid 90s and it was very much of the time. I think it belongs in the first real wave of post-Cyberpunk books whose authors, like myself, had grown up reading the original Cyberpunks. Stephenson's preoccupations; maths, philosophy, obscure history etc. are very much my own, so he might as well have been writing them just for me...

I do like his use of the slacker/hacker/science geek idiom mixed in with academic speak too; he manages to get his, often quite arcane, concepts across in the language that I actually speak and understand. A friend of mine once told me that the voice he heard Cryptonomicon being read in, in his head, was mine. Which I found quite flattering, whether he meant it that way or not

He doesn't talk down to his audience either. A lot of sf writers seem to assume their readers have had no prior contact with the ideas they're writing about or are not bright enough to get up to speed with them. Stephenson, to his credit imo, gives the reader the benefit of the doubt and takes them along for the ride. This can, I think, make him hard work, especially for those without a science/tech background. I rather like his authorial persona too. He comes across as a guy who knows a great deal, is endlessly interested in everything and is not afraid to be clever. He's also really funny. And, when he puts his mind to it, he can tell a cracking story; The Confusion just barrels along, especially in the Jack Shaftoe sections.

[Epiph]

stone monkey, on May 15 2009, 12:56 PM, said:

Spoiler

One of the teachers at the girls school, the one in the wheelchair with the smartwheels (Miss Matheson iirc) is YT... probably. It's quite subtle

I did not catch this. I'm going to have to go back and look at that section.