Cryptonomicon
by Neal Stephenson
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Book Reviews of Cryptonomicon
Book Review: Nerds of the world, rejoice! Stephenson pens a zinger
Summary: 5 Stars
I am 54 years old and I am a nerd. (Sounds like an AA confession or something).
You may think Important People like George Bush or Bill Clinton or President-elect (at time of writing) Obama, or A. Lincoln, or Alexander or Ghengis Khan or Hitler or Nimitz or FDR or Churchill are the kind of guys who make the world go `round. Or try to stop it, as the case may be.
You'd be dead wrong.
An interesting thing happened in the 19th century called the Industrial Revolution. After 20,000-some-odd years of digging in the dirt the planet suddenly went high-tech. Or at least higher-tech. The IPs were shocked, SHOCKED, to find they couldn't win a war (or do much else) without tech. And where did they get their tech?
From us autistic, socially-inept, outta-the-box-thinking, harmless-appearing nerds. Stephenson gets this right, oh-so-dead-on-right, in "Cryptonomicon".
I almost never buy hardbacks any more except in extraordinary circumstances. Fellow serious bookworms will know why immediately - space. If the total volume in one's abode can be expressed as X, and the volume taken up in said abode by hardback books is .99999X, it becomes obvious that...well, you get the picture. (Omigawd, an equation - means 10% fewer people will read this review). Sooner or later paperbacks start looking like the way to go.
When I saw the big Avon hardback edition in 1999 and took a quick look, it seemed like a possibility. But what iced the deal was the inside jacket picture of a young (maybe 10 y.o.?) NTS curled up on the couch reading Epstein's "First Book of Codes and Ciphers", a book I still have on my own shelf. Now THIS was my kinda author!
Since then, I've read "Cryptonomicon" every few years and never failed to pull something new out of it. This time it was an even better appreciation of the very digressions many of the reviewers here have taken exception to. They are brilliant little jewels in their own right. To those who fizzed through the book the first time and missed them, or even skipped `em deliberately (arrrrgh!), I say, "Read it again and slow down. Smell the coffee!"
The pages leading up to and including Lawrence Waterhouse's Big Insight at the organ keyboard are among the most hilarious I've ever read. Could only have come straight from a true nerd's heart.
About the ending. Sometimes in real life, things don't get tied up with a then-everyone-lives-happily-ever-after ribbon, or a can-you-top-this bow. Sometimes the villain wins or the hero loses, or they both win, or they both lose. The codebreaker heroes of WWII got medals and citations they couldn't publicly acknowledge for over thirty years. Many of them worked their butts off on projects the results of which they didn't even see until such information began trickling out in the early 1970s.
Many of these ops would have seemed totally absurd from the point of view of the heavily-compartmented participants. Stephenson's genius is his presentation of clandestine activities from the POVs of Bobby Shaftoe, who knows nothing, and Waterhouse, who knows everything.
After the 900-page tour-de-force NTS rolls out, about the only other ending I can envision is what I call the "up-yers ending", something like this:
"The Earth encounters a random black hole and falls into it. All life is squished into oblivion (including the characters you've read about for the past week) and the world ceases to exist. Thank you for buying this book."
THAT would've ticked off the reviewers even more.
My background includes writing ICBM flight software and service as a U.S. Navy Intelligence officer. I've read 1000s of books of all types, had three of my own published. I've never given max stars to a book before in my life. This one gets max stars. Six out of five, in fact. Stephenson wrote a book about us and he got it right.
Nerds rule.
Book Review: In dire need of an editor
Summary: 2 Stars
Have you ever hated yourself for finishing a book? For a long, long month, I resisted my own desire and my wife's urgings to drop the book. I should have listened. The book badly needs editing, the characters are shallow, and the author's (very) high opinion of himself stains the pages. There are two crypto-analytic themes to this book: World War II codebreaking and the struggles of a modern day cryptographic computer company to turn profitable. By page 500 (of the 910), I had no idea how they related; by page 700, I had an inkling but no longer cared. I only finished because I felt some undefined need to do so.
I would guess that by the time Stephenson wrote this book, he had enough critical and financial success that he was able to demand no restraints from his publisher. Consequently, the writing meanders and much of it is irrelevant. Stephenson dedicates three pages to description when three paragraphs (and sometimes only three sentences) will do. Worse yet, many of these wanderings are completely unrelated to the story, such as discussions of Captain Crunch and wisdom teeth. By page 300, the reader can see when these airy insignificances arise, and to continue, he or she must painfully wade through them.
Most of the characters in the book share the exact same personality: gruff and cynical. The exceptions are academics, who are portrayed as wimps with no grasp on reality, and East Asians, who all have a personality similar to the characters from Shogun. Otherwise, a World War II Marine shares the same personality as a modern day billionaire-investor who shares the same personality as a modern day entrepreneur. An example of the same-flavor feel of Stephenson's characters: One character (Enoch Root) was an Army Priest during World War II and dedicated himself to peaceful causes afterwards. By the time one of the modern characters encounters Root, in a jail cell in the Phillippines, Root (who must be at least in his mid-eighties) has been running a Church in the Phillippines for a number of years. Nevertheless, Root describes the goddess Athena as a virgin who was "leg-f***ked [] once but did not achieve penetration." This same character uses the word "dissed," just like any modern fifteen year old boy. Character development, needless to say, is non-existent in this book.
On the plus side, Stephenson has encyclopedic knowledge and an expansive vocabulary. Even this becomes a turn-off, however: Stephenson's writing reflects a man who thinks of himself as intellectually beyond the realm of mere mortals. Perhaps he is different in real life, but he comes across as the geek in high school who justified his social-ineptitude by the fact that he got great grades (especially in math!). That same geek who got great grades lost many arguments because he lacked intellectual and logical skills outside of "book learnin'."
Stephenson is like that: For example, he ticks off a long list of German and American technological advances during World War II, but then concludes that the Allies won because America stood for technological advance while Germany stood for mindless warfare. In another story line, Stephenson's modern day protagonists set out to create a data bank near the Phillippines that is protected by the most advanced cryptography in existence. These protagonists are some of the most brilliant computer code-writers and cryptographers in the world, and they are attempting to set up a company which hides information so well that even governments cannot access it. These same brilliant people are shocked to discover that criminals are keenly interested in the project. Again, Stephenson has incredible knowledge but weak logical skills.
Why give the book two stars instead of one? There are some redeeming aspects of the book: I liked the aspects of cryptography and analysis, a subject to which I have never paid much attention. Any book that I can learn from cannot be all bad.
Book Review: XJBLH MNMOS XMN
Summary: 5 Stars
When I ordered Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson from Amazon, I didn't look into the book too much. I had liked Snow Crash a lot, needed something to read, and heard some vague positive words about the book that I really didn't much pay attention to. So I added Cryptonomicon to my order that included Gibson's Mona Lisa Overdrive and the most recent Star Trek: Next Generation Companion. Within a handful of days a package arrived at my doorstep, and after wrestling it out of my grandmother's hands, I was able to take it to my room and open it. I couldn't imagine why they'd send me such a big box for such a small order, until I opened the box: Cryptonomicon comes in at almost 1200 pages... TWELVE HUNDRED PAGES!!! Well, if anything, I said to myself, I wouldn't have to buy a new book for a while.From Pearl Harbor to the near present, Cryptonomicon tells the story of Randy Waterhouse, a present-day UNIX geek who, in the course of being roped into building a start-up with international ramifications, becomes embroiled in the results of the past: World War 2 encryption, Nazi cunning, Japanese atrocity, and stolen gold. How the past affects the present is a major theme of Cryptonomicon and we spend considerable time exploring several characters deeply entrenched in World War 2. Bobby Shaftoe is a highly decorated Marine Raider, survivor of Guadalcanal, is recruited into the mysterious Detachment 2072. Lawrence Waterhouse, Randy's grandfather, is a Navy musician, survivor of Pearl Harbor, who is discovered to be a brilliant mathematician and becomes a primary geek of the Detachment.
Colorful secondary characters, such as Enoch Root, the bizarre medic-priest, Günter, the crazy U-boat captain, Goto Dengo, the Japanese engineer sans faith in the war, Rudy, the gay cryptogenius recruited by the Nazis, Doug Shaftoe, Bobby's son and an ex-Marine, his daughter Amy, the object of Randy's affection when he's not wondering if she's a dyke, Ari, Randy's business partner who's obsessed with Holocausts, The Dentist, an overly rich investor with ties to the Philippine underworld, every featured member of the Secret Admirers with their guns and obsession for hacking and secrecy, richly fill out the text as we traverse the world: everywhere from Manila to Guadalcanal to London, New Guinea, Qwghlm, the Sultanate of Kimakuta, Sweden and the shores of America... an epic world-wide scope of colorful scenes of brutality and survival, discovery and redemption. A true whirlwind of breathtaking imagination.
Let's see if I can condense the storyline: Randy is recruited by Avi, his pen-and-paper role-playing buddy from college to build a complex international Internet start-up. Over the course of their work, a sunken U-boat is discovered off the coast of the Philippines, a location where it shouldn't be, loaded with gold. Meanwhile, the Allies are busy trying to decrypt the coded messages of the Axis, kill a bunch of the enemy and simply stay alive. Secrets become conspiracies that fuel Randy's accidental search for gold as his company struggles with lawsuits and the enormity of their business plan, coupled with Ari's obsession to prevent future holocausts.
I had to draw a poorly drawn and confusing map just to outline the story and characters. Fortunately, the book is not as convoluted as I am. Stephenson brilliantly takes us between present and future, the Pacific and Atlantic theatres without blinking an eye. His tale is so deftly woven that by the end, when all the pieces are brought together you can't help but be marveled by his genius. Cryptonomicon is a brilliant display of storytelling, and despite it's girth, a very fast and extremely enjoyable read that at times is outlandishly funny and outright weird set in a oft violent world of the past that is gripping and intelligent. You must read this book. Now. Thank you.
(The title of this article is a pathetically simple, grade-school crypto. It's so obvious it's pathetic)
Book Review: Huge and flawed, but not hugely flawed
Summary: 3 Stars
The size of CRYPTONOMICON varies depending on which individual printing that you get ahold of (although, presumably, they all contain the same amount of text). Depending on the size of the margins, the typeface and the paper, the page count of your copy of CRYPTONOMICON will range from nine hundred to eleven hundred. My own copy weighs in at nine hundred, eighteen pages. No matter how you look at it, that's a lot of words, and a lot of reading. And I'll say this from the onset: in addition to everything else I will mention, Neal Stephenson's CRYPTONOMICON was engrossing and absorbing. It rarely bored me, and kept me interested for its entirety. No mean feat, considering the length, though I certainly felt as though I had completed a marathon by the time I finally turned over the final page.To reduce the book to a summary is an extremely difficult task. As a start, we can say that the story takes place in two different time-periods, although there are separate strands running in each setting. The first part takes place during World War II; much of it concerns the exploits of the mathematicians who broke the German codes as well as the people who tried their hardest to make sure that the Germans themselves did not figure out that the Allies had broken the encryption techniques. The WWII sections are the book's strongpoint, with the historical details and diversions providing an excellent background. A lot of the humor in this section works well, although some of it reads like a watered down version of CATCH-22.
The second portion of the book takes place in the modern day. It vaguely feels like it's trying to be a sort of techno-thriller. Of course, it's difficult to describe more precisely, because it seems like it's trying to do half a dozen things at once, and it isn't quite sure what it wants to be. Some plot points begin, are expanded upon, and then promptly vanish. There's a lot of geek humor on display, and some portions of the plot will require quite a bit of technical knowledge. Stephenson explains much of what the audience needs to know, but I bet that a fairly significant portion of the book will fly over the head of many readers.
Could the story have been told in fewer than 900+ pages? Absolutely, but the question rather misses the point. The plot itself is relatively minimal. What the book does is to allow itself to go off into tangents and branches nominally related to the main subject. Characters (or even the narrative itself) will suddenly launch into long speeches about unrelated topics to varying degrees of success. Some of the discussions are fascinating and thought provoking. Others are utterly self-indulgent and should have been left on the proverbial cutting room floor. One gets the impression that the editor (or editors) were afraid suggest cuts, leaving us with a flawed work.
I got the inkling that Stephenson had thought of about a dozen good ideas for a book, but instead of developing them individually, he decided to throw them all into a single volume. This gives us a mixed result. It's decidedly fresh, unpredictable and exciting, but I also felt that he wasn't doing justice to all of his ideas. Some threads don't have time to flourish before they are cast off, and it's a shame to see their potential flushed away.
The ending feels a bit rushed, which I found to be surprising, given how much time is spent setting up all the plot threads and strands. And looking back on what I've written, I notice that I've probably spent too much time going over the book's flaws, so I feel the need to point out that there is a lot of great stuff contained between these covers. A lot of the little passages lead to fascinating discussions. Had this been a more disciplined work, it would probably have been absolutely amazing. As it currently stands, however, it is a flawed work, albeit an interesting one.
Book Review: Great writing but the book is certainly not flawless
Summary: 3 Stars
Cryptonomicon is a fast-paced highly stylized tome that weighs in at around 1150 pages (for the mass market paperback version). Stephenson's prose, like always, is brilliant but I just can't give this book 5 stars, or even 4 stars. There are a few major kinks in this otherwise fantastic book.
In a nutshell Cryptonomicon is a book that has up to four parallel storylines going for it. You have a storyline that follows Bobby Shaftoe - a haiku writing Rambo-esque all American Marine. Lawrence Waterhouse - a math and cryptology genius who has a helluva time remembering people's names. Goto Dengo - a friend of Bobby Shaftoe who happens to be a soldier for the Japanese army. And then you have Randy Waterhouse - a modern day computer geek who is the grandson of Lawrence. He is the systems expert for Epiphyte which is a company trying to setup a data haven in the fictional country Kinakuta (the only fictional location in the book if I recall). The stories for Bobby Shaftoe and Lawrence Waterhouse are set in World War 2 while the story about Randy is modern day. Goto Dengo's story is also set in WW2 but he shows up in the modern story as well.
For the most part Stephenson does a masterful job weaving all of these threads together. Stephenson's prose is highly addicting making this book downright impossible to put down at times. So, why the beef? Why 3 stars? (I would give it 3.5, but not rounded to 4 - a pessimistic 3.5 I suppose).
First, as other reviewers have pointed out: most of the characters seem to be exactly the same. Yes, each has their own quirk and unique background, but the problem is in the dialog. The way the characters talk is almost exactly the same, it ends up sounding more like Stephenson talking and less like the actual characters. The dialog is often funny and/or witty but at the same time it's all too similar.
Second, the book is a bit too big for what it is. I'm not like some people who believe this book needs to be cut in half, more like 100-150 pages should be edited out. I do love Stephenson's digressions but sometimes they are a bit much. For instance, there's what has to be 25 pages dedicated to a single email that really doesn't offer much to the story. There are other instances where he could have trimmed the fat a bit (though I did love the infamous Cap'n Crunch digression!).
Finally, the ending. I'm usually not picky about endings. A lot of people hated Snow Crash's ending but I found it satisfactory. Cryptonomicon though, it's just so abrupt. After 1150 pages you would expect a grandiose ending but instead a lot of threads are left abandoned and questions left unanswered. I was left wanting more, but not in the way that the book was so good, more in the way of "okay, so what happens next?" Maybe the 150 pages I mentioned earlier that should have been cut should have instead been dedicated to wrapping the story up.
Stephenson is a master of carrot-on-a-stick writing. The storyline is constantly bouncing between the modern story and the WW2 story and oftentimes a chapter ends with a cliffhanger, keeping the pages turning. It's just too bad that when you finally get ahold of the carrot at the end of the book and shove it in your mouth it turns out to be a stick of dynamite instead.
Still, even though I have substantial gripes about this book I recommend reading it. When I look back I have very vivid memories of a lot of great scenes. So no, this book isn't perfect, but it isn't garbage either. Check it out!