Product Description

Anathem, the latest invention by the New York Times bestselling author of Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle, is a magnificent creation: a work of great scope, intelligence, and imagination that ushers readers into a recognizable—yet strangely inverted—world.

Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside—the Extramuros—for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago.

Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent's gates—at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious "extras" in. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected." But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change.

Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros—a threat that only an unsteady alliance of saecular and avout can oppose—as, one by one, Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Suddenly burdened with a staggering responsibility, Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world—as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #335 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-01
• Released on: 2008-09-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 960 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this follow-up to his historical Baroque Cycle trilogy, which fictionalized the early-18th century scientific revolution, Stephenson (Cryptonomicon) conjures a far-future Earth-like planet, Arbre, where scientists, philosophers and mathematicians—a religious order unto themselves—have been cloistered behind concent (convent) walls. Their role is to nurture all knowledge while safeguarding it from the vagaries of the irrational saecular outside world. Among the monastic scholars is 19-year-old Raz, collected into the concent at age eight and now a decenarian, or tenner (someone allowed contact with the world beyond the stronghold walls only once a decade). But millennia-old rules are cataclysmically shattered when extraterrestrial catastrophe looms, and Raz and his teenage companions—engaging in intense intellectual debate one moment, wrestling like rambunctious adolescents the next—are summoned to save the world. Stephenson's expansive storytelling echoes Walter Miller's classic A Canticle for Leibowitz, the space operas of Larry Niven and the cultural meditations Douglas Hofstadter—a heady mix of antecedents that makes for long stretches of dazzling entertainment occasionally interrupted by pages of numbing colloquy. (Sept.)
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From Bookmarks Magazine
Stephenson has never been an easy writer to pin down, and he has a reputation for not always wearing his erudition lightly. Particularly in his later books—and that now includes Anathem—readers are vetted at the door before being invited into the author’s labyrinthine worlds. The early books were held up alongside the work of William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, and other cyberpunk gods, though in the last decade Stephenson has carved a niche as one of the most ambitious writers working today in any genre. Anathem is intellectually rigorous and exceedingly complex, even to the point, as the Washington Post avows, of being “grandiose, overwrought and pretty damn dull.” Others complained of too much abstraction. Stephenson’s fans are legion, however, and many will add Anathem to their list of must-read doorstops.
Copyright 2008 Bookmarks Publishing LLC

Review
"This audiobook goes the extra mile, giving listeners something the printed page-turner can not. Fans of the cult author will enjoy his vocal cameo appearances…[and] the music between chapters that was composed specifically for this production… [William Dufris's] intelligent rendering of the cast of characters is a delight for the ears."--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Customer Reviews

Terrible book for all the hype
I loved "The Diamond Age" and with all the hype in the tech community I could hardly wait to get my hands on this book and dig in. I was giddy with excitement as I cracked the book open and began to read. What a disappointment. This book is so tedious and boring I could not stomach past 100 pages. I've seen complaints about the language, but that really didn't bother me. It is just exceedingly boring. I don't know who this book appeals to and I can't imagine the average sci-fi fan finding this book at all interesting. Perhaps this review will kill my geek cred but I simply can't recommend this book.

Well worth the effort!
I'll start by saying the first chapter almost defeated me. Do not try to start reading if your brain is feeling fried. Rest first. Otherwise you'll put it away and miss out on a massive treat.

The book kicks off in a world similar but different, far in the future, with language to match. The glossary was a godsend. In fact, read that part first. Once you get a handle on the words, the immersion process begins and...wow. Just wow. Arbre leaps up and grabs you and compels you to keep going. The ideas are rich and well-developed and Stephenson managed to write a decent ending - perhaps the Baroque Cycle taught him how? Some of the plot points verge on speculative fiction cliches (to avoid spoilers, I won't say what, but you'll know 'em when you see 'em) but Stephenson takes a hard science approach that makes it fresh and interesting.

my first stephenson book... and I'm a fan
After an aborted attempt at reading Quicksilver from the Baroque cycle 3 years back, I picked this one up because the description sounded interesting. I enjoyed it thouroughly. It did take me a long time to get started, but once I was done with the first 100 pages or so, I found it to be totally engrossing. Loved it... so am going to reattempt the Baroque Cycle. Strangely enough, if I had to compare this book to once other, the book I would choose is Umberto Eco's Focault's Pendulum.