# Anathem, by Neil Stephenson **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 15, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703 "2008-09-15T14:52:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/41 "2008-11-07T12:45:19Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Well, its hard to write a “mysterious events at a monastery” story without it being reminiscent of Name of the Rose. It stops being so similar about halfway through. Actually, I found myself making comparisons to the Harry Potter books more then Name of the Rose. A bunch of young students trapped at an educational institution where the teachers are engaged in some sort of mysterious struggle seemed reminded me of the first few Potter books anyways. > > I liked it, though part of the reason is that I’m a physics gradstudent, so the whole “physics department conceived as a closed off monastery” idea was probably more amusing to me then it might be to others. I’m now more than halfway through, and I’m sorry I gave it such an off the cuff opinion when I’d only read a part of it. It’s a great parable. Another overwhelming masterpiece from Stephenson. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/42 "2008-11-11T04:07:46Z")
I was just reading Michael Drida’s (Washinton Post) review of Anathem. Boy does he ever mess up. He states that the world in which the story takes place is called “Orth”. No it’s not. Orth is the (classical) language, right? If he makes that simple a mistake, he must have just skimmed throught the book, methinks. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/43 "2008-11-18T20:16:36Z")
Just finished the book. Liked it a lot, for reasons for the most part already articulated by others on this thread. I have a hunch that the book was originally envisioned as a trilogy. [spoiler]First volume ends with Erasmas boarding the casino bus at the beginning of the anti-swarming, right at the end of chapter 10. Reading the book, this part just _felt_ like a cliff-hanger ending in a way I’m not sure how to describe. I was thinking, if the book just ended right here, I’d be completely satisfied with it and feel perfectly patient to wait a year or two for volume two. That leaves only a final quarter of the book, though, of course. But they seem strangely rushed and not as careful as the rest of the book, IMO. That is part of why I hypothesize NS was originally expecting/hoping to do a lot more with this part of the story. I theorize (on less evidence than I had for the view that the first 10 chapters were originally meant to be a whole volume in themselves) that there was going to be a second volume set completely on the Hedron, ending with the invasion by Erasmas, his friends and the Valers. Then the third volume would chronicle the intrigue involved in the peace negotiations between Arbre and the Hedron.[/spoiler] Well, that’s my suspicion. ---
**Author:** ![Improvisor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/50afbb/32.png) [@Improvisor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improvisor)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/44 "2008-12-11T16:48:25Z")
Just finished it. That was a good, fun read. Not Stephenson’s best work, but better than a large majority of the rest of the stuff out there. I agree with **Frylock** that is seems like this was originally planned as multiple books. The first 10 or so chapters are quite detailed, but the last few just feel hurried and leave quite a few threads just hanging… For instance: [spoiler]Who was the second person that had the detonator for the Everything Killers and what happened to him? What happened in the negotiations with the Hedron? Was it planning to move upstream to the next cosmi? [/spoiler] All in all though, I’d highly recommend it. I’ve been avoiding any web links and threads about Anathem until I finished it, but ran across some interesting things: [‘The World of Anathem’ video](http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=41718483) that someone put together… I presume as a way to advertise the book. It features music written by a guy in Seattle specifically for Anathem. It’s his interpretation of what the Fraa/Suurs in the concents would have been singing. [Q and A with Seattle Times](http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/brierdudley/2008/09/01/geeks_swords_and_the_future_a.html) - the tech writer for the Seattle Times interviewed Stephenson for a regular article, but this is the full Q and A from the interview. Some interesting stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/45 "2008-12-11T16:57:50Z")
> [@](#): > > For instance: > > Who was the second person that had the detonator for the Everything Killers and what happened to him? I think that one was answered, though not satisfactorily. To my recollection, the guy with the detonator we knew the most about at one point indicated that the fraa who had interrogated Erasmas in front of an audience was holding the second detonator. But this is not satisfactory because no explanation was given as to why that guy would have the detonator, and no clear basis was given for the readers to know how to react to this revelation. Related to this, the whole treatment of that character was unsatisfactory in the extreme. His alignment is very murky, in a way that’s not interestingly ambiguous but rather suggests Stephenson had a lot more to say about him but ended up cutting it. Sorry my memory for details is very poor or I’d say something more concrete.[/spoiler] [quote] [spoiler]What happened in the negotiations with the Hedron? Was it planning to move upstream to the next cosmi? [/quote] I thought it was understood that this was so–that at least some of the people on the Hedron and some Arbreans as well would like to–and will–continue on to see if they can get closer and closer to some kind of perfected Hylean realm. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/46 "2008-12-11T16:59:51Z")
I’m listening to the audio book from Audible. one of the recent sign-up gifts was two book credits, which is what Anathem costs…IIRC it’s 36 hours. I’m half way through the first sixth (I suspect it’s not borken up the same way as the book is. Listening to it on the train, I could see how the first part would be kinda dry…but it’s been rather enjoyable as a ‘book on tape’. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/47 "2008-12-11T17:03:06Z")
My brother just turned me on to Stephenson two weeks ago, and I’m about a quarter of the way through Quicksilver, the first part of the paperback Baroque Cycle trilogy. There’s enough there to keep me reading, but at time I feel hopelessly lost as to what the hell is actually going on. However pirates have just made an appearance so I’m going to keep pressing on. Now that I’ve started this one, I’m going to have to read the other two, but it seems a rather daunting task right now. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/48 "2009-09-17T15:06:10Z")
I finally finished this monstrosity. Fourth attempt, hadn’t gotten further than 26 pages before. The downward spiral since _Cryptonomicon_ is amazing. First the long bloated _Baroque Cycle_ and then this unreadable mess. It’s like reading Jabberwocky but worse because you’re supposed to try and remember the meaning of the nonsense words. Why use “fraa” and not use “monk”? The preface clearly notes that substitutions of words were made, why leave so many alone? It ruins the readability. (Made all the worse by the use of terms like “solar system”, “moon” and little “e” “earth”.) Immense sections that drag on and contribute virtually nothing to the plot. E.g., the trek over the pole in the first half? Why are those pages there? None of the fellow travellers make major appearances later in the book. Only one small factoid\* is learned by Erasmus during the trip. It could have been easily cut with no effect on the rest of the book. Lots of chunks of 20-100 pages that could have been compressed to a few paragraphs. Plus the “I can’t believe this” stuff. E.g., you have a space _and cosmos_ travelling folk with a thousand year history and yet: They don’t bother letting out a few recon satellites so they can keep track of things on the far side/poles of the planet they are closely monitoring. And most importantly of all: Why Erasmus? There is nothing to indicate that Erasmus had special ability, insight, or background that would qualify him to be The Hero. And of course all of his associates, friends, etc. are all automagically the core group that become The League of Superherofriends. Sheesh. A sure sign of 3rd rate fiction. factoid\*The military is setting up stuff in the far north to be out of range. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/49 "2009-09-17T17:52:16Z")
/Looking to see if ftg is really me… I just finally got to the end of Anathem last weekend, so thanks for the zombie thread resurrection :). I’m definitely glad it turned out to be seemingly self-contained. I’m not sure if I want to send another couple of months reading 2 pounds of Eramas’ and Ala’s next great adventure. And it had an actual ending & a nice little denouement too! Stephenson sometimes doesn’t bother with the former and rarely the latter. All in all, in the middle of the Stephenson continuum for me. While I’m generally not a fan of “alternate universe/invented world” novels (I’ve never read any of the Lord of the Ring novels!), Stephenson kept me entertained enough, though the first bits were a bit of a heavy slog. Was hoping for more resolution as to what was up with Fraa Jad, rather than winks and nods that he was not to be discussed in polite company anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/50 "2009-09-17T19:19:55Z")
I liked it. It introduced a lot of fascinating concepts. And made me think. I’m just as happy there’s no planned sequel though. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/51 "2009-09-17T19:47:32Z")
It also has one of the most awesome [trailers](http://www.nealstephenson.com/anathem.htm) for a book I’ve ever seen. A very faithful tease for the book. ---
**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/52 "2009-09-17T20:40:10Z")
I read this one a few months ago. For the first section of the book I had some of the same problems with it that others have mentioned, with the made-up words and the people on Arbre as parody/commentary. After finishing the book, I think it’s probably his best. With the plot reveal of the inter-cosmos shipall of this makes sense and is actually quite appropriate. In fact, it’s a wonderful mechanism. Lots (and lots) of books go for this idea of a _society not unlike our own_ to make some point, but this actually gives an in-universe explanation for the comparison. ---
**Author:** ![bagga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@bagga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bagga)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/53 "2009-09-17T21:53:02Z")
I really don’t know why I continue to click spoiler boxes for things I haven’t finished yet ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/54 "2009-09-17T22:00:18Z")
Well, in the case of Anathem, if you have ANY health issues, you may not live long enough to see the end, so it’s okay. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/55 "2009-09-17T22:19:06Z")
> [@MikeG](#): > > I reread Cryptonomicon almost in its entirety each year and I’ve read the Baroque Cycle comepletely twice and portions of it several times. > > That said, todays’ [XKCD](http://xkcd.com/483/) pretty much sums up my thoughts on Anathem. Well, there’s reasons and reasons to use made-up words in an SF novel. In the case of _Anathem,_ some such words correspond perfectly to existing English words and appear to have been used merely for effect, e.g., “syndev” (syntactic device) for “computer”. Those, probably, would better be dispensed with. But others do not and might make useful additions to the standard English vocabulary – e.g., "sline. Those definitely enhance the book. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/56 "2009-09-17T23:20:59Z")
I listened to this one rather than reading it, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought it was great. And I may have posted that already in this thread, come to think of it… ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/57 "2009-09-18T04:20:19Z")
I very much enjoyed Anathem, but I’m sorry that he refers to all the scientific concepts by different names than they have here. I felt like I could have learned a lot about that branch of physics theory, but right now all I know are the ‘wrong’ terms. I understand why NS did it, but it means that I can’t I can’t discuss or follow other writings about things I’ve been introduced to in Anathem. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/58 "2010-06-01T12:40:24Z")
Just finished this. I had set out to buy a novel and was about to choose either Lord of Light, which I determined was a little too out there for my mood, or John Dies at the End, which I determined was probably a bit pessimistic for my mood. So Anathem it was, with a more neutral tone and intellectual subject matter. My first NS book. Loved it! It’s been awhile since I’ve been this excited by my reading experience. I hope the rest of NS is equally as thrilling to read. The beginning was a little bit tough to get through. I decided pretty early on that it was a Good Idea to read the glossary in it’s entirety before getting too far. However, unlike some other readers and comic strip artists, I had no problems at all with the earth-name substitutions (especially given the references to real-Earth later on). They were all sensible and interesting, perfectly riding the line between alien and recognizable. OTOH I had great trouble keeping straight in my head many of the Arbre-only concepts, especially some of the philosophical camps. I didn’t quite get the apparent disparity between the HTW concept, which was unidirectional, and the fact that the visitors were traveling the wrong way upstream. I also didn’t quite get the ‘is is a dream, or a parallel universe, or psychic powers changing the past’ bits. Or what was supposed to be the actual fate of Jad in the final narrative. But I really enjoyed it, and was happy to read something more challenging than the normal faire, with some cool ideas, characters, and story. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/59 "2010-06-01T14:41:43Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > I didn’t quite get the apparent disparity between the HTW concept, which was unidirectional, and the fact that the visitors were traveling the wrong way upstream. That was the one thing that really bothered me about the book as well. In fact, I started a thread asking about it on this board a number of weeks ago. My favourite part was trying to make the connections between Arbre concepts and the corresponding Earth concepts. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703/60 "2010-10-17T01:17:58Z")
I know, zombie thread. > [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > I was well impressed with the style he put into handling the distopian elements of the story, ie Saecular society is dumber than owlshit, I didn’t get this at all. Saecular society isn’t nearly as smart is the avout, especially theoretically, but they weren’t dumb really all that dumb. I see the avout as ivory tower college types, but Saecular society society struck me as pretty average. Some smart stuff going on, a lot of stupid stuff. But not “dumber than owlshit”. > [@Cluricaun](#): > > My brother just turned me on to Stephenson two weeks ago, and I’m about a quarter of the way through Quicksilver, the first part of the paperback Baroque Cycle trilogy. There’s enough there to keep me reading, but at time I feel hopelessly lost as to what the hell is actually going on. However pirates have just made an appearance so I’m going to keep pressing on. Now that I’ve started this one, I’m going to have to read the other two, but it seems a rather daunting task right now. Plow through. I think it’s easy to feel lost in many parts of this opus, but keep going, the overall story works even if you get lost in some of NS’s lectures. Of course, you’re probably long finished, but I thing this advice is good for anyone getting bogged down in the Baroque Cycle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anathem-by-neil-stephenson/463703.md?page=4)