[…] you liked Anathem by Neil Stephenson? You should totally read Diamond Age, they told me. It’s his best book yet, they told me. You […]

@ copperfish:

Definitely give it a chance. I loved it. :)

@Luke not very far in at all. I’m going to try it again. I’ve just finished reading The Windup Girl which I really enjoyed. So I guess this month is read recommendations from Luke month.

@ copperfish:

It does start a little slow, but I was really enjoying the setting so I didn’t mind it at all. How far in did you get?

The action picks up after a little while but the style does not change much. So the characters will still have formal dialogues every few pages, even while shit is going down. By the end of the book you have a worldwide crisis, orbital bombardments, and Erasmas and friends become part of a specialist team sent on a suicide the mission to save the world. :)

Maybe I’ll give it another go. Just didn’t seem to be going anywhere at the beginning. I’ve mostly everything else Neal Stephenson has written. Although towards the end of the Baroque Cycle I was ready to throw the books out the window if I had to read another letter to or from Eliza.

I truly wish he’d write more cyberpunk novels such as Snowcrash and the Diamond Age. Those are the best sf books I’ve ever read, and I’m not even that much of a cyberpunk fan..

Well I like Neal Stephenson’s books, so I’ll try it out, the premise seems interesting.

I am so happy you liked the book! Not really surprised, as I have noticed that our tastes are clearly similar.

I completely agree that this book is a mind changing experience. I loved the vocabulary and all the linguistic work behind the book. Every freaking word Stephenson invents is completely believable, etymologically accurate and fits the idea it conveys. The philosophical part is well presented too and understandable, even for people with little or no basis in this field. This said, it is in no way an easy book to read. It requires, demands (and rewards) an effort of the mind to appreciate it.

And yes, to answer your question, I would totally try at the very least the unarian math if it existed. When I was younger, I would have been crazy enough to switch to Decenarian too. This said, I am too much of a social guy to have tried Centenarian… ;) Or maybe I am just a wuss.