Anathem

By Neal Stephenson

The latest magnificent creation from the award-winning author of Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle trilogy.

Erasmas, 'Raz', is a young avout living in the Concent, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers. Three times during history's darkest epochs, violence has invaded and devastated the cloistered community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe.

But they now prepare to open the Concent's gates to the outside world, in celebration of a once-a-decade rite. Suddenly, 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Atlantic Books
• Release date: Aug 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9780857890481

Neal Stephenson

Neal Stephenson is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the novels Termination Shock, Fall; or, Dodge in Hell, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (with Nicole Galland), Seveneves, Reamde, Anathem, The System of the World, The Confusion, Quicksilver, Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, Zodiac, and the groundbreaking nonfiction work In the Beginning . . .Was the Command Line. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Reviews for Anathem

[xiaomarlo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

All I'll say is that it's mostly brilliant, save and except for the chunks of pedantic dialogue about the polycosmii. Stephenson has this problem with creating scenes of 'let's all sit down and listen to somebody lecturing about these ideas'. But really, I recommend this book to you if you're into cerebral sci-fi, 'cause it's pretty awesome.

[breic-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I felt obligated to read it since it was a gift, but this book took me a *very* long time to finish. It was written after Stephenson's epiphany that good writers don't need editors, and it really drags, especially for the first ~200 pages. But eventually Stephenson's keyboard-banging accidentally finds a plot, and the story starts to move. Mixed in with some bizarre many-worlds quantum mysticism, it has fun ideas; you can definitely tell that Stephenson has done a lot of Wikipedia skimming. Project Orion is also cool. The characters are a bit dumb, and the writing can be awful, but occasionally it hits that so-bad-it's-good sweet spot. (My favorite part is when they go from a road to glissading down a glacier, dodging crevasses, to another road. It is so ridiculous that I have to wonder if Stephenson has ever been outside.)

[cindywho-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The adventures of a young monk on an alternate world were perfect for my audiobook lullaby - there were lots of philosophical discussions. This being a Stephenson novel, the ninja monks did eventually make an appearance and things heated up for cross country treks and an interesting take on aliens.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a science fiction work by probably my favorite author or close anyway. This book is long. It is full of math and so much information. It really is "science" fiction. The story takes place in another world. The characters are interesting and is quite common, this is a quest. The group goes looking for Fraa Orolo. This is a very creative universe and the themes "Major themes include the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics and the philosophical debate between Platonic realism and nominalism". But you can enjoy the story without worrying about understanding all of that. I will definitely need to reread this one. audio was well doneRating 3.6

[snotbottom-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A bit slow to get started since you've got to get plugged into the world he's created, but once you're are plugged in it is a delight.

[wordsampersand · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely loved this. I was skeptical of how far Stephenson distanced himself from his usual historical fiction / cyberpunk trappings, but it really pays off. I was over my head in some points, but I guess that's more reason to read it again.

[levasssp · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Great idea, terrible execution.This book starts with a great premise...a society where educated “avout” are cloistered away for varying lengths of time. However, Stephenson never figures out how to make that a key part of the story. How does their sequestration change them? After having read the book and contemplating on the plot and outcome, I have yet to figure out why he chose to set the story in this particular made-up world. It almost feels as though he intended to write a story about the world and a separate story about the multiple cosmos theory…then decided to merge them, with a disappointing result. Likewise, the plot is interesting, but Stephenson takes a straightforward story and stretches it out into an almost unreadable mash-up of action interspersed with Socratic dialogues. I actually loved the theoretical discussions. However, the attempt at “action” is terrible. There are several scenes (race across the arctic and voyage into space) that are bogged down by so much unnecessary detail that the pace of the book slows to the point of unreadability. Furthermore, there are many scenes that do little (if anything) to advance the plot, yet are described in methodical, arcane detail. Lastly, most of the pivotal plot points, where some actual detail would have been nice, are skipped and described after the fact, leaving one to guess exactly how they happened.In summary, this book lacks any semblance of editing, but brings out some interesting theories in a unique world setting. Read at your own risk and be prepared to be variously bored, intrigued and confused. Don’t get me wrong, the ideas presented are interesting. However, the method in which they are presented is confusing and less than satisfying.

[librken · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fantastically realized blending of neo-Platonism, metaphysics, and quantum mechanics/physics. Along the way we get the standard alien-invasion story with so many twists that it's almost a new plot line. This is my first Stephenson book, and I will definitely be seeking more.

[blanchvegas · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Anathem defies all explanation. It is a masterpiece that enthralls you while you are reading and keeps you up at night as you ponder the philosophies discussed. The melding of science, fiction, and human nature is seamless and unrivaled. Definitely one of the best books I have ever read!

[drardavis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For a retired mathematics and computer science professor this book was a perfect fit. I seek out references to mathematics in sci-fi, but this time I was immersed in a tale whose heroes and heroines were the experts on directed acyclic graphs, the Pythagorean Theorem, a pictorial proof of which actually appears in the book, symmetry groups and all things mathematical. As the story progresses, the references to computer science and quantum theory made it even better. Although these facts are woven into the story, it is apparent that Stephenson is not just fudging it, he knows his science well. The world he creates is an extremely interesting place to be during the telling of this tale. The only problem is that the details of monastic life, of cosmology, of mathematics, of logic, of philosophy, of physics, of space mechanics, all seemed somehow to have their own separate rooms in his world.

[johnwbeha · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another reviewer used the word intimidating to describe this book; another the word rewarding; I found both of these to be true, but it takes a lot of effort to read 973 pages, a fifty page glossary of terms and a couple of supplements. Is that amount of effort worthwhile? My answer is obviously yes, because I have given it a four star rating. The only book I couldn't finish in the last thirty years was written by Stephenson, so I approached this one with great trepidation. But it soon sucked me in, I cannot pretend to have understood it all but the story and the incredibly worked out background kept me interested during the philosophical dialogs. The language is amazing, unlike another reviewer, I did not find the "made-up" words a turn-off, but part of the novel's fascination. I hesitate to recommend it generally because of its length and complexity but would assure anyone who tries it that patience and persistence will bring rewards.

[encephalical · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Nine hundred some pages of mansplaining.

[mithril_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Breathtaking even 8 years later. Evident that it holds the seeds of Seveneves.

[deusxmachina-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There's not much to say about this doorstopping monster that hasn't been said already, so I'll just call it the smartest and most entertaining brainjerk I had the pleasure to indulge in for a long, long time.It's rare that I get into a world so deeply as I got into this one - not only because Stephenson is meticulous in his worldbuilding (that's something we're used to, and everyone should know by now how much time and many words he spends on this aspect), but because for once he took extraordinary diligence with his characters. To follow Raz, Orolo and all the others on their journey was a delectable treat of character development.Anathem morphs from a coming-of-age-novel through the literary equivalent of a road movie into a space opera light, and during this tour de force he takes several detours into the depths of philosophical, linguistic and mathematical sciences - detours that take a lot of speed out of the plot, but are actually the foundation of premise, theme and world.That he made up a lot of jargon was only a problem insofar that as a non-native speaker I more than once had difficulties to distinguish between invented words and missing vocabulary. But that's simply a sign how clever he construed his language, and that's exactly what a glossary is for.

[the_awesome_opossum · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Often I'm put off by hard science fiction that takes place in a time or place so distant from our own that there's just no way to relate to it. But Anathem, while it takes place on another planet and hundreds (or thousands?) of years in the future, is brilliantly written and therefore very easy to get acclimated to. The narrator is Erasmus, a student at a monastery dedicated not to religion, but to the expression and understanding of math and science, with some philosophy thrown in for good measure. The scholars at the Concent of Saunt Edhar live in relative peace and solitude, until they learn that they're being watched by beings from another planet. Then, of course, they have to go figure out just what this race wants from them.It's an amazingly complex and intelligent book, very reminiscent of Umberto Eco with a dash of Walter M. Miller. It kept me fascinated the entire way through...which is almost 900 pages, so. Brilliant and impressive read, I can't say enough good things about it.

[wova4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Anathem comes off as something of a regression for Neal Stephenson, and I found it had more in common with earlier works like Zodiac, Snow Crash, and The Diamond Age instead of his more recent works. Writing in first-person, we are spared tracking disparate plot lines and he manages to restrain the digressions a bit.The world-building in Anathem is equal to any of Stephenson's other works, and I especially enjoyed his inversion of the relationship between the "saecular" and "avout", in which he imbues rational, atheistic scholars with all of the trappings we association with religion. I was worried that vocabulary would prove overwhelming during the first hundred pages, but I quickly adapted to all the terminology. This is clearly an example of Stephenson's prose skills rising to the task.Anathem is not my favorite Stephenson novel, but it delivers much of what I have come to expect from him. There are lots of ideas in this novel to digest, so I don't expect every reader will find it enjoyable. His older works, mentioned above, may be a better point-of-entry for the neophyte.

[mdshrk1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm a real Stephenson fan. Read everything he's written. This has to be the most unsatisfying ending that he's ever written. The jump from the ship to the new culture was just too sudden. Otherwise, this is a really good read.

[faganjc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book combines Stephenson's early action-writing style (Zodiac) with the lofty exploration of ideas through cerebral characters (The System of the World). As such, it is somewhat uneven. Like other Stephenson books, it has a certain "entry curve" with much of the cerebral stuff at the beginning. When the pop story starts in the last third or two of the book, I found myself both relieved and vulgarized by the easygoing style. The book certainly contains strokes of Stephenson's genius, but it's just less breathtaking than earlier works such as Cryptonomicon. His handling of the high-level astrophysics theory stuff made me long for Brian Greene. His all-too-convenient plot during the voyage by the avout + slines made me think of "The Big U" in a few places. Later in the book, when the avout are in space and plot rewards those with correct philosophy, I thought of Heinlein's Lazarus Long stories. Don't let this be your first Stephenson book.

[anome_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I like Neal Stephenson, but I have to admit I've been reading the Baroque Cycle for a few years now. I'm currently most of the way through System of the World, but the long discussions of Restoration Economics kind of bog me down a bit. I was OK with the Natural Philosophy, but Economics just bores me.Anyway, there is no Economics in Anathem, which, despite it's intimidating size, is quite a boppy read. As with the Baroque Cycle, the central theme of the book is somewhat pedagogic, but the topic in this instance is Philosophy, particularly Philosophy of Science, with some Metaphysics and Epistemology thrown in. This I find much more interesting than Economics, so I was able to get through it much more quickly.Stephenson knows his stuff, and clearly with this, as with the Baroque Cycle, he has carefully researched the topics his characters discuss (and then renamed many of the basic principles since this story does not take place on Earth). His enthusiasm for the subjects shows through his prose.With this book, he has also created a fascinating societal structure (which is clearly an exaggeration of the Town/Gown dichotomy). Some have complained that too much of the early parts of the novel are devoted to the day to day life of the avout, but I found it fascinating, and the detail which he has given the structure of the society made it an absorbing read.

[kwjr-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Can't believe I ended up really liking this, but I ended up really liking this! The painfully slow introduction of an entire world history and philosophical viewpoint (literally) one definition at a time actually served a purpose and paid off in the end. I'll actually give this a second reading some day - I feel like there's a lot I missed because I was just not into it during the first 2/3rds of the book.

[invisiblelizard · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Anathem was great for most of the reasons that Reamde was not. It was well thought out, clever, engaging, and truly epic, in the sense that I felt Stephenson had immersed himself in this world he had created and was not (like Reamde felt to me) merely making it up as he went along.I would be hard pressed to summarize the plot succinctly here. Alternate universes. There you go. Summarized. You can read other summaries elsewhere. The really amazing thing I want to point out is all of the time and obvious effort Stephenson put into creating this world of Anatham, with it's strange cult-like figures worshipping math and logic instead of gods. The clocks were nothing short of brilliant. The rules they followed were well conceived. The only downside to all of this planning and setup was that it took a couple hundred pages to get to something that resembled the main narrative. But with a little patience, you get there and suddenly you're drawn forward into a plot structure that has you racing across the globe and off into space.Yeah, this is hard sci-fi, something akin to Frank Herbert, if I were so bold as to make that analogy, in that Stephenson creates entire new cultures and describes them so vividly that you feel you actually visited them and have now returned home. (The only difference is, Stephenson's world is quite Earth-like and Herbert's certainly wasn't.) Even now as I flip back through the book to recall some of the names and places, my eyes glance across words Stephenson made up as part of this culture, and as my mind makes the mental leap to grab meanings I think to myself, "Oh right I remember those [various things]," as if they were real. Neat trick.Enough gushing over this novel. Did I have any complaints? Sure. The characters were quite stock-ish. Not a great deal of development there. And the main character, Raz, I felt spent the vast majority of the novel whining. That's an inherent downside in writing a first-person novel where the main character needs to learn and experience things to inform and educate we the readers. He ends up spending way too much time saying things like, "I don't understand! Explain it to me!" As my Aunt would say, "Would you like some cheese with your whine?" I could have done without all that.Aside from that, I had a really good time reading this novel. And if I must, from time to time, I will sacrifice character development for a wholly original story (I just had the same experience with Shades of Grey come to think of it) and will thoroughly enjoy it, but the next book I read better have a good set of dynamic and developing characters in it to cleanse the palate.

[tenorfrank_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book and couldn't understand why none of my friends were talking about it. Most Stephenson novels can use some editing, but I was sorry t see this one end.

[setnahkt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Neal Stephenson has accomplished the impossible – he’s jaw-dropping wonderful and brain-slushing boring in the same book. Anathem is difficult to characterize, but probably best described as a science-fiction mystery. Stephenson does an outstanding job of hiding what’s going on without being deliberately obscure; the world he’s created is wonderful; his characterizations are pretty good; his pacing is, as usual, awful. You have to stick with it and I’d advise against trying to read it in bed because there are sections that will put you to sleep. I recommend it, with the caveat that you shouldn’t blame me if it induces narcolepsy.

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book begins rather slowly. But moving from philosophy to a short adventure yarn, NS has laid out a pretty interesting tale. His proofs of interlocking universes is still a bit confusing to my mind. Interstellar travel is proving too hard a sell for his audience , I guess.

[vinjii-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Anathem isn't an easy book, and it's not a quick read. Anathem, however, is very rewarding. A book I will definitely read a second time in a few years and then hopefully a third time, several years later. Neal Stephenson is obviously bursting with knowledge, and I had to look up the meaning of unknown words more than once. Cheers for expanding my vocabulary.The plot of Anathem takes place on a different planet than ours and Stephenson invented quite a few words to go with it. As a non native speaker I got to play the beloved 'made up word or English word I do not yet know' game. Thankfully the Kindle comes with a dictionary and Anathem comes with an extensive glossary.After about seventy pages, I felt more comfortable with the language, and the book started to flow. The world building is fantastic, the social commentary funny, and I thoroughly enjoyed the read.I recommend this to people who love alternative worlds, physics, philosophy and science. And by love, I mean really love.

[nvenkataraman1-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Stephenson's writing is not my cup of tea.

[jerm_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So far, very good, but true to Stephenson's style, very difficult to read, but very worth it, I've been reading for about two weeks and just now reached 150 pages, but then there are a lot of new terms, and stuff to learn before you can really move into the story. Still....masterfully crafted and worth the wait.Jerm

[tomveal · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you have no interest in how Platonic philosophy relates to the "many worlds" version of quantum mechanics, you still may like this novel, though you'll probably wish that the characters talked less. Its setting is a world very like our own, except that philosophy, mathematics and the pure sciences are sharply separated from the secular world. Their practitioners dwell in secluded "maths", from which they emerge to mingle with the world for only ten days out of each one, ten, hundred or thousand years, depending on the math's particular discipline. This arrangement has been stable for millennia. In Anathem, the separation breaks down, as abstract concepts become palpable in the world of senses. Compared to Stephenson's previous works, this one is straightforward. The plot builds to a comprehensible resolution that derives logically from the philosophical discourse. The opening segment's strange jargon, peculiar social arrangements, odd dialogues and slow story progression should be endured for the sake of what is to come.

[mcurry_49 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This novel has Stephenson's usual wry humor and deep thoughts, but I thought that the poorly-handled plot detracted from what may otherwise have been another great book in the vein of CRYPTONOMICON or THE BAROQUE CYCLE. Instead of being glad when the plot side of things finally got moving, I ended up being frustrated by the pacing (too much time spent on rehashing things that were already explained, too much time spent on going on and on about maneuvering in space, too much time spent on not very evocative descriptions of the spacecraft) and some of the false buildups that ended up going nowhere. I also wasn't at all fond of the cheesy epilogue ending to the book. Overall, I think I would have been happier if Stephenson had either stuck with the philosophical debates (which were really interesting) or, better yet, not fumbled what could have been a good plot. If you're already a big fan of Neal's work then maybe you should take a crack at this one (since obviously opinions will differ), but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.

[kalyka_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

On the planet Arbre, scientists, philosophers and mathematicians live as monks, having as little contact with the outside world as possible, and have done so for millennia. In fact, communication between avout and Saeculars (people from the outside world) is usuallly limited to the time of Apert, which, depending in which math (Unarian, Decenarian, Centenarian, or Millenarian) one belongs to, happens from once a year to once a millennium. They live in concents void of modern technology, and the avout, as they call themselves, have but three possessions: a bolt, which is a intricate piece of clothing, a sphere that can shrink and expand to its possessor's will, as well as emit light, and a chord. Fraa Erasmas is such an avout, and the novel is recounted through his eyes.Through him, we discover the world of Arbre, and the smaller world of the Decenarian math, which is the cloister in which he lives. Through much of the first part of the book, he gives the reader a tour of the concent, and the events surrounding Apert, which can be described as New Year's. Only a few weeks later, a major world event takes place and Erasmas, along with many other avout, are thrown into the outside world, with nothing but a change of clothes and some money. His mandate: to go to the concent of Tredegarh, where a Convox is taking place. Both avout and the Saecular Power will meet to discuss what must be done about the current threat to the world: namely, aliens. However, still wounded about the expulsion of his mentor Fraa Orolo, Erasmas diverges from his pilgrimage to go find him, half-way across the world to Ecba, viewed almost as a holy land where even expelled avouts will be welcomed. Upon his arrival, the aliens, who have been orbiting Arbre for some time, send down a probe to Ecba, and all hell breaks loose. The military comes in and whisks away any and all witnesses of "the Visitation", and are transported to Tredegarh, where Erasmas was supposed to go in the first place.From then on, endless talks about the aliens and how to deal with them take place, and finally, the avout at Tredegarh hatch a plan: send people, who are completely untrained and inexperienced in this kind of travel, into space to deal with the threat and destroy them as a last resort. At over 900 pages long, this was not only a story, it was an epic saga of sorts. The author has successfully created a world of its own, but nonetheless very similar to ours in terms of technology levels and geology. Everything is described by Erasmas in minute detail, even though the tale is narrated by a young man of not yet twenty years old, who is very much unaccustomed to the world outside the walls he has locked himself in. Even terms for objects that one uses in daily life are different: jeejahs for cell phones, speelies for movies, syndevs for computers, so on and so forth, and that language remains consistent throughout the novel. All the major characters, and even many of the supporting characters, are very well developed, with their own unique personality, although they are difficult to relate to, so detached they are from the world others are exposed to. They all react differently to the situation they are placed in, and each is, at a certain point, conflicted with their own actions and decisions. However, the book could have been shorter. Much, much shorter. Events seem excruciatingly slow to come around, as much of the book is focused on dialogue. Furthermore, the focal point of the great majority of these dialogues is the debating of theories and hypotheses, and the exchange of obvious conclusions. If the people of the Saecular Power become impatient at this kind of talk, imagine how the reader would feel. Additionally, just when the reader feels that the story is actually going somewhere, it veers into a completely different direction, which creates much confusion.When there is adventure, which is rather seldom, it is told in such a way that it leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination, and doesn't feel fast-paced at all. Adding to that sense of sluggishness is the feeling that the novel could have concluded at many points during the story, but just continues to drag on and on, making it decreasingly interesting as it went on. In the end, it was just painful to read.