Anathem

By: Neal Stephenson

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, Tavia Gilbert, William Dufris, Neal Stephenson

Length: 32 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Fraa Erasmus 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 "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, bloody violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet always the avout have managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. Erasmus, however, 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 fras and suurs prepare to venture outside the concent's gates - opening them wide at the same time to welcome the curious "extras" in.

During his first Apert as a fra, Erasmus 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 perilous brink of cataclysmic change.

Powerful unforeseen forces threaten 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, Raz's colleagues, teachers, and friends are all called forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster.

Suddenly burdened with a worlds-shattering responsibility, Erasmus finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of everything - as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of an unfamiliar planet...and far beyond.

©2008 Neal Stephenson (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Very interesting book, yet difficult to recommend

This book was great, IF you are into philosophy, enjoy thinking about concepts more than action, characters and the actual plot. This book focuses on some very interesting ideas and the author showcases those ideas in a great way, there's a dialogue, several and it's all done in a captivating way. However the book is very slow, when thinking about the first meaningful event, I had to think about it and then consider if the opening of a door would be it, that was almost 200 pages into the story.
If you want a strong plot, great character development or action this is not the book for you, if you want to read about the ideas of reality and existence of time and other worlds
Again I truly enjoyed the book and will probably read it again, I don't normally do, there is lots to digest here, I will definitely pick up others book from this author.

It was a hard listen

It was a hard listen. I can only imagine the paper book was excruciatingly difficult to get through. While I understand the need for back story, especially here, it took half to 2/3's before the point of the book started. From there on it was completely awesome! But, wow! I thought I was gonna return it before I finished. The only reason I didn't was that I ran out of credits and had to have something new to listen to.

Such a fun, dorky read!

Neal Stephensons is such a master world crafter! He interweaves techy scifi and medieval monasticism so seamlessly. If you are a language geek, then you'll get a real kick out of this novel! (Also, great production--the chants between parts were awesome, literally!)

Great story despite/because of the long dialogues

I was completely hooked by this book. The lives of monastic academics and their curious place in the broader culture of their world was fully realized and fascinating, as was the overall story line. The gotcha that I'm sure is turning some people off are the lengthy philosophical discussions, ala Socrates, that occasionally seem to bring the plot to a crawl. But if you stick with these, you will find that the subjects of these discussions tend to weave back in to enforce and explain the story line. So, yes, challenging but overall brilliant.

overly technical, but still enjoyable!

Good story but hard to follow if you are not an engineer, astro phyisists, or Einstein. If you have to replay story several times to understand what he is talking about, then it is too much..However, once you "got it", it is a really good tale!

A pearl of a book. Started out like a rough grain of sand but builds layer upon layer to create a beautiful story

Stick with this one. It took me 2 goes to get through the first bit of the book. It is worth it. Really enjoyed the story and characters. The book that you think you are listening to at the start is not the same as the one you have at the end. But every thing links well and is critical to the story. Well worth a listen. Enjoy

interesting, but slow start

The first 2/3 are a full philosophical slog that takes too long to get where it does. The last third, was interesting and brought a solid ending. However, the transition is fairly abrupt and I can't fault anyone for dropping out early.

Worth the effort!

It was a bit difficult to follow at first. After a couple of hours I fell right into the book. Stephenson tackles metaphysics and conscious ideas in a beautiful dialogue.

Brilliant

Stephenson sees into the future with a depth and insight that is matched by very few if any speculative fiction authors. Anathem is long, confusing, challenging, even tedious at times but it is also funny, satisfying, thought provoking, paradigm shifting and just great story telling. I couldn't stop listening and much credit is due to the terrific narration of Oliver Wyman, who handles the language and vocabulary of Stephenson's densely realized world with ease and humor. A great listen and if your mind and outlook is not changed by this story...read it again.

slow start, book asks a lot of reader

Definitely an investment, but the story rewards the contemplation that the deep content necessitates. As much a story about thinking and the nature of consciousness as it is about the human struggle to understand and make sense of the surroundings.