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

good listen. always enjoy some Stephenson

narrator was good. enjoyed the story, characters and views of philosophy and theology and how these can change. Reminded me loosely of A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

Masterpiece of literature

This is by far the best book I have ever encountered! Amazing world building, character development, and story that will change your perspective of the very universe we inhabit

Blown away

The book at first, seems overwhelming and daunting. On account of the new vocabulary associated with incorporating a new history and language into the narrative. However, once you start to become familiar and comfortable with the vocabulary, it begins to take off. It is a lot like using Middle English when you have only ever known modern. Overall, the story was deep, well planned and masterfully executed. I would not have thought it possible to relay a planets entire history solely through a series of discourse and debate, but that is exactly what was done. I have read more than a thousand books in my life and this one rates near the top. It was also apparent that the author must have a PhD in either mathematics or one of the sciences.

A journey of thought

This is nothing like Snow Crash, which I loved for its pace and action. I nearly gave up on this early as it is a lot to comprehend.

I was traveling so I had huge periods of time to absorb. At some point I couldn't put this down. The characters that seemed to take so long to get to know became familiar and attached.

I ranked this book highly because I know I will do it all again.

I love Stephenson but......

I love Neal Stephenson's work, my favorite being Seveneves. He writes great science and has orbital mechanics nailed, among other things. I had a difficult time keep up with Anathem. I keep up with CERN, on an amateur level. I've seen "Particle Fever", but I took away from this a good story bogged completely down by an argument for Multiverse Physics over the Standard Model. Honestly, I couldn't follow most of the dialog but the snatches of plot kept me going, stubbornly, until the end. I usually can follow any audio book, but I think there was a cost of creating other worldliness over keeping the story moving.

Neal Stephenson is a great writer, but If I had the patience, I'd have to listen to this about 10 more times before I figured out all the nuance of the story.

Good, but now my brain hurts

Overall I enjoyed this book. But it was long and there were periods of long discussion that I had to put other things aside and only listen. Listening while driving was difficult because I could not give the story my full attention. That isn't a bad thing, but I do a lot of audible listening while driving. The long difficult parts were necessary for the story. I will probably need to listen to this whole thing again just to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Monks Evolve and so much more

constantly swinging between boring and pedantic... to omg that was amazing. extremely thought provoking. definitely check it out if you like philosophy and logic and debate.

Could be so much better

Story could be so much better if onle Stephenson did not try so hard to encompass all possible aspects of his world instead of building a coherent plot.
Narration is meh.

fascinating

thought provoking and exciting. definitely recommend. narrator does a passable job.
has a bit of a learning curve with the lingo, worth it though.

Awesome

I've been a fan of sci-fi for thirty years now, I've read hundreds of books and listened to hundreds more here on audible. The vast majority of these books I find entertaining and enjoyable but from time to time I come across a book that feels like more than entertainment, its a book with a message, a work of real literature. In this short list are books such as The Hyperion Cantos, Armor, The Ender series, and a handful of others.

Anathem is now added to that list. I will admit, I usually like more action in my books than Anathem provides but it creates a world so rich in detail that I was three quarters through the book before I realized that no one had died...yet. Just because this book takes its time getting to the violence doesn't mean it doesn't have any.

"So you like it, I get that, but what kind of book is this?"

This is a hard question to answer and I don't want to spoil anything because much of this books strength lies in mystery and discovery. I can't really compare it to any other books because its not really like any other books, not even other books by this author except in his use of humor.

The best I can do is this: Imagine a world with nearly seven thousand years of technological history but one that has remained as at more or less current levels due to a series of wars, natural disasters and politics. In this world are a society of scientest-philospher-monks living inside sealed monastery like compounds. They have virtually no contact with the outside world and have been denied the tools of modern science by a larger world that is afraid of what they could create given their dedication to knowledge. Anathem is written from the point of view of one of these people, an eighteen year old apprentice working under the tutelage of an astronomer/theoretical physicist.

As a last note I will say that this is one of the best read audiobooks I have ever listened to and the brief musical clips at the begining of each chapter fit the story perfectly.