*Really smart people figure things out without a lot of tech. *Surprise religious convocation! *Martial arts wannabe dude gets to meet the real hardcore martial artists. *Two different philosophies that are actually magic. *Spaceships that go to a universe that's sort of like this one, but not quite.
I got through some of those, and wasn't sure what I was supposed to care about. The mathematical explanations (I'm forgetting what he calsl them -- but, the dialogues) at the end were the best part.
he's hit & miss for me. the "baroque cycle" was far too slow for my taste, though i loved the language. apparently if you can make it into the 2nd book (only 1000 pages, cmon!) it starts picking up... "snow crash" of course. "reamde" is my hands down fave.
Yeah, anything that dwarfs Dune in terms of word count, philosophical guesses, and number of invented words in the first five pages isn't something I'm interested in.
Todd Sprang fascinating! I loved anathem (couldn't put it down), but had trouble with reamde. Baroque cycle was okay. I found the shaftoe parts great and the rich English white guys with similar names tedious.
*Really smart people figure things out without a lot of tech.
ReplyDelete*Surprise religious convocation!
*Martial arts wannabe dude gets to meet the real hardcore martial artists.
*Two different philosophies that are actually magic.
*Spaceships that go to a universe that's sort of like this one, but not quite.
I got through some of those, and wasn't sure what I was supposed to care about. The mathematical explanations (I'm forgetting what he calsl them -- but, the dialogues) at the end were the best part.
ReplyDeletehave you tried reamde? that one's pretty straightforward awesome.
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed Stephenson before, sure. Diamond Age was enjoyable, as were a few others.
ReplyDeletehe's hit & miss for me. the "baroque cycle" was far too slow for my taste, though i loved the language. apparently if you can make it into the 2nd book (only 1000 pages, cmon!) it starts picking up... "snow crash" of course. "reamde" is my hands down fave.
ReplyDeleteYeah, anything that dwarfs Dune in terms of word count, philosophical guesses, and number of invented words in the first five pages isn't something I'm interested in.
ReplyDeleteTodd Sprang fascinating! I loved anathem (couldn't put it down), but had trouble with reamde. Baroque cycle was okay. I found the shaftoe parts great and the rich English white guys with similar names tedious.
ReplyDeletei haven't tried anathem, but reamde was totally nom nom nom until it was done.
ReplyDelete