Book review: Cryptonomicon

I finished reading this back in July, but if the other posts here are any indication I’m not in the habit of writing things up as soon as I should. The book this time around is Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, a book that tells a story spread across 2 different time periods.

The first story begins with the Allied forces as world war 2 begins and follows the efforts to break the cryptographic codes used by the Axis.  The other story begins in the modern-day and follows a tech start-up company in the Philippines as they work to make a secure data storage facility designed for privately and securely storing data for companies the world over.  They may seem like pretty different stories to begin with, but the underlying theme of cryptography is tied together very well and by the end of it you’ll have a fair knowledge of the historical concepts of cryptography as well as how it’s used in the modern world.  As you can tell it’s a fairly techy novel, but as with a lot of techno-thrillers you can just turn your brain off and take things as given.  Unlike some techno-thrillers though, everything here is based in reality.  The only things they change about the technology is a couple of ciphers here and there and the names given to some technology, everything else is completely plausible.

Being a bit of a fan of cryptography I was initially more interested in the WW2 storyline, learning about the techniques used to generate data as randomly as possible to help create uncrackable codes.  Even more interesting was the manoeuvring that was done to prevent the enemy from discovering that someone had cracked their codes and thwarting them by simply creating a new set.  The modern-day storyline starts off pretty slow, only getting a glimpse of story every 3 or 4 chapters. It slowly ramped up throughout the book, transforming into the main story while world war 2 sits at the back and helps set the scene.  It begins as a story about a technology start-up in the Philippines but later evolves into a hunt for a large amount of gold that came into the area during WW2.  It may sound like a strange transition, but it does make sense in the context of the story.

As it’s a book by Neal Stephenson there were plenty of times when a completely unrelated story popped up every now and again, written in great detail and feeling like the author put a huge amount of research into it. No matter what the topic you couldn’t help but be pulled in and enthralled by these topics, whether it was a treatise on the origins of the Sumerian language in Snow Crash, a lecture on Great Circles and flight paths in Reamde, or in Cryptonomicon’s case, an essay on the fetishism of shaving as a privilege exclusive to white men (you can find your own link for that one).  Despite often having nothing to do with the story, they always end up being an absolutely fascinating read and usually written so well into the main story that they never felt too out-of-place (the exception being Snow Crash, which while still interesting felt like poorly placed plot dumps).

Thinking back on it, my only complaint with the book is with the finale of the modern-day story, which suddenly changes tact and ends in an action scene.  In the WW2 story it may have made sense, but going from businessmen and programmers to guns and shootouts didn’t mesh quite as well.

Overall I absolutely loved this book during both storylines, and I’m just glad I didn’t give up on Stephenson after being so disappointed by Snow Crash.  I’m not sure when I’ll get around to it, but I already have book 1 of The Mongoliad sitting on my Kindle, and I’m definitely going to be checking out Anathem and The Baroque Cycle trilogy at some point in the future too.

 

My 2012 reading challenge

This year on Goodreads I took part in the annual reading challenge where you choose the number of books you want to try completing that year, then keep track of your progress throughout. I planned to finish 30 books, and reached my target just a few days ago. While it was fun to do and motivated me to read more often, it did have a few flaws, namely that the length of the books didn’t matter, just how many of them there were. As it was, I ended up occasionally reading shorter novels that I was only kinda interested in, rather than longer epics that I really wanted to dive into.

This year, I’m going to try something a bit different. Rather than just read 30 or so random books I’m going to make a list of a lot of the authors and books which I keep meaning to check out, but keep putting off. I won’t necessarily read an entire series by each author (unless I get really hooked), but I will read at least the first book in one to get a better feel for their work.  I’m still going to be reading other books throughout the year as they pop up, but for these ones I’m going to make an extra-special effort.

I’m going to be taking some time to put together a full list, but here’s a few that have been lurking around my mind for a while.  If anyone has any recommendations for authors I’ve missed, or perhaps can recommend a different book than one I’ve listed then I’m open to suggestions.

The Dresden Files (Jim Butcher)

Urban wizardry and crime fighting. That says about all that needs to be said I guess. I’ve heard so many good things about the Dresden Files from so many people.  I’m not sure why I haven’t gotten around to reading it sooner.

Otherland (Tad Williams)

Everyone and their mother seems to have read Tad Williams. I get the impression that he’s one of the greats when it comes to fantasy. He’s also one of George R R Martin’s main influences, so that’s a pretty big indicator too.  I’ll be reading the Otherland series, assuming it’s sold in ebook format anywhere (currently seems not to be).

Liveship Traders (Robin Hobb)

As with Tad Williams, Robin Hobb is one of those fantasy authors that I’ve just never gotten around to checking out, despite having heard her name praised from a number of friends and acquaintances both online and off.  On the recommendation of a friend I’ll be starting with the first book in the Liveship Traders series.

Skulduggery Pleasant (Derek Landy)

I hadn’t heard of this one before, but it comes highly recommended from a friend of mine (Drew for those of you who know him).  He’s been mentioning it for so long that I really want to pick it up just to see what the fuss is about.

Cryptonomicon (Neal Stephenson)

I have actually read one of Neal Stephenson’s books before, Reamde.  While I liked it somewhat everyone has been telling me that it’s nothing at all like his typical work, so I still feel like I don’t really have a grasp of what his work is like.

Dune Messiah (Frank Herbert)

The Dune series seems to be pretty popular, but most people only seem to talk about the first one, simply titled “Dune”.  I’d like to see what the rest of the series is like.

Speaker for the Dead (Orson Scott Card)

As with Frank Herbert’s Dune series, people only ever talk about the first book in this series, Ender’s Game.  I was iffy about reading that one for so long due to all the controversy surrounding him (even mentioning this kicked off a short-lived flame war on Goodreads), but I enjoyed it so much that I felt I should check out the rest of the series.  I’ve been told that every other book in the series is completely different in style compared to the first one, so I’m not quite sure what to expect from them.

The First Law/Best Served Cold (Joe Abercrombie)

I’ve had a copy of Best Served Cold sitting around for a while now and still haven’t gotten around to giving it a read.  Then again The First Law trilogy does place before it in the series, so I might read the first book in that trilogy first.  Any advice on this one would definitely be appreciated.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Philip K Dick)

I’m a huge fan of Blade Runner, yet I’ve never, ever read one of Philip K Dick’s stories.  This choice seems like a bit of a no-brainer for me.

Edit:

A couple more books/authors popped into my mind recently, so I’ll be adding them to the list.

His Dark Materials (Phillip Pullman)
If there’s ever been a series that people tend to be amazed that I haven’t read, it’s this one.  I can’t claim to know much about it though other than it features polar bears and aethism (according to Shortpacked! that is)

1984 (George Orwell)
I honestly can’t think of a book that I see more often referenced than this one.  It usually gets a mention in any news story that deals with loss of personal privacy or the rise of a “Big Brother” society.  I get what the novel’s about but as with a lot of books like this that’s nowhere near the same thing as actually reading it.

Last edit:

One more author came to mind earlier today, and since it brings the total to a nice even 12 I’m adding him to the list.

Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert Heinlein)

Like some of the others here, Robert Heinlein is considered one of the great Science Fiction Writers around, and I feel a tiny bit of shame by never reading a single one of his stories.  The closest I’ve ever come is watching the film version of Starship Troopers, and while they may be a great film, it’s apparently tells a very different story to the one told in the original book.  According to the sources I’ve checked out (good old Wikipedia and Goodreads) Stranger in a Strange Land is the cream of the crop so that’s the one I’ll be reading.