Anathem by Neal Stephenson
A Review For Stephenson Fans Who Are Leery About This Book...
Anathem, the latest invention by the New York Times bestselling author of
Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle, is a magnificent creation: a work
of great scope, intelligence, and imagination that ushers readers into a
recognizable—yet strangely inverted—world.
Fraa Erasmas 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 outside saecular world by ancient stone,
honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and
governments have risen and fallen beyond the concents walls. Three times
during historys darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance
has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the
avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe,
becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on
technology and material things. And Erasmas 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
fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concents gates—at the
same time opening them wide to welcome the curious extras in. During his
first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the
landmarks and family he hasnt 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 brink of cataclysmic change.
Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize 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,
Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth
from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster.
Suddenly burdened with a staggering responsibility, 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.
Personal Review: Anathem by Neal Stephenson
I feel compelled to write a review of Neal Stephenson's latest work,
Anathem, because quite simply it is one of the best, most eye-opening
books I've read in the last five years.
Now, this qualification comes with some qualifications of its own.
First of all, if you're the average kind of guy with a short attention span,
who gets angry when internet discussions get side-tracked by people
who're talking about something you don't understand, then this book is not
for you. If you've read and enjoyed Neal's other work, but wish he'd just get
on with telling the story instead of providing the reader with endless
descriptions of, say, the techniques involved in breakfast cereal
degustation, then this book's not for you.
If, on the other hand, you enjoy Stephenson's insights into western history,
culture and philosophy - especially rational, scientific philosophy - then
you'll want this book in your suitcase on your next holiday to wherever it is
you go to read Fun Stuff.
I feel compelled to point out that it is not necessary to have a deep
background in math or science to read this book, as some reviewers have
claimed. Frankly, it was these claims (by people who otherwise enjoyed
the book) which put me off of reading Anathem and made ultimately buying
it a bit of a shot in the dark for me, even though I'm a rabid Stephenson
fan. What I feared were long discourses on, say, numbers theory and the
like which I would not be able to follow at all.
I'm happy to say that this is not the case.
I'm a social scientist with a nodding acquaintence with philosophy - enough
that I could probably identify one out of every five philosophers that
Stephenson uses in the book. And that's not much. I mean, I'm savvy
enough that when Stephenson talks about "Gardan's Steelyard", I
understand that he's referencing what our world calls "Occam's Razor". I
know that the "Protans" are probably stand-ins for our world's "Proteans".
But that's really about it: the level of knowledge anyone who had to sleep
through a freshman "philosophy of science" course should have. As a
social scientist, however, my math skills don't go beyond what was
required to get me through my sophmore "Statistics for Sociologists"
course and of physics, I know next to nothing, having dropped that as a
senior in high school.

But I was still able to read this book quite easily and with great interest. In
fact, I think it would serve as a fun primer for one of those freshman-level
philosophy of science courses. It's certainly made me want to read more of
Stephenson's sources.
So if you've been holding off reading Anathem because you were afraid of
the depth of the material, I'd say give it a shot. A simple undergrad
university-level education should be more than enough for you to get
through this and to enjoy the journey.
One thing I should add, however, which pleasantly surprised me, is
Stephenson's continuing maturation as a writer. In Anathem, the "worst" of
those long "side tracks" which Stephenson so loves to engage in are
sequestered off as seperate appendixes which can be read if, as and when
the reader feels up to them. They reward attentive reading, but are dry
enough to pose huge stumbling blocks to the story. By shunting them off to
the appendixes, Stephenson has made the book much more accessible
and enjoyable to the average reader without depriving the rest of us of the
übernerdity which we so enjoy in Neal's work.
This was a very good and mature decision of the writer - or his editor - and
should be applauded.
Also, this is the first Stephenson book which I've ever read that has a
coherent sense of closure - obviously something Neal really worked at
bringing about, given the book's last sentence. Normally, this man's books
are a bit like roller coasters: one reads them not because of where they
lead, but because of the thrills along the way. Anathem, however, comes
to a logical and satisfying ending with all loose ends nicely tied up except
for those upon which reasonable and rational sequels might normally be
hung. Again, this strikes me as a definite advance for Stephenson in terms
of his writing skills.
All in all, Anathem is a great book - perhaps a real science fiction classic
on the level of LeGuin's "Dispossessed" or Heinlein's "I, Robot". If you like
Neal's work and haven't read it yet, or simply enjoy well-thought out and
rigorously researched science fiction, pick it up now!
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