Comments on: Book Review: Anathem

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 01:03:16 +0000

I love the monk/monastic lifestyle without the religion. I love the dialogues, the consciousness discussions (R.A. Wilson would be proud), but what really sold me was the lack of religion. They weren’t disrespectful (as some might think of me), they just said “We can’t know enough to come to a conclusion, so why bother?” I have heard some of you talking of the Canticles, but from what I’ve been told it is heavy Catholic, which is a big no-no for me. To those who wished for a Jesuit education, you don’t know the curse you beg for. They teach the three R’s, then slip in illogical ideas and falsehoods. They just hope you aren’t able to sift through their bull to get to the straight information. Also, the Catholic church did more to stifle science than it even did to preserve it. But I’m ranting now.
To those who had commented on his language usage, Arbre isn’t Earth. There are similarities entomologically, so you can infer meaning, but you might expect different phrasing for a different planet.
Lastly, I love the Foundation Series and Anathem, and am looking for a book with the following:
1)No aliens. I know the probability is that there is life out there, but more likely simpler, not more advanced. Overdone.
2)Mix of science and humanism. As a secular humanist, this appeals to me.
3)No religion. Battlefield Earth, The Canticle of Liebowitz, etc are too religious for me. Asimov had values and morals in his books, but he wasn’t converting you to his church.
Thanx.

By: josh

josh — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 23:51:36 +0000

I only got 9 points (generously) on your test and I absolutely enjoy this book. Even the first parts before the plot becomes apparent. I will read this book, from the beginning, many more times for sure!

By: Catriel

Catriel — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:59:26 +0000

I am having a very hard time reading this book for various reasons:
1. The author adds vocabulary where perfectly good English words could be used. I have not found a single word from his imaginary planet that cannot be translated into an English word. As a matter of fact, that statement is true for any language. Anyone that claims that a term cannot be translated into English is lacking the proper knowledge of the English Vocabulary.
2. I was 200 pages into the book, and had no clue of what the main plot was. The author spends too much time introducing terms and images that do not seem to lead you anywhere.
3. The introductions to the different historical particulars of the imaginary planet are confusing and, from my point of view, could have been cut out from the book.

This book is nothing like the Foundation. The Foundation had a clear plot and the author never confused the readers by introducing any unnecessary terms or irrelevant technologies. Isaac Asimov always uses existing concepts in Physics and Mathematics and seem to have an good understanding of these concepts. The author of the Anathem does not seem to have neither a good grasp of Physics nor Mathematics. As an example, he makes a big fuzz about what an orbit of a planet is or is not without actually giving any indication that his characters actually understand the subject. Just plastering the words coordinates and velocity into a sentence does not make you believe that there is any particular understanding of what an orbit is or what is confusing about the concept. (The dialogues seem to be written by teenagers with no more education than Jr. High.)

To summarize, I don’t think Anathem compares to any of the Sci-fi books written by the great authors such as Isaac Asimov, Jules Vernes, H.G. Wells, etc. The book is unnecessarily verbose. The multitude of images confuse instead of elucidate the reader.

By: gowen

gowen — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:50:27 +0000

Re: Ending, to Andrea…

Yes, Stephenson’s endings have always been rushed, inadequate, and/or incomprehensible. I love all his books (starting with _The Big U_) but I can perfectly agree with that criticism.

However, you can’t say that about _Anathem_. It has, not only one ending, but three endings, and I think they’re all good.

Why do I say three?

1) The culmination of the plot points for the main conflict within the novel.
2) The implication of the plot points and the culmination, in understanding and action
3) The effect of the culmination on the meta-conflict within the novel.

In short, the reader isn’t left at the end saying “Wait – what about this? Or that?” They can find answers to most of their questions, without compromising the rest of the book.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 16 May 2009 04:15:25 +0000

Well, I read Socratic dialogues. They hurt like hell, but I read ‘em alright. That puts me up over 10 points, so I’ll give this monstrosity a shot.

By: Flights

Flights — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:26:51 +0000

You are certainly on something regarding shorter attention span. We might see a a new trend of shorter content too, like one or two sentences news for hurried people. How would this be treated by the engines?

By: Kevin Heisler

Kevin Heisler — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:01:36 +0000

A Canticle For Leibowitz ranks in my top 5 post-apocalyptic novels of all time. Glad you included it in the test. Props to @kberg for naming Canticle his fave in college.

By: Tina

Tina — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:03:36 +0000

I have an aricle about top 5 books in 2008 to share with you:)
http://asontvproducts.blogspot.com/2009/03/best-seller-top-10-books-of-2008.html

By: Gabriel Presso

Gabriel Presso — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:02:29 +0000

I got a lot over 10 points and still found the book too long for its thin idea and not-so-original plot. This in spite of the fact that I like long GOOD books. See http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2009/02/the_art_of_being_late.html for a writer’s insight to long books and cycles. Or even http://www.soliber.net/books/accelerando-by-charles-stross/ for a quick review on one of Charlie’s books – maybe you want to see for yourself afterward. BTW – I found your blog reading some old rants about no-follow from 2005 – oh, how the world changed, Matt!
all the best!

By: Benjamin Kudria

Benjamin Kudria — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:48:55 +0000

Is it OK if I tweeted about the post?
(http://twitter.com/bkudria/status/1298322069)