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[AugustWest]

That is pretty much what kills that era and kind of writing for me as well.

I don't know whether you'd consider Kipling that era or not -- I would, I guess.  But I wouldn't characterize Kipling that way.  He rocks the sub-continent, dude.

[Choop]

i fuck*ng LOVE the baroque cycle. i've read it at least three times.

[CortJstr]

i fuck*ng LOVE the baroque cycle. i've read it at least three times.

That wasn't a complaint. I felt the same way about Anathem. A couple hundred pages in I was like "interesting things are happening but I can't quite figure out what they're getting at yet."

[Pedro Picasso]

That wasn't a complaint. I felt the same way about Anathem. A couple hundred pages in I was like "interesting things are happening but I can't quite figure out what they're getting at yet."

I loved Anathem. It's one of the few I reread. When I gave Diamond Age to jay-ell, I warned her that the book begins "when the little girl opens the primer." Everything before that is just setting the stage. Baroque Cycle scares me. I'm worried the setting won't be interesting enough for me to hang on until he gets to the parts I givacrap about.

[AugustWest]

That wasn't a complaint. I felt the same way about Anathem. A couple hundred pages in I was like "interesting things are happening but I can't quite figure out what they're getting at yet."

Yeah, but then it kicks in and they become the Polar Explorer Quantum Karate Secular Monks In Outer Space.

[Choop]

baroque cycle is the fastest 2800 pages i've ever read. just incredible. totally worth the introductory "book" third of the first actual book.

have any of you read stephenson's latest? REAMDE? it's a lot like cryptonomicon, a much smaller-scoped effort than anathem (which hurt my brain for a couple months) or baroque or diamond age (maybe my favorite of his).

something about anathem i read long after i finished the book that makes me want to reread it but also frightens me even more about doing so: in the reader's note at the beginning, he says "Names of some Arbran plant and animal species have been translated into rough Earth equivalents... The names of those species' rough equivalents have been swapped in here to obviate digressions..." -- this article i saw posited that this rule applied to the PEOPLE on that planet. i'd read the whole thing just thinking of these as humans, but what if that wasn't quite it? it's a pointless thought exercise, kind of, but still adds another layer on all this.

[AugustWest]

I just read REAMDE a month or so ago.  It was good, but not earthshattering.  Almost all plot with no slow introduction. 

I reread Anathem this winter too, and that was worthwhile.  There's a lot there, especially toward the end, and I think I understood it a little better the second time through.

The Baroque Cycle (including Crypto) is my favorite, though. 

[CortJstr]

Reamde is in my Kindle but I've been borrowing The Mongoliad books from Amazon Prime and reading those instead.

[Choop]

i don't count cryptonomicon as part of the baroque cycle. i think even diamond age has an enoch and a waterhouse, they're his way of linking his universe together, but i look at the baroque cycle as just what's labeled baroque on the cover.

how's the mongoliad? i haven't had any opportunity to check it out yet, really. i don't own a device that's comfortable for reading.

[AugustWest]

enoch and a waterhouse,

There are a whole lot more connections than that.

[CortJstr]

i don't count cryptonomicon as part of the baroque cycle. i think even diamond age has an enoch and a waterhouse, they're his way of linking his universe together, but i look at the baroque cycle as just what's labeled baroque on the cover.

how's the mongoliad? i haven't had any opportunity to check it out yet, really. i don't own a device that's comfortable for reading.

Mongoliad is fine. Every time I've seen it on Kindle it's been between free and $1.99. I can't say I'd pay actual money for it but I think that's my taste not lack of quality.

And yeah, I'm pretty sure the families in Crypto and Baroque are explicitly listed as direct lineage. And isn't it the same Enoch?

[Choop]

yeah, of course, but just because there are connections doesn't mean it's all part of the same series. there are waterhouses in reamde too, and that ain't part of the baroque cycle either. it's a running thread that links together the universe, but the series is a specific set of pages that doesn't include reamde or cryptonomicon

[AugustWest]

yeah, of course, but just because there are connections doesn't mean it's all part of the same series. there are waterhouses in reamde too, and that ain't part of the baroque cycle either. it's a running thread that links together the universe, but the series is a specific set of pages that doesn't include reamde or cryptonomicon

Semantics, dude.  Crypto and Baroque Cycle are set in the same universe with a continuous flow of related characters from the 17th century to roughly the present.  Everything else isn't set in that universe. 


Also, to a certain extent, Baroque is about "What happens to the gold".  So is Crypto.

[Choop]

and so is reamde. same universe, different series. semantics.

[miles]

and am working on a Neil Young biography.  

Please tell me that when you say "working on" you mean "writing."