books by Neal Stephenson     books:       The Confusion (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 2)77 reviews Neal Stephenson, 2004 a must for Stephenson fans Excellent. This continuation of the Baroque Cycle Saga is even more enthralling than Quicksilver. Stephenson maintains his storytelling style of exquisite detail, interspersed with quirky, ribald humor and intellectual subtleties. Expanding the domain of action beyond Europe to North Africa and the meso-American colonies, The Confusion surely sets the stage for a resounding conclusion in System ...             The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3)65 reviews Neal Stephenson, 2004 Epic History Made Readable This three-volume, 9-book set is, believe it or not, a *prequel* to his previous massive effort, Cryptonomicon. In the Baroque Cycle we find the ancestors of no less than NINE characters of that modern day tale of cryptography. But the Baroque trilogy covers much more ground. The fictional characters are used to take the reader through the lives of very real historical characters. The topics ...             The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (Bantam Spectra Book)335 reviews Neal Stephenson Spectra, 2000 Interesting story set in a nanotechnological future In a future where nanotechnology is pervasive, a young girl who lives in poverty comes into possession of a new piece of cutting edge technology that comes in the form of a book with an artificial intelligence that is capable of educating and guiding her into adulthood through the medium of increasingly complex fairy tales. By the end of the novel, she is a capable young woman on the cusp of a ...             Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book)546 reviews Neal Stephenson Spectra, 2000 Cyberpunk as Cultural Satire/Commentary Snow Crash is a subversive, postmodern romp through a world defined by computers, religious fanaticism, commercialism, and near-anarchy. Hacker Hiro Protagonist delivers pizzas for a living for the now-respectable Mafia until a mishap unites him with a fifteen-year old, futuristic skateboarder named Y.T. Hiro falls back on what he knows best -- hacking and gathering intelligence that he can ...             The Cobweb11 reviews Neal Stephenson, J. Frederick George Spectra, 2005 Another Stephenson masterpiece Stephenson's current day story is very thought provoking under current global circumstances. I enjoyed every page and delighted in every irony and found myself glued to the book for hours at a time.             Cryptonomicon834 reviews Neal Stephenson Avon, 2002 Nerds of the world, rejoice! Stephenson pens a zinger I am 54 years old and I am a nerd. (Sounds like an AA confession or something). You may think Important People like George Bush or Bill Clinton or President-elect (at time of writing) Obama, or A. Lincoln, or Alexander or Ghengis Khan or Hitler or Nimitz or FDR or Churchill are the kind of guys who make the world go `round. Or try to stop it, as the case may be. You'd be dead wrong. ...             In the Beginning...was the Command Line100 reviews Neal Stephenson Harper Perennial, 1999 The Reason Why I Learned to Love Linux This book introduced me to the open source movement. Refreshing view of the programmer as "creator" in the domain of binary world. Interesting parallels to religion. This book captures the heart and soul of the information age.             Zodiac92 reviews Neal Stephenson Grove Press, 2007 An older Stephenson novel that is still current I can't believe I'm only now getting to this novel. I love being entertained, and this really moves along at a good clip. Although it was written 20 years ago, the environmental issues addressed haven't changed. Stephenson's humor is in top form, and easily accessible in this relatively short novel. His writing, as always, is enviable.             Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1)311 reviews Neal Stephenson Harper Perennial, 2004 Nearly Perfect Reading! I am someone who doesn't like to read, just to read. I like to learn while I read. I read mostly historical fiction books, mixed with some pure fiction and lots of travel narratives. The Baroque Cycle has taken my love of history and travel and merged it into this beautiful, sometimes "seemingly" rambling, but always coherent masterpiece. There is no doubt that this is a long book. And it ...             Anathem100 reviews Neal Stephenson William Morrow, 2008 This book will be talked about for years Some books are fluff without any lasting appeal. Anathem, on the other hand, is a book that will be discussed for a long time. Talk about HIGH CONCEPT, jeez. This is truly a culmination of Neal Stephenson's career and all of his prior books have led up to this book. I am confident that this will win most/all of the specualtive fiction awards this year. Who will like this book: Well if ...             Quicksilver: The Baroque Cycle #1 (The Baroque Cycle)5 reviews Neal Stephenson HarperTorch, 2006 This is a paperback of the first 3rd of Volume 1: Quicksilver Here's the complete list to help people avoid buying something they already have: Quicksilver, Vol. I of the Baroque Cycle Book 1 - Quicksilver Book 2 - The King of the Vagabonds Book 3 - Odalisque The Confusion, Vol. II of the Baroque Cycle Book 4 - Bonanza Book 5 - The Juncto The System of the World, Vol. III of the Baroque Cycle Book 6 - Solomon's Gold Book 7 - ...             Odalisque: The Baroque Cycle #3 (The Baroque Cycle)7 reviews Neal Stephenson HarperTorch, 2006 Think of this as the version for those with shorter attention spans Like many of the other reviewers out there, I saw this on the shelves and wondered if it was something new. But it only took a minute to realize it was one of the parts of the previously published first volume: if you look at the table of contents of the first volume, "Odalisque" is the name of the third book in that volume; I could understand some of the complaints of the other reviewers if ...             Cryptonomicon.2 reviews Neal Stephenson Goldmann, 2003 Cryptography Meets War Gold, the Holocaust, the Alchemical Priest Who Would Not Die, and the US Marines This is a book of ideas disguised as a superb picaresque adventure novel -- incidentally interwoven with the loosely connected sagas of three families. Hilariously funny, outrageous, erudite, profane, and very, very, very smart. Consider: * Corporal Bobby Shaftoe, the WW2 Marine who writes haikus and practices the "chop-socky" he learned from a Japanese soldier -- when he's not screwing women, ...             Cryptonomicon2 reviews Neal Stephenson Arrow Books Ltd, 2000 Encryption, ice cold milk and Captain Crunch Love the transport in time to the precusor's to IPSec and AES encryption, just not using a VPN connection. If you like encryption, World War II, anti-hero's and a really thick book, this is your cup of tea.             Snow Crash (SFBC 50th Anniversary Collection) Neal Stephenson SFBC, 2007 In the near future, Americans excel at only two things: writing software and delivering pizza in less than 30 minutes. Franchises line the Los Angeles freeway as far as the eye can see: Reverend Waynes Pearly Gates, Mr. Lees Greater Hong Kong, Uncle Enzos CosaNostra Pizza, Incorporated. The only relief from the sea of logos is within the well-guarded borders of the autonomous city-states that law-abiding citizens are afraid to leave. Is it any ...             The Big U76 reviews Neal Stephenson Harper Perennial, 2001 Don't know why it was out of print What a great book! I don't know about 80s college parody or whatever, but Stephenson writes some great characters and the style of narration is great. This book is great because of the exaggeration and because while I was reading it, Stephenson made the extreme stuff make sense. It's like watching a movie where the acting is so good you don't even go "She's a great actor" because the performance ...             King of the Vagabonds: The Baroque Cycle #2 (The Baroque Cycle)8 reviews Neal Stephenson HarperTorch, 2006 Baroque Cycle The Baroque Cycle is not a trilogy, trilogy meaning "a group of three novels which together form a related series, although each is complete in itself." It is eight novels published in three hardcover volumes. Thus "cycle." In an interview in 2004, Stephenson said that one reason why he named it a "cycle" was that some people would call it a trilogy when it obviously wasn't and he wanted to, ...             Interface18 reviews Neal Stephenson, J. Frederick George Spectra, 2005 Current events give this novel new relevance! Although earlier reviewers are correct to observe that this is not Neal Stephenson's finest work, the events unfolding in the current US 2008 presidential campaign make it amazingly apt--and much funnier than it was even a few months ago! An election taking place during a U.S. financial crisis that renders nice middle-class families homeless and feeling hopeless and has a lame-duck president ...              search for books 50th, anathem, anniversary, bantam, baroque, beginning, book, cobweb, collection, command, confusion, crash, cryptonomicon, cycle, diamond, illustrated, interface, king, lady, line, odalisque, primer, quicksilver, snow, spectra, system, vagabonds, world, young, zodiac books:    Kindle - Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device This is the future of book reading. I have used it and love it! randomly chosen watches & jewelry: Hovey Lee Eco Soroko II Ring, Size 11, Color Labradorite we recommend Nerds of the world, rejoice! Stephenson pens a zinger leave a comment home  impressum - about us