hmm… does Neal Stephenson have a new novel or something coming out…?
Is there somewhere I can buy this as an eBook without DRM, preferably in EPUB?
I loved Diamond Age and think I would like Cryptonomicon, Reamde, and this book. But I’m a slow reader and 800+ pages would take me months and months of time. Easy books like Harry Potter I can manage, but if the book is challenging… I’m not sure I’m up to the task.
I wish a talented filmmaker would make film versions of these books.
Adored Cryptonomicon, it was just so enthralling. Still have Diamond Age to look forward to. The last third of Reamde was a slog that I only finished by flipping pages at a high rate when the library wouldn’t let me renew it any more. I have high hopes for Seveneves.
Not unless you’re willing to not pay.
It was an interesting read. He needs an editor, tho. Also, it’s kind of like two books tacked together with different story arcs.
Was a big fan of Snow Crash and the Diamond Age and enjoyed Cryptonomicon and Anathem. I’m definitely going to check this book out, although Reamde left me very disappointed. It was an underwhelming collection of scenes, didn’t have a “big concept” behind its story and the “virtual reality” plot felt very undevelopped. Ready Player One did this better.
I keep hoping publishers will learn that they can have all my money if they don’t force me to use their crap distribution systems, and just let me read the damn book how I want to (now and in the future) :-\
Well, I could, but I suspect that’s not what you were looking for… 
Indeed, I would like to pay for if there was somewhere I could do that, I just don’t want to pay for DRM. The alternative is certainly easy enough… 
I’ve read everything of Stephenson’s except the trilogy. I found “Diamond Age” a little tedious (if you do a little study, you’ll find that his first few books have fewer & fewer action verbs). Loved “Reamde” & “Anathem”. I’m 600 pages into “Seveneves” & if I didn’t find it so good a soporific, I would have abandoned it millenia ago. Stephenson’s need to prove that he can imagine every detail has gone overboard in this one.
It’s pretty good. Not his best book, or even his second best, but enormously better than Reamde (which sucked, IMO) , so he clearly hasn’t lost his touch. Definitely worth reading.
So that would be, what, just past the start of Chapter 2?
Please tell me it gets better after the first hundred pages because right now I would rather be re-reading Lucifer’s Hammer. Its the first Stephenson book which has disappointed me.
There’s an audiobook out; maybe listening to it might work better for you?
Heh, I just downloaded the audiobook in all of it’s just-shy-of-32-hour-long glory. I don’t know if I’m up to THAT task!
But that tacking together let’s us see how the decisions of the first results in the consequences of the second. It’ also nice that I get to read the whole thing rather than having it parsed up into a series when it doesn’t need to be. The second half practically counts as a short story for Stephenson.
We are all well aware that Stephenson writes long novels. You can tell by the thickness of the book. This one is even sneakier because the higher quality paper is thinner so you can jam more in the same thickness.
I buy his books with the full awareness that he will want to explain everything in gory detail. He has turned that into his style. Of course the end of the world is big topic which feeds the word count.
I liked the book. I devoured it in a few days (neglecting my poor family). There are a number of BIG ideas that he works to their logical conclusion, probably from all of his Blue Origin consulting notes.
I hope you don’t think I’m complaining about volume. I was sorry when Cryptonomicon and Anathem were over; I wished there were more. I’m in awe of his abilities, I love hearing him talk about his work (Science Friday last week, some Youtube lectures) and I can’t wait to get my hands on his newest work. (Once I set aside time for it, that is.)
