Information Flow

Neal Stephenson; Cryptonomicon (Avon Books; 1999; ISBN 0-380-97346-4; cover by Amy Halperin).

I first read this book in 1999 and it is the first book by Neal Stephenson that I had finished. To this date I have read neither Snow Crash or The Diamond Age (I will make it through both, someday...). I brought it with me to a tech conference during those heady days before the internet bubble burst (and darker things than that happened soon after that). I consumed it within two days. When the paperback came out and promised a sequel...of sorts, I bought them and consumed them as well.

Cryptonomicon runs two parallel stories, across time. One main thread follows a number of people on the road up to and the journeys during World War II. Historical figures such as Alan Turing mix in with fictional characters as they move from Pearl Harbor to England to Sweden and Finland to the Philippines and more. The second story follows a group, some of which are descended from members of the first group, as they build a technology start-up and jump from the United States to Japan to the Philippines. Real history and made-up history, nifty technology, buried treasure, kinky sex, true love, codes and computers and more.

This was my third run through the book, the first time since around 2000. Not only did it stand up well (even though the "present day" sections now feel more quaintly historical than the sections of the book set during WWII), but it managed to surprise me (again) and keep me captivated even when Stephenson has two character's expound for several paragraphs. The story never felt like it slowed, even then.

Still wondering about Enoch Root though. The Roman Catholic version of the Wandering Jew? Somebody who plays too much with lightning? Twins across generations instead of in one generation or what?

Good stuff. I have no plans to re-tackle The Baroque Cycle, in the near future, but this was a good warm-up.