"Cryptonomicon"

I've wanted to write up a little review of Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson, for some time now. I'll just get it out of the way right now, and say that this book is probably the best piece of fiction that I've read all year--and it's up there in the Top Ten of my all-time favorites as well.

You should check out this book, if you have even a passing interest in any of the following: gold; intellectual history; submarines; WWII; computers; mathematics; cryptography; the Pacific Ocean/culture/islands, etc...; history; conspiracy theories; music; or science.

Ostensibly, Cryptonomicon is a book about two generations of an American family named Waterhouse. We meet Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse, mathematical genius and captain in the Navy, in the first half of the 20th century, and then we fast forward to the present day to find his grandson, Randy, a crypto-hacker.

For Lawrence, the tenure of the war comprises codebreaking for a secret organization dedicated to covering up the fact that the Allies have broken the Axis' Enigma code. Leading the physical branch of this organization is Bobby Shaftoe: a gung-ho Marine who happens to compose haiku during his pre-mission time off.

For Randy, much of the book finds him traveling back and forth from an island in Southeast Asia that he and his company are trying to make into a leading 'data haven,' but he gets sidetracked into the salvage attempt of a WWII submarine that may unlock secrets that he's unable or unwilling to realize.

In addition to these two storylines, a number of other major players enter the stage including Bobby's granddaughter, Amy, and a Japanese soldier named Goto Dengo. Neal Stephenson is able to entwine two different time periods, and multiple different storylines into one very compelling, and readable, conclusion that will keep your heart pounding...

Please don't let the enormous size of this book intimidate you (it's over 1000 pages), it's well worth the wait. Stay tuned for my review of his next work: The Baroque Cycle, a trilogy that consists of three books equal in size to Cryptonomicon, set in the end of the 17th century and featuring characters like Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibniz, Louis the XIVth, and earlier generations of both the Waterhouse and Shaftoe families.

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Yesterday's lack of posting once again equaled no work on the dissertation; but, a very successful run of days has left me in good position to meet my internal deadline of turning in a draft, albeit a very short one, by the end of this week.