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Unkempt posted:at the end when it looked like things were coming together it just stops with little resolved. Are you sure it was a Neal Stephenson book? 
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Jun 6, 2017 17:58
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Number Ten Cocks posted:Are you sure it was a Neal Stephenson book? To be fair his last three books have had like actual endings. And The Baroque Cycle ended about as well as a project of that scope could have.
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Jun 7, 2017 01:09
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Atlas Hugged posted:To be fair his last three books have had like actual endings. And The Baroque Cycle ended about as well as a project of that scope could have. I'm not sure if I'd count Seveneves as having an ending. I mean maybe an ending and then another 1/3rd of a book.
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Jun 7, 2017 01:11
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ImpAtom posted:I'm not sure if I'd count Seveneves as having an ending. I mean maybe an ending and then another 1/3rd of a book. That was clearly a fan fiction sequel that somehow accidentally got shipped with the real book.
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Jun 7, 2017 04:10
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I never even finished that part of the book. I just said gently caress it.
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Jun 7, 2017 14:50
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AllNewJonasSalk posted:I never even finished that part of the book. I just said gently caress it. Hell, same.
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Jun 7, 2017 15:10
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I legit remember none of the plot of the last third of Seveneves, just setting details, despite reading it only a year or so ago. I also remember the setting details being really, really dumb. Kinda mad that this is part of the same book that described the end of terrestrial civilization so vividly that I cried in public.
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Jun 7, 2017 18:41
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That last third of Seveneves feels like it should have been part of a sequel. The characters are almost completely overshadowed by the Stephensonian descriptions of every single piece of technology, and how it relates to The Epic. Even the audiobook falls flat, thanks to switching narrators for this part, and he just... drones. Seveneves Part Three: A speculative fiction episode of How It's Made, except it never ends.
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Jun 8, 2017 01:50
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That last third of Seveneves feels like it never should have been written.
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Jun 8, 2017 11:46
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Anyone got questions? If you've got a goodreads account the link to ask is here, but I'm not sure if you have to have read something of his to be eligible to ask questions. Let me know if you can't ask your own and I'll copy'n'paste them over there.
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Jun 9, 2017 03:41
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So DODO. I recently got to the point where they go to the "Trapezoid". This would seem to suggest that this is a parallel dimension or strand from our own. Did I miss any other anachronisms to that point of the book?
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Jul 5, 2017 23:33
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Memento posted:Anyone got questions? Weird I shelved one over there and got nothing. Ask him about his opinion about Hobby Lobby and cuneiform tablets https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...m=.e406e847bca8
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Jul 6, 2017 05:11
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Casimir Radon posted:So DODO. I recently got to the point where they go to the "Trapezoid". This would seem to suggest that this is a parallel dimension or strand from our own. Did I miss any other anachronisms to that point of the book? It becomes a minor point later on, but it's not explained how the "Trapezoid" becomes the "Pentagon", but it is mentioned. Once they start mucking around and changing strands, I don't think the characters have any real way to say what was original or changed, by themselves or any "opposition".
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Jul 7, 2017 17:35
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InvisiBill posted:It becomes a minor point later on, but it's not explained how the "Trapezoid" becomes the "Pentagon", but it is mentioned. Once they start mucking around and changing strands, I don't think the characters have any real way to say what was original or changed, by themselves or any "opposition". I'm most of the way through now. I was a little wary at first but this has turned into the kind of fun pulpy insanity that I was hoping it would be. I'd heartily recommend this book.
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Jul 12, 2017 00:47
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I'm only about halfway through so far, but I love the concept behind it. Magic is real, sure. But witches being basically Fraa Jaad is a really fun way to explain it.
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Jul 12, 2017 13:35
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Just finished DODO last night. I really like how it pokes fun at modern PC office culture, but am a little disappointed in the character development and I think the writing was a little stilted at times. Overall I do think it was time well spent reading it, and the premise is pretty fun and gets used to good effect. Now that I think about it, I guess I was looking forward to some more Anathem-esque exploration of magic and time travel, but I do agree that the witches basically being quantom mechanics manipulators à la Fraa Jad, albeit more unaware of how it works was pretty fun. I also love The Lay of Walmart. Fatlanders!
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Jul 14, 2017 07:27
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I want a sequel now. I'm hoping they don't just cap things off with this DODO Files thing.
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Jul 14, 2017 08:27
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So it's actually worth reading then?
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Jul 14, 2017 09:58
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I enjoyed it. It was much more lighthearted than his recent work. Reminded me of snow crash more than say reamde.
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Jul 14, 2017 12:59
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Kinda nice to see Stephenson getting back to a more pulpy, less hifalutin style.
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Jul 14, 2017 15:15
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How much I like the ending of DODO depends a whole lot on whether I think the story is meant to be continued in another book or books by the same authors, another book or books by one of the two authors, another book or books by completely different authors, in an MMORPG that will be lucky to get into development hell let alone out of it, or not at all. (Has anyone said, anywhere, which of these cases is likely?)
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Jul 17, 2017 00:37
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Thranguy posted:How much I like the ending of DODO depends a whole lot on whether I think the story is meant to be continued in another book or books by the same authors, another book or books by one of the two authors, another book or books by completely different authors, in an MMORPG that will be lucky to get into development hell let alone out of it, or not at all.
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Jul 17, 2017 00:49
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Neal Stephenson should really try to stop making "augmented reality novels" a thing. Remember the sword game? Yeah, nobody does.
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Jul 21, 2017 00:32
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I think people do remember it, but mainly as a highly visible kickstarter fuckup.
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Jul 21, 2017 05:02
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William Gibson really has aged more gracefully into the world he once wrote about than Stephenson, though with the age gap it may be an unfair comparison. Even still, what Gibson did with Agrippa was at least a decade ahead of its time and way more interesting and cool than The Mongoliad or The Sword Game
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Jul 21, 2017 06:06
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And Gibson's last book was awesome.
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Jul 22, 2017 11:27
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I dunno, I sort of liked The Mongoliad - if only for being set in a relatively novel historical context.
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Jul 22, 2017 12:41
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I just picked up Void Star. While I'm not far enough into it to recommend yet, it definitely has some Gibson/Stephenson touches to it.
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Jul 22, 2017 15:04
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Atlas Hugged posted:And Gibson's last book was awesome. Easily better than anything Stephenson has done bar Anathem or Baroque.
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Jul 22, 2017 20:46
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It looks like The Mongoliad books are on sale for $.99 each. When it comes to Stephenson I've only read Seveneves but I enjoyed it for the most part. Is the series worth picking up for less than $5?
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Aug 21, 2017 16:53
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Disillusionist posted:It looks like The Mongoliad books are on sale for $.99 each. When it comes to Stephenson I've only read Seveneves but I enjoyed it for the most part. Is the series worth picking up for less than $5? Neal only wrote a few sections of each book, they were written by committee. Book one has 7 authors. It's basically generic fantasy by a bunch of guys who really like swordfighting. I enjoyed them enough to read the first two books, but not enough to read the third when it came out. There are worse things to spend the five bucks on. A better thing to spend the five bucks on would be Anathem, the Baroque Cycle, or Snow Crash.
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Aug 21, 2017 17:31
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I'm nearly done with a re-read of System of the World, and I have a history question: Daniel spends a good deal of time in the book working on creating the Logic Mill with Leibniz for Peter the Great of Russia. I know in real life Leibniz worked on mechanical calculators, but did he ever make a serious effort to construct a "thinking machine" like the Logic Mill or a digital computer? And was Peter ever actually involved in any way, or is this just a case of Stephenson introducing yet another ridiculous(ly entertaining) historical figure for kicks?
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Sep 23, 2017 14:46
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Mr. Peepers posted:I'm nearly done with a re-read of System of the World, and I have a history question: Daniel spends a good deal of time in the book working on creating the Logic Mill with Leibniz for Peter the Great of Russia. I know in real life Leibniz worked on mechanical calculators, but did he ever make a serious effort to construct a "thinking machine" like the Logic Mill or a digital computer? And was Peter ever actually involved in any way, or is this just a case of Stephenson introducing yet another ridiculous(ly entertaining) historical figure for kicks? I think this is just supposed to be one of those tenuous links/parallels between The Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon. Daniel works on the logic mill alongside a real brilliant philosopher while Lawrence Waterhouse helps Alan Turing invent an actual computer during WW2. Note it's the fictional character doing the heavy lifting in The Baroque Cycle and Turing in Cryptonomicon. I can't find any references to Peter the Great being tied to early attempts at mechanical computing, though I'm sure he did sponsor plenty of inventors and natural philosophers as he modernized Russia.
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Sep 25, 2017 14:57
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I always thought Leibniz working with Peter the Great was an oblique reference to The Turk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turk
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Sep 27, 2017 23:12
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Also he needed a way to get the gold plates to Russia where they could be stolen by the nazis and shipped to Japan on a sub that sinks on the way
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Sep 28, 2017 03:36
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There might be a Snow Crash adaptation coming from Amazon next year: http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/amazon-studios-lazarus-snow-crash-ringworld-1202576048/
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Sep 29, 2017 17:37
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withak posted:There might be a Snow Crash adaptation coming from Amazon next year:
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Sep 29, 2017 17:42
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withak posted:There might be a Snow Crash adaptation coming from Amazon next year: I just hope they "age up" YT at least a couple years because *tugs collar* yikes.
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Sep 29, 2017 20:56
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Reading the new book he co-authored, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. - he made it all the way to page 33 without a "Hello I am Neal Stephenson, a smarty-man" segment, so clearly have a co-author helps. Enjoyable otherwise, if invariably about Boston and featuring odd uses of internet speak for no discernible reason.
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Jan 21, 2018 00:10
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angerbeet posted:Reading the new book he co-authored, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. - he made it all the way to page 33 without a "Hello I am Neal Stephenson, a smarty-man" segment, so clearly have a co-author helps. Enjoyable otherwise, if invariably about Boston and featuring odd uses of internet speak for no discernible reason. OK but how many pages does he go before talking about how cool samurai swords are? I think the current record is the Baroque Cycle which makes it around 1000 pages.
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Jan 22, 2018 03:31
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