I make it no secret that my favorite author is Neal Stephenson. Not only did I like The Baroque Cycle, I loved it. In the Beginning was the Command Line was one of the reasons I took interest in Linux in the first place. The fact that my wife named her computer Snowcrash is just a minor reason of the many reasons that makes her so cool.
I’ve been waiting anxiously for news of his next book, and a few weeks ago I was delighted and surprised to find that he had not only announced a new book, he had released it as well. So, without further ado, I fired up Amazon.com and ordered myself up a copy.
While I was still in surprise and shock about the new book announcement, I noticed something out of the ordinary about the webpage Neal Stephenson posted for Anathem. There is a trailer for the book on the page. Yes, a video trailer for the book. Upon first sight I thought it was sheer genius to promote your book with a video trailer like you would find for movies or even music in the form of music videos.
Well, I’ve now received the book and am about 130 or so pages into it. One of the things that struck me about the book early on is that he paints a world where only a small percentage of people can read or even bother to be educated at all. The majority of the world is illiterate, incapable of rational thought; spending much of their time recording and watching movies (he calls them speelys) and talking on cel phones.
I found it ironically funny that the first book I’ve ever seen with a trailer would have such a theme. Yet it is a valid statement about the world we live in today. Much of our entertainment comes from watching recorded media of one sort or another, and a good portion of the rest of our time is spent using a phone.
As you can tell, I am greatly enjoying this book and hope to have a chance to write some more about it by the time that I am done with it. I would also be doing you a dis-service if I didn’t recommend that you read some of his writing, if you haven’t already. Perhaps you could start with Cryptonomicon.