Cryptonomicon

Cryptonomicon

Hardcover - USA - 1st edition.

Author Neal Stephenson Published 1999-05-?? Type Fiction Genre Adventure Themes Adventure, Computers, Cryptography, Hacking, Historical fiction, Japan, Military fiction, Techno-thriller, War, World War II Age Group Adult

Cryptonomicon is a novel that is a mix between a historical fiction and techno-thriller by Neal Stephenson, published in May 1999. It would later serve as a later book in the chronology of The Baroque Cycle. The book jumps between two primary stories, one of WWII cryptography and espionage, the other of late-1990s entrepreneurs trying to become both extremely wealthy and change the world by introducing a new electronic crypto-currency. There are several other characters with back-stories that converge on the primary stories.

Stephenson created an ancient book called the Cryptonomicon, a dense tome discussing the growth and progress of cryptography over the centuries, for this story. He later talks about its fictional creator in a subsequent book, Quicksilver. I would love to see such a book created in real life!

Personal

Own?	No.
Read?	Audiobook read by William Dufris.
Finished	2015.

I was already a fan of Neal Stephenson's work having read Snow Crash when my coworker Paul gave great praise after having finished Cryptonomicon, I added to my to-read list, but it took several years before I finally did. But, once I did, I loved it.

Review

Overall:

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The story is extremely engrossing, and telling the two stories at once is a great way at keeping everything fresh.
• I found practically all of the characters very interesting. The ones I liked, I really liked, the ones I hated, I really hated. Even the villains were quite human and relatable.
• There are plenty of moments when you want to cheer from a victory, cry from something heart-breaking, and laugh out loud from a clever joke.
• I enjoyed the numerous detailed forays into technology and math.
• Though cryptographic currencies did exist in 1999 when the book was published, they were still very fringe, so it was very forward-thinking for Stephenson to include them, although, he didn't count on something like Bitcoin which doesn't need gold backing.

Bad

• Stephenson's use of jumping back and forth between plot lines effectively holds suspense, while also teasing the reader with premature information, however, the disjointed chapters require the reader to infer a fair amount information and often becomes confusing.
• Stephenson tends to go on and on about unrelated topics that seem to only exist to pad the book. However, he has such a wonderful writing style, it's forgivable.
• The ease at which Van Eck phreaking is implemented is far too easy to create.
• I didn't much care for how the book finishes in such an open-ended fashion.

Ugly

• Nothing really. This book was a joy to read.

Representation

Strong female character?	Pass
Bechdel test?	Unknown
Strong person of color character?	Pass
Queer character?	Pass

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