one of my favorite authors currently writing is neal stephenson. i'm sure that says something about my taste in literature. i find his books to be somewhere in the vast area between trash and art. (not that trash is bad or art is good. i have enjoyed plenty of trashy books and been bored stiff by many art books.) mr. stephenson writes a different kind of book each time out, and this is his sci-fi book.
the story takes place on the planet arbe, a more advanced but somewhat earth like place. the scientific community has been shuttered up in monasteries called maths. (while there is a sprinkling of new words, it's not cumbersome and mr. stephenson has, for the most part, taken care in his word creation.) a cataclysmic event, which i will spoil in a later paragraph, brings them back into the saecular world to hopefully save the day. a fun ride for sure.
what makes mr. stephenson's books so interesting to me is what he includes beyond the story. in most of his books that i have read, it is clear that he is trying to teach me something. this book spends a lot of time in what can only be described as socratic dialogues. mr. stephenson uses these interludes to flesh out some of the more interesting ideas from philosophy, physics, music, and whateverelse he wants. there were many passages to return to just so i could figure out the ideas behind them. i had quite the time trying to explain them to mrs. timmeh. the acknowledgments page is a cornucopia of interesting information, too long to actually be in the book. i can only think that mr. stephenson's goal was not to write about arbe, but to share some cool information he has.
like many of mr. stephenson's books, this one is long. 850+ pages. damn do i like me some long books. it really allows me to know the characters and inhabit the world of the story. there is not much better than a great thick book. this one certainly qualifies.
SPOILER ALERT. DON"T READ PAST HERE IF YOU DO NOT WANT SOME OF THE STORY EXPLAINED.
NO, REALLY
so the cataclysmic event is aliens show up in orbit around arbe and the planet is not sure how to react. four races are represented on the alien ship for reasons that i won't explain. at a couple of points they mention earth, which i was thrown off by. as i think back to the planet names, i don't remember an "earth". probably this is just sloppy reading on my part. i have a tendency to do that as i get close to the end of a book. but i cannot help but wonder if that was some sort of editing error. just a little tidbit i wanted to put out there.
and if you read that paragraph i don't think it spoiled much of the story for you. it was an easy guess as you were reading.
