| 1. |  | Anathem
from William Morrow
Price: $19.77
Customer Review:
Yes, the author does deliver a nuanced world but where in the heck is an editor? Great spurts of adventure and derring-do sparsely planted in long winded philosophical passages. How's about a little brevity. Stick withe the adventure and ease up on the hair-splitting. Not for the faint of heart nor... more info | 4.0 / 5.0
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| 2. |  | Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book)
from Spectra
Price: $10.20
Customer Review:
Something good:
This book, written before the Internet was little more than a government and university project with a few commercial interests throw in, presents an almost precognitive look at a world interconnected via the computer. Some of the technology described, even if slightly... more info | 4.0 / 5.0
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| 3. |  | Cryptonomicon
from Avon
Price: $8.99
Customer Review:
I am 54 years old and I am a nerd. (Sounds like an AA confession or something).
You may think Important People like George Bush or Bill Clinton or President-elect (at time of writing) Obama, or A. Lincoln, or Alexander or Ghengis Khan or Hitler or Nimitz or FDR or Churchill are the kind of guys... more info | 4.0 / 5.0
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| 4. |  | Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1)
from Harper Perennial
Price: $10.85
Customer Review:
Reading this book made me fall in love with 17th and 18th century Europe, a period in history which I previously had little interest in. This book is a fun and exciting way to walk along the streets of Renaissance Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Vienna. I found the descriptions of the Netherlands to... more info | 3.5 / 5.0
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| 5. |  | The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3)
Price: $8.99
Customer Review:
Still working on Quicksilver and The Confusion Volumes 1 & 2 (about halfway through Quicksilver). I know I will enjoy this though. Also couldn't pass up the great price for this nice hardcover edition that I can't find in bookstores anymore, so I figured it would be best to buy it now before I'm... more info | 4.5 / 5.0
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| 6. |  | The Confusion (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 2)
Price: $8.99
Customer Review:
Excellent. This continuation of the Baroque Cycle Saga is even more enthralling than Quicksilver. Stephenson maintains his storytelling style of exquisite detail, interspersed with quirky, ribald humor and intellectual subtleties. Expanding the domain of action beyond Europe to North Africa and the... more info | 4.5 / 5.0
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| 7. |  | The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (Bantam Spectra Book)
from Spectra
Price: $10.20
Customer Review:
After Snow Crash, a sci-fi masterpiece, I can't tell you how genuinely excited I was when I picked-up and began to read Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. I was particularly drawn to this book given that it was set in a future Shanghai, the city in which I now reside. I cannot even begin to express... more info | 4.0 / 5.0
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| 8. |  | Zodiac
from Grove Press
Price: $11.20
Customer Review:
I can't believe I'm only now getting to this novel. I love being entertained, and this really moves along at a good clip. Although it was written 20 years ago, the environmental issues addressed haven't changed. Stephenson's humor is in top form, and easily accessible in this relatively short novel.... more info | 4.0 / 5.0
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| 9. |  | The Cobweb
from Spectra
Price: $10.20
Customer Review:
It is the eve of the first US war with Iraq. Tensions are mounting, but the US still supports Saddam Hussein.
In a sleepy Midwestern town, a foreign student is murdered. Something about the case bothers Deputy Sheriff Clyde Banks, whose best weapon is not his nightstick Excalibur, but his brain... more info | 4.0 / 5.0
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| 10. |  | In the Beginning...was the Command Line
from Harper Perennial
Price: $8.00
Customer Review:
This essay is nearly 8 years old, and in dire need of an update. So in 2004 Grant Birkel set out to do just that, producing a set of comments called "The Command Line in 2004". It's freely available on the web, and I suggest you read that version instead of the (older) book.
As far as... more info | 4.0 / 5.0
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