Anathem - my review

I have just finished reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson. This is a tremendous book - in many senses. It is just under 1000 pages, so functions as a tremendous doorstop; but more seriously it is tremendous is scope, ambition, and evocation. It deeply embeds views about philosophy, mathematics, methods of human thought, and the history of science and thought into a fictional world that is compelling and drew me in irresitably. His prose style is rich, deep, and intricate. In building his fictional world he manages to introduce and integrate many current scientific, mathematical, and philosophic theories into a book that is eminently readable. (I read the book in two sessions.) The feel of the culture he describes, and the feeling of depth of time he conveys reminded me very much of Cordwainer Smith - though these two authors convey such feeling in very different ways. Smith is nearly devoid of technological description or explanation, relying rather on an phrases and words which evoke the depth of cultural history - Stephenson's work is structured by, and explains the theories on which his world is based, and evokes the richness he conveys by extensive narrative explanation.

I found that reading this book brought various strands of thought together and enabled me to clarify some of the ideas I have been investigating (Buddhism and what science writing I still keep up with; ways of understanding; and what life, the universe and everything means to me (and for me the answer is not 42)).

There are two quotes from the book that summarise its attraction, meaning, and significance to me:
"What is given to us, what we observe. In the end, that's all we have to work with."
and
"My brain doesn't have to support this hugely detailed, accurate, configurable quantum-superposition-supporting model of the cosmos anymore! All it need to do is perceive - to reflect - the cosmos that it's really in, as it really is."