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Anathem (Neal Stephenson)
Apr. 9th, 2024 10:31 amThis book, man, this fricking book.
Important: this is a reread. I'm pretty sure the first time I read it was over a decade ago and I was an undergrad at the time. I think it is, on some levels, amazing and mind-blowing and very well-done. I have a lot of high praise for it. Again, this post is going to probably be disproportionately focused on things that didn't work for me, then and/or now, but that's more about my emotions and less a fair assessment of its literary merits.
The concept: Erasmas is a young "fraa" or "avout" in a "concent" on the planet of "Arbre." The concent is where all the intellectual sorts in Arbre hang out. They go in and take vows that separate them from the "Sæcular" world, so they can focus their attentions on philosophy, math, science, that kind of thing. They spend a lot of time talking about eponymous concepts like Plato's Cave or Ockham's Razor or the Pythagorean Theorem, except Arbre isn't Earth, so they don't have a Plato or an Ockham or a Pythagoras, everything has different names. Depending on how deeply they're embedded within the concent, avout can only emerge for a period of ten days every year, decade, century, or millennium. As our story begins, Erasmas ("Raz") is eighteen, and it's the end of the year 3689; when the (enormous, brilliantly complex, work of art) clock strikes 3690, it will be a new decade, and he'll get to go outside and see his family and the world for the first time in ten years. Which he does. Then things get weird.
Okay, so. Some of the words, you will recognize as being familiar to but not exactly words in our world. "Fraa" ~ "friar," "avout" ~ "devout" or "avowed," "concent" ~ "convent" or "concentric." Even the title: "anathem" ~ "anthem," "anathema." This is all on purpose. People who don't like neologisms in their books probably won't like this book, and that's okay. This is not a criticism I have.
The first chunk of this book is, from a worldbuilding perspective, very fun and cool because MATH MONKS. The concept of the centenarian and millenarian communities remaining in seclusion and pushing forward the boundaries of knowledge is fascinating. The elaborate descriptions of the gothic architecture, the bells, the clockwork, the rituals, the music...it's the kind of place I want to visit, even if I wouldn't necessarily want to live there. A little like Ender's Game, sometimes the jargon can throw you into the world a little abruptly, but once I'm in, I like it, and sometimes resent when the plot moves on and drags me away from the cool concent stuff.
A couple subtweets: if you're a math and change ringing nerd and somehow haven't read this book yet, I highly recommend at least the first chunk. Because change ringing!!! If you're a river rafting guide, I can't recommend this book just for the person of Yulassetar Crade, because it's a very long book and Yul is a very minor character. I can, however, tell you that Yul is the kind of wonderful, self-reliant, adventurous character who has an exciting job where every day is a new challenge that brings the potential for a new story. Yul is great.
So.
( Spoilers and rants about many things )
The most important thing I would have wanted to know when I read this the first time is that change ringing with mathematical patterns is real, you can do it in this universe! I didn't discover my college's tower until almost too late, but now I'm slowly picking it up again, and handbells/online ringing give the opportunity to learn the math without the coordination. :D
Important: this is a reread. I'm pretty sure the first time I read it was over a decade ago and I was an undergrad at the time. I think it is, on some levels, amazing and mind-blowing and very well-done. I have a lot of high praise for it. Again, this post is going to probably be disproportionately focused on things that didn't work for me, then and/or now, but that's more about my emotions and less a fair assessment of its literary merits.
The concept: Erasmas is a young "fraa" or "avout" in a "concent" on the planet of "Arbre." The concent is where all the intellectual sorts in Arbre hang out. They go in and take vows that separate them from the "Sæcular" world, so they can focus their attentions on philosophy, math, science, that kind of thing. They spend a lot of time talking about eponymous concepts like Plato's Cave or Ockham's Razor or the Pythagorean Theorem, except Arbre isn't Earth, so they don't have a Plato or an Ockham or a Pythagoras, everything has different names. Depending on how deeply they're embedded within the concent, avout can only emerge for a period of ten days every year, decade, century, or millennium. As our story begins, Erasmas ("Raz") is eighteen, and it's the end of the year 3689; when the (enormous, brilliantly complex, work of art) clock strikes 3690, it will be a new decade, and he'll get to go outside and see his family and the world for the first time in ten years. Which he does. Then things get weird.
Okay, so. Some of the words, you will recognize as being familiar to but not exactly words in our world. "Fraa" ~ "friar," "avout" ~ "devout" or "avowed," "concent" ~ "convent" or "concentric." Even the title: "anathem" ~ "anthem," "anathema." This is all on purpose. People who don't like neologisms in their books probably won't like this book, and that's okay. This is not a criticism I have.
The first chunk of this book is, from a worldbuilding perspective, very fun and cool because MATH MONKS. The concept of the centenarian and millenarian communities remaining in seclusion and pushing forward the boundaries of knowledge is fascinating. The elaborate descriptions of the gothic architecture, the bells, the clockwork, the rituals, the music...it's the kind of place I want to visit, even if I wouldn't necessarily want to live there. A little like Ender's Game, sometimes the jargon can throw you into the world a little abruptly, but once I'm in, I like it, and sometimes resent when the plot moves on and drags me away from the cool concent stuff.
A couple subtweets: if you're a math and change ringing nerd and somehow haven't read this book yet, I highly recommend at least the first chunk. Because change ringing!!! If you're a river rafting guide, I can't recommend this book just for the person of Yulassetar Crade, because it's a very long book and Yul is a very minor character. I can, however, tell you that Yul is the kind of wonderful, self-reliant, adventurous character who has an exciting job where every day is a new challenge that brings the potential for a new story. Yul is great.
So.
( Spoilers and rants about many things )
The most important thing I would have wanted to know when I read this the first time is that change ringing with mathematical patterns is real, you can do it in this universe! I didn't discover my college's tower until almost too late, but now I'm slowly picking it up again, and handbells/online ringing give the opportunity to learn the math without the coordination. :D
