Comments on: Anathem by Neal Stephenson

By: lanea

lanea — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:46:05 +0000

Paul, this may be one of those books that just plain works better on paper. The kernel of the story is wonderful, but Sttephenson definitely expects his readers to work hard right alongside him. I normally love his books, but this one seemed to need more editing.

And while I understand how busy we can all be, I’d stridently encourage you to keep reading old fashioned paper books. I love audiobooks, but I don’t think they replace paper books. And I don’t want them to.

By: Paul Walden

Paul Walden — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:47:52 +0000

I have tried three times to listen to this audio book – and I keep loosing complete and total interest in what is going on. I normally do very well with complicated, dense material that continues on and on – for instance, I really quite enjoyed the audio book of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell – but, for the LIFE of me, I can’t, I cannot, I can NOT get past an hour or two of listening to this one.

It is quite a pity. This is supposed to be one of the landmark sci-fi books in recent memory and the only time I have for sci-fi consumption these days is either on my daily commute, while I am am running / biking or when I am folding laundry. I don’t have the time for a physical book anymore.

As I shelled out the – what – 40 bucks for it already, I will most likely try and try again, but is that really what we want from our high level talent? A story that is so impenetrable as to require multiple attempts to get deep enough for the true juices to show?

By: Rob Oakes

Rob Oakes — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 03:52:51 +0000

I couldn't agree more. I started the book as an Audible download, and ended up buying the hardcover. This isn't the type of book that translates well to audio. It's too long, and frankly too involved. While still listening, I often needed to re-listen to a give dialogue or conversation to ensure that I understood the premise. It's much, much, much more obnoxious to rewind then and re-listen to an audiobook then it is to flip back and re-read a section. Even when reading it, however, I still found the book to be incredibly frustrating. Neal Stephenson is an incredibly clever person. He's recombined the whole of human history into a theory of everything. But more often than not, I found the devices to be just clever. While he would occasionally cross over into brilliant, that didn't happen as often as it might have.

By: Tavia Gilbert

Tavia Gilbert — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:07:35 +0000

Lanea, I’m flattered by your kind review of my very small part of this epic work, and I’m pleased you’ll seek out my narration work in the future!

Warm regards,
Tavia Gilbert