Cryptonomicon

[kelber at mindspring.com]

I'd call it standard sci-fi writing: interesting ideas presented in bland-to-bad style.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>

>
>I couldn't get even half-way through Cryptonomicon because the writing
>was so pedestrian that it was almost painful.  And except for the very
>superficially common subject matter parallels (spies, math & crypto &
>WW2- which must be also in any number of other books) I see no Pynchon
>rip-off or homage.
>
>David Morris
>
>On 1/4/07, kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:

>> I'm about a third of the way through Stephenson' Cryptonomicon.  At first, it felt like a blatant rip-off of (homage to?) V and GR: Navy guys, WWII, math equations inserted into the text, etc.  But at this point, it's clear that S is no P.  The book contains three very linear stories intertwined in very obvious ways.  Of course, I'll have to reserve judgment until I've actually finished.  It's very funny, though, and I'm enjoying it.
>>
>> One question: references to zeta functions keep cropping up.  Is P returning the homage in ATD?