say, half the book. I have started to read this and consequently put it away three times. It has been on my shelf for years (I also have the other two volumes). One of the main problems would be that I don’t like Daniel Waterhouse very much, unfortunate as he is one of the principal characters. I do like a lot of the other lead characters and the various plot lines and very much enjoyed the pseudo-historical sketches of some of the scientific (and/or political) movers and shakers of the time; the descriptions of life in general for a variety of classes of people, the lively descriptions of major cities in Europe and I guess the care and level of detail Stephenson puts in all of these.

The huge size of the (lovely hardcover) book also didn’t help, it is not very luggable. At the time I didn’t have my Sony e-ink reader yet or I would have loaded it on that, so instead I read it on my blackberry using the Mobipocket reader, which made reading this ginormous pill an epic challenge – some 5900 pageturns.

This also meant that reading it became a strict “nothing better to do and no chance to escape” thing; waiting in various and sundy lines/queues, sitting on the can (ayup), smoke breaks, public transport, waiting for a server to restart/upgrade to finish, that sort of thing. It took me months and months to read the whole thing.

Okay, two paragraphs on how I read it and one on the book. Way to go. In closing, I did enjoy it and will start on the next volume, I just haven’t decided on the format yet – BB or e-ink.

Too good for just one book, the ultimate pre-quel begins in Baroque style. Equal parts education and entertainment.

Will start reading tonight.

The amount of history, philosophy and technology packed into this story is mind-boggling! It makes me wonder if Stephenson has himself developed some sort of time machine. I started reading this book last Christmas, but after our flood in January, the book got packed into a box somewhere. I just picked up the softcover and I’ve found that the story’s details were so vivid, that I was able to pick up where I left off, without the dreaded re-reading of 160 pages.

A huge book by a great sci-fi author. Enjoyed Snow Crash and am eager to read this one.

It hath touched my phant’sy.

Reading it again to refresh my memory in preparation for “The Confusion”.

I’m a big big fan of this author. Stephenson manages to get me interested in any topic he writes about (so far), and he’s got me crazy about the 17th century now. Interesting that Amsterdam (my beloved home-town) plays such a prominent role. Eagerly awaiting volume II.

Neal Stephenson’s ‘Cryptonomicon’ is one of my favorite books of the past five years. I’ve given it out as Christmas, birthday presents, etc., more times than I can count. What I loved about that book is that, to me, it really described how math-oriented people THINK, and I have so seldom seen that represented in literature anywhere. That and the pure chaotic frenzy of some of the World War II stuff …

I dug Stephenson’s ‘Snow Crash,’ but it was his 70-odd page story in an old ‘Wired’ magazine about the laying of undersea fiber-optic cables and its historical precedents that first truly impressed me with this guy’s writing (and reporting) prowess. He hasn’t let me down since.

As I’ve heard/read elsewehere, this book slows down for a couple hundred pages after its first 100 or so pages. Still, it’s account of the scientific revolution in progress, plagues, fires, economics and the politics of vagabondry is pretty gripping reading. I’m tearing right through it, though I still have no real idea where this thing is going. I’m about half-way through the first book of a three-book series, though, so I guess it’s true that things are just getting started.

I liked this very much, it was supremely informative. His fictional accounts of historical occurances and time periods give me more insight into the circumstances than years of history courses ever did.

I have to admit that I liked The Diamond Age better, maybe I am just a sucker for overtly futuristic themes.

Not incredibly impressed… it was an okay read, but it’s a little too smarmy sometimes (ohWOW, a whole cameo by a young Ben Franklin)... the ending picked up a bit, as of about page 827 or so, but still, was more of a chore than a pleasure to read.

My least favorite Stephenson. Still worth reading though…

I cancelled my order due to financial reasons, but I’ll buy it as soon as I can.

Just ordered this book. Looks like one of my favorite authors has been quite busy indeed.