Reddit Reddit reviews Anathem

We found 24 Reddit comments about Anathem. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

Literature & Fiction
Books
American Literature
Anathem
Neal Stephenson, Anathem
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24 Reddit comments about Anathem:

u/random_pattern · 14 pointsr/Futurology

I think I went through this years ago, when I was attending the then-called Singularity Institute's yearly conferences and reading books like Anathem. Now I'm working hard on reverse engineering the premises and logic behind the visionary plans of the movement. Why wait for these "expected" changes to occur, when I can push them to my consciousness/mind/body NOW. I can't wait for tech to catch up.

So no, I don't go to sleep at night in awe of what I expect or hope the singularity movement(s) to deliver in the future. I'll believe that when I see it. Instead I go to bed thinking: what can I do tomorrow, what is my next step, to turn myself into the advanced human being I know I can become?

If (since) I was studying logarithms in sixth grade, I should be able to step up to the plate on this one.

Ed. 1 (to remove a word)
Ed. 2 (to add a word)

u/yourapostasy · 10 pointsr/programming

That perception amongst most programmers is only because good sales people are like good programmers: rare.

The common lament that out of 10 applicants for an entry-level programming job these days, only one will actually know how to write up a linked list data structure and walk it in just one direction for one iteration, even when given their pick of programming language, half a day, any language/system reference manuals they please, no constraints on performance/efficiency/aesthetics (we just want to see you even remember a linked list, and can do some minimal programming), and no Net access? It applies in a similar manner to sales people, too.

When you see a sales person coasting along as an order taker, or worse, taking the team down a notch by overpromising and underdelivering using deceit or prevarication with the customer, you're watching a Blub sales person in action. These techniques are all they've ever known to work, and they cannot conceive of sales techniques further up the power continuum.

I do both sales and coding these days. They are each an art form when practiced by passionate, caring professionals. I'm far from proficient in either (not an avout in Anathem lingo), but I'm good enough to keep enough clients happy to have my own book of business for over 5 years. So I think I can reasonably claim to know good coders and sellers when I see them.

u/TheAethereal · 5 pointsr/booksuggestions

Fahrenheit 451 is a quick real and well worth it.

Have you read any Neal Stephenson? I bet you'd like Anathem. Definitely a lot of philosophy in it. It's kind of a slow start, but well worth sticking with!

u/disputing_stomach · 4 pointsr/booksuggestions

I was going to mention this. If you're just looking for one large book, Anathem is excellent.

u/Anarchaeologist · 4 pointsr/printSF

Anathem, Neal Stephenson. Like all Neal's novels, it's dense and heavy on exposition. Those who like that kind of thing seem to love this one.

u/InfanticideAquifer · 4 pointsr/math

This biography of Paul Dirac is excellent.

This autobiography (in the form of a sequence of anecdotes) of Richard Feynman is a classic.

This biography of Robert Oppenheimer is extremely good as well.

This book contains short biographies all the most significant figures involved with every Hilbert Problem.

This is a work of science fiction where the main character belongs to a monastic order devoted to mathematics and theoretical science. It's among my favorite books.

edit: Who downvotes this? Really? Even if you think you've got better options... just leave a comment with them for OP.

u/1point618 · 3 pointsr/printSF

Currently reading, and would like to finish:

  1. Interaction Ritual Chains by Randal Collins

    Started in 2014, put down, would like to finish in 2015:

  2. Aztecs by Inga Clendinnen

  3. The Ego Tunnel by Thomas Metzinger

    Would like to re-read in 2015:

  4. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

  5. White Noise by Don DeLillo

  6. Anathem by Neal Stephenson

    Would like to read in 2015:

  7. The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro

  8. A couple of books for /r/SF_Book_Club

  9. Blindsight and Echopraxia by Peter Watts, back-to-back

  10. At least one or two books on Buddhist philosophy / practice

  11. At least one or two books on philosophy, either philo of mind or more cultural studies / anthro / sociology type stuff.
u/SnarkMasterFlash · 3 pointsr/suggestmeabook

Anathem by Neal Stephenson.

u/Luzzatto · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

Sounds like you'd enjoy 'Anathem' by Neal Stephenson. Its the most thought-out, well-considered post-apocalyptic sci-fi I've ever read. I really can't recommend it enough. Its inexpensive in trade paperback and on Kindle.

(Sorry for megalink, on mobile)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/006147410X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1377271985&sr=8-1&pi=SL75

u/bitter_cynical_angry · 2 pointsr/programming

This sounds like something out of Anathem.

u/Forlarren · 2 pointsr/Futurology

And it has a wonderful answer.

Probably my favorite book ever even as a fan of math more than a practitioner.

u/seanomenon · 2 pointsr/AskReddit

The last really good book I read was Anathem by Neal Stephenson. It was enthrallingly, mind-bendingly, unputdownably good.

I recommend it very highly.

u/Zenigen · 2 pointsr/OkCupid

Anathem by Neal Stephenson seems like it could potentially be right up your alley. It's my #1 book by a mile.

u/SupermanIsEnvious · 2 pointsr/WritingPrompts

Have you read Anathem? Because if you haven't, you should. I loved that book and I loved the world you created through the eyes of this young alien boy. In reality, I think this story needs to be a full-length novel. You have so many wonderful insights into this culture that you simply don't get a chance to go over.

I felt as though the end was rushed, and I found myself having to go back and see if I had missed important details. I think I had a bit of a shock, because the pacing changed dramatically near the end and I had a hard time visualizing the action.

Flesh this baby out! Write a novel! Do it!

u/baltakatei · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

[](/c11 "Time for some blatant plagiarism")


Someone or something trying to insert more unsourced information onto the Internet?

> “Early in the [Internet]—thousands of years ago—it became almost useless because it was cluttered with faulty, obsolete, or downright misleading information,” Sammann said.

> “Crap, you once called it,” I reminded him.

> “Yes—a technical term. So crap filtering became important. Businesses were built around it. Some of those businesses came up with a clever plan to make more money: they poisoned the well. They began to put crap on the [Internet] deliberately, forcing people to use their products to filter that crap back out. They created [computers] whose sole purpose was to spew crap into the [Internet]. But it had to be good crap.”

> “What is good crap?” Arsibalt asked in a politely incredulous tone.

>“Well, bad crap would be an unformatted document consisting of random letters. Good crap would be a beautifully typeset, well-written document that contained a hundred correct, verifiable sentences and one that was subtly false. It’s a lot harder to generate good crap. At first they had to hire humans to churn it out. They mostly did it by taking legitimate documents and inserting errors—swapping one name for another, say. But it didn’t really take off until the military got interested.”

>“As a tactic for planting misinformation in the enemy’s [networks], you mean,” Osa said. “This I know about. You are referring to the Artificial Inanity programs of the mid-First Millennium A.R.”

>“Exactly!” Sammann said. “Artificial Inanity systems of enormous sophistication and power were built for exactly the purpose Fraa Osa has mentioned. In no time at all, the [technology] leaked to the commercial sector and spread to the Rampant Orphan Botnet Ecologies. Never mind. The point is that there was a sort of Dark Age on the [Internet] that lasted until my [ITA, Information Technology Administrators,] forerunners were able to bring matters in hand.”

>“So, are Artificial Inanity systems still active in the Rampant Orphan Botnet Ecologies?” asked Arsibalt, utterly fascinated.

>“The ROBE evolved into something totally different early in the Second Millennium,” Sammann said dismissively.

>“What did it evolve into?” Jesry asked.

>“No one is sure,” Sammann said. “We only get hints when it finds ways to physically instantiate itself, which, fortunately, does not happen that often. But we digress. The functionality of Artificial Inanity still exists. You might say that those [ITA] who brought the [Internet] out of the Dark Age could only defeat it by co-opting it. So, to make a long story short, for every legitimate document floating around on the [Internet], there are hundreds or thousands of bogus versions—bogons, as we call them.”

>“The only way to preserve the integrity of the defenses is to subject them to unceasing assault,” Osa said, and any idiot could guess he was quoting some old Vale aphorism.

>“Yes,” Sammann said, “and it works so well that, most of the time, the users of the [Internet] don’t know it’s there. Just as you are not aware of the millions of germs trying and failing to attack your body every moment of every day. However, the recent events, and the stresses posed by the Antiswarm, appear to have introduced the low-level bug that I spoke of.”

>“So the practical consequence for us,” Lio said, “is that—?”

>“Our cells on the ground may be having difficulty distinguishing between legitimate messages and bogons. And some of the messages that flash up on our screens may be bogons as well.”

>“And this is all because a few bits got flipped in a [computer] somewhere,” Jesry said.

>“It’s slightly more complicated than you make it sound,” Sammann retorted.

>“But what Jesry’s driving at,” I said, “is that this ambiguity is ultimately caused by some number of logic gates or memory cells, somewhere, being in a state that is wrong, or at least ambiguous.”

>“I guess you could put it that way,” Sammann said, and I could tell he was shrugging even if I couldn’t see it. “But it’ll all get sorted soon, and then we’ll stop receiving goofy messages.”

u/[deleted] · 2 pointsr/GoldandBlack

For nonfiction, I've got this ready to go, Organization Theory by Kevin Carson. And looking forward to getting The Enterprise of Law, by Bruce Benson.

On fiction, I'm trying to find the courage to read Anathem by Neal Stephenson. I loved Diamond Age, and thought about giving the doorstopper a shot.

More than open to recommendations, though!

u/slow_one · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

Books sharpen the mind

alright, this is a long shot, but Neil Stephenson's Anathem is one of my favorite books. It's sort of an alternate reality book where universities are these amazing places that have somehow been crossed with convents... but not in a bad way. Honestly, as a grad-student, it sounds pretty alright to me. It's a bit slow at first, and doesn't shy away from theoretical type talk (but there's explanations in the back) but it's quite good.

u/vacuous_comment · 2 pointsr/atheism

You may wish to read Anathem.

In a setting that strongly echoes a monastery thinkers delve into the deepest realms of thought. That is only the setting, there is a story that takes off from there.

u/kevinlanefoster · 1 pointr/scifi
u/newpong · 1 pointr/ifyoulikeblank

For fiction, check out some stuff by Neal stephenson like Cryptonomicon or Anathem

For non-fiction, maybe Hyperspace by Michio Kaku or Chaos by James Gleick.

u/a1will · 1 pointr/todayilearned

Read about The Long Now Foundation for more info.

Or read Neal Stephenson's Anathem for a look into a world where these clocks are present.

u/old_dog_new_trick · 1 pointr/booksuggestions

Some of Neal Stephenson's other novels such as Anathem are definitely hard sci-fi.

Also try Spin by Robert Wilson

u/homedoggieo · 1 pointr/booksuggestions

Anathem!

I recommend it to everyone... it's a little tough to get into, but once I did, I couldn't put it down. I read it in about 3 days, which for me is really fast (considering it's ~800 pages long).

u/admorobo · 1 pointr/suggestmeabook

Anathem by one of the heaviest, most scientific Sci-Fi/Speculative Fiction books out there.