New Neil Stephenson — Anathem — due in August

[Heradel]

From Nerd World.

Since childhood, Raz has lived behind the walls of a 3,400-year-old monastery, a sanctuary for scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians—sealed off from the illiterate, irrational, unpredictable "saecular" world that is plagued by recurring cycles of booms and busts, world wars and climate change. Until the day that a higher power, driven by fear, decides that only these cloistered scholars have the abilities to avert an impending catastrophe. And, one by one, Raz and his cohorts are summoned forth without warning into the Unknown.

—

As someone who dragged and sprinted his way through the Baroque cycle, I'm excited, though I'm wondering if the title's a reference to Ayn Rand's Anthem. And the blurb is making me slightly confused, is the meaning of secular reversed so these religious scientists/philosophers/mathematicians and the outside world doesn't believe in science and thus science is secular?

At least he's in the future again.
—
Edit: Started remembering Anthem from my 10th grade English class. From what I remember, it seems plausible that Anathem could be using Anthem's world.

I'm not sure I can spoil a book that's been out the better part of a century, but stop reading if you want to read it unspoiled. Again, I haven't read this in years, so I might get something wrong.

First off, it's post apocalyptic, with some medieval-tech society sitting on the ruins of a modern world. Anthem ends with the main character, a scientifically minded rebel, escaping the stifling communist society that refuses to advance/accept change and is locked in continual world wars with a hazily defined enemy. He escapes, finds some kind of mountain hideaway house, and him and his girlfriend presumably breed and pass on the rebellion of I instead of We (it is Rand after all). So if we iterate a few hundred generations, and assuming other rebels that provide new genetic stock, that mountain hideaway could become a monastery and the outside civilization could faction further and keep fighting, ignoring the guys with the electric lights up in the mountain.

Or I could be completely wrong.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

I think it only right and fitting that I echo the sentiment of the first commentor on the Nerd World blog post:  I think I poo'd myself a little.

[Boggled Coriander]

Neato!  This is happy news.  Two questions:

1.  Will it be set in the Cryptonomiconoverse?   From the plot description, I'm guessing "no", but it's always possible.

2.  Will the plot kind of meander around for 900 pages, accumulating characters and plot points like a rolling snowball, before everything collides in the last hundred pages?  Don't get me wrong - I'm hoping the answer is "yes".

[Heradel]

Neato!  This is happy news.  Two questions:

1.  Will it be set in the Cryptonomiconoverse?   From the plot description, I'm guessing "no", but it's always possible.

No, they'd probably mention it if they did. If it is, it's a few thousand years in the future.

2.  Will the plot kind of meander around for 900 pages, accumulating characters and plot points like a rolling snowball, before everything collides in the last hundred pages?  Don't get me wrong - I'm hoping the answer is "yes".

928 pages, and answer is unknowable, ask again later.

[stePH]

2.  Will the plot kind of meander around for 900 pages, accumulating characters and plot points like a rolling snowball, before everything collides in the last hundred pages?

Come on, d00d ... this is Stephenson.  What do you think?

For the record, I gave the Baroque Cycle a miss.  I might have given it a go once, but then it went from a trilogy to an octalogy and I'm not clear as to where the extra books came from.

[Heradel]

For the record, I gave the Baroque Cycle a miss.  I might have given it a go once, but then it went from a trilogy to an octalogy and I'm not clear as to where the extra books came from.

Splitting the originals in half/thirds. Personally that makes them less weaponizable, but the back hurts less carrying them around, so perhaps it's not all bad.

[stePH]

For the record, I gave the Baroque Cycle a miss.  I might have given it a go once, but then it went from a trilogy to an octalogy and I'm not clear as to where the extra books came from.

Splitting the originals in half/thirds. Personally that makes them less weaponizable, but the back hurts less carrying them around, so perhaps it's not all bad.

Ah.  Presumably the book that was the first part of the original "trilogy" volume retained the title, as I still saw the original three titles with new titles interspersed between them.

I might still give it a go someday, then.

[Heradel]

Necromancing a dead thread yet again, Boing Boing's published part of the glossary to Anathem, so here it is, though I know you have all already gone Hundred waiting.

Edit: He also reads from it on the [url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0061474096/escapepod-20]Amazon page.