Negative Positive
Title: A sprawling powerhouse of a book - a 'must-read'...
Review: Stephenson is once again showing his chops. The comparisons to Dickens (even absent the cutesy intentional anachronistic neo-Victorian touches of The Diamond Age) are becoming almost cliche but ring true.Considering the challenges of a 900+ page book (cf. Infinite Jest, the Otherland series), the fact it takes place in two intertwined time-lines, throw in the present tense, multiple POVs, use of historically real characters (Turing, Reagan...), scientifically valid yet readable expositions of cryptography, van Eck phreaking, and the Riemannian zeta function -- you got to give the guy credit for hanging it all together pretty darn well.I usually rush through books in a single sitting, but this one I'm savoring as I go (so I'm really only reviewing the first 400 pages - a normal book!) It's got a lot to chew on and is *amazingly* stimulating.
Is the review positive or negative? 