The Cypto-bible (Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson)

Member Name: vikil

Product:	Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
Date:	21/09/00 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Smart, funny and makes you think.

Disadvantages: The technical details are a bit tiresome and the xenophobic feel of it makes me uneasy.

Crypto is a mammoth of a book and it takes some hard work to go through its 900-odd pages. But as NS himself would say, the output makes the input worthwhile.
A combination of sci-fi and historical narrative, Crypto shifts between WWII and a very near future, weaving together three separate story lines. Lawrence Waterhouse, a brilliant mathematician, with total lack of social skills, becomes by pure chance, one of the leading code breakers of WWII, his decryptions changing history of the European and Pacific fronts. Some 50 years later his grandson Randy, returns to the Pacific, to start up a communications company which is destined to revolutionise global banking and change the world on the way. The third and best story line, follows US marine Bobby Shaftoe through his hectic Second World War service, from the Philippines to America, the elusive 2702 Regiment and back to the Pacific. Mostly Shaftoe is just a pawn in the hands of unfathomable forces, but his unrelenting cool and wry wit in face of most atrocious calamities, make him the most likeable protagonist of the three.
Crypto covers enough code breaking stuff to satisfy the most relentless nerd (obviously the target audience for the book). It also manages to cramp in more past, present and future I/T than some of the XXX for Dummies guides. Don’t be put off by it!! The technical pages can always be skipped if it’s not your cup of tea and the rest is brilliant. NS has a totally original view of the world, which will make you look differently at such mundane things as your girlfriend’s romantic novels or the family heirloom of old furniture. His combination of hilarious pieces with relentless horror reminds most of Louis De Bernieres (although his fans will be probably horrified at the comparison), and makes it an un-put-downable read. It takes some concentration to follow all the endless subplots and the constant jumping between the three main story-lines but it all comes together a
t the end. The ending itself is somewhat disappointing (as strangely often the case with really good novels), but apparently a sequel is in the making which hopefully will be just as good and will sort out the remaining mysteries (like Avi’s ultimate plan or Shaftoe’s lizard… you’ll have to read it).
All said, Crypto is not a perfect book. Its most appalling feature is the nationalism and xenophobia cleverly interwoven between the pages. If you thought that the recent batch of Hollywood WWII movies tried to rewrite history, think again. According to NS, the British role in WWII was limited to being eccentric and letting the Americans to do the ‘real men’s’ job. The Russians are mentioned in two sentences and the Japanese (referred all through the book exclusively as Nipps) are dumb and relentless killing machines which only come to their senses thanks to the considerate American occupation (the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki being mysteriously absent from the narrative). NS puts in a few positive Germans, a couple of gays and one repentant Japanese for good measure, but it doesn’t change the uneasy feeling that in his view the world is just a big playground for the resplendent American chaps, which can be always relied upon to come and save the day.
This doesn’t mean that Crypto is not worth reading and the ultimate idea of the book that the new information technology could eventually prevent future atrocities on both national and international kind offers some redemption. In all ways Crypto is a definitely a very mind refreshing exercise.

Summary: