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Stephenson:Neal:Cryptonomicon

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This is an intermediate page for the novel Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.

!!SPOILERS BELOW!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Stephensonia

This book features Santa Monica! This whole book pokes fun at the Golden Braid. SMSignMW.jpg

**Santa Monica Harbor

Many WWII warriors depart from here to the Pacific**

Cast of characters and things annotated so far

Authored entries

Community entry: Cryptonomicon

Stephenson calls World War II the recent Titanomachia - Among real people mentioned in the book are Albert Einstein and General Douglas MacArthur. This tale encompasses all both theatres of war. Cryptonomicon is a sprawling novel by Neal Stephenson that is more a combination of historical fiction and contemporary techno-thriller than the science fiction of Stephenson's earlier works. It follows the parallel saga of cryptographers from World War II (see U-413, U-553, U-691, Enigma, Alan Turing) and their descendants attempting to use modern cryptography to build a data haven in a fictitious East Asian island state and the political machinations that follow both efforts. LittleDougMacMW.jpg

The Old Soldier

Cryptonomicon is notably heavy going for non-technical readers in parts. Several pages are spent explaining in detail some of the concepts behind cryptography, for example. Stephenson even includes the details of a real, near-unbreakable cypher algorithm, developed by Bruce Schneier, as part of the plot. Despite this, the book drew praise from both Stephenson's science fiction fan base and literary critics and buyers.

Cryptonomicon is billed as the first book in an as-yet-unnamed series. The Baroque Cycle may be considered the 2nd - 9th books in the series, and a series within a series itself. The books are related by theme and family relationships.

The title is drawn indirectly from the Necronomicon, a fictional work detailed within the works of the writer H. P. Lovecraft and friends like Clark Aston Smith Robert E. Howard who gave us Conan the Barbarian. When Stephenson came up with his title, he was not aware of the word's origin. He was directly inspired by the fictional book's appearance in the Evil Dead series of comedic horror films. Mining the same source material are Penny Arcade and Megatokyo with the use of the Necrowombicom; And, Howard Hallis makes light of this Jack Chick tract while talking of the elder gods (which earned him a phony cease and desist letter). For more on along this line, see the Cthulhu Mythos page.

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The UK Cover

Bigger image here

Sources

This section lists sources for the Press Conference in the e-book version of Cryptonomicon

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The Polish Cover
seems equipted with a "cluebat" illo ... nice though * “Cryptonomicon Cypher-FAQ” by Neal Stephenson: Cryptonomicon (May 2003) for the e-book version * “Mother Earth Motherboard” by Neal Stephenson:Wired, Issue 4.12, December 1996