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Anathem

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Anathem

Written by: Neal Stephenson
Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, Tavia Gilbert, William Dufris, Neal Stephenson
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About this listen

Fraa Erasmus is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the "Saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals.

Over the centuries, cities, and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs, bloody violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet always the avout have managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. Erasmus, however, has no fear of the outside - the Extramuros - for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago.

Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fras and suurs prepare to venture outside the concent's gates - opening them wide at the same time to welcome the curious "extras" in.

During his first Apert as a fra, Erasmus eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected". But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the perilous brink of cataclysmic change.

Powerful unforeseen forces threaten the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros - a threat that only an unsteady alliance of Saecular and avout can oppose - as, one by one, Raz's colleagues, teachers, and friends are all called forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster.

Suddenly burdened with a worlds-shattering responsibility, Erasmus finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of everything - as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of an unfamiliar planet...and far beyond.

©2008 Neal Stephenson (P)2008 Macmillan Audio
Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Fiction

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What listeners say about Anathem

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slow burn, searing mark

The work of a master at full stride, this story is a water powered clockwork of time-space dialating imagination.

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1 person found this helpful

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Only for elite hard sci fi lovers

I had to re-listen to the start of this novel ten times to get into the narrative. It's about a 6,000 year old academic/clerical community that has been kept isolated from the surrounding world the whole time. Naturally, such a community will develop philosophical, scientific and critical Ideas in their conversation. This is where the value of this Novel of Ideas lies, in the philosophical, scientific and critical Ideas that drop from time to time out of the narrative. It's 32 hours of challenging hard listening, if you're into hard listening. 32 hours is pretty good value for the money.

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9 people found this helpful

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It s great in a dorky way.

I was intrigued with the constructs but found the story slow and a bit cumbersome. It's hard to blend a good novel with the intent to explicitly teach higher philosophical content.

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Engaging and intriguing alternate Earth

I first have to confess I'm a huge Neal Stephenson fanboy. love this book though.
#Audible1

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I really liked it.

The novel had a slow start and the naming conventions were a bit weird, but it soon normalized with thanks to the quality of the writing and narration.
Like Neal Stephenson’s other novels, it was really well researched. He has a way of weaving complex subject into great plots that is a real delight for the nerdy reader. I would recommend that future listeners dive in with tea in hand and a mind open to far reaching concepts rooted in the real.

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Hmmm…

Very…very… very…dry. Very…very…very…slow. Storyline had so much potential but didn’t deliver.

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Complex, deep. thoughtful yet still has a good pace

I’ve listened twice now and will probably do a couple more. GREAT bedtime read, derails that hamster wheel pronto.

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Amazing depth

Don’t sleep on this book. It’s slow, but conveys ideas that we’ve though about for our entire existence.

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Hard core ivory tower!

This is an astounding work. There are so many ideas:
What if scientific and technological development was conducted in a cloistered environment?
What if first contact wasn't what we expected at all?

Then there's the road trip, the space battle, and the alternate endings...

Neal Stephenson keeps coming up with new genres of SF. I can't wait to see what comes next!

The chants in the audiobook were a nice touch

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Interesting ideas...

What if we put all the scientists and mathematicians into monasteries, and only took them out, dusted them off, and used their brains when crises hit? "They have an alien spaceship and nukes - we have a protractor." "OK, I'll go get a ruler and a piece of string." The quantum mechanics is a bit dodgy, but the story is a lot of fun!

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3 people found this helpful