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Cryptonomicon

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Cryptonomicon

Written by: Neal Stephenson
Narrated by: William Dufris
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About this listen

Neal Stephenson hacks into the secret histories of nations and the private obsessions of men, decrypting with dazzling virtuosity the forces that shaped this century.

In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse - mathematical genius and young Captain in the US Navy - is assigned to Detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Watrehouse and Detachment 2702 - commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe - is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence has cracked the enemy's fabled Enigma code. It is a game, a cryptographic chess match between Waterhouse and his German counterpart, translated into action by the gung-ho Shaftoe and his forces.

Fast-forward to the present, where Waterhouse's crypto-hacker grandson, Randy, is attempting to create a "data haven" in Southeast Asia - a place where encrypted data can be stored and exchanged free of repression and scrutiny. As governments and multinationals attack the endeavor, Randy joins forces with Shaftoe's tough-as-nails granddaughter, Amy, to secretly salvage a sunken Nazi submarine that holds the key to keeping the dream of a data haven afloat.

But soon their scheme brings to light a massive conspiracy, with its roots in Detachment 2702, linked to an unbreakable Nazi code called Arethusa. And it will represent the path to unimaginable riches and a future of personal and digital liberty...or to universal totalitarianism reborn.

A breathtaking tour de force, and Neal Stephenson's most accomplished and affecting work to date, Cryptonomicon is profound and prophetic, hypnotic and hyper-driven, as it leaps forward and back between World War II and the World Wide Web, hinting all the while at a dark day-after-tomorrow. It is a work of great art, thought, and creative daring.

©1999 Neil Stephenson (P)2009 Macmillan Audio
Espionage Hard Science Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction Technothrillers Fiction Thriller Encryption Military Imperialism Hacking Winston Churchill Computer Security
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What listeners say about Cryptonomicon

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All over the place

There was some interesting crypto but the story was all over the place and so much didn't matter at all that It was hard to really enjoy this.

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2 people found this helpful

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Amazing story and narration!

The narrator was amazing! Definitely added extra color to a brilliantly written story. Although this was a big book and long narration, I really didn't want it to end.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Rushed ending

After 40 hours of buildup, it seems Stephenson got bored and finished writing the ending during TV commercial breaks. A good story, and the ending was positive, just felt rushed and a bit anticlimactic.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Very long and marginally interesting

The book is somewhat interesting, but very very long. In the end I skipped over about 15 hours and listened to the last 2 hours just to see how the story ended.
It’s not a bad book, and the vocal performance is very good, but if I could turn back time, I wouldn’t buy this title again.

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3 people found this helpful

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Interesting to say the least

Interesting conversations between quirky characters in a plot that spans years in developments of technologies. Shows that the world works though math. It is also significantly funnier than I expected. Would not recommend to just anyone - but if you enjoy listening to a smart author communicate messages than this book will be for you. Also great narration.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Butchered the pronunciation

By all that is holy, somebody please, please, please teach the narrator how to pronounce "Nippon"!

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  • Overall
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wow!

this is a great book. it is in depth and descriptive it is funny but for an adult audience. if you have even tried to live a life in the world then it is for you. the characters are burned in my mind as if I had known them all my life. as if these very people were my ancestors. in depth a d detailed we journey through a history of the 20th century leaping between WWII and the dot com boom that closed out the century. this book is also a commitment. it is 46 hours of sublime listening. the narrator acts this entire book out. he creates characters as a great actor would do. stephenson's work is both respected and honoured. Bravo.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great book, a little wordy

Stephenson is a very good author. His characters are great, if a little weird, and the plot in this book is interesting. He works at walking the line between speculative and historically accurate fiction. Imagine a fictional book about Amelia Earhart. Stephenson does that with guys like Alan Turing.
A great job. My only issue is with his style. He uses as many words as possible to describe a given situation. Very smart guy, no economy of words.
Still, happy I read this one

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The Emergence of Cryptocurrencies

Before Satoshi Nakamoto discovered the flint that sparked a monetary revolution, Stephenson penned Cryptonomicon. A work that gave voice to the aspirations of crypto buffs, sparking public awareness of the concept, and widening the field of aspirants. Written before the advent of a distributed blockchain solution, Stephenson’s portrayal of a cryptocurrency aligns more toward the digital gold theme; however, the cryptographic elements and core concepts he depicts remain valid today.

With the practised skill of an adept storyteller, he winds together a prodigious web of analogies and metaphors to explain complex subjects and non-intuitive perspectives in a relatable context. Covering topics from number theory and scalability, to the plights of a high tech startup firm, Stephenson portrays a tale that is both entertaining and insightful.

While the setting is split between a historical and contemporary context, it is the kind of tale that will appeal to hard sci-fi fans, particularly those with a background in computer science or number theory.

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Love the complexity of this story

I really enjoyed the book, I especially liked how all the characters and subplot cake together at the end making a full story

Great storytelling I will be listening /reading more from this author.

The narrator was also superb he make the story come to life in a great way

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