Comments on: Neal Stephenson’s Anathem and Music

By: Al Billings

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:34:53 +0000

I'm not sure why you feel so strongly that it was bad. I quite enjoyed the book and I, personally, know a number of others who have enjoyed it as well.

By: BODO

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:15:42 +0000

I absolutely loved Cryptonomicon and enjoyed the Trilogy, BUT this Anathem is 100% unreadable. The worst mess in print that I have every come across. I read eight pages and it was an agony.

I hope Neal has gone totally mad. It would be the only excuse possible. Why did the editors not shut this down? Greed? One last burn of his fan base?

By: Stanley Lieber

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 05:12:35 +0000

You can stream the tracks from Neal's website, here:

http://www.nealstephenson.com/anathem/music.htm

By: dan

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:36:25 +0000

I would love to hear some of this music - are there any preview clips on the Web before the CD comes out?

Btw, there is some connection to Brian Eno here - Eno has also created an album which donates its proceeds to the Long Now foundation, as is the case with Stutz's CD…

http://www.longnow.org/shop/prints-cds/bells-cd...

By: Bookhling

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:20:11 +0000

You got the Librarything ARC? I am so jealous. Enjoy the book, and make sure to put up a review when you're done. I'm dying to know how the book turned out.

As for the soundtrack, I wonder if they will include it with the normal prints of the books as well?

By: Al

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:59:33 +0000

I have actually been reading a couple of other things but it is on the list for the next week.

By: Malla

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:39:22 +0000

I just finished reading Anathem this week (also got an advance copy–love working in bookstores!) and I really like it. It is dense as heck with the mathematics, though. The music does help you get into Erasmas’ world and understand his aesthetics. I’m curious to read your review!

By: Al

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:02:16 +0000

It does have credits but Brian Eno has nothing to do with the CD. It was done by David Stutz.

By: Gwern

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:57:53 +0000

Out of curiosity, does it include CD credits? I’d bet Brian Eno appears somewhere in it, to tie in with the Long Now connection to _Anathema_.

By: Andy

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:17:26 +0000

It’s also interesting to note the similarity between the name of the Novel and word Analemma (from the Latin for the pedestal of a sundial) which is the name given to the pattern which appears in the American cover art. Here’s a link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analemma.

By: George Agapeyev

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:54:20 +0000

How can I comment on a book I haven’t read? I guess I just did.

By: John Anealio

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:47:10 +0000

This is an intriguing concept. I’m a fan of Stephenson’s work, particularly Quicksilver. I’d love to see more music incorporated into literature in this way. So many great fantasy works, like Lord of the Rings and Elizabeth Haydon’s Rhapsody books, have great songs in them. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to hear the music to go along with the lyrics? I almost always listen to music while reading, so having an album’s worth of music written as a score for the book would be welcome.

By: Yvonne

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:56:31 +0000

Interesting. It sounds excellent. Shades of Herman Hesse’s The Glass Bead Game.

I’ve been reading Neal Stephenson too: Snow Crash