Anathem

by Neal Stephenson

Ungekürztes Hörbuch

Deutsch language

Published Nov. 22, 2013 by Der Hörverlag.

ASIN:: B00GS5JSPE
Audible ASIN:: B00GS5JSPE

(273 reviews)

Der Planet Arbre im Jahr 3689. Seit seinem achten Lebensjahr lebt Erasmas, genannt Raz, im Konzent Saunt Edhar, einer klosterähnlichen Gemeinschaft von Wissenschaftlern, Philosophen und Mathematikern. Die Aufgabe dieser Gemeinschaft ist es, hinter den jahrtausendealten Mauern Wissen zu bewahren und es vor den schädlichen Einflüssen der säkularen Welt zu beschützen. Denn während das Leben im Konzent nach strengen Ritualen und uralten Traditionen verläuft, so ist die Geschichte jenseits dieser abgeschlossenen Welt durch Chaos und Veränderung geprägt: Auf Blütezeiten folgten Zusammenbrüche, auf finsteres Mittelalter Erneuerung; Kriege und Klimawandel zerstörten die bestehende Ordnung.

Als Raz mit 18 seine erste Apert bevorsteht - eine Woche, in der beide Welten in Kontakt treten und Austausch pflegen - bereitet er sich mit seinen Mitschwestern und -brüdern darauf vor, den Konzent zu verlassen und sich in die säkulare Welt vorzuwagen. Aber dort muss er entdecken, dass außerarbrische Kräfte den Planeten bedrohen. Und mit einem Mal lastet …

20 editions

Curtis reviewed Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Anathem' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

It took three months to read, but really it was done in three rather lengthy marathons with several weeks of not reading it in between.

Overall, a decent story. Very ambitious, and Stephenson's world-building is as good as ever. There were some great parts, and he even managed to make the long discussions mostly bearable.

That said, I had a few problems with the writing. For one thing, Stephenson is not the best word-maker, and his "slang" is hit or miss: "Concent" was the only word that really stuck out as a good invention. While this isn't a huge deal in and of itself, the problem came when characters started discussing complex mathematical/philosophical ideas in unfamiliar terminology.

All of this adds up to the fact that this book probably is one that would need to be re-read a number of times to really "get it." However, while it was enjoyable …

Sankara reviewed Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Anathem' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I liked Anathem. It's a good mix of physics, philosophy and fiction. I don't want to give away too much - I really liked the way things were unraveled slowly and I don't want to deprive anyone reading this review of the same. Don't expect a lot of action. Toil through the first 10% of the book (it was hard for me) and you'll be rewarded. Think of the whole book as a thought experiment.

franksbooks reviewed Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Anathem' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

There are often many more words written in review of a book than in the book itself, and judging by many of the comments here, the same can be said about Anathem. I will not add to them, except to say many will be flabbergasted by this book and still many more will think it amazing just because it's a Stephenson and has many imaginative concepts discussed. I fall somewhere between the two. In this narrative I want to be able to reread it in a way which will allow me to understand it better and pursue life long learning in philosophy and cosmology. In another, I put it down after 400 pages and went off and read something else and never grasped the concept of narratives and became a bin man.

J Wynia reviewed Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Anathem' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

It took me 3 attempts to finally read this all of the way through. The first few chapters are daunting. Every 3rd word is entirely new to your vocabulary and there's no explanation of most of them. But, like learning a language via immersion, eventually the context makes the terminology clear. Hundreds of pages later, the new vocabulary is integrated and makes sense.

In the end, I enjoyed this book, like I have enjoyed the rest of Stephenson's writing. It entertained, prompted thoughts (and a few upsights) and painted a picture of a richly detailed world. All things I look for in my fiction, particularly anything from the speculative fiction shelf.

Joao Trindade reviewed Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Anathem' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Liked the world which Neal Stephenson created.

Good, but not great, book!

Daniel Darabos reviewed Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Anathem' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I haven't read much philosophy so the philosophical parts of the book were fresh to me. I really enjoyed them. I found my mind constantly wandering on these subjects and had to re-read pages. The fantasy world was also well developed and interesting. The first part of the book, up to Bly's Butte, was really to my taste. I'd recommend closing the book at that point though, having absorbed most of the enjoyment already.

What would you miss out this way? A long (in miles and pages) trek through the Arctic with lots of action and characters that have minimal impact in the end. Elaboration of the fantasy physics, that I felt was a bit shaky. (Anyway, this makes for good conversation material.) An interesting but perhaps too long scene in space. An ending that is also good for a conversation, but that did not feel like a good closure. …

Allen Shull reviewed Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Anathem' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

If you've met me, and you know me, I may have already recommended this book to you. I've read it three times, and I imagine I will read it 20 more before I die. There will never be a sequel, which means all we have is rereading.

Mark Anderson reviewed Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Anathem' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This book was a little slow going at first, but once you get into the language and world of the "concent," you're fully immersed. And just when you think you've fully acclimated to that new universe, that's when things start to really get good, as the plot expands beyond the walls of the concent and into the wider world (and cosmos) beyond.

The story itself serves as an allegory of the nature of Stephenson's best writing--a perfect blend of the cerebral and plot driven pulp. The playful "dialogs" of these intellectual monks as they figure out the meaning of the universe is like of a band of vegan Berkeley students out on a quest to design an art car for Burning Man. It's all great fun, while hinting at something substantially and mystically deeper.

Eoghann Mill Irving reviewed Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Anathem' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Neal Stephenson writes about big ideas. Frequently very big ideas. It can be a little off putting at times.

Certainly the first few chapters for Anathem were a struggle. Stephenson threw me head first into a new world with a new language and very little explanation. It was frustrating.

But perseverance sometimes pays off and it did in this case. Once I started to get a feel for the setting, the richness of it and some of the ideas that Stephenson was playing with started to shine.

Personally I found this a much more compelling story than Cryptonomicon. Admittedly at least half of it is people standing around and telling each other things, but Stephenson has a knack for making that seem interesting.

He's always had a fondness for playing with language and he gets to take that to the nth degree here. There's an impressive logical consistancy to the evolution of language displayed here and it's actually one of my favorite parts of the book. I'm not quite so keen on some of the more out there ideas that are introduced later on.

There are some sections that really weren't entirely necessary. Parts of the road trip seemed to serve very little actual purpose and at 900+ pages I'm pretty sure it could have benefited from some editing. But over all I think it's one of his stronger works.

btuftin reviewed Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Anathem' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This book resembles the Baroque cycle while being completely different.

Strakul reviewed Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Anathem' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This was an excellent book. I love the setting and the language in this world. I think I read it more to learn about this society than for any plot or characters. Here's a more in-depth review: strakul.blogspot.com/2012/02/book-review-anathem-by-neal-stephenson.html

Tim Hutton reviewed Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Anathem' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

When they make the film of this, the overlapping-outcome, parallel-universe fight scenes will be mind-blowing.

Ghalidrim reviewed Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Anathem' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I've had a hard time with some of the other Neal Stephenson books I've tried, but for some reason this one was right up my alley. I disagree with most of his thoughts on metaphysics as presented, but the overall narrative was able to keep me interested much more than I expected. I went into this book expecting to probably set it aside (as I have done with some of Stephenson's other works). I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself staying up late to see where the story would go next.

grahams reviewed Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Anathem' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Really happy with this book. It covered a ton of ground, but it moved along well and I found myself engaged throughout. If I was only better at reading long novels in general I would have finished it a long time ago.

Now onto Gibson's "Zero History", though at some point I'd like to circle back around and finish the Baroque Cycle (I've only finished Quicksilver)

willhopkins reviewed Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Review of 'Anathem' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

This book is, and was, spectacular. It makes you curious about the strange new world Stephenson has created, but it's only as important as the characters, too. Perfectly balanced, and recommended for everyone. I mean everyone.