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.

While I am not sure these later pages were worth it I had a lot of fun with the book. It can be read as a mystical description of scientists' culture of any age. When people around me are enthusiastically discussing the finer details of the Linux kernel at lunch, I feel like these are the characters and dialogs that Anathem idolises.