As with every Neal Stephenson book I've read, Cryptonomicon was promising and intriguing, but ultimately overlong and somewhat of a letdown. Typically my problem with Stephenson lies in his endings, but in this case I struggled whenever Randy became the focus, i.e. often. Part of this was the tedious explanation of technology (which I can understand for certain audiences, but irritated me), but mostly it was a dislike of the characters, reminding me too much of Silicon Valley culture (as seen from far away) compounded by the current “crypto” craze. The rest was a nice blend of history and fiction and I'm looking forward to one day tackling the Baroque Cycle. It's a pity that half the book didn't appeal to me as I know I've overlooked interesting links within this book and to future books such as the mystery surrounding Enoch Root.