Tier Ranking Neal Stephenson's Novels / SPOILER-FREE Reviews
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- Опубліковано 6 лип 2024
- Science fiction author Neal Stephenson is a challenging writer who entertains, educates and frustrates many with his novels. His books are densely packed with fascinating ideas, deep dives into science/technical subjects, and sometimes strange diversions. That's why he's one of my favorite authors. I always learn new and interesting things when I read his novels, even when I don't enjoy the books.
In my previous video, I compared Stephenson to the king of the techno-thrillers, Michael Crichton. (Linked: • Neal Stephenson Is Mic... )
This video takes a spoiler-free look at each of Stephenson's novels and identifies which of them are essential reading and why.
0:34 Overview
1:44 Zodiac
5:30 Snow Crash
9:59 The Diamond Age
15:53 Cryptonomicon
19:14 The Baroque Cycle
23:28 Anathem
27:36 REAMDE
29:45 Fall, or Dodge in Hell
32:27 Seveneves
35:27 Termination Shock
37:53 Collaboration novels
Other videos featuring different parts of my book collection are linked below.
Review of Heroes Die, by Matthew Woodring Stover: • A Guilty Pleasure That...
Martha Wells Before Murderbot: • The Many Worlds of Mar...
Michael Moorcock:
Enter the Multiverse: • Michael Moorcock's Ete...
Guy Gavriel Kay:
Tier Ranked: • Tier Ranking Guy Gavri...
GGK Is the Greatest Living Fantasy Author: • [OLD VERSION; Please w...
Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever series:
First Chronicles: • Are the Chronicles of ...
Second Chronicles: • Are the Second Chronic...
Last Chronicles: • The Final Chronicles o...
Brandon Sanderson vs. the Evil Librarians: • Brandon Sanderson's Mo...
Channel Overview: • Welcome to the library...
Fantasy Overview: • Classic Fantasy Fictio...
Science Fiction Overview: • Rare and Classic Scien...
Mystery Overview: • Classic Whodunits and ...
Adventure/Thriller/Historical Fiction Overview: • Classic Thrillers and ...
Horror and Weird Fiction Overview: • Classic Horror and Wei...
Children’s Books Overview: • 150 Years of Classic C...
Literature Overview: • Classic and Modern Lit...
Antiquarian Nonfiction Overview: • Antiquarian Books Abou...
Illustrated Books Overview: • The Golden Age of Book...
#booktube #booktubesff #sciencefiction #scifi #bookreview #thrillers
Artwork credits:
izzymedrano@deviantart.com
Igor Sobolevsky
I'm sorry for the delay in getting this video finished and uploaded. I bit off a bit more than I could easily chew, trying to produce a 40-minute video. I'm going to keep them shorter in the future, so I have a better chance of reaching my goal of one video upload per week. Thanks for your patience if you've been waiting for this one since my last video.
Take all the time you need. Looking forward to watching this one.
Thanks, Jed. It's a constant tug-of-war between my desires (a) to produce all of my planned videos as quickly as possible (and I have a very long list of video topics planned) and (b) to make my videos as visually interesting and engaging as I can (which is the slowest part of the production process).
It usually takes me a couple of days to organize my thoughts around what I want to say in each video. I then shoot the video and try to construct the preliminary edit of that footage the following day.
Then it's a matter of finding the time to plan, locate, edit and/or construct the visual elements in the video. Most of my videos have between 100-300 individual clips in them, which is manageable. This one had almost 700 clips, which is more than I could logistically handle, given the time I had available to work on it.
Finally, at the end of the process, it takes another day to: tailor the music to the video (I use composing software to customize the music to the visuals); manually enter the closed captions (I don't rely on YT's auto-captioning); and prepare the thumbnail.
It's a lot of work, but I enjoy doing it and learning new skills. Thanks again for watching!
Take all the time you need, quality over quantity. Your videos are great.
Having read all of Stephenson's books after discovering him when 'Snow Crash' hit the stores, I totally dig this list and the commentary... I couldn't have done it better.
I would love to hear ranking and commentary on Robert McCammon and Tad Williams, two authors I enjoy quite a bit.
@@awickedtribe Thanks! You’re in luck. I did a retrospective of Tad’s works back in April, and I’m planning one about McCammon later this year.
I love this format. You give us an impression of the author, their style and flavour. Your personal experiences with their books, a mini review for each as you go through their bibliography. Extremely well made content, thoughtful script, honest, and at the same time disguised as a tier list. Amazing. Thank you so much for the time and all the effort you put into this!
Here since pre 1k subs
You're going to blow up, I think it's inevitable
Thanks! I try to approach my videos from the standpoint of what I think viewers might want to know most about an author and their works, but without providing spoilers that might ruin the reading experience for them.
My goal is to inspire people to read less well-known or underappreciated works, so most of my videos will feature books and authors I admire (although that doesn't mean I love everything they write).
I have several more comprehensive author overviews planned for the coming months that will have a similar format (including Vernor Vinge, Tad Williams, Dan Simmons and Ian Fleming).
This channel is consistently one of the best. The reviews are thoughtful, complete, and provide real depth without diminishing the experience of the book.
Thanks for the wonderful feedback! Your description of my book reviews is exactly what I'm aiming for in concise video packages.
Anathem is my favorite science fiction novel.
It's a great one! Thanks for watching!
Snowcrash and Diamond age were my first Stephenson books and what got me hooked in to the cyber punk type of books.
Right! They can't be put in the flawed section. They are not perfect but sometimes I don't want perfect, which makes these books perfect, for me.
very enjoyable books, I prefer them to some of his recent output
I've been checking out your fine channel, recently. I particularly like your tier ranking videos. What a fun format. It's not only a concise and insightful introduction to an author, but a fine way to hear another reader's take on a favorite author. I think your rankings hit the mark, and your video has me thinking about rereading Stephenson. If only I could read the Baroque cycle for the first time, again!
I know it takes hours and hours to produce these videos. Selfishly, please keep up your terrific work.
Thank you! I enjoy the tier ranking format as well, and I plan to make many more of these videos that provide comprehensive overviews of specific authors' works. Next up is science fiction great Vernor Vinge!
I wish I could read the Baroque Cycle for the first time all over again, too! I've only read it once (back in 1994 when it was published), and I've refused to re-read it until my memory of it has faded sufficiently that I'll enjoy it almost as much as the first time. Unfortunately, that first reading 18 years ago was so vivid and indelibly imprinted in my memory, that it's taking a lot longer than I'd like to reach that point.
Challenge accepted! I think I'll start with Cryptonomicon as my first foray into Stephenson's works. Thanks a lot for the splendid introduction and review!
You're welcome, and I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I hope Cryptonomicon lives up to your expectations.
Neal stephenson is one of those authors that I have all of his novels (minus diamond and the first one you mention) and everytime I try to grab to read I feel daunted. Thank you for this. You are ten steps ahead of any other youtuber in regards of comparasion and dedication on the videos. Even when you've got only 600 subs. Really appreciate this. Keep them coming and I Will keep watching.
You're very kind. Thanks!
It's done. I finished all your videos! Exceptionally educational and enjoyable. Eagerly waiting for many more to come! Some content I'm looking forward to in particular are deep dives into Dan Simmons as well as the Horror-genre. Until then, what to do? Well, I'll start my rewatch of all videos of course!
Thanks! I'm going to begin focusing on the horror genre in October. I have an overview planned of legendary horror publisher Arkham House, and I hope to have at least one video about Simmons up by then.
Your videos are so well done. Almost too good for UA-cam. This was an excellent review of the work of Stephenson who I have wanted to read but did not know how to start. Thanks so much for your reviews.
Thanks, Kerry! I appreciate your kind words. I'm very glad you found this video helpful.
awesome video thanks ur my go to for new material
Thanks! I have many more videos planned. I just need time to make them.
Amazing how you are able to articulate my gut feel as a reader and tell me what my subconscious was doing while I enjoyed these books. More please - your reviews are spot on!
Thank you! I have many more videos planned. I just have to find the time to create them.
The Baroque Cycle is off-the- charts brilliant, and all kinds of swashbuckling fun. Reamde is my next favorite, though admittedly, that one I experienced on CD, with Malcolm Hillgartner narrating, and his voice was not only perfectly suited to the task, but soothed my nerves; so I'm not 100% sure I can be objective about that one. Seveneves was also very enjoyable and mind-expanding, but, as you said, Fall was a bit diffuse, but as usual, utterly unique. I haven't read Snowcrash, Cryptonomicon, or Anathem yet, but I sure plan to! Thank you for your analyses, which are very entertaining and educational.
I completely agree about his Baroque Cycle. It's incredible. I'd suggest saving Anathem until after you've read Cryptonomicon (and if you haven't already read it, after The Diamond Age as well, since it's a bit trippy, which might serve as a good warmup for Anathem). Thanks for watching and sharing!
@@thelibraryladder You are very welcome, sir.
Jumped into NS with ‘Anathem’ this week. 70 pages in and I think I’m ‘getting it’… slowly. Excited for the journey thanks to this channel.
Thanks to your excellent choice of background music I felt like I was in an ideal world playing MYST in a library pub while listening to one of my five favorite fellow book nerds droning on about our favorite topic - literature. Thanks!
Boy oh boy. I think I just found my new favorite UA-cam channel.
Thanks!
Diamond Age is one of top 10 books ever. Amazing.
As always, great video and I appreciate the time put into your ranking video! I was just checking your channel yesterday thinking I had missed this video somehow.
This really helped me narrow down what I want to read from Stephenson. All the books in the Inventive But Flawed category seem to appeal more to my personal reading tastes.
So, Dodo is a dud huh? I have that one on my shelf to read and may try it sometime anyway. Good thing I bought it at an outlet rate just in case though!
Thanks for keeping tabs on me! This video nearly swamped me (it has nearly 700 individual clips in it) and was far more time-consuming to produce than I expected. I'm going to keep them shorter and more manageable in the future.
The Inventive but Flawed tier is a very good tier, in my opinion. I enjoyed the books in it a lot. They just didn't have quite the same impact on me as the ones I put in the top tier.
As for D.O.D.O., it might actually be a better book than I think it is, since I only made it about 2/3 of the way through before DNFing it. A big part of my dissatisfaction with it is that it just didn't feel like a Stephenson book. I had this sense of dissonance while reading it. I might have felt differently if I'd gone into it thinking it was written solely by Nicole Galland. Part of it also is that I don't think Stephenson is best suited for writing fantasy. He's much better with scientific and technical topics.
The wait was well worth it, Bridger. Phenomenal video.
Over a decade ago I bought Snow Crash on a whim in Barnes and Noble when I was about 12 - never read it. Perhaps it's time to finally get it off the shelf one of these days (currently in the throes of the first Malazan novel). The metaverse stuff is pretty nuts though - that whole nebulous mess of a concept hits close to home (work hahaha). Cryptonomicon sounds incredible though - I may have to start with that one.
I eagerly await your next video, no matter how long it takes. I am very much interested in some more Moorcock discussion, specifically Elric - would love to hear your take on that series and some of the individual books / novellas / stories.
Thanks! Cryptonomicon is a great place to start, although after Malazan you might want something a little lighter, such as Snow Crash, which is a fun read.
My next Moorcock installment is currently third on my list of upcoming videos, so stay tuned.
Great video! Thanx for saving me time by now knowing which books to go to first, and which to possibly avoid. With so much piling up on the 'to read' list it's very helpful indeed, plus as a seller it helps a lot too.
Glad it was helpful!
Very nice. Exactly what I wanted before diving into cryptonomica. Thank you
Thanks! I'm glad it was helpful!
Absolutely great content. Cool to hear you say that Cryptonomicon would be a good place to start, I hear it’s a challenging and ambitious read.
Thanks! Cryptonomicon is a dense read, but also a fascinating and entertaining one. I think it provides a good introduction to Stephensons' usual writing style.
After watching this video I'm thinking of starting with Seveneves as my entry point. The premise of the book intrigues me. Once again, I love your videos!
Thanks for watching! I think Seveneves is a great choice to start reading Stephenson.
This deserves more views. Excellent video.
I'm glad you liked it! I hope you found it helpful (or at least entertaining). Thanks for watching and commenting!
Thank you sir! He is my dad's favorite author. I've read Cryptonomicon, SnowCrash & Anatham ordered by how much I enjoyed them
Love this video even if my stephenson tiers look a bit different. Great video. Subscribed
Thanks, Michael! Given the wide-ranging scope of Stephenson's writing, I can't imagine two people ranking his books identically (although, statistically, it's probably likely to happen on occasion). :)
Another great, informative look at an author i already thought i knew all about. I've read a number of his books, but you just added The Baroque Cycle to my shopping list. 😁
Thanks! I hope you enjoy The Baroque Cycle as much as I do.
Awesome video! I shared it with a Stephenson friend of mine.
Thanks, Penny! I hope your friend enjoys it too.
Snow Crash is the most gloriously insane novel I've read in a long time. I was giddy the whole way through, it felt like Stephenson wrote it just for me. I loved every absolutely weird page.
This is a great video. I can't wait for the Dan Simmons video.
Thanks! I'm looking forward to making that video. Simmons has written some of my all-time favorite books in multiple genres.
Your content is amazing!
Fabulous overview! I enjoyed it immensely, and I agreed with (most of) your observations. I've wondered whether Seveneves might just be his best novel; I enjoyed it the most.
Thanks! I re-read most of Stephenson’s novels shortly before making this video, but not Seveneves, since it’s one of his most recent books. I enjoyed reading the others so much that I really should re-read Seveneves soon, even though it’s still fairly fresh in my mind from a few years ago. I never get tired of reading (most of) his books.
Anathem is mind blowing. I love the concept that the first 100 pages is giving you a taste of what it would be like to be in the concent and then be exposed to the outside world and floundering around trying to make sense of things
I had a similar reaction to the reader disorientation Stephenson creates. I enjoyed it, but I can see how it could be off-putting to some readers trying to make rapid sense of it all.
Wow. Phenomenal video. I tried cryptonomicon last year but put it down because I had no idea what was going on lol. I might need to pick it back up
Thanks! I hope you give Cryptonomicon another try.
Excellent video! Having only read Seveneves and Snow Crash I'm spoiled for options. I think my next Stephenson may be The Diamond Age.
Thanks! I knocked The Diamond Age a little bit in the video, but I still recommend it. It's a fascinating imagining of a near future when nanotech is ubiquitous.
Going to give Cryptonomicon a try because of this, I had the first two books of the baroque cycle but had a hard time getting into it. Great video !
I hope you have better luck with Cryptonomicon. Stephenson's discursive writing style doesn't always mesh with readers.
Great reviews! What I personally admire most about Stephenson isn't just his off the wall creativity, but more so how he seems to be able gain deep knowledge in a host of different fields. It feels like there's nothing he doesn't have a detailed comprehension of. With other authors you can usually sense that they have done their research well, but that a professional on the topic at hand might have some quibbles about minor inaccuracies, or at least a lack of nuance here and there. With Stephenson you get the feeling that there's a lifetime worth of information stored in his brain on any topic you might choose. Maybe it's an illusion, but even if he is just good at fooling us, that is still quite an achievement in itself. Case in point: I spent several years studying intellectual history in uni with a heavy emphasis on the 17th and 18th century as a young man. Then I read the Baroque Cycle, and discovered that Stephenson still knew far more details than I did, and he wasn't even a historian. It was equally frustrating and impressive, and I've been huge fan ever since. I wish I could have half the intellectual capability he has. I'd feel like a genius.
Thanks and well put! His writing makes me feel much the same way.
@@thelibraryladder Such a neat personality is a worthy watch!
I thoroughly enjoyed this. Thank you so much for this.
I'm very glad you enjoyed it, and I hope it was helpful. Thanks for watching!
@@thelibraryladder It truly was! I've only just started reading Termination Shock and have struggled to get interested. I'll likely finish it at some point, but it's good to have level-set my expectations. Otherwise Neal Stephenson is my favorite author, and I just loved hearing someone discuss the other works in a thoughtful way. Coincidentally I also was first introduced to Stephenson by way of finding Cryptonomicon on a bookstore shelf, and The Baroque Cycle is by far my favorite (not just of his works, but of all literature in my case).
If you'll permit me I did want to add that a real key element in Fall, or Dodge in Hell (alongside the techno-ethics discussion) is a running critical commentary on humankind's tendency to be driven so completely by rhetoric (even nonverbal) that entire cultures can be duped into becoming total train wrecks. I think Stephenson is pointing at the tendency of many humans to get hooked on trash media and fiery pathos to the degree that it consumes and transforms their lives. They become deeply tribal and gullible, in great enough numbers that they sometimes threaten to overrun and trash whole societies (illustrated in the novel by Ameristan in real life and El's followers in Bitworld.)
Also if I may make one very weak pitch for D.O.D.O.: If you do ever happen to go back and finish it, I think you'll spot an entertaining notion, which is that the practice of the "witches" bears a striking resemblance to the phenomena in Anathem when the Rhetors and Incanters combine their efforts and abilities. That said, the story as a whole is still a bit flimsy, AND it was set up to have a sequel that will probably never come, so I won't say you'd be any *happier* upon finishing it, but since you really enjoyed Anathem I thought I'd mention that. :)
Thanks, OTT, for such a thoughtful comment. You make a great point about the theme of rhetoric in Fall (which dovetails nicely with a similar theme in The Diamond Age manifested in part by the 'drummers' in that book). I had forgotten about that aspect of Fall. My mini-review in the video relied on my decaying memory of reading the book three years ago when it was published.
Thanks also for the perspective about D.O.D.O. and a possible connection to Anathem. I've had a long-running suspicion that most of Stephenson's works occupy a shared multiverse, and that Anathem might be the key to unlocking it. (For example, is Enoch Root actually a millenarian serving a hidden purpose of the Incanters?)
Let me encourage you to finish Termination Shock. It's nowhere near Stephenson's best work, but it does have some very memorable and interesting elements, even if they don't always fit together cohesively. The scenes set near the Line of Actual Control are both surreal and all too plausible if today's social media environment is any predictor of the future.
@@thelibraryladder Outstanding, thanks for the encouragement! I'm feeling a renewed urge to pick TS back up. :) It's been so great chatting with you, thanks again.
Love the video and the channel. thank you
Thanks for watching!
I can't watch something like this and not leave a comment, so thanks for making this! It was a fun watch!
Thanks! I'm very glad you enjoyed it!
Seveneves it is as my first Neal Stephenson book. Thank you for this comprehensive and thoughtful video. Much appreciated.
Thanks! I'm very glad you found it helpful. I hope you enjoy Seveneves at least as much as I do.
Fantastic review of a very important--albeit frustrating--author! Thanks for an outstanding video.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
The funny thing for me is that I'd never heard about Neal Stephenson until last year when I came across Seveneves in my local bookstore in Mexico it was one of my favorite books of 2021 and let me want more of Stephenson. Great video!
Thanks for sharing! Seveneves is a good entry point for Stephenson. I hope my thoughts in this video are helpful to you when deciding which of his novels to read next.
@@thelibraryladder indeed! I think that Cryptonomicon will be my next Stephenson Thanks
The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed sub-category. He's got esprit up to here. Right now he is preparing to carry out his third mission of the night. His uniform is black as activated charcoal, filtering the very light out of the air. A bullet will bounce off its arachno-fiber weave like a wren hitting a patio door, but excess perspiration wafts through it like a breeze through a freshly napalmed forest. Where his body has bony extremities, the suit has sintered armorgel: feels like gritty jello, protects like a stack of telephone books.
Great content. Thank you for putting this together. I may give NS another chance. After loving the thrill ride of Snow Crash, everything I read after has been disappointing: Seven Eves (dnf), Termination Shock (dnf). Maybe Quicksilver is a good on-ramp.
Really have to apologize for saying this but on a pure recording level, it sounds like you're using a lot of compression on your vocals. I'm listening at -50db where I'd normally be at -30-40db. I'm also hearing a lot of sibilance (probably caused by the compression, if you are using that). Your content is great, as is your voice. It's frustrating to have to struggle to hear it easily. Then again, it might just be me or my setup :).
Thanks! If you're looking for something similar to Snow Crash, The Diamond Age is probably the closest to it in style. The Baroque Cycle (which starts with Quicksilver) is cerebral historical fiction crossed with the comic, Zelig-like aspects of George MacDonald's Flashman series. I love it, but it's a long, dense read, which can be frustrating for many. I usually recommend Cryptonomicon as a starting point for reading Stephenson.
Thanks also for the feedback on the sound quality of the video. The room where I record is an acoustical nightmare, due to the many hard, reflective surfaces in it (wood paneling and cabinets with glass doors) that generate a lot of reverb. Consequently, when filming, I speak in a relatively subdued, conversational tone in order to reduce the amount of reverb. I use a very sensitive shotgun mic mounted just above my head, which allows me to get a good signal-to-noise ratio without having to raise my voice. Combined, those things might make it seem like I'm compressing the audio heavily to tame loudness spikes, particularly when compared to the many YT channels that seem almost to shout at the camera in order to get a good audio signal. But in fact it's actually how I speak conversationally. However, sibilance is something I do wrestle with in my speech pattern. In recent videos, I've added a de-esser to my audio chain. :)
Thank you i didn't know where to start w his books
You're welcome! I hope you enjoy his books at least as much as I do.
Accidentally hit the dislike button and was told “this feedback has been shared with the creator”. Had a brief crisis and then decided to comment that this was, in fact, a fantastic overview of Stephenson’s work! Thank you!
No problem, and thanks for your comment and apology!
I picked "Snow Crash" during a bout of late-night-can't-sleep Kindle browsing a couple of months ago knowing basically nothing about Stephenson and really enjoyed it. I'm currently about 3/4 of the way through "Cryptonomicon", which is absolutely great in my opinion. I have a feeling I'm going to be going on a long Stephenson binge, so I searched for reviews and found yours ~ thanks so much! It may be a bit out of order, but I think I'm going for "Anathem" next, and then I'll do the Baroque series. Again, thanks so much ~ and dude, your speaking voice is awesome. 😊👏👏👏😘
Thanks, Anne! I hope you enjoy his books as much as I do (if not more). Anathem is brilliant in my opinion, but it can be a bit of a trudge in the first third until the full scope of the story starts to slowly emerge.
Great video. Already had a couple of books in my long term TBR list. This helped me get them in a (hopefully) better order.
Snow Crash was my 1st in the TBR, but now i have:
1 - Seveneves
2 - Cryptonomicon
3 - Anathem
4 - Quicksilver
5 - Snow Crash
Thanks! That’s a great reading order. I hope you enjoy the books as much as I do.
Snow crash is a great book, but I think it is best described as Absurdist Science Fiction.
I am still so glad you made this despite how long this video took you. Its such high quality, I wouldn't worry about the delay. This video has been needed in booktube for... years. Most folks (esp young folks) experience random change neal stephenson and its great to have a guide. Needless to say, I always base which book I pickup first one what you recommend. After all, you are so widely read and I have limited time-- I soo appreciate this video!
Thanks! As always with any of my reviews, YMMV. Stephenson is a difficult author, which can turn off many readers, and sometimes his excesses get the better of his books. Anathem in particular is a problematic book to review, because there's an abundance of excess, of both the good and bad varieties. I give the good in it the upper hand, but it's easy to see why many readers give up on the book before the halfway mark.
Thanks for your brutal honesty. Something that is rare and much needed in our epoch of BS.
I just finished the cryptonomicon, this video was great for recomending the other books of this autor
Anathem was my first Neal Stephenson book and I thought it was awesome. It feels like he sat down and said "hey what if I wrote a book about quantum physics and platonic idealism" its so cool. The index of scientific proofs presented by the characters in the story is a really funny thing to put in a book in my opinion.
Do you voice narrate for audiobooks? because I got hypnotized by your videos
Thanks! I've narrated a few classic short stories for fun here on my channel. They can be found in my channel's Audiobooks playlist.
@@thelibraryladder I think you should explore going pro my good sir. Me and my girlfriend both think you could be the Morgan Freeman of audiobooks.
This man has video on every author I’ve had even a passing interest in reading.
You used a still from the anime Girls und Panzer in this video and I was just curious if you're a fan of the series? Seems really different from the sort of stuff you talk about so I was just curious. Great video (as always) and I can't wait to see what author gets the ranking treatment next!
Thanks! I must admit that I have only passing familiarity with anime, including Girls und Panzer. It's not a genre that I've read widely in. I included the still because it captured the idea of empowered, militaristic young girls that plays an important role in Stephenson's book.
Throughly engrossing presentation and explanimations. Thank you, sir! Love the take you had on the Alcatraz and the Evil Librarian books. Progressing through that series with my youngest son and I may enjoy them more than him.
I'm very glad you found my thoughts useful (on both Stephenson and Sanderson's Alcatraz series). Thanks for watching!
Have you read The Big U yet? I read it decades ago when my sister came home from college with a copy of it somehow. It wasn't until many years later, wandering a bookstore looking for something to read rather like you, that I found Cryptonomicon (props to the cover/jacket designers, I guess). I loved it and went on to Anathem, then The Baroque Cycle, and the rest. I was two or three books in to Neal Stephenson before I realized from the list of his other works that he was also the author of that interesting but unusual novel I had read long before. I agree with your top-tier ranking with the possible exception of Seveneves, which is good but not quite as great as the other four. He is definitely one of my favorite authors. You mentioned how much you love "learning stuff." When recommending Neal Stephenson to others, I add that I almost always feel smarter--in addition to being highly entertained--after reading something he has written (solo). Great video!
Thanks! I get similar enjoyment out of being simultaneously educated and entertained by Stephenson's books. I have yet to read The Big U, but I plan to. :)
Hi dude, I ain't native english but all books of him are fascinating, could you recommend me a top tier book or author similarly, great video btw
Hi! Depending on which books by Stephenson you enjoyed most, you might try authors such as Michael Crichton (techno-thrillers), Umberto Eco (philosophical historical fiction), Ted Chiang (philosophical science fiction), Kim Stanley Robinson (ecological science fiction), William Gibson (cyberfiction), or Greg Egan (singularity futures). Like Stephenson, their books specialize in exploring interesting concepts and their potential consequences. I hope these suggestions are helpful.
How about a tier-ranking & review of the writing of William Gibson?
Thanks for the suggestion! Gibson is definitely on my list of future videos.
I started with Snow Crash back in the early oughts and then The Diamond Age. Blew my mind, even though the characters in both books are little more than cardboard cutouts. I thought I also read Cryptonomicon, but perhaps not. I definitely remember Quicksilver because everything I think I know about European history (and calculus) I recall from his broad sweep of history. It has influenced my own writing, which pays close attention to concurrent historical events that my characters inhabit. I'll pick up Anathem on your recommendation!
Excellent video. I've only read two Stephenson novels to date. The first was Snowcrash with I thought was ok, but certainly didn't live up to the hype. The other was The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. and I thought that was an excellent 5/5 read :) I tried Cryptonomicon but got bored by the info dumps. Don't mind a good info dump....as long as they are interesting. I'll probably go back to that at some point. Anathem and Seveneves are the priorities though.
Thanks! Stephenson is definitely a 'your mileage may vary' kind of writer. Topics that some readers find fascinating are tedious to others. At some point I intend to go back to D.O.D.O. to give it another try in the hope that my expectations about it will have evolved somewhat.
@@thelibraryladder it was a while ago, but it was either the info dumps on how organ pipes worked or a bartering system in a market worked that bored me. I was aware that there was a chapter on breakfast cereal in my future (captain crunch?) ;) I’d have been up for some good info dumps on cryptography or prime numbers… guessing they were later on?
I approached D.O.D.O. as a fun sci-fi-spy book and enjoyed it. Can see how it would be disappointing reading it after Anathem.
Neal is my absolute favorite author. I started with Snow Crash, then delved into Cryptonomicon. I then finished Reamde and jumped back to Zodiac, Finished Fall; or Dodge in Hell, and I'm nearly done with Quicksilver, but I'm eager to jump into my copy of Termination Shock before finishing the Baroque Cycle.
He's one of my favorite authors, too, even though I haven't always completely enjoyed some of his books. They're still must-reads for me. Thanks for watching and sharing!
The pit stops are so satisfying that I wish every book ever informed on that level
Interesting comment around Stephenson carving out his niche - reminds me of Iain Banks and the difference between being recognised for 'Walking on Glass' and 'Espedair Street' let alone 'Consider Phlebas'
I would quite literally pay to hear you read these books to me just don't know how else to say it you got a great audiobook voice and narration voice
Cryptonomicon is one of my favorite books too. Its just such a great combination of goofy and hard science.
And history, too! :)
Thank You.
i adored Snowcrash.
I have copies of The Diamond Age and Cryptonomicon on hand.
After watching you video I'll go for Cryptonomicon.
Much appreciated!
7P🤖
You're very welcome! Thanks for watching and posting a comment!
I have read a handful of his works over the years, starting with Snow Crash in the early 90s. I found DODO to be rather enjoyable, even if flawed, and suffers from the same pacing issues that many of his latter books seem to. Cryptonomicon was such a chore for me to get through.
I read Sevenes a few years back and absolutely loved it. It was my first and only Stephenson book I've read. I just picked up Quicksilver, however, and I'm glad to see it in the S-tier.
I hope you enjoy The Baroque Cycle as much as I do. Quicksilver starts out a little slow, but it picks up pace as it goes along.
Nice video. I was looking around to see what UA-cam content there was about Neal and found this. I read Snow Crash years ago and like it alot, ditto for Cryptonomicon. tried to get into the Baroque cycle but couldn't, probably should give it another try. When you say that his novels celebrate the individuals power to make a difference in the world and show a picture of Elon Musk I am puzzled. If the theme of his works was celebrating the power of pathological narcissists to masquerade as geniuses while they are actually con-men it would make more sense. Again, I like the video, I'm sure it took a lot of work. Has anyone ever told you that you speak a lot like Adam West ?
Thanks! The first hundred or so pages of Quicksilver can be a struggle while the narrative follows Waterhouse and Newton, but once the POV switches to the escapades of Jack and Eliza, it really picks up steam. Also, my inclusion of Musk, Bezos and Tony Stark in that image was a tongue-in-cheek reference to how those three like to describe themselves. The adoring gazes Musk and Bezos are casting on Stark (a fictional character positioned in a Christ-like pose) was intended to convey irony. Sometimes my understated sense of humor doesn't quite connect, I guess. :)
Fall paid off the biggest mystery in the Waterhouse books - Who and what was Enoch Root and how was he around from the System of the World through to Fall.
You're right. Enoch was perhaps the most confounding aspect of the 400-year Waterhouse saga, and Fall casts the earlier books in a little different light. [Thanks for avoiding spoilers!]
Thank you so much for showcasing Girls und Panzer. I have good memories of that franchise.
So agree about Anathem and D.O.D.O.
it's funny, the parallels we draw. Anathem was my first foray into Stephenson and i had just finished the Glass Bead Game. i was staggered at the coincidence of the cloisters.
i compared it to Candide with the best of all possible worlds progression.
i was hooked much earlier, when Orolo got banned from the telescope. i flew through this one and was bummed to turn the last page. i liked how there was a loose cooperation and less spite apparent on the 'better world.' Erasmus was a big, smart and reliable steady eddie. i saw the entire tome as an ambitious imagining of a better world. a pro-topia.
I've been meaning to read Hesse's The Glass Bead Game for several years now after my wife read it and described the plot to me. I can see the parallels with Anathem. Also, I like your description of the Anathem world as a protopia. It fits what Stephenson seems to have been doing in the book. Thanks for commenting!
@@thelibraryladder my pleasure.
i snagged the Glass Bead Game from the corner box and it appealed to me because it was written as a far future history. who can resist? i just finished the 4 book cycle of the Book of the New Sun and lo! another cloister of sorts and written as a future history, albeit in the first person. you will notice the GBG is written by a meticulous historian. i found it to be a very emotional intellectual exercise. now i see cloisters everywhere! Anathem was written as Erasmus's memoir. happy reading.
Good content. Also, this guy's voice reminds me of Christian Bale's as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho.....just think about this guy giving the review of Phil Collins
Thanks! You just reminded me that I need to return some videotapes. :)
My first read was Anathem! I picked up for 7$ from a grocery store bargain bin. I thought it was a wonderful understated casual read - nothing too crazy. **looks at philosophy degree on wall and calculus and physics books on shelf** Oh... Right.
I would love to hear you review the Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy at some point.
It's on my list of videos I hope to make in the coming year. Thanks for the suggestion!
@@thelibraryladder you're welcome. Thanks for the excellent content. Because of your channel, I picked up Seveneves and thoroughly enjoyed it. My second Stephenson book after Cryptonomicon many years ago.
Also, I have you to thank for introducing me to GGK. I have yet to sink my teeth into a book of his, but your glowing recommendation has put him high on my "to read" list.
@@goflowjoe I’m so glad my book reviews have been helpful. Thanks for letting me know.
@@thelibraryladder You're most welcome. I'm sure he's on your list, but I would also love to hear your take on Jack Vance at some point, especially since ho so thoroughly explored both scifi and fantasy (and both together).
@@goflowjoe You seem to be reading my mind. 🙂 Vance is on my list as well.
I've read almost all them. I was curious what you would say. Loved Anathem And Crypto , hated Baroque Cycle
Thanks for your comment! I can understand why the Baroque Cycle might not appeal to everyone. Many of his books spark a polarizing response (e.g., Anathem, Fall, Snow Crash).
The Baroque cycle is an amazing work of historical fiction, but is it really as good as the Aubrey/Maturin series?
That's a difficult question. I'm a huge fan of the Aubrey & Maturin series (it's definitely in my top three historical fiction works). I also find it difficult to compare that series with the Baroque Cycle, because my reaction to each of them was very different, despite both being very positive. O'Brian's books left me feeling deeply satisfied with the voyage (both literal and figurative) contained within them, while Stephenson's trilogy provided me with greater intellectual stimulation and inspiration to learn more about that period in history. Thus, I think they're both great, but in different ways.
Amazing video. The images interspersed with the discussions are so good.
I consciously avoided Stephenson because I read in reviews that his books are too high-brow intellectual for a casual reader (and my track record with New Weird authors such as China Mieville has been very mixed).
"Light airport reading material" 😄
But I found Baroque cycle as a recommendation in a reddit post for fans of alternate history with SFF elements as in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (one of my favourites) and just started Quicksilver. Then I found this video! 🙂
Based on your tier ranking, I do hope to complete the entire series slowly but surely. 🙂
Unrelated but have you read Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle?
Thanks! Quicksilver starts slowly, so don’t give up on it. Part of the fun of the trilogy is separating historical fact from fiction (and there’s a lot of fact in it).
Ash is an amazing book that I plan to do a video about. It’s not perfect (e.g., pacing problems), but I think very highly of it.
@@thelibraryladder Thank you for your reply. 🙂
I’m just rereading Anathem for the third time. It remains my favorite book. Since the first time I read this book, I have always tried to find books like it. Few are able to achieve it. Neuromancer probably gets closest but I’m still looking.
Have you read anything by Greg Egan? His books tend to be very inventive hard cyber SF. John C. Wright's Golden Oecumene trilogy is another mind-bender (set in a distant, post-singularity future).
@@thelibraryladder I will look into those. Thanks.
I concur with the various reviews... so it seems I must read also the Fall and that I was right to ignore the four last books.
Thanks! I hope you enjoy reading Fall. Although it didn't quite live up to my expectations, I thought it was a fascinating read.
When I was reading science fiction as a teenager in the later 90s and early 00s I tried reading Snow Crash. Read 2/3s of the book and simply could not continue further. It was constantly narrated in the present tense even for the scenes that do not make sense in the present sense. For me it was impossible to suspend belief at all.
Stylistically, Snow Crash can be a little much for many readers. You might like some of Stephenson's later works, though, after he emerged from his early 'gonzo' period. Cryptonomicon often is a good benchmark for whether readers will enjoy other books by him.
Anathem was a book i picked up twice and read ~100-200 pages then put down again. Then the third time i read it and the whole thing just clicked and i ploughed through it. Then when i reached the end i felt such a wonderfully intense feeling of comprehension. It felt like when i first started understanding higher dimensional spaces in calculus.
I can empathize entirely. Around the midway point, when the big picture finally starts coming into focus, was a revelatory moment for me as well that got only more intense by the book's end.
@@thelibraryladder
Exactly. Although for me I think the big barrier was trying to come to grips with the weird ways he was referring to things. The first times I tried it was just too much cognitive load to enjoy the story while trying to keep track of all the new words he made up. But the third time I knew all the terms easily so I could just enjoy the story behind them.
It's good for setting up an alien feeling for the secular world but it definitely messed with my enjoyment and ability to focus on the larger concepts.
I have the big U. It is ok, but does not measure up to his later works. I run a DnD type game inspired by Zodiac. Could you review Tim Powers, I feel that he is an under appreciated fantasy writer. Or perhaps review William Browning Spencer who is almost never even mentioned as a fantasy writer.
Great suggestions! I'm planning a Powers retrospective later this year. He's a favorite of mine. The only works by Spencer that I've read are some of his short fiction, so I'll need to check out his other stuff.
@@thelibraryladder I have not read all of his short works. Specifically, I have not read his two last collections. He is not prolific. I wish that he wrote more. As he says in the introduction of Count Electric. the point of writing fiction is to tell a story not just to string together pretty words, I paraphrase. I would start with Irrational Fears. Zod Wallop is obviously his big work. His work is obviously not flawless, yet it leaves me wanting more. Living in Central America as I do, it can be difficult for me to find less well known Authors like this.
Its like having a personal librarian. "Jeeves. Call for Bridger. I'd like to discuss possible next reads from the Library."
I enjoyed all of your insights into this great author, but I find the background noise extremely annoying. Why do you add that to such thoughtful musing?
09:06-09:30
Well, now I HAVE to read this book!
It sounds like Diamond Age and Bruce Sterling's Holy Fire have some similar themes (though quite different in plot). I'll have to try Diamond Age again - I just couldn't seem to get through the first quarter of the book. I absolutely love Cryptonomicon, and Snow Crash, and even SevenEves. I was a bit surprised that I didn't care for Diamond Age.
Great reviews! I'm definitely going to check out your channel!
Thank you! The Diamond Age's disjointed narrative structure can be a little frustrating, because Stephenson doesn't connect all the dots for the reader. He crafted a puzzle for the reader to figure out, but if the reader isn't expecting that kind of a read, it might cause them to lose interest. His novel Anathem has a similar puzzle-like quality to it that can be engaging or offputting, depending on the reader's appetite.
Holy Fire is way more honest in its politics than Diamond Age, which dishes out a load of libertarian claptrap.
My favorite Stephenson books in order are:
Cryptonomicon
Anathem
Reamde
Seveneves
That's a good list! Thanks for sharing!
The Big U is also pretty good. Best quote: "It's a new tradition!"
Thanks for the tip! I need to read The Big U. It's the only book of his that I haven't at least attempted.
Anathem, Snow Crash, Cryptonomicom.. all S Tier.
I like your review of Neal Stephenson's books. I think people give him too much credit by considering him a futurist of sorts, myself, and I don't find much deep in his books but I do find some the of characters interesting and there are certainly some hilarious exploits and events. I wish I had seen your video before ever reading a single book of his, but like a lot of people, I first came to Stephenson with a paperback copy of Crytonomicon in 2000ish.
I've not read everything Neal Stephenson has written. I've read 6 books that I can name off the top of my head, with Anathem and Cryptonomicon being the two most memorable and entertaining and I've gone back to read Anathem twice and Cryptonomicon probably 3 or 4 times because of the recent rise of cryptocurrency (i.e. monopoly money). There are points in some of his books that are great, for me, I thought Anathem was hilarious and definitely entertaining. I've often heard Neal Stephenson described as ahead of his time, but the reality is that the only thing he's done well ahead of time is to describe the inner machinations of your average incel. It's very obvious that he had access to a university library card and academic journals when writing his books, and if you read his books with that in mind, there is very little novel in them. A theme I have noticed is that he likes to take some early Hellenistic philosophical ideas and run them out to absurdity, which can be interesting but he's done that so often it's stale. He comes across as very libertarian and Randian in his philosophy which I find unsophisticated. I also hate is his explanatory material about little minutiae like Pythagorean proofs in Anathem; it's necessary if your target audience isn't a brand new math and science major but it seems he targeted your average math/science major with books like Anathem and Crytopnomicon.
Thanks! I'm so glad you enjoyed the video. If you haven't already read his Baroque Cycle, I highly recommend that you give it a try. As you note, there's nothing in it that couldn't be gleaned from reading a couple of history books about the Age of Enlightenment, but what makes it unique (to me) is that Stephenson crammed so many seemingly dry intellectual concepts into a very entertaining historical narrative. It blends some of the best aspects of both Cryptonomicon and Anathem (which makes sense, because each was the product of the others -- the Baroque Cycle was inspired by the research he did for Cryptonomicon, and Anathem was inspired by his research for the Baroque Cycle).
@@thelibraryladder yeah, I think I'm going to read the baroque cycle because of your review. Those are some of his books I never got around to reading.
The Baroque Cycle can be daunting because it's three very long volumes and it starts off pretty slowly. Once the characters of Jack Shaftoe (ancestor of Bobby from Cryptonomicon) and Eliza are introduced, though, the pace picks up dramatically. Jack is my favorite character in all of Stephenson's works, and Eliza is a close second.
Cryptonomicon was a very entertaining and engaging novel, although the author seem to have some very naive Notions about how computers and computer viruses work. Fast forward to Seveneves, which is one of the most disappointing reading experiences of my life. There was not a single character that I cared about in the least and most of the final section read like background notes towards a novel concept: "Here's a bunch of stuff that I could maybe have written a novel about if I felt like it. But I didn't." I will never again waste my time and money on anything he writes.
Stephenson says in the author's notes of my copy that he got the term metaverse from someone else, I think he mentions this star wars mmo
Interesting. What edition of Snow Crash is that?
25:20 what, you have an issue with turtle gods, devil santas throwing exploding snitches and tattooed teenage alien fighters?
I’m okay with turtle gods. 🙂
More seriously, I love reading Stephen King because he crafts such fully realized characters and communities. I’m sometimes underwhelmed by where they end up, though.
I was an editor of Stephenson's Quicksilver Metaweb Wiki and wrote a huge chunk of the annotated articles there on all aspects of his works.
In Snowcrash, he also coined use of the word "avatar" to represent one's virtual persona, as well as "grid" for the virtual world landscape. The non-virtual world of Snowcrash represents a "post federal" world where cryptocurrency enabled the population to avoid income taxes, causing the dollar and other fiat money to go hyper-inflationary, forcing a collapsing federal government to sell off its assets. You should read his short story "The Great Simoleon Caper" to understand how the world of "Cryptonomicon" transitioned to that of "Snowcrash". Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, and Diamond Age form a loose trilogy, with Simoleon Caper linking a lot of things between them. The First Distributed Republic of Simoleon Caper and Diamond Age was founded by the main characters of Cryptonomicon.
Thanks for the tip about The Great Simoleon Caper. To my chagrin, I haven't yet read Stephenson's collections of short fiction and essays. I need to remedy that.
That must have been fascinating editing his Quicksilver wiki. The Baroque Cycle in particular was a gold mine of inspiration for me. I hope I did justice to his novels in the two videos I made about them.
Thanks again for the very informative comment!
You mean besides Tron using terms like 'the grid' years prior?
When I finished reading Anathem for the first time, without putting it down, I turned to the first page and started it again.
It's fun when re-reading it to spot the clues Stephenson drops along the way hinting at where the story ends up.
Kim Stanley Robinson's near future climate book is excellent if a bit dense, ministry for the future
I agree. I thought the first half of the book was really well done. The second half seemed to lose focus, though.