Well I finally finished Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson and again I am torn on his work. For the most part he is a great writer, very vivid and detailed, and he knows the details of the technology he is describing so that feels real. The problem is his endings always strike me as weak. It is like he just said OK that's enough and gave up.
A couple of friends of mine both thought this was a great book, but they both probably would belong to the "Secret Admirers" faction that Stephenson describes, so that's understandable.
Which brings up another point, the politics in the book leave me slightly queasy. I would describe myself as a KYFHO conservative. I don't want the government in my life for other than very specific reasons. The vast majority of the people in this book I would say are radical libertarians or anarchists. I just can't accept those as viable political philosophies, there has to be an agreed upon structure in order for society to work. If there isn't then you get Somalia. That is where it appears the majority of the characters in the book want society to head.
As a side note Stephenson lives here in the Seattle area and it would be very cool to run into him sometime. Of course I would have to really work to keep up my end of the conversation since it is obvious the guy is much smarter than me.
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