Somehow, I’ve gotten to be 52 years old, and I think I’m a decent geek (I used to be a bit-twiddling systems programmer back in the day) as well as a Sci-Fi fan, and I managed to miss reading Snow Crash for 18 years (published in 1992). Oh well, no time like the present to make that up. I thoroughly enjoyed Snow Crash. I found the style and presentation to be interesting and compelling. I’ve read, over the last couple of months, Stephenson’s Anathem and Cryptonomicon, enjoying them both immensely. It’s clear that they are by the same author, but yet they are so different in characters and story that it doesn’t feel like rehashing the same ground. That’s important when an author spends as many pages telling a story as Stephenson 😉 . I won’t spend a lot of time here rehashing the adventures of Hiro and Y.T. There are a zillion reviews on the ‘net. What I will say is that this is a fabulous book, well worth the attention it has received. The amazing thing to me is that when I read it, though it was written and published in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, the computer/information technology described in the book doesn’t feel dated. Sure there are some places where you can spot some anachronisms, but they are so few and far between that it doesn’t detract from the story. I felt the same way about Cryptonomicon, by the way. So, go pick up a copy of Snow Crash if you’ve never read it; as a friend said to me on Facebook, good thing I finally read it so he wouldn’t have to pull my “geek card” 😉

Now, one interesting angle. I’d been looking at eBook readers (and as I write this, I’m awaiting the announcement, in less than 24 hours, of Apple’s “iThing”) and had decided that I didn’t want to spring for a Kindle but I liked the concept. Then I saw that I could get the software for iPhone/iPod Touch (I have a Touch) and PC, with Mac and Blackberry on the way. Cool, I say, so I downloaded the software and forked out $9.99 for Snow Crash on Amazon (I know, coulda got a used paperback for $1). I really liked reading on the Touch. I did read a few chapters on my laptop (but since the Mac version is not out, had to use Parallels with a Windows VM 😉 ). It was useful, though, to be able to read the book in one window and have Wikipedia articles about Sumerian history open in another window (read Snow Crash, you’ll know why). I suspect I’ll buy more books this way, though I really don’t like the Kindle Digital Rights Management (DRM) and think that this is the main thing that we’ve got to figure out in the business model. I should be able to loan or give away the copy I’ve licensed, just like a physical book.

OK, y’all don’t look at any strange bit maps now!

It’s been a while since I enjoyed a novel as much as this one. I did recently finish Jack McDevitt’s Priscilla Hutchins novels, and they were quite enjoyable, but it didn’t move me to blog about it. The book is extremely well written with fantastic character development, has an intriguing plot, and comes to a satisfying resolution. Fraa Erasmas (Raz) is a young “monk” (avout) living the the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a cloister of science, mathematics and philosophy. The earth-like world has a complex society made up of the secular inhabitants (living outside the various Concents) and the avout (living within). This society has a history of several thousand years, punctuated by cycles of world-ravishing societal unrest and collapse – but the Concents, at least some, have maintained the flower of knowledge throughout. This part of the setting reminded me of A Canticle for Leibowitz. However, the world is much more richly described, and the Terrible Events have not as much scarred society, as built it up, though they do make the same mistakes over and over.

Fraa Erasmus is thrown from his sheltered life into the center of a world-spanning adventure, as the inhabitants of Arbre react first to the hint of, and the actualization of visitation from space. The book is replete with interesting characters having learned dialogs, adventure, intrigue, love and family. It makes you think as you follow the philosophical discourses of the avout as they place events into their own contex, based on their affiliation. The end game, with a polycosmic universe and non-linear time is fascinating. It’s 900+ pages of great entertainment, and I need to read it again to pick up nuances I missed the first time through.

However, first, I have a copy of Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon, his most well known book, to read this weekend on the plane to Buffalo…

Good stuff. Pick it up, you’ll be glad you did.

I bought a copy of this book after seeing a reference to it on a mailing list to which I’m subscribed (the Flyfish@ list, for the curious). A quick trip over to Amazon and it was on its way. I’ll confess that the title sold it pretty quickly, though this book does explore a subject that interests me…the inability of centrist Democrats to connect with the “Red State” vote. Growing up in eastern NC and being within a decade of age of the author provided me a bit of affinity for the subject. For the past 30 years, however, I’ve lived in Chapel Hill, NC, which will skew your perceptions of North Carolina politics a little bit in the Blue direction 😉 . I thought reading this book would help me remember why there are a lot of Red folks in NC, and maybe give me a bit more insight into the illogical (to me) phenomenon that sends voters from economically depressed areas to the polls in droves, punting for the Republican candidate more often than not. These are the same folks that, out of concern over the possible policies of the then-putative Obama administration, bought guns and ammunition in droves.

On to the book…

I really enjoyed the read. I’ll confess that it got off to a slow start for me. The Introduction and the first chapter, “American Serfs” are, while descriptive, the area where I feel that I am the least in sync with Bageant. I do believe in capitalism (with appropriate regulation!) and I don’t think that globalization will be going away…rather than fighting globalization, we need to educate and adapt, and we need policies that support that. As the book continues, it resonated much more with me. This is where he delves into the cultural factors that influence the political leanings of the denizens of Winchester, VA. I thought that he did a really good job of describing, in very personal terms, the culture of gun ownership and use. Then, his chapter on religion, “The Covert Kingdom” was also good, and in particular Bageant’s discussion of his relationship with his brother, a fundamentalist minister. I thought his best chapter was “The Ballad of Lynddie England.” Here he talks about how the abuse at Abu Ghraib could come about, and the historical cultures that still have significant influences today.

Bageant’s key point is that to be relevant to this constituency, the Blue politician has to go where these people are and be a part of their lives. Technical, logical debates from afar may work with the classic urban liberal wing of the Democratic party, but in an increasingly complex and challenging world, having foot soldiers among the voters who can package issues in ways that are relevant to the lives of Bageant’s contemporaries is the key to success. Foot soldiers carrying the “Red State” vision are there today, and are being highly effective.