Anathem by Neal Stephenson

A science fiction novel about geometry, physics, metaphysics and monks. After the first 10-20 pages, which describe a lot of architecture, it's a pleasure to read. One night, I stayed up past my bedtime and read about 300 pages.

Sometimes, when I'm looking for books in a bookstore, I'll choose the longer one for no other reason than that it's longer. It feels a little shallow, picking a book for its length. I mean, any old author can write a thousand pages. But at the same time, I like to be entertained. That's the main reason I read. Other people have other reasons, but for me, it's entertainment. So the longer the book, the more entertainment I get. In fact, sometimes I justify my book purchases(in my head), by doing a hours entertained/dollar comparison. For movies, it's about 15 minutes per dollar. Video games vary between 20-60 minutes per dollar. A paperback book can be anywhere from an hour to 2 hours per dollar. Books really stretch that dollar.

Anyway, Anathem is based on a couple intriguing ideas, modifications to our world. The first is that there are large monasteries, where the monks study math/science instead of religion. The second is that contact with the world outside the monastery is staggered. There is a group that has its gates open daily, yearly, every ten years, every hundred years, every thousand years. As a social experiment, it brings up interesting ideas. For science fiction fans, I highly reccomend this book. If you have an interest in layman discussions of math and out there physics, this is a fun book to read. There's plenty of other stuff between those discussions, but if you don't like them, you'll have to do a lot of skipping. But for me, 5/5