Ok, after months of reading this book on my bathroom breaks I have finally finished Cryptonomicon . This book was wonderful. If you are a tech minded programmer, network administrator, mathematician, a cryptanalyst, or a plain old computer nut; you will find yourself laughing out loud during parts of this book. I loved Neal Stephenson’s writing style which often goes off on wild tangents, and long metaphors, that are as entertaining (and sometimes even more-so) the the plot itself.
The book is basically short on plot and long on story. I found his “techy” descriptions as accurate as any I have every read in a fiction book. While covering the life of the three main characters you will also run into such storied jems as how to eat Cap’n Crunch, why men wear beards, cards as a crypto-system, discovering what really turns married couples on, and many many more. Great story, great writing… great book.