Tuesday, 29 April 2008

Wertzone Classics: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson







Paddy said...

A fantastic book. I enjoyed it immensely.

I absolutely loved the scene where Randy is deciphering the documents in the Prison Cell using his laptop.

He first learns deciphering techniques right there in the cell using some electronic textbooks and he can't show the encrypted documents or his results on screen because he knows that it's a honeypot from the people who imprisoned him and they are using Van Eck phreaking to montior what's on the screen, so he learns Morse Code and writes a small program to blip out the results using the numpad, scroll-lock and caps-lock lights.

Geeky and awesome.

The comparison to the DaVinci code is apt, though there is no comparison in the level of realism and intelligence involved in the two books.

Adam Whitehead said...

There's also the bit where he hacks the network of a building being raided by the police by sitting on the rooftop opposite and pretending to be a reporter (or just a nosey neighbour with a laptop).

The comparison is quite good. I like to think of the Da Vinci Code as the LOL version of Cryptonomicon. "U haz Jezus blud, kayz?"

ThRiNiDiR said...

Cryptonomicon is on my to-read list now...but I don't know why Dan Brown gets so much negative attention. I enjoyed Da Vinci Code and Angels&Demons even more so...it's light, but an enjoyable beach read.