Books by Neal Stephenson
Neal Stephenson Biography & Notes
Although he wrote earlier novels such as the eco-thriller Zodiac, he came to fame in the early 1990s with the novel Snow Crash (1992) which fuses memetics, computer viruses, and other high-tech themes with Sumerian mythology. Averaging one novel every four years, he has written these subsequent novels: The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (1995) which deals with a future with extensive nanotechnology; Cryptonomicon (1999), a novel concerned with computing and codebreaking from the Second World War codebreakers to a modern attempt to set up a data haven; and The Baroque Cycle, a three volume work consisting of Quicksilver (2003), The Confusion (2004) and The System of the World (2004), making a very long historical novel cycle that is in some respects a prequel to Cryptonomicon.
Stephenson, at least in his earlier novels, deals heavily in pop-culture-laden metaphors and imagery and in quick, hip dialogue, as well as in extended narrative monologues. The tone of his books generally is more irreverent and less self-serious than in previous cyberpunk novels, notably those of William Gibson. His novels are also notable in that they are usually written in the present tense.
Stephenson's books tend to have elaborate, inventive plots drawing on numerous technological and sociological ideas at the same time. This distinguishes him from other mainstream science fiction authors who tend to focus on a few technological or social changes in isolation from others. This penchant for complexity and detail suggests a baroque writer. His book The Diamond Age features "neo-Victorian" characters and employs Victorian-era literary conceits. In keeping with the baroque style, Stephenson's books have gotten longer as he has gained recognition. (Cryptonomicon is nearly a thousand pages long and contains various digressions, including a lengthy erotic story about antique furniture and stockings).
A characteristic aspect of his books is the "breakdown in events", a (conscious or not) acceleration in plot development (typically about three quarters of the way into the book) accompanied by a marked increase in violence and general confusion among the characters. This pattern holds for all of the Stephenson-penned books except perhaps Quicksilver. Although, on the evidence of The Confusion that rule may still hold if one considers The Baroque Cycle as a single work.
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Anatema/ Anathem by Neal Stephenson ( 2009) |
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Anathem by Neal Stephenson ( 2008)
On Arbre, the Earth-like planet created by Neil Stephenson in his nearly 1000-page ANATHEM, a group of scientifically inclined monks have lived sequestered from the illiterate, religious, technologically obsessed masses for 3,000 years. But with a global threat hovering in the atmosphere, these scholarly aesthetes are called out from their cloistered walls. Although Stephenson unravels the mysterious threat slowly, ANATHEM is as full of action as it is of philosophizing. We follow the young, "avout" Raz as he journeys out into the realm of the "saecular" (in Stephenson's vernacular) to battle against an imminent disaster.
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The Big U by Neal Stephenson ( 2001) The New York Times Book Review called Neal Stephenson's most recent novel "electrifying" and "hilarious". but if you want to know Stephenson was doing twenty years before he wrote the epic Cryptonomicon, it's back-to-school time. Back to The Big U, that is, a hilarious send-up of American college life starring after years our of print, The Big U is required reading for anyone interested in the early work of this singular writer. |
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The Cobweb by Neal Stephenson, J. FREDERICK GEORGE ( 2005)
From his triumphant debut with Snow Crash to the stunning success of his latest novel, Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson has quickly become the voice of a generation. In this now-classic political thriller, he and fellow author J. Frederick George tell a savagely witty, chillingly topical tale set in the tense moments of the Gulf War.
When a foreign exchange student is found murdered at an Iowa University, Deputy Sheriff Clyde Banks finds that his investigation extends far beyond the small college town—all the way to the Middle East. Shady events at the school reveal that a powerful department is using federal grant money for highly dubious research. And what it’s producing is a very nasty bug. Navigating a plot that leads from his own backyard to Washington, D.C., to the Gulf, where his Army Reservist wife has been called to duty, Banks realizes he may be the only person who can stop the wholesale slaughtering of thousands of Americans. It’s a lesson in foreign policy he’ll never forget. |
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The Confusion by Neal Stephenson ( 2004) In the year 1689, a cabal of Barbary galley slaves -- including one Jack Shaftoe, a.k.a. King of the Vagabonds, a.k.a. Half-Cocked Jack, lately and miraculously cured of the pox -- devises a daring plan to win freedom and fortune. A great adventure ensues, rife with battles, chases, hairbreadth escapes, swashbuckling, bloodletting, and danger -- a perilous race for an enormous prize of silver ... nay, gold ... nay, legendary gold that will place the intrepid band at odds with the mighty and the mad, with alchemists, Jesuits, great navies, pirate queens, and vengeful despots across vast oceans and around the globe. Meanwhile, back in Europe ... The exquisite and resourceful Eliza, Countess de la Zeur, master of markets, pawn and confidante of enemy kings, onetime Turkish harem virgin, is stripped of her immense personal fortune by France's most dashing privateer. Penniless and at risk from those who desire either her or her head (or both), she is caught up in a web of international intrigue, even as she desperately seeks the return of her most precious possession -- her child. While ... Newton and Leibniz continue to propound their grand theories as their infamous rivalry intensifies, stubborn alchemy does battle with the natural sciences, nobles are beheaded, dastardly plots are set in motion, coins are newly minted (or not) in enemy strongholds, father and sons reunite in faraway lands, priests rise from the dead ... and Daniel Waterhouse seeks passage to the Massachusetts colony in hopes of escaping the madness into which his world has descended. |
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The Confusion Ltd by Neal Stephenson ( 2005) In the year 1689, a cabal of Barbary galley slaves -- including one Jack Shaftoe, a.k.a. King of the Vagabonds, a.k.a. Half-Cocked Jack, lately and miraculously cured of the pox -- devises a daring plan to win freedom and fortune. A great adventure ensues, rife with battles, chases, hairbreadth escapes, swashbuckling, bloodletting, and danger -- a perilous race for an enormous prize of silver ... nay, gold ... nay, legendary gold that will place the intrepid band at odds with the mighty and the mad, with alchemists, Jesuits, great navies, pirate queens, and vengeful despots across vast oceans and around the globe. Meanwhile, back in Europe ... The exquisite and resourceful Eliza, Countess de la Zeur, master of markets, pawn and confidante of enemy kings, onetime Turkish harem virgin, is stripped of her immense personal fortune by France's most dashing privateer. Penniless and at risk from those who desire either her or her head (or both), she is caught up in a web of international intrigue, even as she desperately seeks the return of her most precious possession -- her child. While ... Newton and Leibniz continue to propound their grand theories as their infamous rivalry intensifies, stubborn alchemy does battle with the natural sciences, nobles are beheaded, dastardly plots are set in motion, coins are newly minted (or not) in enemy strongholds, father and sons reunite in faraway lands, priests rise from the dead ... and Daniel Waterhouse seeks passage to the Massachusetts colony in hopes of escaping the madness into which his world has descended. |
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Criptonomicon I / Cryptonomicon I El codigo Enigma / The Enigma Code by Neal Stephenson ( 2005)
"More than fifty years after Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse and Sergeant Bobby Shaftoe are assigned to Detachment 2702, a secret cryptographic mission, their grandchildren--Randy and Amy--join forces to create a ""data haven"" in the South Pacific, only to uncover a massive conspiracy with roots in Detachment 2702, in the first volume of the trilogy."
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Criptonomicon II / Cryptonomicon II El Codigo Pontifex by Neal Stephenson ( 2005)
"The second volume in the three-part saga continues the story of Detachment 2702, an elite, top-secret cryptographic mission, as it continues to shape world events."
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Criptonomicon III / Cryptonomicon III El Codigo Aretusa / The Aretusa Code by Neal Stephenson ( 2005)
"The epic conclusion of the trilogy chronicling the efforts of Detachment 2702, a secret cryptographic mission, efforts continue to uproot a massive conspiracy with roots in Detachment 2702."
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Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson ( 2001)
More than fifty years after Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse and Sergeant Bobby Shaftoe are assigned to Detachment 2702, a secret cryptographic mission, their grandchildren--Randy and Amy--join forces to create a "data haven" in the South Pacific, only to uncover a massive conspiracy with roots in Detachment 2702. Read by Scott Brick.
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Currency by Neal Stephenson ( 2006) |
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The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson ( 2000)
Set in 21st century Shanghai, this novel of the cyber-future follows Nell, a street urchin, after she stumbles on a very powerful interactive device that has the power to decode and reprogram her entire life. Reprint.
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The Diamond Age/Or, Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson ( 1995)
From the author of Snow Crash, the story of an engineer who creates a device to raise a girl capable of thinking for herself reveals what happens when a young girl of the poor underclass obtains the device.
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In the Beginning...Was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson ( 1999) This is "the Word" -- one man's word, certainly -- about the art (and artifice) of the state of our computer-centric existence. And considering that the "one man" is Neal Stephenson, "the hacker Hemingway" (Newsweek) -- acclaimed novelist, pragmatist, seer, nerd-friendly philosopher, and nationally bestselling author of groundbreaking literary works (Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, etc., etc.) -- the word is well worth hearing. Mostly well-reasoned examination and partial rant, Stephenson's In the Beginning... was the Command Line is a thoughtful, irreverent, hilarious treatise on the cyber-culture past and present; on operating system tyrannies and downloaded popular revolutions; on the Internet, Disney World, Big Bangs, not to mention the meaning of life itself. |
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Interface by Neal Stephenson, J. FREDERICK GEORGE ( 2005)
From his triumphant debut with Snow Crash to the stunning success of his latest novel, Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson has quickly become the voice of a generation. In this now-classic thriller, he and fellow author J. Frederick George tell a shocking tale with an all-too plausible premise.
There's no way William A. Cozzano can lose the upcoming presidential election. He's a likable midwestern governor with one insidious advantage, an advantage provided by a shadowy group of backers. A biochip implanted in his head hardwires him to a computerized polling system. The mood of the electorate is channeled directly into his brain. Forget issues. Forget policy. Cozzano is more than the perfect candidate. He's a special effect. |
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King of the Vagabonds by Neal Stephenson ( 2006)
London street urchin-turned-legendary adventurer, "Half-Cocked Jack" Shaftoe embarks on a dangerous quest for fortune and love, while Eliza, rescued by Jack from a Turkish harem, becomes a spy, confidante, and pawn of royalty, in a swashbuckling adventurer set against the backdrop of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century England. Original.
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La Era Del Diamante/The Diamond Age by Pedro Romero, Neal Stephenson ( 2007) |
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La confusion/ The confusion by Neal Stephenson ( 2008) |
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La telarana/ The Cobweb by Neal Stephenson, J. FREDERICK GEORGE ( 2008) |
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Odalisque by Neal Stephenson ( 2006)
In the wake of a power struggle between the throne-seeking Tories and Whigs in early eighteenth-century England, Daniel Waterhouse teams up with friend Isaac Newton to hunt down a shadowy group headed by counterfeiter Jack the Coiner, who uses time bombs to kill Natural Philosophers. By the author of Cryptonomicon. Reprint.
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Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson ( 2004) Neal Stephenson is one of America's most collectible authors. The ever-growing number of his devoted readers has created a huge demand for signed and first trade editions of his works. With Quicksilver: The Deluxe Limited Edition, William Morrow presents the first limited edition ever published of Neal Stephenson's work. Limited to a single edition of just 1,000 copies, the book is a beautifully designed example of the art of bookbinding. Each volume will be numbered and signed by Neal Stephenson. Collectors and readers alike will welcome the chance to add this handsome volume to their Neal Stephenson collection.
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Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson ( 2008)
Neal Stephenson staked out a piece of William Gibson's cyberterritory in this 90s slacker-hacker novel. In a Balkanized America run entirely by corporations, a computer hacker moonlighting as a pizza delivery guy and a tough young female courier take on a glass-knife-wielding Aleut who possesses a nuclear bomb and a mogul planning to use ancient Sumerian texts to rewrite the software in everyone's brains. This cult classic takes on--among other topics--neurolinguistics, online etiquette, televangelism, thrasher culture, corporate and civil bureaucracy, and the legendary antecedents of the Tower of Babel. SNOW CRASH was Stephenson's breakout book, and it was the earliest of his works to display his interest in language and cryptography, both of which he explores further in his massive, somewhat more mainstream CRYPTONOMICON and his BAROQUE CYCLE series.
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Solomon's Gold by Neal Stephenson ( 2006) |
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The System Of The World by Neal Stephenson ( 2005)
In the wake of a power struggle between the throne-seeking Tories and Whigs in early eighteenth-century England, Daniel Waterhouse teams up with friend Isaac Newton to hunt down a shadowy group headed by counterfeiter Jack the Coiner, who uses time bombs to kill Natural Philosophers. By the author of Cryptonomicon.
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System of the World by Neal Stephenson ( 2006) |
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The System of the World by Neal Stephenson ( 2005) 'Tis done. The world is a most confused and unsteady place -- especially London, center of finance, innovation, and conspiracy -- in the year 1714, when Daniel Waterhouse makes his less-than-triumphant return to England's shores. Aging Puritan and Natural Philosopher, confidant of the high and mighty and contemporary of the most brilliant minds of the age, he has braved the merciless sea and an assault by the infamous pirate Blackbeard to help mend the rift between two adversarial geniuses at a princess's behest. But while much has changed outwardly, the duplicity and danger that once drove Daniel to the American Colonies is still coin of the British realm. No sooner has Daniel set foot on his homeland when he is embroiled in a dark conflict that has been raging in the shadows for decades. It is a secret war between the brilliant, enigmatic Master of the Mint and closet alchemist Isaac Newton and his archnemesis, the insidious counterfeiter Jack the Coiner, a.k.a. Jack Shaftoe, King of the Vagabonds. Hostilities are suddenly moving to a new and more volatile level, as Half-Cocked Jack plots a daring assault on the Tower itself, aiming for nothing less than the total corruption of Britain's newborn monetary system. Unbeknownst to all, it is love that set the Coiner on his traitorous course; the desperate need to protect the woman of his heart -- the remarkable Eliza, Duchess of Arcachon-Qwghlm -- from those who would destroy her should he fail. Meanwhile, Daniel Waterhouse and his Clubb of unlikely cronies comb city and country for clues to the identity of the blackguard who is attempting to blow up Natural Philosophers with Infernal Devices -- as political factions jockey for position while awaiting the impending death of the ailing queen; as the "holy grail" of alchemy, the key to life eternal, tantalizes and continues to elude Isaac Newton, yet is closer than he ever imagined; as the greatest technological innovation in history slowly takes shape in Waterhouse's manufactory. Everything that was will be changed forever ... The System of the World is the concluding volume in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, begun with Quicksilver and continued in The Confusion. |
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Zodiac The Eco-Thriller by Neal Stephenson ( 2007)
Sangamon Taylor, an environmental extremist, sets out to discover the source of dangerously high levels of radiation in the Boston Harbor, teams up with some unlikely types, and battles corruption all the way to the level of a would-be president. Reprint.
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