io9
-
futurism
A Web of Footnotes — How We Will Read Books in the Future
The technological development that's going to change the way we read forever isn't ebooks — it's footnotes. For the past few months, if you really wanted to understand DC Comics' big crossover series Final Crisis, you basically had to read each issue alongside Eisner-winning critic Douglas Wolk's blog "Final Annotations." Each time a new issue in the series comes out, Wolk goes through page-by-page, carefully documenting what you need to know. Final Crisis contains such an embarrassment of obscure DC heroes and fannish references that it actually requires a highly-trained reader to give you adequate back story. This practice of exhaustive online footnoting is one of the less-talked about ways that the internet is profoundly changing the way we read books — and not just comic books.
More » -
rant
Why Science Fiction Still Hates Itself
If geek stuff is so hip, then why are two of the season's biggest scifi hits, CBS show Eleventh Hour and bestselling Neal Stephenson novel Anathem, adamantly classified as Not Scifi? Because nerd culture will never be pop culture. That's why Borders slashed its scifi section. And it's why JJ Abrams, director of the new Star Trek movie, denied that it's for fans of the scifi franchise, instead telling Entertainment Weekly that "it's for fans of movies." Successful science fiction, in other words, is still stealth. To get your spaceships and freaky science into the mainstream, you have to hate yourself just enough to shove your inner dork into a gym locker and keep her there. More » -
science-fiction deaths
12 Coolest Deaths In Science Fiction History
It's never great to watch a beloved science fiction hero die — but sometimes a memorable heroic death can help turn a science fiction story into a real epic. And some science fiction characters are unforgettable and bad-ass precisely because they died in a memorable way. Here's our list of the dozen greatest deaths in the history of science fiction. With some spoilers, natch. More » -
neal stephenson
Neal Stephenson Talks to io9 About Religion, Aliens, and Spoilers
Today Neal Stephenson's long-awaited new novel Anathem hits the bookstores. We've already told you that this tale of science monks on another planet is cool, action-packed, and thought-provoking — probably one of the best novels of Stephenson's career, which already includes lauded titles like Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, and Cryptonomicon. Though Stephenson usually likes to hole up with his ideas and avoid the spotlight, he's having what the characters in Anathem would call an "Apert," a time that comes every few years when he opens up and talks to the public about his work. We were lucky enough to get a chance to talk to Stephenson during his Apert, and asked about Anathem, as well as a few questions about Earth. (Warning: There are a few spoilers ahead.)
More » 
5,152
Comment by Daveinva: "the anti-science politics of the Christian-oriented Bush Administration in the United States." WHAT anti-science politics? HOW Christian-oriented? 6 Responses | Other threads
-
anathem
Neal Stephenson's Tale of Two Planets
Neal Stephenson's new novel Anathem comes out next week, and there's something very timely about his tale of aliens on a parallel Earth whose inhabitants are locked into an occasionally-catastrophic conflict between scientific and religious institutions. The planet Arbre, which is very much like Earth in some ways, differs from our world one major respect. Its religious and scientific institutions are essentially reversed. Monks called the avout live ascetic lives studying science in gracious, ancient "maths," while the so called "saecular" world is populated with Deolators (god-worshipers) who are obsessed with religion and technology. Stephenson's world-building skills, honed by the exacting work he did on his recent Baroque Cycle trilogy, are at their best here. Anathem is that rarest of things: A stately novel of ideas packed with cool tech, terrific fight scenes, aliens, and even a little ESP. More »
9,073
Comment by Chadicus: Can. Not. Wait. I love just about everything he's written. Thought the baroque cycle kind of ate itself by the... 3 Responses | Other threads
-
neal stephenson
Want to Talk to Neal Stephenson?
Neal Stephenson, author of Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, has a new novel coming out next week called Anathem. He'll be chatting for an hour on "The Beyond," a web radio show. You can listen or call in with your questions today at 4 PM EST. Here's the link. Don't worry if you miss it — io9 is doing an interview with Stephenson, which we'll be posting soon!
253
Comment by rdldr1: So will this interview involve rants about the possibility of Liberalism taking over America, turning it into a socialist state... 1 Responses | Other threads
-
neal stephenson
Exclusive: Neal Stephenson Does Some Hardcore Phenomenology Geeking
We've got an exclusive clip of Neal Stephenson doing what he does best: Seriously geeking out about obscure early-twentieth century metaphysics. Specifically, he admits that he has a little fetish for Edmund Husserl, a theorist who coined the term "phenomenology" in his effort to reconcile the hard truths of scientific knowledge with the ambiguities of human consciousness. Stephenson's interest in Husserl comes out of his obsession with Kurt Gödel, who loved Husserl (and is also every geek's philosopher dream date). The issues that arise out of phenomenology, specifically how people come to know things about measurable reality and their (hard to measure) consciousness, provide the intellectual backbone for Stephenson's forthcoming novel Anathem. More »
3,488
Comment by wotthehell: Oh, come now: Hume would be a total blast, although you'd end up with a distended belly and in an... 1 Responses | Other threads
-
neal stephenson
Neal Stephenson Says His New Novel Has Parallels with Bush Era in U.S.
Neal Stephenson's new novel Anathem hits bookstores early next month, and stoking the fires of our anticipation is a meaty article about Stephenson in this month's Wired magazine. Writer Steven "Hackers" Levy profiles the author, who apparently divides his time between writing longhand in his basement, and consulting with Nathan Myhrvold's company Intellectual Ventures, a prototyping think tank and patent farm. It makes sense that the author of a novel about science monks from another planet is both monkish and technical in his personal life. One of the interesting observations that Stephenson makes in the article is that Anathem is in some ways a commentary on the war between religion and science in the United States under George W. Bush. More »
2,919
Comment by RAHfanboy: I find myself in the rather odd position of defending Annalee in a matter of one of her political statements.... more » | Other threads
-
-
anathem
Neal Stephenson Explains the Name of His New Novel "Anathem"
It's less than a month before the release of Neal "Snow Crash" Stephenson's new novel Anathem, and you're probably starting to wonder what the hell that title means. Never fear — Amazon has just posted this video of Stephenson explaining the title, as well as many of the other words and ideas he invented for this epic about science monks on another planet. I've just started reading the novel, and I'm really enjoying its stately pace and gentle humor. In many ways, it reads like an inverted history of Earth, where scientists are the monks in cloisters and religious people design crappy cell phones. You can also see Stephenson reading a chunk of Anathem in another video on Amazon. Anathem [via Amazon]
4,664
Comment by Alcevious: Diamond Age has been the only novel I've read where reading it felt like I was tripping out. I think... more » | Other threads
-
neal stephenson
The 10,000-Year-Old Clock that Inspired Neal Stephenson's Anathem
The Long Now, a futurist think tank, is the organization behind the millennium clock — a time-counting device that is designed to last 10,000 years. A device like it shows up in Neal Stephenson's forthcoming novel Anathem, and today the Long Now explains how the scifi author was involved in the conceptualization of the clock itself (a prototype of the clock is pictured here). Five years ago, he contributed a few sketches to the clock designers, and then ultimately wove the idea into his new novel. [Long Now]
2,531
Comment by brianeisley: @moff: Well, unlike most, I had a really good time with the Baroque Cycle and didn't think it was difficult... more » | Other threads
-
neal stephenson
Neal Stephenson Explains Who Should Play Spock
In a tone of deep seriousness that sounds practically professorial, scifi author Neal Stephenson shared some grave thoughts a couple of months ago about science fiction actors. In this clip, the author of The Diamond Age and Cryptonomicon tells a London audience how SF actors' careers are "bifurcated" — they're famous among scifi fans, but not so widely known in the mundane world (not unlike Stephenson himself). I just love the way he gravely explains the careers of Lena Headley (Sarah Connor Chronicles) and Lucy Lawless (Battlestar Galactica, Xena). But then he moves on even more controversial territory: Who should play Spock if it isn't going to be Leonard Nimoy? His answer, unsurprisingly, is not the dude JJ Abrams picked to play Spock in the new movie. But it's actually some pretty inspired casting. Neal Stephenson can cast my dream Star Trek movie any time. [via Fora TV] -
cool and crap
Cool and Crap Awards of the Week
This week, at least two things happened in the worlds of science and fiction: one was cool; the other was crap. More »
3,838
Comment by ollie: "If Neal Stephenson wrote a book about pocket lint it'd still somehow involve a helicopter." more » | Other threads
-
anathem
Plot of New Neal Stephenson Novel Revealed
We've heard rumors about Neal "Snow Crash" Stephenson's new novel, but nothing more concrete than that it would be called Anathem and it would be a space opera about math and aliens. That would mark a real departure for the novelist, who has dealt only with human histories and futures in his previous works like The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Cryptonomicon. Now Lev Grossman, Time magazine's nerd correspondent, has more details about the plot of Anathem. More »
8,610
Comment by phoghat: @Rus: So you never read anything for fun?@randallnathaniel: Yeah, me too. I learned a lot from the "Cryptonomicon" also. ... more » | Other threads
-
neal stephenson
Neal Stephenson's New Novel Remains Shrouded in Mystery
You can now pre-order Neal "Cryptonomicon" Stephenson's new novel Anathem, due out in September, but as of yet the author has made very few comments about it. Nor has his publisher, William Morrow. All we know comes from the LiveJournal entry of a Google employee who asked the author about it last year when he read at the Google Kirkland campus. She writes, "It's set on another planet and has aliens and so on. It's really about Platonic mathematics, but he needed the aliens and space opera-ish elements to spice it up a little bit, just like the pirates kept people engaged in the Baroque books." Plus, we can guess that the title is a mashup of the words anathema and anthem, which is a darn cool coinage. [Pre-order Anathem
2,814
Comment by IlyaP: FYI: In Deutsch, Anathem means (rough translation): 'A consecration (a gift of some sort) that is presented before something of divine nature... more » | Other threads
-
anathem
Major Spoiler: The Coolest Death From Neal Stephenson's Anathem
Orolo from Anathem by Neal Stephenson. More »
3,906
Comment by RevMorose: no love for Fraa Jad, who, depending on who you ask, either died in space shortly after the launch or... 3 Responses | Other threads
- 1
1-15 of 15 for "anathem, "
