Anathem, Neal Stephenson

11 Jan, 2026

Dhruv: 5/10

• Tried to do too many things
• Each chapter was its own entity (derogatory)
• A lot of the world building did not progress the story
• Not keen on checking out Stephenson’s stuff in the future

Elton: 4/5

• Too much theorics (bruh)
• Multi-world trickle down system is interesting, the eon spanning nature is fun

Tony: 5/10

• Stephenson trying to start a dialogue on philosophy
• The world-building was not in service of the story
• The story was bottom priority
• People who like this book like to pretend that they’re smart

Jason: 7/10

• Way too self-indulgent
• The way that it’s written makes it really difficult to parse what’s going on
• It can be really funny once you get past all of the fog
• Characters are really enjoyable and I like when they’re talking to each other