Topic: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (Read 1976 times)
Since, like a lot of people, I read Cryptonomicon first, and then the Baroque Cycle, I already was liking his way of writing. The Baroque Cycle was even harder than Cryptonomicon to keep track of the characters at times, but one of it's *main* themes, seemed to be the creation of money. What it is, and how it's *perception* changes it's value. I just found out about him last year, and have been reading him ever since. And every once in a while, I'll bump into non-fiction articles by him. Brilliant man...how cool you got to meet him.
Anytime me and my coworkers are discussing Bitcoins, Cryptonomicon always comes up - it's an excellent book in general, but additionally one of the many focal points includes a gold based crypto/digital currency.
A similar theme can be seen in Snow Crash, also by Stephenson, where the standard dollar has hyperinflated to crazy lengths (think trillion and quadrillion dollar notes) and people move over to a non-inflated form of currency that is used in anarcho-capitalism based enclaves (a theme also seen in Diamond Age - again by Stephenson).
All of Stephenson's work is brilliant, he goes to great lengths to learn his subject matter to the best he can and it makes everyone of his books a great read. I met him at a book signing in NYC and the presentation/q&a before hand was very intriguing. He takes great pride in his work, and since his parents come from academia he has a great appreciation of sciences and research.
TL;DR - Read all of Stephenson's books. You won't regret it.
A similar theme can be seen in Snow Crash, also by Stephenson, where the standard dollar has hyperinflated to crazy lengths (think trillion and quadrillion dollar notes) and people move over to a non-inflated form of currency that is used in anarcho-capitalism based enclaves (a theme also seen in Diamond Age - again by Stephenson).
All of Stephenson's work is brilliant, he goes to great lengths to learn his subject matter to the best he can and it makes everyone of his books a great read. I met him at a book signing in NYC and the presentation/q&a before hand was very intriguing. He takes great pride in his work, and since his parents come from academia he has a great appreciation of sciences and research.
TL;DR - Read all of Stephenson's books. You won't regret it.
Cryptonomicon (and the baroque cycle) sure seems to be coming into mind all day to day: I'm new to bitcoin, but it seemed all those books mentioned were about the nature of money, and he seemed to predict and talk about digital havens, and anybody else who plowed through the Baroque Cycle knows it was all about the nature of money, how it's created...along with a whole lotta other stuff, of course 
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