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  • Anathem by Neal Stephenson book cover
  • Anathem by Neal Stephenson book cover
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Anathem

by Neal Stephenson

Ideas behind monastery walls

Award Winner Critically Recognized
$22.45 USD
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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    Locus Award winner for Best Science Fiction Novel

    Anathem won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

  • Bestseller

    #1 New York Times Bestseller

  • Critical praise

    Called “A tour de force” by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

    The review calls Anathem “A tour de force.”

AlbakiReads Editorial

Ideas behind monastery walls

In an alternate universe, scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians live apart from wider society behind ancient monastery walls. Their seclusion ends when they are called back into the world to confront a crisis of astronomical proportions. That setup gives Anathem a framework for bringing philosophical and scientific questions into a science-fiction narrative, with the enclosed intellectual community and the larger crisis shaping its central tensions. The book’s subject matter spans mathematics, philosophy, and the consequences of turning inward or rejoining the world; the supplied description leaves the crisis itself unexplained.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in philosophical science fiction and stories built around ideas.
  • Readers drawn to speculative worlds organized around scientific and philosophical communities.
  • Readers who enjoy premises involving secluded societies facing a wider-world crisis.

Themes

Science and philosophyIntellectual seclusion and engagement with societyCommunity and crisis

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

A #1 New York Times Bestseller, Anathem, a stunning work of philosophical science fiction, is perhaps the most brilliant literary invention to date from the incomparable Neal Stephenson, who rocked the world with Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, and The Baroque Cycle. Now he imagines an alternate universe where scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians live in seclusion behind ancient monastery walls until they are called back into the world to deal with a crisis of astronomical proportions in an unforgettable epic science fiction saga.

 

Anathem won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the reviews for Anathem have been dazzling: "Brilliant" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel), "Daring" (Boston Globe), "Immensely entertaining" (New York Times Book Review), "A tour de force" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch), while Time magazine proclaims, "The great novel of ideas...has morphed into science fiction, and Neal Stephenson is its foremost practitioner."

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Customer reviews

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Malaika Taylor

I highly recommend to for anyone looking for inner clarity

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Thomas DiMassa

Great service and fast service

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Ella

Great shopping experience! The book arrived quickly, was well packaged, and matched the description perfectly. I would definitely shop with you again

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Olivia

Smooth.