OK, so I just finished Anathem last night, and it was a marvelous read. Really. I rattled off some mid-book thoughts a few days ago, but I’ll be writing up a more extensive review soon. One of the best books I read this year, definitely.

I love books with background material available, and of course Anathem has a bunch at Neal Stephenson’s site. Nif-ty. I especially love books with their own wikis (like Accelerando and The Wealth of Networks), but any sort of useful online addendum makes me feel warm and tingly inside. Thanks, Neal. (though he appears to have some uptime issues…irk. I hope the widget caches.)

I enjoy listening to Stephenson’s voice, and I like Anathem quotes, so the video widget (also below) was a no-brainer! Check it out; as an example, the ‘Bulshytt’ definition rules, and definitely gives the flavor of the work.