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Anathem...second read.

AnathemAnathem by Neal Stephenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I had to read this novel twice. It attracted my attention because the author while writing about a fictional world in a universe that doesn't contain us, created a whole way of thinking that is out of this world, eh...Universe. It is impressive because of the culture of the characters in his book has a language that is unique to their culture.

One gets to see at least two languages. One language is called Orth and the other is Flucish. And yet for us to really understand what's going on of course the novel is written in English. So what makes the language unique? in fact one may ask, what makes the book unique? One needs to understand the scientific background where the story takes place.

First of all, one must think in the Multiverse. And if one is versed in physics or astrophysics, there are different thoughts about what is a Multiverse and what does the Multiverse contain. I am not going to dive into this subject per se. If one needs to understand what is the Multiverse, a good parametric web search can bring one up to speed.

In the universe where the novel is written, we find ourself in the world where civilization is very ancient, it seems that and when there is some sort of advancement in technology and science something goes very wrong and the people who are responsible for the technology and science normally are the one that carries the blame. It is recognized that the individuals who promote advancement in technology and science are unique Individuals. Just like Einstein and Newton are unique individuals in our world. They just don't come from a line of people who are super intelligent or a species that are genetically different than us.

What I'm about to write is going to diverge from what you might find on Wikipedia and other reviews. I think that because these individuals are unique they are forcibly removed from society " collected" as the book says and locked away in "Concents" and their communities are called "math". The reason they are locked away and because of Technology they produce may become misused by the secular authorities. It may be that some of these avouts may have goofed in their experimentation and uh... blew some things up. However, I think it is just a smokescreen to keep these people where they can be found and used later on and be blamed if anything goes wrong.

Those who are called out by the secular authorities are called "evoked". Once pulled from a math, they will not return. Another thing about the Avout. While they are allowed to marry they are not allowed to have children, I don't think I got this clear from the book, but I guess is that the people of Arbre are afraid that the Avout indeed may become a separate species and wipe the normal people out. In the real sense of the world. I think this is quite impossible, in our world in our universe, it is very rare to see a family of geniuses. You might have a lineage of rich people who inherited material things and become known for this, what I yet to have seen a lineage of any family who is known for the intelligence. Please correct me if I am wrong.

In the novel, another attention-grabbing idea that even if you limit access to technology and knowledge like science, people with extraordinary intellectual abilities can still move forward. For example, you have those who are called Incantors and Rhetors. The Incantors can move through different universes that are extremely similar to their own and can deduce or predict an outcome. The book you will see one of these incanters chant a lot is he using sound technology? The Rhetor can change your memory by changing the past. How do they accomplish this? the novel doesn't say.

Few thoughts that I have feel free to mention some of your remarks I would be interested in them they might send my way of thinking into another direction

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