Cryptonomicon
by Neal Stephenson
- Used
- very good
- Paperback
- Condition
- Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 0060512806
- ISBN 13
- 9780060512804
- Seller
-
Brossard, Quebec, Canada
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Condition: Very good, light edge wear, spine creasing, light nicks at ends of spine.
Cryptonomicon zooms all over the world, careening conspiratorially back and forth between two time periods—World War II and the present. Our 1940s heroes are the brilliant mathematician Lawrence Waterhouse, crypt analyst extraordinaire, and gung-ho, morphine-addicted marine Bobby Shaftoe. They're part of Detachment 2702, an Allied group trying to break Axis communication codes while simultaneously preventing the enemy from figuring out that their codes have been broken. Their job boils down to layer upon layer of deception. Dr. Alan Turing is also a member of 2702, and he explains the unit's strange workings to Waterhouse. "When we want to sink a convoy, we send out an observation plane first... Of course, to observe is not its real duty—we already know exactly where the convoy is. Its real duty is to be observed... Then, when we come round and sink them, the Germans will not find it suspicious."
All of this secrecy resonates in the present-day story line, in which the grandchildren of the WWII heroes—inimitable programming geek Randy Waterhouse and the lovely and powerful Amy Shaftoe—team up to help create an offshore data haven in Southeast Asia and maybe uncover some gold once destined for Nazi coffers. To top off the paranoiac tone of the book, the mysterious Enoch Root, key member of Detachment 2702 and the Societas Eruditorum, pops up with an unbreakable encryption scheme left over from WWII to befuddle the 1990s protagonists with conspiratorial ties.
Cryptonomicon zooms all over the world, careening conspiratorially back and forth between two time periods—World War II and the present. Our 1940s heroes are the brilliant mathematician Lawrence Waterhouse, crypt analyst extraordinaire, and gung-ho, morphine-addicted marine Bobby Shaftoe. They're part of Detachment 2702, an Allied group trying to break Axis communication codes while simultaneously preventing the enemy from figuring out that their codes have been broken. Their job boils down to layer upon layer of deception. Dr. Alan Turing is also a member of 2702, and he explains the unit's strange workings to Waterhouse. "When we want to sink a convoy, we send out an observation plane first... Of course, to observe is not its real duty—we already know exactly where the convoy is. Its real duty is to be observed... Then, when we come round and sink them, the Germans will not find it suspicious."
All of this secrecy resonates in the present-day story line, in which the grandchildren of the WWII heroes—inimitable programming geek Randy Waterhouse and the lovely and powerful Amy Shaftoe—team up to help create an offshore data haven in Southeast Asia and maybe uncover some gold once destined for Nazi coffers. To top off the paranoiac tone of the book, the mysterious Enoch Root, key member of Detachment 2702 and the Societas Eruditorum, pops up with an unbreakable encryption scheme left over from WWII to befuddle the 1990s protagonists with conspiratorial ties.
Synopsis
Cryptonomicon is a 1999 novel by American author Neal Stephenson.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Shop-books.ca (CA)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 202001573
- Title
- Cryptonomicon
- Author
- Neal Stephenson
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 12th printing
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0060512806
- ISBN 13
- 9780060512804
- Publisher
- Avon
- Place of Publication
- New York, NY
- Date Published
- 2002
- Keywords
- used books; discount books; children's books; signed books; shop books
- Bookseller catalogs
- Modern Literature; Alternate History;
Terms of Sale
Shop-books.ca
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About the Seller
Shop-books.ca
Biblio member since 2020
Brossard, Quebec
About Shop-books.ca
Online bookseller, specializing in limited editions, science fiction, and fantasy. www.shop-books.caI have been a small, mobile bookseller for over 15 years and have recently decided to stay in one place!
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- Spine
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