Some Remarks: Essays and Other Writing

#1 New York Times bestselling author Neal Stephenson is, quite simply, one of the best and most respected writers alive. He’s taken sf to places it’s never been (Snow Crash, Anathem). He’s reinvented the historical novel (The Baroque Cycle), the international thriller (Reamde), and both at the same time (Cryptonomicon).

Now he treats his legion of fans to Some Remarks, an enthralling collection of essays—Stephenson’s first nonfiction work since his long essay on technology, In the Beginning…Was the Command Line, more than a decade ago—as well as new and previously published short writings both fiction and non.

Some Remarks is a magnificent showcase of a brilliantly inventive mind and talent, as he discourses on everything from Sir Isaac Newton to Star Wars.

What happens when one of science fiction’s most audacious minds turns his full attention to the real world?

• The History of Science: A brilliant analysis of the epic rivalry between Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and how their metaphysical clash shaped the modern world.
• Telecommunications Infrastructure: A legendary, globe-spanning piece of journalism that follows the laying of the longest wire on Earth, revealing the hidden backbone of our connected world.
• Innovation and the Future: A provocative look at why we've stopped making big things happen, from the decline of the space program to our collective failure to solve our energy problems.
• The World of Science Fiction: A candid inside look at the divide between "literary" and "genre" fiction, and why SF authors don't always get the respect they deserve.

One of the most talented and creative authors working today, Neal Stephenson is renowned for his exceptional novels—works colossal in vision and mind-boggling in complexity. Exploring and blending a diversity of topics, including technology, economics, history, science, pop culture, and philosophy, his books are the products of a keen and adventurous intellect. Not surprisingly, Stephenson is regularly asked to contribute articles, lectures, and essays to numerous outlets, from major newspapers and cutting-edge magazines to college symposia. This remarkable collection brings together previously published short writings, both fiction and nonfiction, as well as a new essay (and an extremely short story) created specifically for this volume.

Stephenson ponders a wealth of subjects, from movies and politics to David Foster Wallace and the Midwestern American College Town; video games to classics-based sci-fi; how geekdom has become cool and how science fiction has become mainstream (whether people admit it or not); the future of publishing and the origins of his novels. Playful and provocative, Some Remarks displays Stephenson's opinions and ideas on:

• The Internet, our dwindling national attention span, and the cultural importance of books and bookishness
• Waco, religion, and the cluelessness of secular society
• Metaphysics and the battle between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
• The laying of the longest wire on Earth—and why it matters to you
• Technology, freedom, commerce, and the Chinese
• How Star Wars and 300 mirror who we are today and what that spells for our future
• Modern Jedi knights, a.k.a. scientists and technologists, and why they are admired and feared by both the left and the right

By turns amusing and profound, critical and celebratory, yet always entertaining, Some Remarks offers a fascinating look into the prismatic mind of this extraordinary writer.

“Stephenson makes reading so much fun it feels like a deadly sin.” - International Herald Tribune

“He deserves to be classified as a major national and international resource.” - Wall Street Journal

“Neal Stephenson has made a name for himself as a writer whose imagination knows no limits.” - Salon

“Stephenson is a maddeningly talented writer who orchestrates the tropes of great thrillers with precision. . . . He continues to be one of the most consistently entertaining and challenging genre novelists.” - Virginia Pilot/Ledger Star

“Good writing is a reader’s first desire, and the result here is an obsessive read. . . . Those familiar with the online gaming world will find themselves in familiar territory. That Stephenson can make that world not just vital but important to non-gamers, to realistically and successfully shed a light on both the social and economic impacts of that world, is a feat worthy of admiration. And of being read.” - Denver Post

“Nobody else writes like Stephenson.” - Press Association (England)