Anathem
★★★★★
Verdict: If there is ONE sci-fi book that was written specifically for autistic nerds, it's Anathem.
This one is special. I got to 100 pages twice and gave up. But on the third try, I hit ten times that and finally, FINALLY finished it!
The Premise
- The Setting: A fictional planet called “Arbre” (which is actually not so dissimilar to Earth).
- The Protagonist: An “Avout” (a scientific monk) named Erasmas, nickname “Raz”.
- The Lore: Thousands of years before the events of the book, the planet’s scientists and philosophers were locked away in monasteries, called “concents”. They are only allowed to visit the “outside world” once every 1, 10, 100, or 1,000 years, depending on the strict vow they’ve taken. Depending on the year, specific concents host a ten-day festival, “Apert” where people from the outside world can come into the concents and the other way around.
- The Plot: The story revolves around the sudden appearance of an alien spacecraft. Erasmas and his companions are thrown into a global race to uncover its true motives, and the mind-bending relationship between the inhabitants of Arbre and the “aliens” on that spacecraft. We’re also given hints on how Earth is connected to Arbre in the third act.
The Verdict
If there is ONE sci-fi book that was written specifically for autistic nerds, it’s Anathem. The narrative is an absolute playground that spans:
- Quantum Mechanics, specifically the “many-worlds” interpretation
- The debate between Platonic Realism and Nominalism
- Molecular Chirality
- Ballistic science
⚠️ A Word of Caution
You NEED to be patient during the first 250 pages. Stephenson dumps you straight into a strange new universe with a completely different vocabulary. Around page 250, once you’ve immersed yourself in Arbre, Stephenson accelerates the ship and the story moves at a steady pace.