Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
This is part of the book review I did for my class for Cryptonomicon. Just thought I'd share. :)
Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon combines historical and science fiction to lead readers along two techno-thrilling plot paths. One path covers two to three years during World War II; the other parallels about the same length of time in the “present,” which, in the novel, would be around the turn of the century.
The World War II portion centers around Lawrence Waterhouse, a brilliant, but socially challenged mathematician turned cryptanalyst, and Bobby Shaftoe, a Marine who somehow manages to survive battles and situations where all those around him end up dead. Waterhouse is given the ultimate security clearance in the British and American governments, and his goal is to break German and Nipponese (or Japanese) codes without letting the Axis powers know they have been broken. Part of his job description says, "No action is to be taken on information herein reported, regardless of temporary advantage, if such action might have the effect of revealing the existence of the source to the enemy. . . It is all a question (oddly enough!) of information theory…Information flows from Germany to us. . .we can extract information that is crucial to our endeavors. . .but. . .there is a certain point at which information begins to flow from us back to the Germans. We need to know where that point is." Shaftoe, conversely, provides comic relief, intermittent haikus, and, most importantly, a face to the dates and places of horrific battles. He serves to remind the reader that the type of work Waterhouse is doing has consequences and affects real lives.
Meanwhile, the modern story follows their grandchildren. Randy Waterhouse is a hacker, software developer, and all-around computer genius, who is working on his latest company project of creating a data haven in the Pacific Rim when he meets America (Amy) Shaftoe, a free-spirited contractor and treasure hunter. When Waterhouse’s project begins to attract the attention of governments, powerful investors, and other interested, but nefarious, third parties, he, Amy, and their colleagues must work quickly to not only secure their data and their lives, but to also ultimately define their roles in a changing economy of information.
The book is fiction, so its main purpose is to entertain. However, Stephenson also challenges the reader to think about the value of information and how that information can be controlled, used, and protected.
Neal Stephenson is the author of 10 novels, the most recent published in 2008, and Cryptonomicon won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 2000. Because he is writing fiction, Stephenson has not been highly cited in scholarly journals. However, his work is referenced in a handful of articles on subjects like cyberpunk culture, the future of computation, and even techno-orientalism.
It is primarily set in and around the Philippines, where governmental controls have not quite caught up to the available technology. Randy Waterhouse, his colleagues, and his enemies are using this situation to their advantage. "It would be interesting to approach this as a problem in information theory. . .how can data flow back and forth between nodes in an internal network. . .but not exist to a person outside." These encryption possibilities have enormous implications not only in terms of information privacy, but also for economies and governments. What will a government's role be in terms of the economy of information? Will it be a controller, a money-maker, or a distant observer? What do information scientists think that role should be?
Reading Cryptonomicon requires a certain level of information literacy. Those without a technical interest or mathematical background might find themselves skimming certain parts or struggling to catch up, even though he provides helpful illustrations for many of the more difficult concepts. But information scientists should still have no trouble following along with the multitudes of connections Stephenson challenges readers to make throughout the book. He highlights the value of information, the flow of information, the economy of information, and the potential problems arising from control of all that information—particularly by governments. All of these questions will be of special interest to anyone going into an information field.
The book is also a good reminder to librarians in particular of the importance of being knowledgeable about issues beyond their subject specialties. Randy, for instance, was working in his college’s library after graduating with a degree in astronomy. “His larger sphere of interests, his somewhat broader concept of normalcy, was useful when certain patrons came into the office.” Being able to take a broad view of life (or just research) and having a working knowledge of technological advancements are almost requisite skills for librarians now.
Cryptonomicon includes a good reminder about general research. "Good ideas come to him as fast and thick as ever, but he has to keep his eye on the ball. If the idea is not relevant…he has to jot it down and forget about it for now. If it is relevant, he has to restrain his urge to dive into it and consider: has anyone else come up with this idea before him?" And on a surface reading, the book might offer more specific research directions or questions to mathematicians or computer science students. In fact, the word “information” is relatively small in a Wordle created from the book’s text and does not show up at all on its LibraryThing tags. However, its above-mentioned underlying information questions can obviously be of great value to those studying information sciences. "Of particular interest has been the subject of just how much information can be extracted from seemingly random data." This reading of various sources and synthesizing the information found in them is one of the tasks information researchers and doctoral students perform almost every day. Reading Cryptonomicon is a great way to start thinking about the questions behind those tasks.
