This book is two related stories, one set in WWII amng the mathematicians, cryptanalysts, and security spooks; the other about some Silicon Valley-style rocket scientists whose focus is networking and cryptography and general computer brilliance, in search of yet another killer business plan. The characters are related, of course, and a nicely crafted and very readable tale unfolds.

I know the silicon valley very well and Stepenson is spot on: he completely understands the psyches of the modern engineering nerd and wanna-be entrepreneur. I could have done with less explanation of crypto, math, and technical detail - I found myself thinking that, in this day and age, they ought to be able to produce a nerd's version of the book without techincal explanations.

Somewhere in the next 150 years, man has learned how to make any number of devices atom by atom, and also has figured out small power supplies and mechanics. So we have a world where nanotech dominates all. But wait, people are still very much people.

This story is about a kingpin's vision of training youngsters not to blindly obey the rules so much, to thjink for themselves, to survive as the fittest, not as the best clone of their elders, set among a new world of nanodevices and ethnic and cultural encampments and struggles.

Very well done.

Post cyberpunk scifi about the too-near future in which our heroic but humble and down-to-earth hero rambles about cyberspace and the real world to defeat one very bad-ass dude and set things straight.

The above description, while accurate enough, would never get me to read this book. So let be add that Stephenson knows not only his craft, but also a fair amount of modern techincal stuff, and he pulls it off very well.