[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385504209/bujinkanmartia0b/]The DaVinci Code[/url] – by Dan Brown. I’m not sure why this book has recieved the attention it has. In my opinion, the author is really not a very good writer. Although he weaves an interesting tale, his style of prose leaves a lot to be desired for me. I guess I like a little art in my writing! I would compare Mr. Brown’s style to that of a documentarian – not much vivid description – just the facts. As with Angels and Demons, the plot really pushes the boundaries of believability. There are some major leaps of faith required by the reader in order to enjoy the story. Overall, it was a good read, but I fear that the average reader will take the author’s word on a lot of these historical “facts” rather than doing their own research. There have been several books published recently to debunk the myths that are put forth in this book. I’m looking forward to checking out a few of those, too! In any case, if you like Mr. Brown’s style, then you’ll probably enjoy the story. If nothing else, it’s good for a quick read.

[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393307050/bujinkanmartia0b/]Master & Commander[/url] – by Patrick O’Brian . (October 5, 2004) Based on how much I enjoyed the film, I decided to read the series of books on which it was based. I had a bit of a hard time getting into the story. Perhaps this was because I am a little unfamiliar with this period of history but I think my difficulty had more to do with the huge number of nautical terms that the author uses in the book. I had to purchase a great companion book entitled Sea of Words in order to help me understand the historical, cultural and nautical references in the story. Once I got used to the vernacular, I quite enjoyed the story. The characters are well realized and don’t suffer from being likeable 100% of the time. The naval battles are well described and full of action. I’m looking forward to continuing my adventures with these books.

[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060512806/bujinkanmartia0b/]Cryptonomicon[/url] – by Neal Stephenson. (October 19, 2004 ) I’ve been meaning to read this one for a while, but I never got around to it. I (like most of the world) enjoyed Stephenson’s most popular work – Snowcrash – so I thought I should see what else he has done. With the recommendation of a friend, I decided to add Cryptonomicon to my reading list. This book is totally different than Snowcrash. This is mainly due to the story being set in the “real” world based on historical events. The plot moved between the WWII era and the late 90’s while the story is told from the points of view of Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse and his grandson Randy. There’s also a large cast of secondary characters. The story is really quite an epic that starts slow and builds from there. To be honest, I found the ending to be a bit anticlimactic – but I think this is purely Stephenson’s style. There’s plenty of technical bits that geeks like me will love and some interesting, though not necessarily factual, historical references to WWII era cryptography for you history buffs. The characters in Cryptonomicon are quite well developed and likably quirky. Overall, I found the book to be engaging and entertaining.

[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553380966/bujinkanmartia0b/]The Diamond Age[/url] – by Neal Stephenson. (December 21, 2004 ) After working my way through Cryptonomicon, I wanted to read more by Neal Stephenson, especially because Crypt offered such an interesting view of technological development. I read reviews for some of his recent works, but Diamond Age (or “The Diamond Age : Or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer” as it’s fully titled) sounded the most interesting. The story takes place in the fairly distant future (apparently after Snowcrash takes place) where we are treated to the author’s well-realized vision of a society shaped by massive social, political and technological changes. The bit of the story that I found to be the most intriguing was the eight year old Nell’s relationship with her new-found virtual reality-based book. This is the heart of the story, but like in Crypt, Stephenson includes a large group of secondary characters and subplots. I didn’t find these other plots and characters to be less interesting or well developed than Nell’s story, but I was really intrigued with the idea of a child being more or less “raised” by an electronic book! I found the author’s vision of the future to be disturbingly realistic – especially given some of the technological and social developments in the 5 or so years since it’s initial publication. I think I liked The Diamond Age better than Cryptonomicon due to it’s slightly more slimmed down plotline, but they’re both recommended.