(More recycled old material. New stuff soon.)

After spending a morning looking at potential wedding reception sites, Kate and I dropped into Borders for a little self-bribery. Much to my surprise, one of the first books I saw in the store was a reprint edition of Neal Stephenson's The Big U. I wasn't aware that this was being reprinted, having always heard that he was so ashamed of his early work that he was travelling around the country buying and destroying used copies so that no-one else could read it. Guess that was an urban legend...

Anyway, after hearing about this book on-line for years, I snapped up a copy at once. I finished it this afternoon, as it was vastly more entertaining than the work I was supposed to be doing (such are the dangers of bringing good novels to work to read on my lunch break...).

It's clear from the start that this is an early book by the author of Snow Crash. All the hallmarks are there- the goofy names (Casimir Radon, Septimus Severus Krupp), the bizarre assembly of characters (spanning the full range from duplicitous military-industrial complexites, to pistol-packing lesbians, to the spiritual ancestors of scruffy bearded Unix geeks), and the absurd hodge-podge of topics (Jaynes's theory of the bicameral mind, railguns, malevolent computer programs)- and everything is slightly less polished. Stephenson's foray into academic satire has all the subtlety of an asteroid strike. Mentally comparing this to Cryptonomicon clearly shows his growth as an author- he's learned a bit of restraint in the intervening fifteen years, and he's a better author for it.

Which is not to say that The Big U isn't a good book. It just... sprawls. It's a tremendously entertaining read, and clatters along bouncing off one academic caricature after another, the plot becoming progressively more tangled and absurd, until everything comes crashing down at the very end. Literally. Which, actually, is probably the best ending he's written thus far (though I do like the end of Cryptonomicon).

The plot almost defies description. The basic story follows the exploits of a handful of eccentric characters rattling around the one-building campus of the American Megaversity- chief among them are Casimir Radon, physics and engineering prodigy; Sarah Jane Johnson, President of the Student Government; Virgil Gabrielsen, who would be a scruffy bearded Unix geek if not for the fact that he bypasses the operating system entirely; and the narrator, a faculty member who appears to be named Bud Redfield (though I might've missed a full first name). They pinball their way through all the requisite satirical situations, interacting with impenetrable bureaucracy, eccentric faculty, stoned/ drunk/ drugged Frat Boys (they're not called such, but the type is clear), and bizarre campus political groups, before stumbling on a sinister plot involving terrorists international and domestic, giant rats in the sewers, neon-worshipping acid-dropping hooligans, and myriad other elements.