Anathem

Anathem, the latest invention by the New York Times bestselling author ofCryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle, is a magnificent creation: a work ofgreat scope, intelligence, and imagination that ushers readers into arecognizable--yet strangely inverted--world. Fraa Erasmas is a youngavout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary formathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from thecorrupting influences of the outside saecular world by ancient stone,honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities andgovernments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three timesduring history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition andignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yetthe avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe,becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent ontechnology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of theoutside--the Extramuros--for the last of the terrible times was long, longago. Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite ofApert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent'sgates--at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious extrasin. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipatesreconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he wascollected. But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned andthe one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change.Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic lifeand the established ennui of the Extramuros--a threat that only anunsteadyalliance of saecular and avout can oppose--as, one by one, Erasmasand his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from thesafety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Suddenlyburdened with a staggering responsibility, Erasmas finds himself a majorplayer in a drama that will determine the future of his world--as he setsout on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous,inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond.