Neal Stephenson

Neal Stephenson (b. October 31, 1959 in Fort Meade, Maryland) is known primarily as a science fiction writer in the postcyberpunk genre with a penchant for diverting into explorations of mathematics, currency, and the history of science. He also writes non-fiction articles about technology in publications such as Wired Magazine, and works part-time as an advisor for Blue Origin, a company (funded by Jeff Bezos) developing a manned suborbital launch system http://www.well.com/user/neal/myrelationship.html.

Related Topics:
October 31 - 1959 - Fort Meade - Maryland - Science fiction - Postcyberpunk - Mathematics - Currency - History of science - Wired Magazine - Blue Origin - Jeff Bezos

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Stephenson's family was composed of engineers and hard scientists. Stephenson went to college in Boston, first as a physics major, then, when he found that it would allow him to spend more time on the university mainframe, Stephenson became a geography major. His first novel, The Big U, was published in 1984. The Big U was never popular, and for a while, was out of print. It has only recently been republished.

Related Topics:
Hard scientist - The Big U

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Although he wrote earlier novels such as the eco-thriller Zodiac, he came to fame in the early 1990s with the novel Snow Crash (1992), which fuses memetics, computer viruses, and other high-tech themes with Sumerian mythology. Averaging one novel every four years, he has written several subsequent novels: ' (1995), which deals with a future with extensive nanotechnology; Cryptonomicon (1999), a novel concerned with concepts ranging from computing and codebreaking during the Second World War to a modern attempt to set up a data haven; and The Baroque Cycle, a three volume work consisting of Quicksilver (2003), The Confusion (2004) and The System of the World (2004), making a very long historical novel cycle that is in some respects a prequel to Cryptonomicon.

Related Topics:
Thriller - Zodiac - 1990s - Snow Crash - 1992 - Memetics - Computer viruses - Sumerian mythology - 1995 - Nanotechnology - Cryptonomicon - 1999 - Codebreaking - Second World War - Data haven - The Baroque Cycle - Quicksilver - 2003 - The Confusion - 2004 - The System of the World - Historical novel - Prequel

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Though it can be argued that neither Cryptonomicon nor The Baroque Cycle constitute works of science fiction, booksellers have tended to classify these books as such.

Related Topics:
Cryptonomicon - The Baroque Cycle

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With the 2003 publication of Quicksilver, Stephenson debuted The Metaweb, a wiki (using the same software as Wikipedia) annotating the ideas and historical period explored in the novel.

Related Topics:
2003 - The Metaweb - Wiki - Wikipedia

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