> I adore Zodiac as well but am in a decided minority in that regard.

We're in the same camp, friend. Zodiac was my favourite novel of his.

I even liked _The Big U_. Pre Cryptonomicon Stephenson was weird and full of wacky ideas barely held together with a thin veneer of a story. I think he's a much better storyteller now, but the books aren't quite as dense with weird, magic and crazy ideas.

REAMDE was interesting to read when it came out as it had many ideas about the very-near-future that had yet to come about but are now true. One was how malware will grow dramatically in frequency and sophistication once there is an anonymous way to pay the criminals online. Written before criminals started using Bitcoin. I would agree it is now not worth reading unless one just wants to read everything by Stephenson.

Yeah, agree. You'll reach a point where you very obviously know you can stop.

I sometimes don't mind his "explain every little detail of the physics of how things work" style of writing, but when that's the majority of what you're reading over several pages of being introduced to new characters, it's a bit much.