Hacker News Reader

Can anyone recommend some good cypherpunk books, aside from Stephenson? Preferably fiction that communicates ideas revolving around anonymity, crypto, privacy?

I've been trying to read Cryptonomicon, but get turned off by the "hipstery" (for lack of a better word) informal writing style and can't get into it.

View on HN

I would say “self-congratulatory” rather than “hipstery” — I’m reading this right now too, and although I find it fascinating (like I find reading about any cryptography fascinating), it often feels impenetrable without a cause to be, other than “aren’t these characters all such geniuses, I bet you can barely keep up.” Also, I get http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Shaftos_Gone_to_Sea stuck in my head for hours afterwords each time.

Nothing's been above my head, it's more like it takes him too many words to make a point or get the jist across. He gets too creative/clever. I would like it to be more straightforward. Then again, I mainly read non-fiction from journalists or government types.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com