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The Book of the new sun and neal Stephenson's Anathem

Hello, first time poster here.

I have been following the podcast cover Fifth Head of Cerberus at work and in Episode 44, the Wrap Up, Brandon and Glenn briefly talk about Neal Stephenson's Anathem and how its use of leaves as paper could be a nod to Fifth Head. Glenn also says there are several Book of the New Sun references in Anathem.

I'm a big fan of Anathem and read the Book of New Sun last year, but I'm at a loss of spotting the references. Can anyone help me out, or is this discussed in another episode?

3 comments

3 Comments

G.L. McDorman

Jan 17, 2020

Best Answer

Hi Ryan, welcome to the forum! I don't have either book in front of me at the moment, but as I recall the references are mostly throw-away lines when we're getting information about other monasteries, one of which is housed in a defunct rocket. I thought I also had spotted a reference to a fuligin at some point, as well.

I've actually got plans to do an entire Anathem podcast, reading about fifteen pages per episode with a friend of mine who is a historian of medieval monasticism ... I just don't have any minutes left in my days for that right now. But someday!

Ryan M.

Jan 18, 2020

Replying to

Thanks for replying! I do remember the monastery housed inside a rocket (were they called concents? It's been a minute), that absolutely sounds like a BOTNS nod. An Anathem podcast sounds like an amazing idea in my opinion.

Charles Gillingham

Jan 16, 2020

lol I should probably finish Anathem before I comment or read any comments here. I don't know, I'm a few hundred pages in, and then I heard someone mention this theory, and than on the page I noticed maybe three words that I haven't seen outside of Wolfe. But I don't know.