Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson is a novel that blends science, espionage, financial schemes, and complex characters in a unique though often convoluted story. Published in 1999, the novel seeks to explore the dichotomy between information and knowledge, as well as explore the hidden messages contained in a mysterious computer program known as Cryptonomicon. The novel is divided into two timelines, one of which focuses on a group of World War II-era Allied soldiers during the Battle of Okinawa, while the other centers around a group of modern-day computer programmers, cryptanalysts, and hackers in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Japan.
The WWII-era plot involves Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse, a brilliant cryptologist and leader of an Allied code-breaking unit known as “Detachment 2702”. Waterhouse and his team are charged with breaking the Japanese "Ultra" code, a secret cipher which has allowed Japanese forces to elminate Allied naval forces and ultimately win the Pacific War. Waterhouse and his team attempt to build a massive computing machine called the “(Enigma) Bombe” which can decode the Japanese Ultra cipher. Despite the team's best effort, however, their machine fails and Waterhouse is forced to flee Okinawa.
The modern-day plot follows the grandson of Waterhouse, named Randy, who is a reclusive and brilliant computer programmer. Randy has teamed up with hacker employees of a powerful yet secretive tech company called “Epiphyte Corporation” to build an underwater data storage facility in the South China Sea. The facility is in part funded by a shadowy agent known as “The Shaftoe” and its goal is to build a secure “Cryptonomicon” to store vital technological and financial records in an encrypted format. While Randy and his team struggle to build the facility, they unearth clues to a centuries-old mystery related to the Enigma machine and their discoveries could potentially rewrite the history of WWII.
The novel is filled with numerous plot twists and secrets. In addition to the main story, Cryptonomicon also contains side-plots involving the effects of cryptology on modern economics, the history of Freemasonry, a corporate battle between a powerful Japanese company and a British Telecom-type group, long-held secrets related to Japanese Imperial families and much more. As the plot unfolds, readers come to understand the many layers of technology, history, and culture as the characters of Cryptonomicon search for truth and justice.
In conclusion, Cryptonomicon is an ambitious and highly acclaimed novel from Neal Stephenson. By finding the balance between engineering, finance, and history, Cryptonomicon provides an interesting exploration of the intersection of the tangible and intangible in the modern day world. Fans of Stephenson’s work, puzzle-solvers, students of history, and anyone fascinated by cryptography, will find much to love within this complex and ambitious novel.
