Neal Stephenson In this follow-up to his historical Baroque Cycle trilogy, which fictionalized the early-18th century scientific revolution, Stephenson (Cryptonomicon) conjures a far-future Earth-like planet, Arbre, where scientists, philosophers and mathematicians—a religious order unto themselves—have been cloistered behind concent (convent) walls. Their role is to nurture all knowledge while safeguarding it from the vagaries of the irrational saecular outside world. image/png Anathem.png 193867 2008-09-13T16:43:58Z 15 2008-10-20 42 1008 2 2008-10-05 finished http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anathem