Anathem (Neal Stephenson)

This huge novel covers a whole lot of territory - almost enough to justify its 900+ pages. The action takes place on Arbre, a world that is specifically not Earth but is inhabited by people that are indistinguishable from humans. Why they are so similar to us is actually explained about 2/3 of the way through in a mind-blowing philosophy of the nature of the universe. The main character lives in what amounts to a monastery in a church dedicated, not to religion, but to science and natural philosophy. The dialog of these characters all sounds like they are all in one of Plato's Dialogues, even when they are just hanging out, even the people who don't live in the monastery, so I was not impressed with this aspect. In many ways it all felt distant from me, but the story and the ideas carried the book anyway.