Lean and hungry geeks tend to be ambitious, and "Cryptonomicon," Stephenson's latest book, fits the bill -- it's an insanely ambitious techno-thriller/historical novel that critics are mentioning in the same breath as Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow." It's being labeled Stephenson's "crossover" book, mainly because it doesn't fit neatly into the same science-fiction slot as his last two novels, "Snowcrash" and "The Diamond Age." But Stephenson hasn't actually left his home territory. If anything, the truth is the opposite. "Cryptonomicon" is clear proof of Stephenson's ongoing intention to delve ever deeper into the heart of the digital era, to lay out in detail both excruciating and poetic the awesome influence the computer has exerted on the 20th century.

"Cryptonomicon," like "Gravity's Rainbow," is partly set during World War II. But it also takes place in the present day. The drama set in the earlier period centers around the invention of the digital computer as a code-breaking means of thwarting the Nazis. Meanwhile, in 1999, descendants of the WWII characters are gallivanting around the Far East, using computers in a venture-capital-funded attempt to set up a secure "crypt" for digital information. It's all tied together by multiple conspiracies, the mysteries of code and lots and lots of stolen gold.

Find Neal Stephenson's books at BARNES & NOBLE

I caught up with Neal Stephenson as he came through San Francisco on his book tour. He's not an easy interview (lean and hungry geeks rarely are) -- but I already knew that from previous interactions. In person, he is measured and restrained, judicious almost to a fault, offering a sharp contrast to the flamboyant exuberance that makes his novels such giddy, enjoyable rides. He doesn't get carried away. He doesn't like interpreting his own work. He's heard most of my questions too many times already. It is all too obvious that he is only meeting with a reporter because he is doing his duty promoting his novel, that he'd much rather be back home in Seattle pounding away at his keyboard, at work on his next delirious masterpiece.

His attitude is not uncommon in writers or, for that matter, computer geeks. And there's no question that Stephenson is both. His credentials as a writer don't need repeating. But his identity as a geek may run even deeper. He comes from a family of engineers and physicists, on both sides, and he was programming in BASIC when he was 15. He's been programming all his life -- he once even wrote an image processing program for the Macintosh -- but never as a paying job. He certainly doesn't try to hide it. When I meet him, he is wearing a T-shirt with the word "hackers" emblazoned across the chest.

I want to find a way to unleash the energy lurking inside of Neal Stephenson, the lean and hungry geek, but he's too cagey for me. He anticipates the direction of every question. He even prefaces his answers with framing meta-commentary: "This is where I'm going to be annoying," he says; "this is where I'm going to be evasive."

"This is where I'm not going to be helpful."

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