Anders Monsen on Neal Stephenson

In Some Remarks, his new collection of essays, interviews, and short fiction, Neal Stephenson's topics range from the hazards of sitting down all day to the clash of worldviews in Waco when government agents had their standoff with the Branch Davidians, from China's absorption of Hong Kong to a midwestern college town's influence on the novelist David Foster Wallace. Together, Anders Monsen reports, these pieces showcase Stephenson's eye for detail, his ability to weave compelling stories from reams of research, and his excitement about the world of ideas.