So, I have no idea if this author is famous or not. But if he is not oh wow should he be. Why have I not heard of him before? Are all his books this good? This straddles the line perfectly between "soft" and "hard" science fiction (boy do we need to find better terms than this) by having all the mathematics/science you could want (in the form mostly of geometrical proofs) mentioning them in the novel itself but then putting most of the discussion about them in an appendix that you can either look at or not. Why have other authors not done this?

To sell anathem a bit. Imagine that rather than having monasteries of religious people we had monasteries of scientists philosophers. But with all the same kind of trappings (song, no ownership of property COMPLETE separation from the "secular" world)but rather than God they worshiped logic (think the Greek geometry knowledge cults but with a middle ages monastery religion) the Ivory tower taken to an extreme (logical?) conclusion. What would this make the world like? What would happen in a crises situation when those people were needed? How would the development of technology be affected? THIS is the kind of sci/fi I like. Wonderful ideas that are interesting in and of themselves BUT mixed with interesting and full bodied characters that come off as real people.

HOW have I not heard of this before?