As the literature of ideas and imagination, Science Fiction and Fantasy simply demands discussion. Our selection for January is Anathem by Neal Stephenson. For ten years Fraa Erasmas, a young avout, has lived in a cloistered sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside world. But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change—and Erasmas will become a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world, as he follows his destiny to the most inhospitable corners of the planet...and beyond. Time said, "What ever happened to the great novel of ideas? It has morphed into science fiction, and Stephenson is its foremost practioner." and Locus called the book, "Clever and intricate...Truly ingenious...Its brilliance is undeniable."