Scope and Contents This is the first edition, first printing of this book that consisted of 50,000 copies. Stephenson's signature, signed on a plate that is collaged to a page near the front cover, was distributed by the publisher in 250 signed and numbered copies; the Sackner copy is unnumbered. This novel consists of at least three interwoven stories. One is set during World War II from the American perspective, another from World War II from the Japanese perspective, and the third from an American perspective of Internet communications. All stories involve encryption and codes. The author writes a fictionalized account of Alan Turing's role in computers and codes.Therese Littleton wrote the following review for Amazon.com. Cryptonomicon zooms all over the world, careening conspiratorially back and forth between two time periods--World War II and the present. Our 1940s heroes are the brilliant mathematician Lawrence Waterhouse, cryptanalyst extraordinaire, and gung ho, morphine-addicted marine...