I enjoyed it at the time, but whenever I re-read it, I typically skip over that section.<p>For what it&#x27;s worth, there&#x27;s a huge audience for Stephenson&#x27;s work, so I&#x27;m perfectly fine with him digressing in his books - I always enjoy it on a first read-through, and most of them are enjoyable during a re-read, too. No need to try to take those away to satisfy a slightly larger audience.