I am writing because in reading maybe 250+ reviews, I found lots of complaints about a facile ending but no criticism to the code-solving solutions.
THESE ARE SPOILERS but maybe you can find the explanations, I couldn't:
The first code solved was the face hidden in the Wayback List, which was discovered by decoding the books in the correct order. How did they know the correct order? Leaving aside the questions of the need to individually decode each book and figure out which one to tackle next, how did the flock of crazy decoding readers ever envision the pattern created by the location of the books on the shelves when they were never allowed to go to the back shelves? And it is a great many books that would have been needed to map out an entire, recognizable face.
Edgar Deckle is a librarian. He would have known to look for the punches in the Accession Table.
Then the challenge of decoding the Manutius tome: The book is scanned by Google and the entire world of Google decrypters tries to solve the code it is written in. They fail.
But the book is written in a code based on numbering the font punches on a set introduced on page 240 of the paperback (which is sort of a deus ex machina.)
The number assigned to each punch is indicated by teeny-tiny notches on the edge of each letter. With the set containing both capitals and small letters, plus variations of some letters, and possibly numbers, punctuation and who knows what dingbats, there should be at very least 60+ punches. That would mean that some punches would have up to 60+ teeny-tiny notches carved in them and still they would not be visible without a magnifying glass. But they are big enough to be seen with a magnifying glass. And apparently no one has ever magnified them before or blown up the size of the type on their computer. (If they had been visible, someone would have said that the surfaces were damaged and fixed them. Of course, when new type is made from a mold, it is closely checked for imperfections -- but never mind.) No one has ever noticed these grooves in the most popular type face ever, and still in use. So a leap of faith is required here. Onward.
Jannon discovers that in the Manutius code "one number corresponds to one letter [or one punch]. It's a simple substitution." This would indicate that the Manutius book is a long series of numbers. This is very simple cryptology - code breaking. With the knowledge that the language is Latin and an analysis of letter frequency and patterns in Latin, any cryptologist would have this deciphered in short order. The Google super-computing brought to bear on it would have figured it out very fast.
A further leap of weirdness is introduced here: "When you lay the punches out in order--the same order they'd use in a case in a 15th century print shop--you get" Gerritszoon's secret message:
"Thank you, Teobaldo You are my greatest friend This has been the key to everything"
It is unlikely that the original set of punches, even with duplicates for caps and small letters, would have had the number of duplicates required by this statement. The punches are not sets of type. The punches are the original hand-crafted letters from which molds are made. If it had been in English, there would have been 10 small e's, for starters. Running it through Google Translate, there would have been 10 small a's and 8 small i's in the Latin version.
And these a's and i's in the Latin would not have been grouped together as they would have been in their original box. In other words, in the box they most likely would have read: A a B b C c D d ........or all caps first, then all small letters. In the box they would not have been arranged as: T-h-a-n-k y-o-u-, T-e-o-b-a-l-d-o etc. I don't accept that as the "same order they'd use in a case in the 15th century print shop." In addition, the message in Latin does not use all the letters in the alphabet, so some would be left over and be all out of order.
What I liked about this book is that Sloan seems to love the application of human intelligence to problem solving, and computer solutions are the application of the same intelligence. He loves the adventure of friends working together on a mission to solve problems. And in the end it is having a trusted friend that was all-important to Gerritszoon. He mentions the spirits that seem to reside in the books lining the book store shelves. He seems to love the books which are certainly one kind of immortality, as is any human creation that comes down to us through the ages. And he has a lively, intelligent sense of humor. This is a very clever book. I can't imagine why the cryptology is so out of whack. But keep writing, boy, keep writing.
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A wonderful modern fantasy that will tickle your fancy!“Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore” is a delightful trip into an unexpected world you may think could only exist in film. Robin Sloan has crafted it with a lively wry imagination and thoughtful way with words – a feast for readers.The story unfolds in a city made for adventures, San Francisco. Even as the downtown area is dwarfed by high-rises and the surrounds are consumed by voracious tech office parks, the author reveals a more twisty neighborhood with mysterious figures scurrying about.An out-of-work programmer, desperately in need of income, Clay Jannon, answers a “Help Wanted” ad looking for a late shift clerk at a 24-hour bookstore. He discovers the long, narrow building squeezed next to another store, Booty’s, with neon legs that cross and uncross.Once he enters, he finds shelves stretching up almost three stories like “an old Transylvanian forest, a forest full of wolves and witches and dagger-wielding bandits all waiting just beyond moonlight’s reach.” If anything could describe library “stacks”, this bookstore embodies it. The store symbol – “ two-hands perfectly flat, rising out of an open book” – embellish the front window.Clay meets the unassuming older gentleman, Mr. Penumbra, who introduces himself: “I am Penumbra, and I am the custodian of this place.” And as he hints after a brief exchange: “Prior experience in the book trade is of little use to you here.”Despite the store and its owner curious appearance, Clay is predisposed to this world since he and his earliest friends have long been avid followers of “The Dragon-Song Chronicles”, a sort of Tolkien fantasy. It is one Penumbra is familiar with as well.Clay takes the job, essentially the graveyard shift, and quickly finds out the bookstore has a clientele that are slightly odd and apparently on some kind of mission to make sense of books seemingly written in an unfathomable code.At the heart of the riddle is an actual historical figure, Aldus Manutius, a fifteenth century printer who created the Aldine press, and his timeless typeface, Gerritszoon, fashioned by his assistant and partner, Francesco Griffo. Although the typeface is fictional, it may be a teasing reference to Garamond.Working with a coterie of roommates, friends and other odd acquaintances, Clay joins the mysterious chase for whatever it is that is driving the bookstore patrons. He enlists the help of a Google princess, Kat, young, attractive and totally obsessed with her Google career path.And the tale moves from San Francisco to New York City and back. There are some dark encounters with a black-robed cult reminiscent of Umberto Eco’s 1980 classic novel, “The Name of the Rose”, and a wonderful send up of Google devotees and their campuses.One very funny scenario takes place toward the end at the Consolidated Universal Long-Term Storage facility in Nevada where the answer to the mystery may be held. And without as much as a blink of an eye or spelling it out, Sloan leaves the reader to work out the acronym.“Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore” is a combination of fantasy and humor that reminds me of a whimsical 1932 film, “Love Me Tonight,” with Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald– a place where fantasy and reality mix and get along together just fine.
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