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Quiz about Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

"Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson Quiz

If you had fun reading "Cryptonomicon", I hope you'll also have fun with these questions.

A multiple-choice quiz by richyfourtytwo. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
richyfourtytwo

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
369,917

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
114

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. When the mathematically gifted Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse entered the navy, why was he given the job of a musician? Hint

His health wasn't good enough for anything else.

Musicians were expected to play an important role in the war.

He was suspected of being a Japanese spy.

He was too dumb for anything else.

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. What did Randy write his own software for? Hint

Minimising jet lag.

Predicting the gold price.

Dividing up an inheritance fairly.

Generating diving plans.

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. In which activity has Bobby Shaftoe not been involved during the war? Hint

Putting pig meat into a coffin.

Ramming Norway.

Doing basically nothing in the middle of Italy.

Making up poems in Chinese style.

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. Goto Dengo was basically ordered to die, but he saved his own life. Which of his capabilities did he use for that? Hint

Flying an aircraft

Long distance running

Engineering

Speaking English

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Question 5 of 10

5. What unusual item is mentioned in the book as being used for interior decoration? Hint

A World War I submarine painted in pink

The left half of a German World War II tank

An original lifeboat from the Titanic

A crashed and reassembled aircraft

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Question 6 of 10

6. Who does Bobby Shaftoe meet? Hint

Ronald Reagan

Gerald Ford

Jimmy Carter

George H. W. Bush

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. What does Randy find in the middle of a rainforest? Hint

Nothing at all in spite of all the trouble he went through

A pile of gold bars worth millions of dollars

His true love

Japanese World War II code books

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. What does Bobby Shaftoe do in exchange for getting morphine? Hint

He saves the life of a German soldier.

He tells German military secrets to Germans.

He destroys something he had risked his life for before.

He cuts off one of his fingers.

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. What is Randy using for communicating with his own computer? Hint

Speech recognition

Smoke signals

Braille alphabet

Morse code

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. What does Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse use for representing data in his computer? Hint

Magnetism

Sound

Radioactivity

Wheels

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. When the mathematically gifted Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse entered the navy, why was he given the job of a musician?

Answer: He was too dumb for anything else.

In the intelligence test, instead of simply answering a fairly simple math question he prepared an entire mathematical article around a related and much more interesting version of that question. Oh yes, and he ignored all questions but that first.

2. What did Randy write his own software for?

Answer: Dividing up an inheritance fairly.

He made it a two-dimensional problem taking economic and emotional value into account.

3. In which activity has Bobby Shaftoe not been involved during the war?

Answer: Making up poems in Chinese style.

That was a mean question. He made up haikus, which are Japanese, not Chinese in origin. He was involved in all the other activities as a member of Detachment 2702.

4. Goto Dengo was basically ordered to die, but he saved his own life. Which of his capabilities did he use for that?

Answer: Engineering

Without letting his superiors know, he built an escape route into the tunnel system, that allowed him and a few others to survive the detonations.

5. What unusual item is mentioned in the book as being used for interior decoration?

Answer: A crashed and reassembled aircraft

There's no accounting for taste, is there?

6. Who does Bobby Shaftoe meet?

Answer: Ronald Reagan

He's interviewed by Reagan. The interview doesn't go too well though.

7. What does Randy find in the middle of a rainforest?

Answer: A pile of gold bars worth millions of dollars

The gold he found was worth about 120 million dollars. If only he could have gotten it out of there!

8. What does Bobby Shaftoe do in exchange for getting morphine?

Answer: He tells German military secrets to Germans.

He's been on U-553 and saw all the gold on that boat. Bischoff and Beck had had no clue about that.

9. What is Randy using for communicating with his own computer?

Answer: Morse code

He needs to hide the communication from the people who supposedly have him under surveillance.

10. What does Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse use for representing data in his computer?

Answer: Sound

He uses standing waves in pipes partly filled with mercury, so that the mercury patterns can be read electronically.

Source: Author richyfourtytwo

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