see Neal Stephenson
Here's a review/interview concerning the parts of the book involving the Business Plan
Nice excerpt on the needs for battles between the followers of Athena (Hack Er) and those of Ares.
<b>Nomicon</b> --2003/11/25 02:32 GMT<br> OK, see Neal. But he didn't invent the word. Who did? And exactly what does it mean. I'm guessing nomicon is really a suffix.
If I remember correctly, the <em>Necronomicon</em> is a book of the names of the dead, used in certain bits of black magic (like defrosting the fridge without flooding the kitchen). I think it was thought up by Lovecraft, i.e. relatively recent fiction, rather than genuine ancient Egyptian made up stuff. I guess Stephenson thought it made sense to encrypt the names...--Danny Ayers
'Cryptonomicon' is an apocryphal book of crypto science Stephenson invented. This review says it's inspired by a book called Mercury written by the Bishop Of Chester. --Bill Seitz
the Baroque Cycle says it was started by John Wilkins. Ah, Wilkins was the Bishop Of Chester at some point.
some of the Crypto Graphy writings of William Friedman seem like part of this history
pirated EBook http://www.halfstrong.com/danieljordi/library/cryptonomicon/toc.html
There's a "Jipi and the paranoid chip" story from 1997 that supposedly takes place in the same universe.