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View Full Version : Neal Stephenson's "The Baroque Cycle" trilogy



MacGuffin
22 Sep 2004, 03:35 PM
Just curious if anyone has read this recent trilogy (includes "Quicksilver," "The Confusion," & "The System of the World." You could even throw in the prequel "Cryptonomicon.")

I have not, but this seems right up the INTP's alley. It takes place during the Enlightenment and covers (taken from a Salon.com review): the

birth of modern finance, biology and chemistry; transition from monarchy to representative government; alchemical search for eternal life, et cetera - I'd add mathematics and physics from the reviews I've read. It though, is ultimately about how the universe works and whether there is room for God in it.

Two real life people figure prominently in the work: Gottfried Leibniz & Isaac Newton. But this is a work of fiction and there are plenty of conspiracies and swashbuckling adventure. The trilogy is something like over 3000 pages, and is one big reason while I haven't tackled it (all three books have come out over the last year or so). Just wondering if anyone has read them or part of them, they seem very interesting.

The latest review I read: The summit of Mount Stephenson (http://www.salon.com/tech/books/2004/09/22/system/index.html)

cloakable
22 Sep 2004, 03:47 PM
The trilogy is something like over 3000 pages, and is one big reason while I haven't tackled it

Huh, sounds good. I'll put it on my 'to read' list. (not much money coming in at the moment) But 1000 pages a book? Sounds like the 'Night's Dawn' trilogy - 'The Reality Disfunction', 'The Neutronium Alchemist' and 'The Naked God'. A good read, but I prefer the Neal Asher (is it?) books set in the 'Gridlinked' universe.

Boozer
29 Sep 2004, 11:48 PM
Cryptonomicon ruled. I also liked Snow Crash and The Diamond Age. Haven't read any of these yet though