Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1) by Neal Stephenson
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Book Reviews of Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1)
Book Review: Excellent, grand, and, well... baroque.
Summary: 5 Stars
While it certainly requires some work for the reader, it's worth it. I've read nearly everything in the Cyberpunk / Steampunk / Cypherpunk pantheon, from Cadigan to Sterling to DiFillipo, and Neal's the shining star, without a doubt. Quicksilver does dry up in a few bits, due to the depth and breadth of the subject matter, but IT'S WORTH IT. Yes, it leaves you in the lurch a bit, but only til April when the next book in the cycle comes out! I'm sure Neal would have shipped 1800 pages as a single book if he could have, but I doubt that would have been practical.
Do the work, ride it out, and read the next two. If you can push your mind enough to grasp the broad and far-reaching threads of a story arc that takes place over centuries and spans the globe, you'll be better for it. If you're not inclined to do so, go ahead and flip on the telly or crack open the latest pap from the bestseller rack.
As for me, it's the best book I've read this year. Can't wait for The Confusion in April.
Book Review: Outstanding
Summary: 5 Stars
An outstanding historical novel by Stephenson. Classic Stephenson with multiple interwoven plots (not only within the novel, but interwoven with Cryptonomicon as well). And as always, a wealth of ideas are explored (including some of the ideas considered in Cryptonomicon, such as the very nature of money, the role of cryptography in protecting the individual from the state, and the nature of the inhabitants of Qwghlm ;-) As for some of the criticisms--yes, it's long. Yes, it's complicated. Yes, some parts don't have a lot of action. But this is a thinking person's novel. And yet there is ample action nonetheless (pirate chases, royal kidnappings, huge battles)--what more could the discriminating reader want? If you loved Cryptonomicon, you'll love Quicksilver. If you could barely get through Cryptonomicon, or only loved the computer parts, then this book isn't for you (but there is plenty of good geek stuf in here, like the founding of the Royal Society and the invention of the calculus).
Book Review: Truly Enlightened
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a wonderful book. My favorite scene is where a protagonist comes in, and finds Robert Hooke, the man we know
today for Hooke's law among other famous discoveries, with a quill in his ear. Then he notices, there is a fly on the end of the quill, and he goes "shoo". Hooke says "do that again, it makes the fly flap his wings faster". Hooke has glued the fly to the quill, and is tuning a string to bring it to the same frequency as the flies wings. He has recently figured out how strings generate music, and realized that in this way he could measure how fast the fly beats his wings. He, and the other enlightenment figures, have just discovered the possibilities of science, and they rush from one experiment to another with such gusto, trying to figure out everything about the world.
This is only one minor episode in the book, which goes on from there with amazing energy to give a huge sweeping picture of the world and how it is organized.
Book Review: A review of the reviewers
Summary: 5 Stars
Judging from the reviews I've read so far, readers either love this book (myself included) or hate it. The latter seem to be either hardcore science fiction fans who are disappointed that Quicksilver is not "Snow Crash II" or some such,and English lit majors and historians who have a problem with Stephenson's literary style or historical accuracy. I fall into neither category. I simply love good writing and my definition of "good" is not so narrow as to only encompass action filled plots or effete literary pyrotechnics. "Quicksilver" is one of the finest historical novels that I have ever read; a list including Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series, Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, Dorothy Dunnet's works, and Colleen McCullough. The novel is well researched and covers the politics, religion, science, and philosophy of the time. This is a novel of ideas. This is a great novel. I can't wait for the next in the series.
Book Review: Marvelous, Great Literary Fiction
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, people should realize that this is not Cryptonomicon. It is much more epic than that, and quicksilver serves as a mere introduction to the other two volumes. Taking that into consideration this novel does its job admirably. It might be a bit slow moving at times, but this came as a relieve to me because I am not a history professor nor do I aspire to become one. The details dispelled within this novel are needed because otherwise the plot would become incomprehensible. It is a fun read though, neal stephenson tries to give us laymen a better idea of the scientific and political development of that era. While doing that he is able to mingle the affairs of the 3 main characters effortlessly with the lives of the real life personaes from that time period. Quicksilver is an excellent novel, its a novel about ideas and how our contemporary world has come to be thanks in part to the great minds from the baroque era.