Fiction 14 Feb 2004 20:25
Quicksilver
Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1)
Neal Stephenson
First things first: this is one long book! And, being the first book of a trilogy, once you start to read it, you’re in for a long ride.
That said, this is also a great book. If you liked Cryptonomicon, you’ll certainly like this one; if you didn’t, maybe you should think twice before starting. Quicksilver is related to Cryptonomicon, although I wouldn’t go as far as calling it a prequel, as some did. Some of the characters of one book seem to be related to characters of the other, though.
Quicksilver takes us back in time, to the 17th century Europe (some bits take place in America as well), where we follow the first steps of what was going to become science. Real characters are mixed with, hmm, not-so-real ones, and accurate historical depictions of events share the pages of the book with fictitious passages. Thus, we see Isaac Newton, John Wilkins, Christiaan Huygens and other “natural philosophers” discovering the scientific method and acting towards the world as children in a toy store; but we also hear from Daniel Waterhouse, founder of the Massachusets Bay Institute of Technologickal Arts, and Eliza, a financial genius who helped William of Orange to become King of England. Science, finance, sex and politics all mix up in the lives of our characters, while we get to see what Europe looked like during a time very diferent from today, but where much of today’s world started taking form.
The book is very entertaining, specially if you are interested in science and history, as I am. It was even more so for me, because when I started to read the book I had recently returned from a trip to London (where I bought the book, in fact), and most of the story is set there. The physical description of the city seems to be very precise, historically speaking, and all the big events of the time are in the book in some form (the Restoration, the great fire of London, the Glorious Revolution etc.). Also, the way regular people, nobles and scholars lived their daily lives are depicted in a way that is very interesting to read. And, of course, all this is set within a great story.
In short, I can’t recommend it enough. If you can, and if you liked the description above, go out, buy this book, and start reading it today. I’m serious.
Book 2 should be out in April, and book 3 in September. Meanwhile, after you read the book, check out the Quicksilver Metaweb for more information (historical and otherwise) on the events of the book.
