Neal Stephenson's Baroque Trilogy

[Mr. Premise]

Has anyone read Neal Stephenson's Baroque Trilogy? I found it an extremely enjoyable historical novel. Very long, around 2700 pages but when I finished I went right back to page 1.

It doesn't have great relevance to Signs, but if you are interested in the invention of finance and modern money, the birth of science and its disputes with alchemy, the birth of capitalism, the invention of the computer, Isaac Newton, Thomas Hooke, Leibniz, Louis XIV, and want to read a combination spy thriller, pirate romance, political novel that has a great deal of humor and very well-drawn characters, both of real historical characters and not real ones, I highly recommend it.

It also describes the birth of the notorious Bank of England. Stephenson's sympathies lie with the Bank of England and Anglo-American capitalism, but don't let that stand in your way.

Also, if you've read his Cryptonomicon, the characters in the Baroque Trilogy are many of the Cryptonomicon's characters' ancestors.

 

[atreides]

Thanks for the recommendation... On a history note, I recommend Liddel Hart's History of the Second World War.

 

[Tigersoap]

Ah not yet I just bought the first volume of the trilogy.

I was a bit disappointed by Cryptonomicon to be honest although I really enjoyed his first novels like The Diamond age.

I am currently reading Alastair Reynolds so it'll have to wait a bit.

 

[Mr. Premise]

I was never able to get started on Cryptonomicon until I read Baroque Trilogy.

For background, Cryptonomicon was published before Baroque Trilogy (vol. 1 Quicksilver, vol.2 The Confusion, vol. 3, The System of the World) but is set in 1940s and 1990s. Many of the characters are descendents of characters in the Baroque Trilogy, so it made it easier to get into if you read Baroque Trilogy first.

And, yes, I agree that Cryptonomicon was a bit disappointing.

Ah not yet I just bought the first volume of the trilogy.

I was a bit disappointed by Cryptonomicon to be honest although I really enjoyed his first novels like The Diamond age.

I am currently reading Alastair Reynolds so it'll have to wait a bit.

 

[whitecoast]

I'm a major fan of Neal Stephenson. I liked the Baroque Cycle incredibly, and as a series on the whole I think it's probably one of the best I've ever read.

I also enjoyed Anathem as well. It has much more to do with Signs-related themes than Baroque, if only because it goes into detail about the connection between quantum mechanics and the primacy of consciousness in existence, as related to window-fallers and reality-bridging events that go on in the novel.

Anyone who is a fan of philosophy will also recognize many of the "mathic sects" throughout the book as actually stand-ins for certain philosophical schools that crept up throughout history and branched off and develops, so it is also interesting from that perspective.