Quicksilver (novel)Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson is the first of his trilogy The Baroque Cycle. The second and third books (released in the second quarter of 2004, and forthcoming as of 2004, respectively), are entitled The Confusion and The System of the World. Quicksilver is set in the late 17th and early 18thcenturies, mostly in England, France, and the United Provinces, with sections that take place further east and in Massachusetts. It deals with the science, economy, and politics of that era, revolving around characters, such as Isaac Newton, who are not distinguished in any obvious way from the corresponding historical figures. Ancestors of the characters of Stephenson's novel Cryptonomicon appear prominently; analogously, the 20th century Cryptonomicon handbook compiled by the 20th century characters is foreshadowed by a 17th one available to some of their ancestors. As in other Stephenson works, there is a theme of how money works. The novel covers such historical events as the Great Plague, the Great Fire of London, the Edict of Fontainebleau, the Monmouth Rebellion, the Bloody Assizes, the Battle of Vienna and the Glorious Revolution, though many details, such as each member of what he calls the CABAL, have been changed.
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"If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars." - J. Paul Getty (1892-1976) |
