The Baroque Cycle – Neal Stephenson

Posted by Frankly Francis on October 15, 2009 under Books/Authors | 2 Comments to Read

I have recently finished reading, over the course of this year, Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle.  It comprises three volumes entitled “Quicksilver,” “The Confusion.” and “The System of the World.”

It was not a light weight exercise, as the three books amount to almost 3,000 pages.  Stephenson can make Michener look like a short story writer.  However, if the writing is good, length or brevity is of no concern to me.  For the record, I, personally, think the writing is excellent.

I have found that the smarter I get, the more I realize how much I don’t know.  Stephenson makes me feel like a complete idiot.

Many, many years ago, my good friend Fast Eddy handed me a copy of “Snow Crash” and told me that it was mandatory reading.  It was one of Stephenson’s earliest published works (1992).  It detailed an Internet that I would like to experience before I take the Big Sleep.  It was intriguing and I’ve been reading his books ever since.

Neal Stephenson

The Baroque Cycle, covering the second half of the 17^th and early 18^th centuries, covers a lot of concepts, history, and geography.  As I mentioned, it can get fairly deep, but it is still very entertaining.  So many thanks to the author for doing an incredible amount of research, and then spending the time and effort to write this series of books.

By the way, Eddy tells me that Stephenson’s latest published work, “Anathem” is his best yet.  Can’t wait to get to it!

Frankly,

Francis