"This is actually a recommendation for the entire Baroque Cycle (all 3,000 pages of it). I know it sounds like way too much, but I have never had as much fun reading as I did with these books. I really don't know how Stephenson did it. Using three main characters, whose stories converge and diverge throughout the books, he managed to capture the Age of Enlightenment, and just about everyone associated with it, in its entirety. You'll learn about the growth of Natural Philosophy, the rise of trade and banking, intrigue and cryptology in the royal courts of Europe and so much more, and all the while having a wicked good time. These books are like a graduate level course on the 17th Century taught by your favorite professor."
Publisher Harper Perennial
Publication Date 2004-10-01
Section Science Fiction / All Staff Suggestions / Fiction Suggestions / Brad L.
Format Paperback
ISBN 9780060593087
Quicksilver is the story of Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and conflicted Puritan, pursuing knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe, in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight.
It is a chronicle of the breathtaking exploits of "Half-Cocked Jack" Shaftoe -- London street urchin turned swashbuckling adventurer and legendary King of the Vagabonds -- risking life and limb for fortune and love while slowly maddening from the pox.
And it is the tale of Eliza, rescued by Jack from a Turkish harem to become spy, confidante, and pawn of royals in order to reinvent Europe through the newborn power of finance.
A gloriously rich, entertaining, and endlessly inventive novel that brings a remarkable age and its momentous events to vivid life, Quicksilver is an extraordinary achievement from one of the most original and important literary talents of our time.
And it's just the beginning ...
