This is a paperback of the first 3rd of Volume 1: Quicksilver

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	• Quicksilver: The Baroque Cycle #1 (The Baroque Cycle) Neal Stephenson HarperTorch, 2006 - 480 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This is a paperback of the first 3rd of Volume 1: Quicksilver

Here's the complete list to help people avoid buying something they already have:

Quicksilver, Vol. I of the Baroque Cycle
Book 1 - Quicksilver
Book 2 - The King of the Vagabonds
Book 3 - Odalisque

The Confusion, Vol. II of the Baroque Cycle
Book 4 - Bonanza
Book 5 - The Juncto

The System of the World, Vol. III of the Baroque Cycle
Book 6 - Solomon's Gold
Book 7 - Currency
Book 8 - The System of the World

Very interesting read

Don't be confused, if you've already bought the original Quicksilver, you needn't buy this, this is a mass market paperback of the first book, in the first book of the Baroque Cycle (confusing, but oh well). I actually appreciated the chance to buy a cheaper mmp of the first book to see if I liked it, turns out I did, and very much. It is kind of hard pegging down the plot, but the book is chock full of brilliance and interesting dialog. Neal Stephenson has managed to brilliantly recreate the age of discovery with a believeability that leaves this reader very impressed. He also writes with an earthy sense of humor that is delightful.

I read Cryptonomicon, and while it was good, it was a bit of a chore to read, since it was a huge doorstop of a book, and a little different than I expected, hence my reservation in coming to Quicksilver. I can assure you readers though, that this book is well written, and very interesting. I highly recommend this book, and am planning on continuing the series.

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Good Book... I Think!

I finished Quicksilver, the first book in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, today, and I really have no idea whether I liked it or not.

And I am closer to an answer about whether I liked it or not than I am to being able to answer what the heck it was about.

Neal Stephenson has a writing style that I really enjoy. He has a certain quirky sense of humor that fits my own to a T, and that makes his books fun to read.

But if there were a thread of plot in Quicksilver, I pretty much missed it.

The best way I can sum it up is that is the biography of a fictional person who lived in interesting times. The book covers everything from pirate warfare to the roots of science to intrigue at the British court. But that's a lot to stuff into a book that seemed to have no real idea of where it was going, or why.

Last year, I chewed my way through the dense yet enjoyable Cryptonomicon, and the Baroque Cycle is at least tangentially related. The main character in Quicksilver is a distant ancestor of one of the main characters in Cryptonomicon, and the next book in the Baroque Cycle apparently deals with the ancestor of yet another.

But it's hard to enjoy a book when you're always wondering when you'll come to the point.

At times, I am suspicious that the entire point of the Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon is not actually to tell a story at all, but rather to give a deep insight as to the origins and meaning of one of our most taken-for-granted accomplishments, the modern computer. If that is the case, this is a lofty and vast task that Stephenson has taken on, and he's done it well. In terms of plain storytelling, though, I'd say his success is marginal.

I think it is safe to say that I liked Quicksilver. But whether I am going to invest the time and money to buy the other seven (!!) books in the series... well, it isn't looking great right now. Though I did love Shaftoe, so I might give the second one a chance, if I see it in a good used book store.

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Incredible time in history

I could not put this book down. This is easily the most exciting of the first volume of the Baroque cycle. The two that follow were disappointingcomparison. This was an immensely interesting time in England's history and the natural philosophers offer a unique viewpoint that I have never considered. Anyone interested in the history of science will enjoy this book.

Re-packaged as an eight-volume set

Beware, this edition only contains one third of the original first volume of the Baroque Cycle. Spend an extra few dollars and get three times as many words!

In which Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and courageous Puritan, pursues 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.

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