Quicksilver  by Neal Stephenson

 

This is the first book of the "Baroque Cycle" trilogy.

 

It might be more accurate to call this "'historical fiction' in which science plays a role".  The story jumps around in time with a great deal of flashbacks or otherwise telling of times earlier than depicted in the first pages of the book.  Even when not in a flashback, the events take place 400 years ago.  And the state of science back then is pretty low.  Any discussion of the underlying assumptions of science is likely to be theological.  "Spontaneous generation" has only recently been questioned...

 

Stephenson is one of those authors who tends to have long books filled with a wide assortment of material.  Quicksilver will give you an idea of a wide variety of what life was like back in that era.  [I've read that Stephenson takes a few liberties with history, so beware.]  However, some readers will find it unfocused.  For instance, Daniel Waterhouse is sent from Massachusetts to England to help clarify matters about which ideas were developed first by Isaac Newton or Gottfried Leibniz.  The journey by ship to England might not be of much significance to this, but considerable time is spent on it.  Not only that, but considerable time is spent on portraying to us the strategy the ship's crew uses to evade and battle pirates in Cape Cod Bay.  To the extent one approaches the book as historical fiction and enjoys historical fiction (especially of that time and place), that may be a bonus.  Those whose interests are more towards science, more modern issues or fewer tangents, may consider it a shortcoming.

 

Part I: Quicksilver

 

The book begins with a man from Europe looking for Daniel Waterhouse in 1713 Boston.  Once found, he attempts to convince Waterhouse to travel to England to provide his personal knowledge of Newton and Leibniz.  Flashbacks show us Waterhouse's days at college assisting Newton and also some association after college.  Then as a member of the Royal Society, some encounters with Leibniz.  These flashbacks give us some idea of the coming issues between Newton and Leibniz, but don't truly clarify what the truth is in the debate over which of the mathematicians did what first or better.  This is about the first 300 pages.

 

Part II: King of the Vagabonds

 

Next, we are introduced to a group of poor London boys trying to make money anyway they can, including theft.  Then we find one of them going to Europe.  There he does odds and ends until he heads east to where the Turks are battling the Holy Roman Empire at Vienna.  He travels back westward with a woman.  On their way they encounter Leibniz trying to sell old silver mines.  Leibniz leads them to Amsterdam.  This is the second 300 pages.  All of this takes place in the 1600's.

 

Part III: Odalisque

 

The third 300 pages is mainly in the time period following Part II, but before Daniel Waterhouse leaves England to live in Massachusetts.  The story hops around mainly between Waterhouse in England, and the woman in Amsterdam and after making an alliance with William of Orange spying for him at Versailles.  Newton and Leibniz are not entirely absent, but there is little about their work related to the dispute.

 

Presumably, somewhere in the two other books in the series some of these plot threads are tied together and more is developed about Newton and Leibniz.  However, based on the great volume of historical material that is not within my reading priorities, it's not my intention to invest the time to read the remaining 1800 pages.  That being the case, I can't even tell you what is and is not resolved in those 1800 pages.

 

The book is well written.  There are parts with adventure.  There's history for those who enjoy that kind of fiction.  The question is what you as an individual reader are looking for.

 

 

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