The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson

[pscot]

I'm about 300 pages into the first volume, Quicksilver. The style is reminiscent of Barth and Pynchon, but Stephenson has a more powerful intellect than either. His writing is nimble and self-assured, his erudition is prodigious, and he seems to know where he's going. He's like one of those jugglers, who sets plates spinning on the ends of sticks, which he then balances on various parts of his body, while riding a unicycle. It's going to be really interesting to see how he sustains all this for more than 2000 pages. Anyone else read these? What do you think?

[endarkenment]

1. great books but he does get a bit wordy at times.

He got me interested in that entire period of time, and he has a GREAT bibliography that is a real treasure if you want to get into the history.

[fenriswolf]

2. great book

wait untill he meets newton, or this other charecter who just can't start the day without a flask of quicksilver hehe. good read, if you like neal stephenson you should read snow crash, one of the best cyber sci fi books ever.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

3. Good books? Excellent books!

Stephenson is one of the best out there. I've been reading his stuff since the beginning (The Big U) and he has only gotten better. Lots of hat-tipping to Catch 22, Confederacy of Dunces, the Flashman books, etc.

The Baroque Cycle is directly related to his standalone title Cryptonomicon (Crypto is set in both modern day and WWII era). Crypto chases some readers off with some wicked math early on, but if you can get past it, it is a rip-roaring read. The cryptography that has its genesis in the Baroque Cycle is explored in the frame of the Nazi Enigma codes during WWII as well as contemporary privacy, security, and economics. You would think that this material would be dry; in Stephenson's hands it is anything but!

Snow Crash is also recommended, and don't be afraid of the sci-fi label. Like Stephen King who is a great storyteller who simply chose the horror genre, Stephenson's works are similarly . . . unclassifiable. Snow Crash is really high satire, and an alarming speculation about a future that is rapidly coming to pass.

A more obscure Stephenson title is Zodiac: An Eco-thriller. Zodiac swashbuckles like other Stephenson works, but it's more akin to The Monkeywrench Gang as it follows the adventures of a clever eco-fighter.

[fenriswolf]

4. satire? you got that right

the main charecters name is Hiro Protagonist (hero protagonist, get it?) who delivers pizza for costa nostra pizza (mafia run pizza chain) while at night he is one of the founding members of the electronic world (sorta like the matrix except its just interactive 3d not a brain jack) anyways really good book and as corny as it sounds is one of the best books i have ever read.

if you like neal stephensen sci fi you should check out william gibson.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

8. Cryptonomicon is one of my favorites

I've read it twice. The description of Goto Dengo's escape from the mine still makes me claustrophobic and gives me the willies.

[arendt]

5. Stepenson is great. He is wordy, but mostly the words are hilarious...

In one of his earlier books, he spent three pages talking about a geek sitting down to a bowl of Captain Crunch...and it was funny.

I think of him as Dave Barry or Carl Hiassen doing sci-fi - there is a definite Miami-edginess to the humor.

In his earlier novels, they just ended in mid-air. By the time he got to the Baroque Cycle, he had learned how to wrap up a story. In TBC, he starts wrapping up several hundred pages before the end; but, then, he as over 2,000 pages.

I read him for the moments when he is "in the zone". These moments can go on for 20 or 30 pages at a time. He sets up a very complex situation, and then has an immense amount of over-the-top fun with it.

TBC is quite interesting just for the history of the Royal Society. There is a meeting of that society in the book which is an absolute hoot - he's in the zone for that.

I could go on, but...

arendt

[pscot]

9. A few years back I read Sam'l Pepys diaries

They run to 10 or 11 volumes. So all this 17th century, Royal Society stuff feels very familiar. I highly recommend Pepys to anyone interested in that period. But be prepared to invest a year or so.

[Greyskye]

6. Count me in as a Stephenson fan

I echo most of the other comments above. Snow Crash was my first intro to him. Zodiac is probably one of his most accessible.

[truedelphi]

13. I loved that SnowCrash. WIll check out the others now. n/t

[Geoff R. Casavant]

7. I need to pick those books up again

I started reading Quicksilver but got sidetracked about 200 pages in -- I think I should start over as I have been meaning to for a year now.

And I echo what others have said here about Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash.

[Mist]

11. I've been reading "The Baroque Cycle" over again--that's how much

I love these books. I'm up to "System of the World" now. I'm in awe of Stepheson's knowledge of so many topics: science, economics, history. And he's a great writer: "The light shone on a face imprinted with more odd and unwholesome tales than a warehouse full of Bibles." Stephenson's amazing.

[LisaM]

10. I read Cryptonomicon, didn't care for it

I don't think he ever fully explained why he named his main character Bobby Shaftoe.

I am a Pynchon fan. I don't personally care for Stephenson's brand of libertarianism - but to say he has a more powerful intellect than Thomas Pynchon seems like a stretch!!!!

[pscot]

12. Just my opinion

I read "V" about a hundred years ago and liked it, though I can't really say I understood it. I could never really warm up to his later works. I tried, but I just couldn't seem to get the pages to turn. Pynchon strikes me as cerebral rather than intellectual, if that makes any sense.