Quicksilver - Meier's Bookwyrm

taschenbuch, 1145 pages

German language

Published May 19, 2006 by Goldmann.

ISBN:: 978-3-442-46183-7
OCLC Number:: 718611630

Volume One of The Baroque Cycle (Not to be confused with Quicksilver: The Baroque Cycle #1)

Quicksilver is a massive, exuberant and wildly ambitious historical novel that's also Neal Stephenson's eagerly awaited prequel to Cryptonomicon--his pyrotechnic reworking of the 20th century, from World War II codebreaking and disinformation to the latest issues of Internet data privacy.

Quicksilver, "Volume One of the Baroque Cycle", backtracks to another time of high intellectual ferment: the late 17th century, with the natural philosophers of England's newly formed Royal Society questioning the universe and dissecting everything that moves. One founding member, the Rev John Wilkins, really did write science fiction and a book on cryptography--but this isn't history as we know it, for here his code book is called not Mercury but Cryptonomicon. And although the key political schemers of Charles II's government still have initials spelling the word CABAL, their names …

Volume One of The Baroque Cycle (Not to be confused with Quicksilver: The Baroque Cycle #1)

Quicksilver is a massive, exuberant and wildly ambitious historical novel that's also Neal Stephenson's eagerly awaited prequel to Cryptonomicon--his pyrotechnic reworking of the 20th century, from World War II codebreaking and disinformation to the latest issues of Internet data privacy.

Quicksilver, "Volume One of the Baroque Cycle", backtracks to another time of high intellectual ferment: the late 17th century, with the natural philosophers of England's newly formed Royal Society questioning the universe and dissecting everything that moves. One founding member, the Rev John Wilkins, really did write science fiction and a book on cryptography--but this isn't history as we know it, for here his code book is called not Mercury but Cryptonomicon. And although the key political schemers of Charles II's government still have initials spelling the word CABAL, their names are all different...

While towering geniuses like Newton and Leibniz decode nature itself, bizarre adventures (merely beginning with the Great Plague and Great Fire) happen to the fictional Royal Society member Daniel Waterhouse, who knows everyone but isn't quite bright enough for cutting-edge science. Two generations of Daniel's family appear in Cryptonomicon, as does a descendant of the Shaftoes who here are soldiers and vagabonds. Other links include the island realm of Qwghlm with its impossible language and the mysterious, seemingly ageless alchemist Enoch Root.

As the reign of Charles II gives way to that of James II and then William of Orange, Stephenson traces the complex lines of finance and power that form the 17th-century Internet. Gold and silver, lead and (repeatedly) mercury or quicksilver flow in glittering patterns between centres of marketing and intrigue in England, Germany, France and Holland. Paper flows as well: stocks, shares, scams and letters holding layers of concealed code messages. Binary code? Yes, even that had already been invented and described by Francis Bacon.

Quicksilver is crammed with unexpected incidents, fascinating digressions and deep-laid plots. Who'd believe that Eliza, a Qwghlmian slave girl liberated from a Turkish harem by mad Jack Shaftoe (King of the Vagabonds) could become a major player in European finance and politics? Still less believable, but all too historically authentic, are the appalling medical procedures of the time--about which we learn a lot. There are frequent passages of high comedy, like the lengthy description of a foppish earl's costume which memorably explains that someone seemed to have been painted in glue before "shaking and rolling him in a bin containing thousands of black silk doilies".

This is a huge, exhausting read, full of rewards and quirky insights that no other author could have created. Fantastic or farcical episodes sometimes clash strangely with the deep cruelty and suffering of 17th-century realism. Recommended, though not to the faint-hearted.

Book One: Quicksilver Book Two: King of the Vagabonds Book Three: Odalisque

6 editions

bsag reviewed Quicksilver (The Baroque cycle -- v. 1)

4 stars

This is a hard-to-categorise book: mostly it's a romp through 17th Century Europe, mixing real historical characters with imagined ones, but weaving it all together rather seamlessly. It's also incredibly long. I'm no stranger to reading epic books, but even I found that I hit a bit of a wall about 100 pages from the end, and started to run out of reading stamina. I did finish it though, and loved it.

Inevitably, with such a huge and sprawling book, I enjoyed some parts more than others. The early meetings of the Royal Society were hilarious, with their mixture of genuinely world-changing science and ridiculous tosh, all given the same serious consideration. It almost made me wish that I was involved in science back then for the sheer exhilaration of it. However, the dog vivisection scenes horrified and haunted me to the extent that I suspect I wouldn't cut it …

This is a hard-to-categorise book: mostly it's a romp through 17th Century Europe, mixing real historical characters with imagined ones, but weaving it all together rather seamlessly. It's also incredibly long. I'm no stranger to reading epic books, but even I found that I hit a bit of a wall about 100 pages from the end, and started to run out of reading stamina. I did finish it though, and loved it.

Inevitably, with such a huge and sprawling book, I enjoyed some parts more than others. The early meetings of the Royal Society were hilarious, with their mixture of genuinely world-changing science and ridiculous tosh, all given the same serious consideration. It almost made me wish that I was involved in science back then for the sheer exhilaration of it. However, the dog vivisection scenes horrified and haunted me to the extent that I suspect I wouldn't cut it as a 17th Century natural philosopher, even supposing that I had the requisite genius and tolerance for drinking mercury.

I liked Daniel Waterhouse, but absolutely loved the adventures of Jack and Eliza, rollicking across continental Europe. In fact, Eliza should have her own book.