The System Of The World (The Baroque Cycle)

I never realized so much happened between 1650 and 1715: the scientific enlightenment, the confused succession of British monarchs, the reign of Louis 14th, the creation of banks, insurance and much more. Stephenson presented all this in a masterful way.

Ok. An influential person (CEO) used this book, including the series, as a reference to employees at a company holiday party a couple years ago. Since, I've been reading the series on and off - between lighter books to break up the minute details about 17th and 18th century from a writer in the 20th century.

As I continued into each book, I came to the realization that this had to be a prank of the most epic kind. I no longer work at the same company at which I started this series. I've come to realize that the CEO was full of poop and what he was talking about had nothing to do with this series at all.

Otherwise the series is not bad, just don't go about using it in analogy to explain why a company is not performing to your expectations for god's sake.

Magnifient conclusion to a great cycle of books. One might learn a bit about history, science and human nature as well as be entertained. The neurons also get a very pleasant workout.

Thanks for such a marvelous work. I've bought it many times as gifts for friends and family.

Please note, fellow readers, that there's a softcover edition to this work under the same name, and a mass market paperback under the name "Odalisque". It's the same work, so don't make the mistake of buying the book twice--accidentally.

The System of the World brings Stephenson's Baroque series to a fitting close. Like The Confusion, portions of this book drag, but then portions are very lively - especially regarding the trial of the pyx. Not as much philosophizing as in Quicksilver. All in all the entire three volumes (8 books by Stephenson's own reconing) are well worth reading.

I should probably have learned by now that Neal Stephenson and I aren't cut out for each other.

He's the kind of author that I should like, clearly smart, possessed of some wit, ambitious, interested in science-fiction without being completely constrained by the genre, critically acclaimed . . . and yet time and time again he leaves me pretty much cold. "Snow Crash" felt too much like someone trying to rewrite a Pynchon novel from a fifth generation photocopy, "The Diamond Age" was a step up but didn't exactly resonate with me and after hauling my way through "Cryptonomicon" all I can remember is that some parts involved Stephenson showing off how much math he's learned. When he came out with the first of the Baroque Cycle novels, I didn't want to bite it's like on some level he knows my weakness for horribly overlong super-ambitious books. And set in the eighteenth century? Okay. I'll try it.

I read the first two novels in the series "Quicksilver" and "The Confusion" not long after they came out and remember being superbly underwhelmed by hundred of pages of plot and facts that I felt no emotional connection to whatsoever. I was so underwhelmed by the affair that when the concluding novel came out in 2004, I immediately bought it and filed it away with the other books in my queue instead of reading it right away so I could finish the series, adopting a "I'll get to it when I get to it" attitude.

Fast forward eleven years and here we are. I like to think I've grown and matured in the decade since, having read a wide variety of novels in the interim that don't have anything to do with science-fiction and even doing some light reading on various parts of English history (with the promise of heavier reading to come when I finally get around to devouring those huge volumes on the Thirty Years and Hundred Years Wars). So when the brilliantly refractive gold cover of the last novel finally stared up at me, I remembered my feelings on the first two novels from years before and thought, "I'm ready for this."

As it turns out, nope, I'm not.

It's frustrating, because I feel like this is the kind of book I should thoroughly enjoy. I like history and while I have no problem reading a straightforward dramatic retelling of true events, reading alternate histories are fun, especially when they mix in science-fiction and fantasy elements in a clever fashion. I've read most of the work of Tim Powers, who operates along these lines, although more fantastically oriented, but its that same mixture of historical and fictional personages interacting in new ways, events explained through odd means, and lots of little plots bouncing off each other. We have all that here as well, with Stephenson picking up the plot ten years after the events of the last novel (there's a helpful "what has gone before" in the beginning which was very useful as even after reading it the only aspects that looked familiar were the names of the characters), this time focusing more on the exploits of Daniel Waterhouse as he navigates the feud between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz, as everyone around them either argues about currency or waits for Queen Anne to finally ascend to the great palace in the sky so they can argue about who should be in charge next. Meanwhile, previous main characters Eliza and Jack Shaftoe have stuff to do as well that seems to tie into all that, or at least the novel says that it should.

As before, Stephenson writes in a style in what one can assume is what he assumes an eighteenth century novel would be written in but as usual really can't get out of his own way. He strikes me as someone who enjoys doing his research but can't help but show his work and thus his characters are constantly disgorging facts about the historical context of what is happening, whether it would be rational for them to know or not. But his prose doesn't have the natural grace of someone who grew up writing in that style, meaning the paragraphs become leaden heaps on the page, the weight of it flattening everything into a sometimes unbearably even tone, where nothing rises above a simmering boil and events are just the excuse to get us to the next fact. Stephenson's prose to me always has a kind of smirking quality, the mark of someone who is clever and knows he's being clever and can't help but demonstrate how clever he's being, whether it's little asides that are almost like winks to the audience, making you feel better for catching it and being in on the joke. But I don't want to be in on any joke, I want to read a novel about a clash of ideas in the heated background of the early eighteenth century, perhaps mixed with some elements of the fantastic. Yet too often his plot seems obtuse and opaque, for all the dozens and dozens of character squabbling genially on the page, unless someone is in personal danger, it's never too clear what's on stake or why I should care about any of it. Where the prose should be both eloquent and florid, its merely functional, as if by overwhelming by the sheer mass of words we'll be lulled into a glazed state where we're convinced that since he did so much work to write this it must be a classic.

It's not that I don't like this type of style. I managed "Bleak House" without any trouble at all, because Dickens knew how to string along the various threads like tiny firecrackers and inject a fair amount of social commentary at the same time. Compared to this, "War and Peace" is a thumping page turner, with characters that feels like real people who have to decide if they will be swept away by events beyond their control or try to stand against it and aware that the final decision may not be up to them. Heck, even John Barth's "The Sot-Weed Factor" was a subtle parody of novels from this period and still comes across as vastly more readable (and funnier). But in Stephenson's hands it feels clumsy. While it's not as off-putting as the previous volumes were (unless age has made less capable of having a visceral reaction), you never lose the sense that there's an academic artifice between you and the story, that Stephenson is relaying it to you via some kind of jauntily clever eye, a story told to you by someone who figures that reading a book on how to tell stories is all he really needs.

There's just enough signs of talent and craft that you tend to wonder why you aren't more engaged. While his characterizations can range from the interesting (I don't remember Waterhouse being this proactive, or much of anything about him, but he wears the plotting hat well) to the purely mechanical (Jack Shaftoe gets the stamp of adventure and pretty much exists as the designated stunt person) to the flat out entertaining (Isaac Newton livens up the scene every time he appears, mostly by being half as intense as he apparently was in real life), the sheer onslaught of characters tend to be numbing and with no one talking like a real person who ever lived in this century or the eighteenth, you tend to forget who is who or what their importance is the actual story at hand. The plot this time is more straightforward, filled with little events that sometimes act like they're adding up to something greater and sometimes seem to exist purely for Stephenson to clear out his filing cabinet of tiny facts . . . but with the abstract conflict hinging on currency, the book never makes a real case as to why this is as vital as the characters seem to believe it is (in real life it was a big deal, but I feel like reading an actual history book on the period would be both more factual and more entertaining). He is capable of writing some arresting scenes (a chase with an assassin gets the blood pumping briefly and a quiet moment when a member of royalty dies is strangely touching) but with nine hundred pages of story to fill and so many scenes telling you so many things, it almost seems like it happens by accident.

At times I feel like if he focused more on the politics of the time, the book would have been more successful. For a brief period in the middle when Queen Anne is about to die and the various royals of Russia, Hanover and the Jacobites are all figuring out their next move, while the unwashed man on the street just wants to know who's going to be in charge of oppressing them next and various factions are attempting to decide which way to jump to best curry favor, the book becomes nearly tense and exciting. But then we get back to long passages about measuring gold and it all just becomes this low humming noise.

I can't say I was ever bored by it. The story kept me interested just enough that I was turning pages out of detached and idle interest instead of rote mechanics but despite all the hullabaloo the emotional core of the book is just as hollow as the other two are. Despite his best efforts, I feel nothing about the potential for romance between Shaftoe and Eliza and while there's moments of human tenderness and affection, there's very little to hang it on (even Pynchon's "Mason and Dixon" to which this has been compared and is written in a way more difficult style, had moments that left me with a proverbial lump in my throat). If the book was a hilarious satire of the time then maybe that could make up for it but the brunt of it is driven by ideas and frankly those ideas are big and important and just not as fascinating in this presentation as Stephenson seems to think they are. For the most part it feels like by reading it he wants to make you feel good about yourself, that you've joined a kind of exclusive and wonderful club by "getting it", knowing the period, knowing the in-jokes and reveling in the obscure facts about science that only clever people who care about small details would even know (and maybe it's just me, but I find it odd that Stephenson doesn't want to name some of his sources in the acknowledgements for fear that people are going to harass them . . . does anyone really do that?). But if acceptance in such club requires me to perceive your notes from all your leisure reading as a historical epic for our times, as Groucho Marx once famously said about refusing to be in any club that would have him as a member, I'm going to have to politely decline.

[SPOILERS FOLLOW] if like me you were expecting a scientific explanation for Solomon's Gold, and to have all the threads of this extraordinary magnum opus tied up without recourse to the supernatural, you are destined to be disappointed. Book Eight is a victory for alchemy over the emerging scientific method (then called Natural Philosophy), although the way many of the other situations set up in the first seven books are resolved does not rely on validating superstition but to the contrary on quite satisfying "twists", even if I found them all eminently predictable.
Now I am on to the sequel-of-sorts, Cryptonomicon, to see, in the 20th century, what becomes of the descendants of the characters in The Baroque Cycle, to say nothing of the ideas and themes so central to all eight books thereof. I am praying to the God of atheists that we are spared any magical nonsense/quackery in this one!
Because it was written earlier than Baroque, technically The Baroque Cycle is a prequel, perhaps one of many, as there are two centuries to be filled in between the end of The Baroque Cycle and the beginning of Cryptonomicon.
We can only hope…

This third and final volume of the Baroque Cycle contains many pleasures and many disappointments, yet I can affirm that if you've made it through the first two volumes of the Baroque Cycle, it would be a wasteful mistake to stop. Although E. M. Forster famously quipped, "One always tends to overpraise a long book, because one has got through it," Stephenson's enormous opus is indisputably impressive in scope and ambition, and all the plot strands do come together in a "satisfying" way that enhances the earlier volumes, even if it takes another volume of Tolstoyan proportions to get there.

The brainiac son of a Puritan, Daniel Waterhouse, is the focus for much of this final volume, while Jack Shaftoe and Eliza of Arcachon-Qwghlm are often in prison, off-stage, or behind the scenes. Some readers find the character of Waterhouse unbearably dull, but for my tastes the back-and-forthing among Waterhouse, Newton, Leibniz, and the members of the Clubb form one of the gratifying diversions in these pages (although the introduction of a subplot involving punch-cards made of gold plate for use in a colonial-era computer crosses the line from geekiness to silliness). Stephenson's wonky focus on metaphysical and intellectual matters aren't as thrilling perhaps as the previous swashbuckling adventures of Jack and Eliza--but there are still a few page-turning escapades, including one fabulously rendered scene involving Jack flying across the skies of London that is as breathtaking as any of the sword fights and gunpowder explosions in the first two volumes.

Yet, unlike many other members of the increasingly small band of travelers who managed successfully to plod through all three volumes of the Baroque Cycle, I found that the interest and quality of each the nine "books" deteriorated inversely with the increase in repetition and prolixity. Some of the repetition is necessary for such a long and involved work, because few readers will easily recall what happened to whom a thousand pages earlier--but some of the duplication is a symptom of the lack of focus in Stephenson's meandering plot. More tedious are the endless, forgettable, and often indistinguishable descriptions of London thoroughfares, back alleys, and buildings; with every step through his eighteenth-century metropolis, Stephenson tries to out-Fodor Dumas, spending page after chatty page leading the reader from point A to point B, describing street-corner C and place-of-historical-interest D along the way.

In fact, there's so much going on that the pivotal unveiling of the blackguard terrorizing our heroes with homemade bombs is underwhelming in its impact--largely because the evildoer is one of the least interesting members of the supporting cast. (I'm sure I am not the only reader who, when the guilty party is unmasked, momentarily wondered, "Who?") And, finally, some of the major "suspense" revolves around when Queen Anne will die and who will succeed her (and which of the political players will rise and fall)--but if you have even a passing knowledge of British history, it can be understandably difficult to get excited about these foregone historical plot twists.

Stephenson's objective, however, is not simply to tell a gripping adventure story but also to convey the convulsive upheavals following the Glorious Revolution: in politics, in science and technology, in currency and economics, in business and industry, in diplomacy, in religion--and, above all, in how people thought. To a large extent, he succeeds, and that is the greatest achievement of his 2,700-page work. Given that theme, then, the last hundred pages or so strike me as a perplexingly subdued and understated denouement for a cataclysmic, post-glorious revolution. Surprisingly, this is the way "The System of the World" ends: Not with a bang but a whimper.

I started with the Cryptonomicon, enjoyed the heck out of that one! Read Quicksilver and then moved to The Confusion enjoying myself the entire time. Now I've read System of the World and I like what I have read. The lists can be a bit long at times but other than that to story flows and is really fun to watch unfold. If you have an interest in science and its development through time, this is a good series to read.

I am glad I read this on my tablet so I always had quick reference to Wikipedia. I spent half the book learning about Le Roi, Manila, Huguenots, Justification, Popists, Protestantism, Different spots in England and specifically London. Places all over Europe, Asia, India and around the world. It's fun to look in via Satellite on these places. Then look up the information. What a fun story!

I recommend that you read the entire series starting at the beginning. It's a lot of fun and can become educational on world history. While I enjoy reading about mystical worlds and other beings, I think this is way more interesting because it is tangible, hell it's still unfurling.

Long live science!

Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle is one of the most ambitious series of historical fiction in recent years and he does an excellent job of bridging the distance between 17th century and today by focusing on putting the ideas and persons in the context of their time. Having read through the voluminous series when it came out, I was a little hesitant to re-read the three books (Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World) but my curiousity won out. I'm glad it did. There is so much information packed into the series that the second reading really made me appreciate the ideas and historical personalities invovlved.

I also noticed something that had slipped by me the first time. Daniel Waterhouse, rather than just being a neutral participant in the storyline, really came out as a catalyst for all the events in the book. Even more, his transformation from a person scared into inaction by the fear of others' disapproval into a man capable of exerting his will to make the world a better place is absolutely central to the storyline and I'm sad to say that I missed it the first time. This slow transformation permeates all three books and I think it must something very personal to Mr. Stephenson.

The other arguement for a second reading is that the events are so complex and the historical descriptions of warfare, economics and natural philosophy are often so detailed that catching everything after only one reading is difficult. I think of this as a strength of the book rather than a weakness, although some people probably do not appreciate the density of background material in the books.

The Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon form an interwoven historical narrative and I think that they will stand as a great literary achievement. I do wish he'd intersperse more of his shorter novels Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book) and The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (Bantam Spectra Book) alongside his large works (Baroque Cycle, Cryptonomicon,Anathem) but I'll happily read anything Neal Stephenson writes since he has a gift for conveying complex ideas in an exciting and compelling way.

The Baroque Cycle is one of those worthy multivolume sets that enjoyably kidnaps you from your life and ravishes your brain. I spent almost three months plowing through it. By the time I was done, it was thoroughly ingrained in my mind, leaving me with a great curiosity to learn more about the period.

This third volume, "The System of the World", brings to a satisfying finish the story of Puritan-bred scientist Daniel Waterhouse; Half-Cocked Jack Shaftoe the King of the Vagabonds; and his lifelong torch Eliza the Duchess of Qwghlm. This last volume has just as involved a plot as its predecessors. We resume the story at the outset of 1714. Unlike the other two this one's action takes place in a single year. Waterhouse arrives back in England on the mission he undertook in "Quicksilver", coming at the request of Princess Caroline of Hanover - a friend and onetime protégé of Eliza's - to settle the longstanding dispute over who invented calculus between Leibniz and Newton. Waterhouse finds himself, as ever, swept up into politics as his patron Sir Roger Comstock now heads the Whig party - and as Waterhouse is the subject of a bombing attack as he arrives in London. England's currency, stabilized by Waterhouse's long-estranged friend Newton, the Master of the Mint, is now the target of a complex and subtle plot to devalue it. Those who finished the second volume, "Confusion", will of course recognize the plot there put upon Jack's shoulders by "Leroi" in return for the safety of Eliza and her children. But the coinage may be under attack from domestic enemies as well: Tories, who oppose the emerging global business system, supporting instead the traditional economy, favoring the nobility, of wealth tied to land. Who shall succeed the aging Queen Anne - the Whig-backed and Protestant Hanover dynasty, or the latest Catholic Stuart claimant to the throne, the French- and Tory-backed James the Pretender - is the prize looming as the parties jockey for position.

The target of the plot is the Pyx - an inviolable safe where samples of new coins are deposited by the Mint, which can be checked randomly for the proper weight and purity. And, in the background, there are still those interested in the fate of the legendary Solomonic Gold treasure Jack and his gang of galley slaves had seized in "Confusion"; the alchemists who have lurked around the fringes of the story; and the coming industrial age embodied in the newly invented steam engine.

Along the way we meet some new characters. Eliza's oldest, Johann, is now a swashbuckling young gentleman (the book actually notes the origin of the word "swashbuckling", as it does so many other expressions dating to the time) and the paramour of the now fully-grown Caroline, who stands to become Princess of Wales if her Hanover father-in-law George prevails and becomes the new King of England. Waterhouse finds a guide to London's mean streets in Peter Hoxton, a two-fisted clockmaker with underworld connections and a spirit of philosophical inquiry. We also meet up with some old characters. The African mariner Dappa wages a PR battle upon slavery, backed by Eliza. With him is the tough Dutch captain Van Hoek. Jack's sons Jimmy and Danny emerge improbably at all the right moments.

One high spot is Jack's inventive assault on the Tower of London. Another is Daniel's springing of three captives from jail. And Stephenson keeps finding novel and, well, yes, baroque ways to dispatch bad guys. One gets it in a gentleman's duel conducted with artillery, and another with a stringed instrument. A good guy is treated to a Rockefellerian death, dying "in the saddle" with his mistress, a beauty of Zeta-Jonesesque stature. And topping it all is the thrilling escape at the book's climax. After reading so far, the outcome of such fateful episodes is no longer in doubt, yet Stephenson continually finds inventive ways to make them enjoyable.

As expressed in my earlier reviews, I continue to wonder about the trilogy's length. The globe-sprawling plot, with its profusion of scientific, philosophical, financial and historical detail, ultimately justifies its own weight. But Stephenson might have considered trimming his innumerable landscape descriptions that slow too many passages. While they are generally fine writing, the cumulative weight is just too much. He could have easily cut 100 or more pages from each volume with barely any loss of plot, character or other critical detail, just by giving us fewer visual descriptions.

But this is a minor quibble. This is one of those memorable works I was sorry to finish, as it put an end to a world I had come to enjoy.

Embedded somewhere in these 3000+ pages of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle is a great and important story about the events from which the modern world springs. In an age inherently suspicious of all mythologies, the author has attempted to supply readers with a mythos for skeptical empiricism, albeit under the cover of fiction.

But be warned, just as his characters must search through tons of dross to find the golden essence of life, Stephenson requires a similar alchemical labor on the part of his readers. His myriad subplots and tangents, along with his intense descriptions of landscapes and mechanical processes are not without value in laying out the rich matrix of life in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He provides a great context for understanding such men as Leibniz, Newton, Louis XIV, and James II. Nevertheless there came a point, about halfway through the second volume, that I began to yearn for these tangled paths to resolve themselves into a clear highway. Alas, it took another several hundred pages for Stephenson to foreclose upon his fictional excesses and move his plot toward its foreordained ending.

Though I think that this story might have been better told in fewer words, it opens up to us the roots of modern Western civilization. I am glad I saw the project through.

Everything is wrapped up nicely, Glad I read through this trilogy. I'd recommend these books to anyone who has an interest in Scientific History (or just history), Computers, Math, etc. If you've read Stephenson's other work, you should now what to expect.

This book sets the stage for Cryptonomicon in which the descedants of the Shaftoes and Waterhouses continue their adventures.

One of my (minor) criticisms of the book is that he spends so much time on the geography of London with the streets and ditches and canals, etc. Some people may enjoy that, I found it got a bit tedious in the third book. After reading through this cycle, I think I could navigate 1600-1700's London without a map.

Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, of which this is the final volume, is beyond doubt one of the finest literary works of the last 50 years. It combines elements of history, adventure, and speculative fiction in a captivating, intelligent read as no other work has in recent memory. Although extremely long it is never boring and never drags, while offering a fascinating picture of life in 17th/18th century life in Europe, America, and on the high seas. It offers fascinating portraits of many of the leading lights of the time including Newton, Leibniz, Hooke, and others, the political climate in England, France, and Europe in general, the English underclass, the Puritans, the Industrial Revolution, Pirates on the high seas including the infamous Blackbeard..... It is impossible to describe the scope of this work within the confines of a short review. If you love history, science, adventure, intrigue, or steampunk you'll love the Baroque Cycle.

Ten stars on a scale of five!

I just finished this series, and I can now safely say Neal Stephenson is my favorite writer. To give you some points of comparison, my previous favorite was Philip K. Dick. Here is a list of my other favorites: Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis, Robert Heinlein, Christopher Buckley, Robert E. Howard, and John Keegan (historian).

So why is NS my favorite now? He does everything my favorite writers do--word play and dialogue like Shakespeare, philosophy like Lewis, weird distinct characters like Heinlein, truly surprising and novel ideas like PKD, wit like Chris Buckley, swashbuckling adventure like Howard, and living breathing history like Keegan.

I just finished the cycle, over 2,400 pages, and I want to read it all over again from start to finish; in fact, I did just that today, at least in bits and pieces, re-reading the first meeting of Jack and Eliza, Waterhouse's first appearance as an old man, etc. The cycle shows a rich love of continuity and depth of meaning in which I stand in awe, especially as an aspring author myself. The entire cycle begins and ends with a hanging. It begins with Waterhouse being summoned on a mission we (and he) understand not for 2,000+ pages, but, just as in life, eventually we can make out some purpose to it all once we arrive.

While some passages SEEM long-winded, it all matters. Every description of the streets of London, etc. have meaning to the entire book. Those who say the plot of the cycle could be told in 50 pages are correct. This is just one of the many things I love about the books--they are distinctly not about plot. Rather than discursively going on and on with plot, the cycle focuses on thematics, character, and development of an idea. Those who read the last discourse between Leibniz and Newton (arguably the whole point of the cycle itself) and think NS fumbles the ball in the scene miss the whole purpose of the cycle. Everything in the cycle is about reconciling fact with faith, science with religion. Not only does NS not fumble the ball in that later scene, he amazingly makes the point of the book real to modern readers as the princess sets the ball--er, globe on fire, pointing out that if we humans cannot settle the classic argument of L. and N., then we might as well set the world on fire and continue the pointless destruction that makes up the vast core of the plot.

I love the cycle for its high-brow and low-brow moments, and everything in between. Like Shakespeare, one can see it all as swordfights and bawdy wordplay, or one can trust the writer and look deeper and see the agonizing humanity of it all.

I am going to have a hard time reading anything else for awhile because this was so good.

And finally, sadly the Baroque Cycle draws to a conclusion. It's been a long journey starting with the wit and wry observations of life in the 17th century. We laughed as Daniel Waterhouse bumbled his way through life, servant to the savants. We gasped as Jack and Eliza fell in love and went their separate ways. We yawned as we followed Eliza's climb to fame, we ploughed through Jack's adventures on the high seas - all so we could read the last book!

For me, the highlight of this series has been Stephenson's humour as he tackled life unfolding around Waterhouse. Jack and Eliza were but padding. I was greatly relieved in this last book to find it just about all revolves around Waterhouse. But that doesn't mean the book isn't without flaws...

The story suddenly leap frogs into the 18th Century from where it ended in The Confusion, 25 years lost. Suddenly we are once again where Quicksilver started before mysteriously and inexplicably (at the time of reading) slipping back to the 17th Century. Suffice to say, it was just as disjointed suddenly leap frogging forward again at the start of the 3rd book!

In fact, I question why on earth we even bother to start off with Enoch Root knocking on Daniel Waterhouse's door in North America in Quicksilver, other than to establish Waterhouse as a character. But to then not refer to this incidence until 6-700 pages later - why I had completely forgotten Waterhouse came to the UK on the Minerva and several other minor details which although never important, were details anyway.

It also felt like Stephenson, having written so much already, was now starting to run slightly out of steam. The marvelous oil painting of the absurd that he painted in Quicksilver has now been reduced to a warm watercolour of rich pastels in System of the World.

Contrastingly, his characters have now become the opposite of what they were 25 years ago. Waterhouse, a mere observer and buffoon for the first 2 books is suddenly a very VERY spry and wise (or 'erudite' as he is called in this book) meddling old man! Eliza is just a bit player reduced to being little more than a rich damsel running around in various modes of distress and Jack has become mysterious and secretive. Why on EARTH Jack and Eliza had not patched up their differences in 25 years and still making mad schemes to avoid and see eachother, I don't know. Logic breakdown.

But in the end, I loved this book. Like a space opera you don't want to end, I didn't want to finish this science historical opera. The humour may have been dimmed, but it was still there. Stephenson still delivers some priceless comments, observations and mental imagery. It took me about 6 weeks to read the first book, 4 months to read the next (I read stuff inbetween...) but it only took a week to finish it off. Stephenson delivers enough page turning action and humour to keep the reader enthralled for the entire length of the book.

If you read the first two books, then you're definetely going to love the pace and life in this book! Enjoy the end to this great trilogy!

Thus spake Zarathustra! That's about how someone feels upon completing the Baroque Cycle, a long extravagant tale of the life of Dr. Waterhouse (our erstwhile host), Eliza, Jack, kings, queens, scientists, warriors and history. While the reading at times may have been rough sledding, in the end I would say it is worth it. I can also state that it is almost impossible to enjoy these novels without reading the previous one (exceptin the case of the first that references another novel).

Years have passed and Jack is back in London and following the orders of Leroi ("Le Roi"), king of France. To save his beloved Eliza he is attempting to destroy the monetary system of Britain (by debasing the currency) that is bringing that small nation to the pinnacle of power with the torrent of inventions and discoveries - economic, physical and philosophical. Stephenson repeatedly demonstrates WHY England won the race instead of France, why the new invention of credit, sound money, virtual payments and modern financial tools made the scientific and poliical revolutions possible. In fact, he cites Fernand Braudel's massive "Civilization & Capitalism" as one of his guiding lights. This wold be especially true considering the detail of everyday life Braudel references (and Stephenson uses).

Amid royal machinations, the possible return of the hated Catholic Charles with the aid of the French and the Scots, the Hanovers, William and the Dutch, one man (Jack) is counterfeiting coins. In an odd but prescient insight, the King of France understands that England's strength is her financial system (yet refuses to modernize his own) and thus he has forced the King of the Vagabonds, Jack Shaftoe, to destroy it.

In the meantime, the battle between Newton and Liebwitz continues, plots within plots abound and Jack is caught and sentenced to die. I won't repeat in detail my stated problems with the series - excess wordiness, foreign phrases, long names/titles, unneccesary description - but needless to say it's all there again. The inclusion of the science fiction episode at the end with Solomon's gold and immortality was simply the cherry on top of a lush, satisfying dessert.

Many have criticized Dr. Waterhouse but to me, his thoughts and actions made the story what it is. The tale spread over several continents, long time frames and numerous personalities and Waterhouse was a sort of anchor around which all else flowed. Eliza, of course, was wonderful but the real hero was Jack and he is superbly realized. I appreciate the fact that he did not have Jack conquer the world at 21 but imposed a realistic lifetime of effort in order to achieve his goal of being with the woman he loves. My Grade - A.

Stephenson continues to amaze with a more-than-encyclopedic knowledge of the subject matter, and each page is stuffed with things you didn't know. That alone is worth the visit. However, in this case, the third volume of the Baroque trilogy, he runs out of interesting subject matter and the pace is glacial. No reviewer is going to say that they couldn't put it down and read through the night. Unless the scalawag Jack is in the picture, things slow to a crawl. Still, four stars for doing what no other writer living could have achieved, and for a reading experience that is very rewarding if enjoyed like fudge, in small bites, rather than like pizza.

The Baroque Cycle is Neal Stephenson's latest fiction undertaking. Like his other books, it is set in a complex world. However, unlike his other novels, this three-volume set has a historical setting, and is reminiscent of Russian novels with its many characters and intricate plot. Three major stories intertwine, along with other episodes, through the three volumes, often intermixing in the most surprising ways. It has bits of humor, and many references to science and mathematics, as well as other arcana. Fans of Umberto Eco would enjoy this series.

Reading all three volumes took me four months. To say that I feel relieved would be an understatement. I feel like I just accomplished something huge. On the other hand, I might have put the same amount of time and effort into reading a REAL classic and been better for it. Neal Stephenson's writing can be very intellectually challenging, and at times, I wondered if I was up to the task.

The final volume, The System of the World, opens with Daniel Waterhouse arriving in London. London is chaotic, with disagreements about the king's line of succession and mysterious explosions that seem to follow Daniel around. With new and old acquaintances, he forms a "clubb" to investigate the explosions. Meanwhile, strange things are afoot at the mint and Sir Isaac Newton is intent on finding the villain. Eliza also appears in this book as a supporting character, arriving in London to assist Princess Caroline in claiming her rightful throne. Jack, too, has come to London with his own secret mission, and of course, his lifelong love for Eliza still intact.

This volume falls somewhere between Quicksilver and the Confusion in entertainment value. While Quicksilver is definitely the quickest read, this volume has its sections. The story is easier to follow than the Confusion, or perhaps I had finally gotten the hang of remembering the minutiae.

One notable thing about this volume is that it has a terrific denouement, which ties up all the loose ends from the entire series and leaves the reader with a warm feeling. In the past, Stephenson has been criticized for his endings, some ending too quickly, others having a feeling of Deus Ex Machina. Not so here - the story wraps up in a timely fashion and leaves no one's story untold.

Having just completed System of the World I have now completed Neal Stephenson's ambitious trilogy in its entirety. While I personally enjoyed the books very much they are not for everyone. First, the time period in which these books are set is not that familiar and while some of the names and events are recognizable much of the context is unfamiliar terrain for most. That makes a more than passing interest in history and sharp focus necessary to keep up with the plot. That brings me to the second point. While the plot is grand and sweeping it can be hard to follow and it is not until the latter part of System of the World that you see the whole story come together. Again, these books require active efforts by the reader and do not fall into the category of a "beach read." That being said, once the story was tied up and brought to a conclusion I found myself marveling at how neatly all the complexities had been tied together. Further, the writing is outstanding and despite the "work" needed to keep everything straight I found myself engaged in and caring about the characters and what happens to them. Always the hallmark of good novels in my opinion. The bottom line is that if you are interested in an immersive experience that will take you through a whirlwind of science, philosophy, history and politics then these are the novels for you. The "work" required by these novels turns out to be the reward as well.

Book Three of the Baroque Cycle brings to the series to a very dramatic close. I think this book represents some of Stephenson's finest work along with Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash. Reading the Baroque Cycle is difficult work, particularly the first book which mostly sets up the characters, but after reading TSotW, I found I finally understood why Stephenson wrote the series the way he did.

The series really is about the emergence of Europe from a barbaric and superstitious age to the beginnings of Enlightenment. The book mentions near the very end about a new System of the World, and what this is referring to is a new way of understanding the world; a new system of thought.

The book is pretty fast-paced as it brings many things to a close. Jack Shaftoe's part in the series is really some of the most exciting parts, but the efforts of Sir Isaac to capture him are quite fun to read as well. More so than earlier books in the series, you really get a sense of Stephenson's flair for adventure.

I have to say that reading this book makes the whole Cycle worth the time. I learned a great deal about pre-Enlightenment Europe through this series, and had a good read at the same time.

The book being reviewed here is one of three books which are from the Baroque Cycle Trilogy by Neal Stephenson. Since there does not yet appear to be one title under which I can post my review, I have triplicated this review and placed the same review under all three titles. The sequence is Quicksilver, The Confusion, and the System of the World.

I read voraciously of both fiction, non-fiction and that in-between category of historic fiction in which one can learn considerably about the age but still enjoy the plot of an ideal narrative, or, in the case of the Baroque Cycle, an intertwining of several narratives. In the last say, three years, I have read literally hundreds of books and I can unequivocally name the three most influential works (apart from "Postcards of Nursing," the one I wrote myself, of course,) during that period. They are the 20 Aubrey/Maturin historic novels of Patrick O'Brian, "Shantaram," by Gregory David Roberts, and the three books in the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson.

I find it hard to critique Stephenson's work. His writing and research genius is so far beyond my poor abilities that if I come across an aspect of his writing which gives me pause, I have to look to my own deficiencies rather than his. But nowhere did I find the book to be condescending. And the subtle (and not so subtle) humor was superb.

And the characters: Ah the characters. When I had finished the books, I felt I *knew* Isaac Newton, Leibniz, Hooke, and Wren. Half-Cocked Jack and Dappa were real to me. Eliza lived and breathed.

Also, I began to discover that I was beginning to understand the international monetary system and the trappings of power surrounding it. I began to appreciate the conventions of letter-writing, the mind set when years might go by between a correspondence and its reply. I felt I understood something of the tangled tapestries of royal affairs in the 18th century. I was transported. Utterly. Words fail me.

Each book in the trilogy was better written than its predecessor, and the first one was superb. When I was reading O'Brian's novels, and was on say, novel #5 in the series, I was in heaven, knowing that I had 15 and a half (so to speak) more novels to go. When I was finally finished with 20, I started grasping at straws. I went to see the movie which, to my delight, showed me something of the ship HMS Surprise, but to my extreme disappointment, miscast Maturin so badly that it robbed the film of its portrayal of one of the most complex characters in literature. I read the unfinished #21. Not enough. It was only when I came across Quicksilver that I began to let go of the O'Brian characters and came to "invest" in Stephenson's.

And yet, by the time I was halfway through the "System of the World," the final of the three books, I began anticipatory grieving. I knew I might not see these folks again in such a personal light. They had become my friends. The fact that I had already read Cryptonomicon, a work by Stephenson based in part on one of the descendants of Dr. Waterhouse, was not a consolation. I miss those folks. I will probably read the books again in a year or two, but until then, since O'Brian is dead, and since probably Roberts will not top his first novel, I will have to wait for another of Stephenson's books. By the way, and this is not a spoiler, the resolution of the Baroque Cycle is thoroughly complete and intensely satisfying. It's just too bad it's over.

The System of the World is the third in Stephenson's massive Baroque Cycle, and worth every minute that I spent reading. The entire series is something that I would enthusiastically recommend. It's fun, in the biggest sense of the world. Thought provoking, clever, occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. Not bad for what can only be described as rather dense historical fiction.

I wouldn't want to attempt to write a plot summary, but suffice to say that this book continues the series preoccupation with economics, currency, logic and alchemy. I know that some didn't like the extensive descriptions of London in this volume, but I really enjoyed that part-- great to be a virtual tourist.

I have to say that the ending was a bit much (the bit with Sir Isaac at the Trial of the Pyx), but my that point I was almost willing to forgive Stephenson anything.

Highly recommended.

Rollicking story of unlikely characters in unlikely settings having fun. A real history with smells, science, personality, character. I love these people. To draw a vagabond with kings and queens, insurrection, money, pirates and have it all work out so that the good guys win is an amazing feat. You learn so much from reading this book. This is my third or fourth reading and I still learn something new each time. I love the craft, the language, the sheer inventiveness. A most rewarding experience. Thank you mr. Stephenson.

The Baroque Cycle is an epic work, which highlights Mr. Stephenson's meticulous and exhaustive research into 17th and 18th century European, Asian, and North African cultures. That is both the strength and the weakness of this series. This is not exactly light summer reading, and much of the content, particularly with respect to the Newton-Leibniz thread, assumes a great deal of familiarity with the subject matter.

That said, this series, along with the loosely-related Cryptonomicon, sets the bar very high for the genre of historical fiction. (I know, you will find it in the Sci-fi section at Barnes and Noble, but only because the publisher is afraid that fans of Mr. Stephenson will never figure out what happened if they move him over to the literary fiction section, where he belongs.)

The first two novels of this series swing back and forth between the pragmatic and fantastical elements of the book, and the tension between alchemy and empirical science is a central theme throughout. Ultimately, Mr. Stephenson does a good job of bringing the two competing theories to an uneasy truce. Without spoiling the ending, I will say that this is fiction, so the truce that Mr. Stephenson reaches does not necessarily have to agree with the historical victory of pure science over alchemy.

The last 150 or so pages are pure Solomonic Gold. You will want to resist the temptation to burn through them in one sitting. Rather, cherish some of Stephenson's best writing to date. I don't happen to think that this series is his best work -- it gets too bogged down in details and loses focus, particularly during the aptly named "Confusion" -- but the reader who sticks it out through the series' middle lull will be richly rewarded by this book.

System of the World brings the Baroque Cycle in line with the high-octane, dense-yet-readable style that Mr. Stephenson perfected in Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon. If you liked those books and felt a little let down by the Confusion, this book is for you.

The System of the World is the brilliant capstone to the Baroque Cycle, a 3,000 page tome whose remarkable scope is only matched by its near limitless intrigue & implications.

Where to begin?

1) this story is ultimately one of eternal hope, victory & the liberation of the "anima" (soul) of mankind.
2) this trilogy is about enduring love.
3) it is about discipline of the psyche & the reconciliation of the physical self & emotional passions with rational thought.
4) it is about political & mechanical innovation & processes, as well as political & mechanical machinations
5) this is the story which makes you want to leave a mark on the future by writing a worthy history while you are alive (in spite of the inevitability that future generations will not be able to cite you as the author).
6) this is The Sytem of a World & Universe built of pulleys & ropes, dictated by tension, torque, gravity & hard fast rules.
While the heavens & Earth may appear a system of chaotic happenstance, have no doubt they were built with foresight & care... and are governed by those who built them.

Stephenson is the best living author I have read in my lifetime. I feel honored to have had this comet pass through my neck of the solar system. This Baroque Cycle is the gold standard for all of Stephenson's peers. I firmly believe he will be likened in the years that come to master Tolkein himself.

I love Neal Stephenson's work, and have read most of it. I think "Cryptonomicon" is one of the best books of the last half of the 20th century, and a perfect capstone for the century itself. I will always give anything by Stephenson a try.

But I didn't like this book. Frankly, I didn't like the series all that much. We have, what, 2700 pages, and where is the narrative drive? The creation of a stable currency? The creation of calculus? The adventures of Jack Shaftoe? The background of Enoch Root? Just what the devil is going on here?

I can hear Stephenson in my head now, insisting that such a vast canvas, such a lot of complex material, requires a lot of verbiage. Could be. But personally, I like my historical background in my stories to be just that: background. I mean, I like "Shogun," but if it had stretched into two more books and contained even *more* details about the Portugese, the British explorations of the seas, the Japanese feudal system, the codes of the Samurai, and so on, well, my circuit breakers would have tripped out from overload. As they did with this series of books.

Others have noted, and I concur, that one of the main characters of this book, Daniel Waterhouse, is dull. Indeed, he is *supremely* dull. I can forgive a lot, but when I don't give a rip about the main character, why bother to read?

Stephenson made much of the fact that he used a pen and ink to write this. Neal, please: go back to the computer. Perhaps if this had all been online, the major narrative skein could have been teased out, and the 2700 pages could have been sweated down to 800 or so. But man, you write it in ink, I bet you want to keep it.

It is basically Stephenson's gift with language that gets this book 2.5 stars, honestly; the story itself is not compelling. I don't care if he chooses historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, or whatever, for his next novel, I will give it a chance. But I hope he regains his earlier form, and exhibits a little more brevity; I am not willing to slog through another 2700 pages--or even 900--again with so little reward at the end.

This is the third volume in Stephenson's ambitious and fun recounting of the world events circa the late 18th century. This has got the birth of the royal society, the growing pains of international trade and the intrigues at Versailles for starters. This volume is tying up a number of lose ends, and focuses more on the Royal Society and Versailles then on the swashbuckling adventurers that take up a lot of space in volume two. It's good fun, especially if you have any interest in doorstop historical fiction.

...this IS NOT "Volume Three of The Baroque Cycle". This is actually the last third of Volume Three, which is also Book 8. Volume One is called Quicksilver and consists of: Book 1 (Quicksilver); Book 2 (The King of the Vagabonds); and Book 3 (Odalisque). Volume Two is called The Confusion and consists of: Book 4 (Bonanza); and Book 5 (The Juncto). Volume Three is called The System of the World and consists of: Book 6 (Solomon's Gold); Book 7 (Currency); and Book 8 (The System of the World). This audiobook is Book 8, NOT Volume Three.

If you want all of Volume Three (and, trust me, you do), you also have to buy:

1455857572

1455857114

Let me reiterate that my poor review is based wholly on the fact that the product is mislabeled. I own the print version of this work, and it is one of my favorite reads of all time. Somehow the audiobook is even better. The reader, Simon Prebble, is the absolute s***. So, if you like Neal Stephenson, do yourself a favor, and buy the entire audiobook series. Volume Two (Books 4-5) is sold as a complete Audio CD set (1455857114 I own it and love it. Not sure about Volume One, since I got that from my local library.

... to an excellent series. While the high point of the series to me was The Confusion, this third part brings everything around to a good end. The focus is mainly on Daniel, Isaac, and Liebniz, while Jack and Eliza find smaller, but entertaining, roles. My one complaint is the odd end that Yevgeny meets ... it seemed arbitrarily inserted into the story, rather than flowing from the events of the earlier part of the narrative. In any event, this is one of my favorite series, and I really enjoyed this last book.

This trilogy is a most satisfying indulgence. It is Stephenson's masterpiece, which is saying a lot, because he has cranked out some gems. My only hope is that we will someday hear more from the Shaftoes and Waterhouses.

How did Neal Stephenson do this? Like Dickens, he throws a multitude of characters into the air, and somehow they all land in the right place. He presents this era in all of its complexity, London in all of its squalor, and delivers a giggle or a guffaw every page or so. I didn't want the story to end, and yet I had to suspend my life for a number of days and very long nights and see it through. What I especially appreciated is that he presented the ambivalence of Europe's version of modernity, and Princess Caroline's dream looms over the work as we stand here today and see what this System of the World has wrought. Despite Daniel's deep-seated Puritan revulsion for the messy, endlessly evocative symbol-laden tradition of alchemy, he sees that the Engine for Raising Water by Fire is another of its myriad faces. We don't really leave anything behind in this traverse through history, but we make many a wrong turn, and the jury is still out on this one. Of course, it is Power that made this Logic Mill I am typing on possible.

And hey Neal, in case you read this, Descartes was RIGHT about the pineal gland. There's a reason why Dappa is the most morally developed character in your book.

Because he probably got paid by the word....and there are WAY TOO MANY of them in this book. Stephenson's attempt to bring the overly loquacious and flowery descriptive style of 18th century writing to the modern times is a good effort, but when you strip away his adjectives, similes and endless references to historical figures you never learned about, you have a very thin plot that could fill about 50 pages. To space these out, Stephenson inserts an entire education's worth of 17th/18th century British politics, endless attempts at puns and a few crude scenes (the latrine trench outside of a city and the aforementioned scene with Newton's cousin come to mind) to make the book seem alive.

Well, the book lives in the greatest British style: gouty with adjectives, wheezing and short of breath with regards to plot and a certain chunky bulkiness of literary phrase that makes entire paragraphs seem like pulling tight velvet pantaloons over mountains of lard. Even the big meeting of the geniuses of the time (Leibniz and Newton) is just pages of fluff talking with no resolution to the book's main plot.

This book is a serious effort to read and nearly impossible to enjoy without a collection of British history books nearby. Stephenson needs to trim some of the fat from his writing and get to the point. If even he gets lost on his plot points halfway through his own book, he needs to slim down and focus.

I cannot recommend this in good faith to anyone.

For this whole trilogy, I really appreciated a technologist's approach to history. It is often kind of difficult to read historians and some literature masters delve into science, so I found it refreshing to read a science-focused author dive into the history of science, economics, market economy, etc. Would recommend for anyone who wants a better grasp of the root of our current world.

For a three volume (and three massive volumes at that) series, this is one hell of a read. I would have liked a fourth volume just discussing how Stephenson mixed the real with conjecture and with outright fiction. Fascinating and even educational.

Buy it.

I've read Stephenson's other books and found them enjoyable, but not noteworthy. The Baroque Cycle series is beyond noteworthy. It's epic. The prose, the depth, the detail, the characters, the thought provocation, the subject matter(s), the educational aspects, the laugh-out-loud humor.

It's an astounding achievement, not just in literature, but in any form of media.

I gave both Quicksilver and Vagabond 5 stars, but I just couldn't get into Volume 3. The pacing is glacial, without the section and chapter breaks present in the first 2 volumes. And I guess I'd just had it with the plethora of words---I read volumes 1 and 2 consecutively, with no other books in-between. Still, I was prepared to persevere. But when I got to a sentence on page 48 that, upon many readings over several days, made no sense, I tossed the book in the trash. What caused this extreme reaction? Not quoting, but close: "Most places didn't have newspapers, and so, if Mrs. Delanc had not provided Daniel some newspapers, he never would have known that they were wanting." Huh? WHO was wanting? The other cities and towns without newspapers? Okay, but isn't that reference point a ways away? And it makes no sense anyway. You're given newspapers from London. Fine. That says NOTHING about whether there are newspapers elsewhere in the country. Nothing! Someone has to tell you that what you hold is the vast majority of the nation's newspapers, or something similar has to happen. I refuse to read books where I have to fill in the gaps out of my imagination. Stephenson is challenging enough without that additional effort. If someone can explain that sentence to me, I'd consider taking another go at volume 3. Till then, no thanks.

I only write reviews for things that I really get excited about. This is one of those things. This is the 3rd thousand page title in Stephonsons series of 3, called the Baroque Cycle. This author is a literary type.

The scope and mastery he brings to his writing is unparalled. He manages to convey the spirit of the age with humour and deep insight.

I found this thoroughly engaging and was sorry when it ended. I actually started with this one and can't wait to get the other two.

This is the final segment of Stephenson's 'Baroque' three-part novel. It is an outstanding work of imagination and style, the characters (real and created)are wonderfully rendered, the details of the plot go far beyond the usual. He has outlined a crucial period in the development of the ideas and techniques that underlie the world of today - that period of 1650 to 1750 in which intellectual giants like Newton, Leibnitz, Hoyle & Wren invented the mathematical and chemical foundations of scientific thought. And, it's a rousing good read!

Other people have written excellent long reviews, so I'll keep mine short and simple. In my opinion, this is the best book in the series. It's also Stephenson's first book with a truly satisfying conclusion.