About this title: Neal Stephenson's monumental three-volume Baroque Cycle comes to a close with this installment. In 1714, Dr. Daniel Waterhouse, a Natural Philosophy and Royal Society Fellow travels from his home in Boston to London, at the behest of Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, whom Waterhouse met when she was a child. Princess Caroline would like ...
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Description: Good. Dust Cover Missing. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this DVD supports the North Central Regional Library. Thriftbooks and NCRL have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Library ID found on DVD and case. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. 0060523875 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: WILLIAM MORROW & COMPANY
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780060523879ISBN:0060523875
Description: Published by William Morrow & Company in 2004. Hardcover. Number of pages: 912. Condition: Very Good. May show some slight signs of wear. #8259369 Shipped from UK. Delivery is usually 2-3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: WILLIAM MORROW & COMPANY
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780060523879ISBN:0060523875
Description: Published by William Morrow & Company in 2004. Hardcover. Number of pages: 912. Condition: Very Good. May show some slight signs of wear. #8259370 Shipped from UK. Delivery is usually 2-3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: WILLIAM MORROW & COMPANY
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780060523879ISBN:0060523875
Description: Published by William Morrow & Company in 2004. Hardcover. Number of pages: 912. Condition: Very Good. May show some slight signs of wear. #8259371 Shipped from UK. Delivery is usually 2-3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780060523879ISBN:0060523875
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 912 p. Baroque Cycle. Audience: General/trade. PRIORITY OR INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING NOT AVAILABLE ON THIS ITEM. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: William Morrow
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780060523879ISBN:0060523875
Description: Good in Good jacket. 401-Y Ex-library. Books rated "Good" may have some notes, underlining, or highlighting. These books also may contain the previous owner's name, stamp, sticker, or gift inscription, or may be library discards. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: William Morrow
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780060523879ISBN:0060523875
Description: Good in Good jacket. 152-Y-Add: Ex-library. Books rated "Good" may have some notes, underlining, or highlighting. These books also may contain the previous owner's name, stamp, sticker, or gift inscription, or may be library discards. read more
"In Quicksilver, the first book of the Baroque cycle, it isn't obvious where Stephenson is going. That book is an enjoyable read, to be sure, but I never would have guessed Stephenson's ambition with these novels is to explain how the world we live today came about, where the scientific method rules rather than alchemy, and where money is completely interchangeable, and where finance...well, perhaps that hasn't changed so much, but anyway, where the world we live in came from. More than a simple historical fiction, this trilogy is a fun and thought-provoking portrayal of a changing world. Technologically, the past century or so has been a period of great change, but there's a case to be made that the philosophical changes portrayed in the Baroque Cycle are as significant, and perhaps harder won (as changing minds is much, much harder than introducing new technology).
There are some slow parts of the books, typically revolving around world-building. Stephenson's descriptions frequently include quite prominently excrement and disease, though that's probably a relatively accurate description of life in a city of that era. The climax of The System of the World is a confrontation between Leibnitz and Newton, in which the two of them discuss, for several pages, the impact of science on the world and, in particular, on belief in God. I found the argument fascinating (probably because I'm a scientist and religious and think about these things myself), not only for the philosophy, but also because Stephenson does such a great job portraying the way these two scientists thought."
"I finally finished the Baroque Cycle (after what felt like several decades). Throughout my struggle to finish the 2000+ page trilogy I found myself continually wondering why I was still plowing through. Yes, there were great characters, and yes, Stephenson has an amazing way with dialogue (IMHO one of the best), and he has really captured a time period -- when natural philosophers and pirates were kings. But his long-winded passages often made me begin to skim (not something I am proud of). The vast list of characters (barons, kings, etc.) were impossible to follow.
The only way I could possibly recommend this vast tome is if the reader is comfortable reading through parts that make no sense, assuming that they will eventually. While most of the time things did come together in my mind, often balls were left in the air with no final understanding. In fact, several characters vanished altogether from the story, once they had served their purpose.
I did get a bit teary at one character's demise, which is a good sign.
But in the ending lies no payoff. In fact, there are so many characters that the climax takes 400 pages to wind down just to attempt to tie everyone up. And it is too damn neat. A love story intertwined throughout the book never comes to its proper conclusion (whether positive or negative), but just sort of arrives at a certain point (as if you were watching two ships at impossible ends of the Earth in one moment, and the next they are running in parallel).
(sigh)
Hundreds of hours of my life have been invested and I am unsure if it was worth it. But it is done and I am glad I have put it behind me and it can sit on my shelf, as it were, until someone is bold enough to borrow..."
"I must admit, I breathed a sigh of relief as I finished the last page in this book, the end of a long trilogy, The Baroque Cycle, by Neal Stephenson.
The third book, The System of the World, was better than the first two...I finally felt like there was some payoff for going through the other two books. But still Stephenson's style, his overabundance of detail, grated on my nerves.
There was one scene, where Daniel Waterhouse, one of the main characters is in a prison yard. Stephenson tells us where he is in relation to every building around him..."to his left 100 yards away was..." and so on. When Dr. Waterhouse moves, Stephenson tells us again where the building have shifted in relation to his new position..."so now that building was 50 yards on his right.." It is too much, and did not advance the story line. It could have been told as effectively with far fewer words.
The book continues the exploits of Dr. Daniel Waterhouse, Jack Shaftoe, Eliza and Sir Issac Newton, and actually brings all the characters together, with interaction between them all, not separate story lines, like the other books. This was one reason I enjoyed it more. It just should not have taken so long to get here.
The storyline itself was interesting, the change the world saw in this period was amazing...from philosophy, religion, government, finances, science...almost everything was undergoing dramatic change. And these books chronicle much of it through a few main characters and dozens of minor ones. Again...as is Stephenson's habit...too many.
I thought I would enjoy this 2600 pages trilogy much more than I did, and I probably will not be reading Stephenson again. If I could give 3-1/2 stars, I would, but am giving it 4 to show I like it better than the first two books of the trilogy."
"I absolutely loved these books, and as glad as I was to finally finish them, a part of me wishes the story was a lot longer too. There were a few things I would have done differently (Jack and Eliza's reunion, for one--I felt this was one of the climaxes the series was building to, and it only gets a page or so devoted to it at the end), but on the whole I loved how Stephenson tied everything together and brought it to a close. I think The Confusion may be my favorite out of the three, but this book is just as good.
Looking back at the whole Cycle, one thing that stands out to me is how many memorable moments there were. Eliza and Lothar meeting in a vast deserted bank; Jack fighting through crocodiles to earn Minerva from the Pirate Queen; Daniel finding himself along an ancient stream below the Bank of England; Jack flying over the Tower of London dropping coins to the crowd; the standoff in the markets of Cairo; the firearm duel between Dappa and Charles White; and on and on and on. The story and the settings were more than enough to sustain the length, and the characters were so well realized and fascinating that I'm really going to miss hanging out with Daniel and Jack every day. Eliza, maybe not so much (I liked her, but I think her story was the least interesting after her split with Jack, and The System of the World benefitted from having her be a peripheral character, I think.) I can't wait to read Cryptonomicon again and see all the references I missed."
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