Rating: 
Summary: Memo to Neal
Review: Neal: A book should have a purpose,tell a story, or something. Anything. Neal a book that starts in one century, in one continent, should not end in a prior century, on a different continent. A book that, early on, has a main character dodging pirates off the coast of New England,should not end with this same character having his testicals cut open.I loved Cryptonomicon and its characters. I recommended Cryptonomicon to three friends, one loved it, two returned it saying, more or less, I can't read a book that I can't figure out what it is about. I felt the same way about Quicksilver. To many tangents, too much wasted dialoge, to many coincidnences. As other reviewers have writteen, I pretty much gave up, and just slogged my way through it. In fact, at one point, my motivation to finish was so I could come to AMAZON.COM, read the reviews, and try to figure out what I had just spent many hours and many pages reading. Regrettably, many, if not most of the reviewers seem to have had the same experience with Quicksilver that I did. A bad one! I am a fan of complex plots and weighty novels, spaning many volumes, lands, and centuries. But...each volume should at least, lean on, if not stand on, its own. Quicksilver is simply a basket case. Maybe Stephenson is just setting the stage for great things in the next two volumes. If so, maybe he was successful, but as for a meaningful read, this book does not get there. In summary, if you loved Cryptonomicon, re-read it. Don't get bogged down in this mess.
Rating: 
Summary: Neal, get me off this crazy thing!
Review: I am torn writing a review for this book. I discovered N.S. early with 'The Big U' and have been excited with where he has taken me with each new novel. However, reading 'Quicksilver' has shown me that N.S. seems to be stalling in his abilities as an innovative author. Reading the 944 pages provided me a lot of time to wonder if this is my stop and should I get off the Stephenson train. Especially when the next in the Baroque Cycle is weighing in at 814 pages. If you are like me, time is precious, and sitting with a trilogy that will likely span beyond 2000 pages may not be the right choice when I could pick up something from Barth, Pynchon, or David Foster Wallace. I will say there was enough of N.S. unique voice to keep me around for the duration. Here are my complaints:
1) Plot, where was it? Fictionalizing a few encyclopedia entries doesn't count. The main characters witnessed and even participated in historical events, but a deeper connection and subsequent personal growth was never present. If you can't nail down the plot in 944 pages, you need to get an editor.
2) Motivation? What is the saying...'show it, don't tell it' Except for the occasional bit of background information conveyed by the disappointingly modern voice of narration these characters were largely underdeveloped and shallow. This lead me to question why characters were really doing what they were doing. I frequently found myself wanting to through the book across the room from disbelief, case in point: Eliza and Jacks light conversation filled with sexual implications in the midst of a cave full of ladies of the harem, a couple of Turkish fighters, and an ostrich (all dead and/or beheaded).
3) Original characterization? How boring and gimmicky to name a few of the characters identically as those in 'Crypto.' Even more so when nothing is has changed with these people from the two scenarios. Even more irritating is when I look back on all of N.S. work I realize that when you strip the names away he only has a handful of characters. The main character is always a bad ass in what he does, but never the best (those are always his friends and colleagues). He writes women very two-dimensionally, and are only recognizable as female by their names. D. Waterhouse = D. Waterhouse = Hiro Protagonist = Hackworth = Sangamon Taylor. As a work of historical fiction of that era, you'd be better off reading John Barth's "The Sotweed Factor", which covers issues of commerce, piracy, politics, etc... It wouldn't surprise me is N.S. had a copy of Sotweed on his desk while he was penning his 'Cycle' with his fountain pen. I did stick around for the entire 944, which communicates that 'Quicksilver' keeps the pages turning. Whether the pages turned for entertainment or for a desperate need to put an end to it depend on where you are in reading Stephenson's works. This will likely be my last stop.
Rating: 
Summary: not for the constipated
Review: This is quite probably the best, funniest, and most clever historical novel that I have read. You get to feel intimate with the reigning genius of Hook, Newton, Liebniz, Wren and a cast of truely remarlable men. The section on the Vagabond King - Jack,
is wonderfully funny and helps flush out the time period.
The only people that won't like this book are all of the cyber
punk folks who are pissed that this book broke Neal's romance with
things cyber to a great degree -they won't forgive him that
and drum up all of these really lame laments about "speaking in one voice" yada, yada. These folks need to take laxatives and accept the fact that Neal is not a one trick poney. I was put
off by some of the reviewers until I read the first chapter of the book from a library. I then bought the book - it is remarkable. Good show Neal!!
Rating: 
Summary: Haiku Review
Review: Rambling story:
Topics all over the place.
Characters have depth.
Rating: 
Summary: The title is the quickest thing about the book.
Review: Stephenson writes with a wink, on page 720: "ANTHORP: Whatever it is, it is too long, too long!
WATERHOUSE: It explains the System of the World.
ANTHORP: Some sharp editor needs to step in and take that wretch in hand!" Quicksilver is not great literature, neither is it a failure. Though I fell asleep several times during some of the wordier passages, it is occasionally thought provoking. I'll read the next two volumes in the series because the main characters are enjoyable in all their human fallibility. Besides Enoch Root, Quicksilver's Deux ex Machina, is enjoyable whenever he appears on stage.
Rating:
Summary: Gimmicky and disappointing
Review: Historical fiction is a curious breed of writing. On the one hand, writers are expected to (within reason) stick closely to actual events, at least when the events in the novel connect to historical timelines. Similarly with personalities, customs, technology, cultural developments, etc. On the other hand, the fact that it's fiction gives the author leeway in inventing new characters, motivations, and in general peering into the details of history that we couldn't possibly know. "Quicksilver" is the latest offering from Neal Stephenson, an author known better for his science fiction than novels set in the late 17th century as this one is. It's a monster of a novel (944 pages) and is really only the first of three novels in the Baroque Cycle. It's not as far away from his other writing as one might think, however, as many of the characters are the ancestors of various characters in "Cryptonomicon", which itself followed two or three generations of some of these same families (Waterhouse, Shaftoe, etc.) Unfortunately, the novel meanders so much that it's nigh on impossible to give a plot summary. In fact, the novel seems to putter to a stop rather than climax. It starts out as flashbacks interleaved with events in the early 18th century, but this device doesn't last long and we're left in the Daniel Waterhouse's college days with Isaac Newton. Eventually we begin to follow Bob Shaftoe, then a Qwghlmian woman named Eliza. These three cross paths at various times and interact with other historical figures like Leibniz, Louis XIV, Robert Hooke, and so forth. Stephenson is his usual clever self, but this time it seems more like showing off rather than entertaining as in prior writing. To be honest, despite a few exciting moments, this was a singularly uncompelling read. By the last third of the novel, I continued reading it out of sheer doggedness rather than any interest in what would happen. Interlocking plot lines are great, but there should be a common thread to make the reader care about the characters and their various fates. As an experiment in historical science fiction, it's worth some time. Stephenson is simultaneously experimenting on the Internet with Real Character writing and a Wiki with more information about various characters and events in the novel (allowing reader input and editing). But novels have to stand on their own two feet, not just as a gimmick, but as worthwhile reads. "Quicksilver" just doesn't cut it, which is a shame: Stephenson is capable of so much more.
Rating:
Summary: A long, entertaining journey... see if it's for you!
Review: I had a fantastic time reading Stephenson's latest book. Yes, I found it an extremely long read, but every page contained a wonderful nugget which made the journey worth the effort. Here are two examples of Stephenson's unique ability to whip up a powerful brew of humor, science, and history: "Penn did not take his gaze away from the window, but squinted as if trying to hold back a mighty volume of flatulence, and shifted his focal point to a thousand miles in the distance. But this was coastal Holland and there was nothing out that window save the Curvature of the World" and... "... I am seated near a window that looks out over a canal, and two gondoliers, who nearly collided a minute ago, are screaming murderous threats at each other... The Venetians have even given it a name: 'Canal Rage'." Which isn't to say that the book doesn't have its share of flaws - I'll talk about the two major ones here. First, if you've read Stephenson before, you are undoubtedly aware of his tendency to use 1000 words to do where 100 would have worked just fine. So, sometimes you begin to think "where was the editor?", but most of the time he is able to pull all the threads (long as they are) together into a cohesive, compelling whole. But overall, the extreme length ends up being a plus. The other major flaw stems from Stephenson's seemingly bottomless reservoir of creativity: this book contains not one, not two, but three lead characters. But, you say, you can't have more than one lead character, no? Exactly! All three main characters are compelling in their own way, and you want to keep watching each one grow and change. As was the case with Cryptonomicon, Stephenson could easily have written an entire book just about the character Shaftoe. The Big Question: should you invest the time to read this book (don't worry about the dollar cost - it's inconsequential relative the number of hours you'll invest reading it)? If your answer to any of the following questions is "yes", give it a try: 1) You've read a work by Umberto Ecco and liked it
2) You enjoyed physics class in high school or college
3) You can code
4) You dig binary
5) You always wondered who Newton, Hooke, and Leibniz really were
6) You see tangents as but the arcs of greater circles Go ahead, take the plunge into QuickSilver!
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable and Fascinating
Review: Stephenson has brought the 17th and early 18th centuries to life in a thought-provoking historical novel that is also hilarious at times. The characters are drawn in detail and become like old friends. Stephenson manages to portray the confusion and conflicts that arose as religion and superstition began to give way to empiricism and science. True, as some reviewers have pointed out, the characters don't seem to have an effect on this world and appear to be bystanders, but in fact that is the historical case. What could one do about an Isaac Newton, for example, other than try to understand him and marvel at his brilliance? It was not within the power of one character, or even a government or country, to control or manage the sweeping changes that Newton's ideas would bring - they were all bystanders to the forces unleashed by the new ideas of emerging science and economics. Stephenson gives a believable account of how those new ideas of science, government and finance were generated, perceived and disseminated, with a memorable cast of characters who must grapple with this changing world. His description of the attempts to understand anatomy and the functions of the various organs get down to the nitty-gritty, and make you appreciate that yes, someone actually had to do this stuff in order to establish our modern base of knowledge. I found the book fascinating, and anyone who enjoys history, science,and sexual proclivities of 17th century noblemen (and women)will have a great time reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: An outstanding historical novel by Stephenson. Classic Stephenson with multiple interwoven plots (not only within the novel, but interwoven with Cryptonomicon as well). And as always, a wealth of ideas are explored (including some of the ideas considered in Cryptonomicon, such as the very nature of money, the role of cryptography in protecting the individual from the state, and the nature of the inhabitants of Qwghlm ;-) As for some of the criticisms--yes, it's long. Yes, it's complicated. Yes, some parts don't have a lot of action. But this is a thinking person's novel. And yet there is ample action nonetheless (pirate chases, royal kidnappings, huge battles)--what more could the discriminating reader want? If you loved Cryptonomicon, you'll love Quicksilver. If you could barely get through Cryptonomicon, or only loved the computer parts, then this book isn't for you (but there is plenty of good geek stuf in here, like the founding of the Royal Society and the invention of the calculus).
Rating:
Summary: Definitely a low point for Neal
Review: Speaking as somebody who loves every single word of Neal Stephenson's previous work, I had high expectations for Quicksilver. Unfortunately, I found it to be a tremendous letdown. Halfway through the enormous chronicle of nothing in particular, I realized that it was becoming more and more difficult to turn each new page. Eventually, I put the book down and haven't picked it up since.
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