The Confusion LTD

Rating:
Summary: Bad entry into the "alternate history" genre
Review: Utterly unreadable attempt to delve into the history of machine computation by re-writing history as recorded. This seems to be a perquel to "Cryptonomicon" by the same author, but it fails in every regard.
Daniel Waterhouse encouters in this re-write of histroy not only Newton, Leibniz and others, but substantially forms their lives. Period politics are thrown into the mix and so are a idioms of the time and other useless information. The latter tends to be fictive and dragging.
If you are into computers and intersted in the conflict between Newton and Leibniz, don't read these "Grimm's Tales". If you are into reading about the period, get something that is historically correct.

A

Rating:
Summary: History and writing, a great combination
Review: With the continuation of Quicksilver Stephenson has done another great job in using history to buffer his story line, making it believable at the same time. As we see Shaftoe again, this time as a slave and eventually, well I will leave this for the reader to discover, making his escapades fun and interesting to read.

Again, this is a long winded rendition of a story intertwined with history. This is not a quick read, and can be difficult at times to struggle through. But, with all that said, his writing is wonderful and the story line is fun and interesting. Anyone who enjoyed any of Stephenson's other books would enjoy this series as well (permitting you like history), and I doubt you would be disappointed. His sheer grasp of what he writes about, whether in sci-fi, WWII or in 17th century Europe, is enough to captivate and catch a hold of your interest.