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The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "MEN HALF YOUR AGE and double your weight have been slain on these wastes by Extremity of Cold," said the Earl of Lostwithiel, Lord Warden..." (more)
Key Phrases: calculus dispute, golden cards, party malice, Sir Isaac, Royal Society, Charles White (more...)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The colossal and impressive third volume (after Quicksilver and The Confusion) of Stephenson's magisterial exploration of the origins of the modern world in the scientific revolution of the baroque era begins in 1714. Daniel Waterhouse has returned to England, hoping to mediate the feud between Sir Isaac Newton and Leibniz, both of whom claim to have discovered the calculus and neither of whom is showing much scientific rationality in the dispute. This brawl takes place against the background of the imminent death of Queen Anne, which threatens a succession crisis as Jacobite (Stuart, Catholic) sympathizers confront supporters of the Hanoverian succession. Aside from the potential effect of the outcome on the intellectual climate of England, these political maneuverings are notable for the role played by trilogy heroine Eliza de la Zour, who is now wielding her influence over Caroline of Ansbach, consort of the Hanoverian heir. Eliza has risen from the streets to the nobility without losing any of her creativity or her talents as a schemer; nor has outlaw Jack Shaftoe lost any of his wiliness. What he may have lost is discretion, since he oversteps the boundaries of both law and good sense far enough to narrowly escape the hangman. In the end, reluctant hero Waterhouse prevails against the machinations of everybody else, and scientific (if not sweet) reason wins by a nose. The symbol of that victory is the inventor Thomas Newcomen standing (rather like a cock crowing) atop the boiler of one of his first steam engines. This final volume in the cycle is another magnificent portrayal of an era, well worth the long slog it requires of Stephenson's many devoted readers.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


From Bookmarks Magazine

The conclusion to The Baroque Cycle is a veritable doorstop, but a doorstop perhaps worth its weight in 18th-century gold coins—especially to those who need a reminder about the dangerous misuses of science and “progress.” Critics can’t heap enough praise on Stephenson’s eloquent narration, true-to-life characters, and impeccable plotting (“generated via Waterhouse’s Logic Mills,” says the San Francisco Chronicle). Stephenson exquisitely unearths Baroque history, too, from mints to gardens to Jacobites. While compelling, you’ll best appreciate this epic history-romance-science fiction story “once you have a solid liberal arts education under your belt” (Chronicle). Stephenson mostly gets away with his philosophical pedantry because he’s so smart and inventive. If you have the courage to delve in, you won’t be disappointed. And if you can’t bring yourself to start with Quicksilver, System includes a preface relating “the story thus far” that reviewers found helpful enough.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 928 pages
  • Publisher: Harper Perennial (September 6, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0060750863
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060750862
  • Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.4 x 1.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,398 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Neal Stephenson
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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First Sentence:
"MEN HALF YOUR AGE and double your weight have been slain on these wastes by Extremity of Cold," said the Earl of Lostwithiel, Lord Warden of the Stannaries, and Rider of the Forest and Chase of Dartmoor, to one of his two fellow-travelers. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
calculus dispute, golden cards, party malice, twelve grains
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sir Isaac, Royal Society, Charles White, Crane Court, Daniel Waterhouse, Princess Caroline, Peter Hoxton, Tower of London, Colonel Barnes, Marquis of Ravenscar, George Louis, Star Chamber, Trial of the Pyx, Duke of Marlborough, Fleet Ditch, Logic Mill, Rufus Maclan, Jack Ketch, Newgate Prison, Roger Comstock, White Tower, Brother Daniel, Black Dogg, Queen Anne, Kit-Cat Clubb
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The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3)
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The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3) 4.4 out of 5 stars (67)
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Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1)
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Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1) 3.4 out of 5 stars (330)
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67 Reviews
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4.4 out of 5 stars (67 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Word Alchemy, December 21, 2004
By J. Vilches (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3) (Hardcover)
In 1714, Daniel Waterhouse finishes his long trip from America to England. He is prepared to mediate a vicious argument between Newton and Leibniz about who invented calculus first. But he is quickly caught up in diverse adventures: building a logic mill, sleuthing out a bomb maker, playing shell games with gold, and planning jailbreaks. Jack Shaftoe pops in here and there sowing mayhem and counterfeit coins. Eliza, the Countess de la Zeur by way of being "Good with Money", continues her behind-the-scenes royal intrigues and her efforts to end slavery.

Conflicts galore weave together into a complex tapestry: the power struggle between the Whigs and the Tories, the battle between Newton the Minter and Jack the Coiner, the feuding calculus inventors, and the clash between alchemy and science. In the end it all boils down to this: will the new system of the world be based on free markets and science? Or feudalism and alchemy?

The third and final book in the Baroque Cycle is just as weighty as the first two. It features a quick synopsis of Quicksilver and The Confusion for those who need a refresher. Even with the summary, I wouldn't advise starting with the third book. Each of the books in the series has its own character. Quicksilver was all about set-up, so while it was rich in detail and characters, it could be slow and a bit disjointed at times. The Confusion was full of madcap adventures and the pieces just flew around the board. The System of the World wraps all of the previous threads together, and strikes a nice balance between philosophy, intrigue, and action.

Stephenson keeps up the expected torrent of words, but as with the other two books, he keeps your attention with an iron fist of plot in a velvet glove of delightful prose. Stephenson manages to seamlessly combine serious discussions, obscure trivia, and profound silliness. As a reader, you have to pay the same attention to all, because you never know what small detail the plot is going to hang on next.

Daniel Waterhouse is the driving character for most of this book. If you loved The Confusion because it centered on Jack and Eliza, you might be disappointed in the smaller roles they play in the third book. But if you can get past that disappointment, you will find that Daniel has evolved into a more interesting and active character than he was in Quicksilver.

The Baroque Cycle requires a substantial investment of time and attention, but it is well worth the effort. The System of the World is a satisfying end to a great series. With Stephenson, as in life, the journey is more important than the destination, and he definitely gives you a lot of journey in the 3000-or-so page trilogy.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars He turns this one into gold..., November 2, 2004
By Peter Krogh (Nevada City, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3) (Hardcover)
My five stars are specifically for The System of the World, not the entire series.

In the acknowledgements, Stephenson refers to a mid-course correction with regards to his writing approach. He does not describe what it is, but I think I know. In the first book, there are many passages that are so oblique, tangential, and orthogonal only to style that I found it difficult to stay with the program the whole way through. This tendency lessened in The Confusion and nearly disappears here in System. Good for him, good for us.

My only real complaint for this book is Mr. Stephenson's need to provide painfully detailed driving directions of old London. I appreciate his descriptive powers (I really do!) but describing what street flows into which, where, and whether to turn left or right, &c. [ ;-) ] is a bit irritating. His map on the inside cover is not detailed enough for following along, assuming that you accept such embellishment is necessary for advancing the story. E.g., one of the two climaxes is at Tyburn, the streets around which are described for PARAGRAPHS. Go ahead and try to find it on the map.

Why am I bitching? I have no idea. I loved the characters, loved this book, enjoyed the Confusion and had faith through Quicksilver. Maybe I'm put off because he's SO CLOSE to being a true literary genius of my generation, but he's not QUITE there yet. Hey, there seems to be a 200 year gap for him to work with now...
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Baroque Cycle--a life-changing work, November 28, 2004
By Inchoatus.com "Inchoatus.com" (Greeley, CO United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3) (Hardcover)
The Baroque Cycle as a whole is one the most wholly remarkable series of books written by any author that we are aware of. It is an important read for anyone willing and able to change their thinking about how things work, how societies come to be, and how one should go about living theirs. Its scholarship is breathtaking. Its point supremely important and accurate. The Baroque Cycle will not have so much an effect on the genre of speculative fiction as it will on the fiction as a whole and answering the question of why do people bother to read? It is to read things like The Baroque Cycle that we read: to discover things about ourselves and the world around us. It will be interesting to see if, in 10 or 15 years, other authors dare to extend their concept of science fiction in to the past as Stephenson has done.

WHO SHOULD READ THIS:

Anyone who is reading this review has probably already invested a substantial amount of time in reading Quicksilver and The Confusion. It is unthinkable that, after reading those books, that they will not attempt System of the World. We will not deter them--they should run forth and purchase because it is refreshing to see such a work of astonishing scope come to a sort of satisfactory conclusion. The Baroque Cycle as a whole we feel will ultimately become a defining work in literature marking the early 21st century. The only thing that may hold it back is its length, which is daunting but wholly necessary.

WHO SHOULD PASS:

There may be a certain segment reading this series only for Jack Shaftoe and his exploits. While he is here in this book, he is not the focus and he seems somehow diminished in his age. We can't imagine anyone continuing to read these books only for adventure narrative but, if that was your main draw, it is largely absent in System and is much more focused on philosophy, economics, and politics.

READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW AT INCHOATUS.COM
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Book delivered on time
It was the book I needed for an upcoming trip and was delivered in good condition and well before I needed it. Thanks much.
Published 2 months ago by Bruce C. Fox

5.0 out of 5 stars Even better on the second reading - Dense but worth the effort!
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... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Peter J. Ward

5.0 out of 5 stars I read it on the Kindle2
Enough people have commented on the substance of the book that I can't add anything new, so my 5-star rating will have to suffice. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mister Gizmo

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent...a stew of Ideas with a melange of historical and philosphical spices
Read this book, and all of Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, and be amazed at this man's acumen, storytelling wizardry, and of course adroit sense of humor. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Dawn Marie Martin-Ali

5.0 out of 5 stars Epic History Made Readable
This three-volume, 9-book set is, believe it or not, a *prequel* to his previous massive effort, Cryptonomicon. Read more
Published 22 months ago by G. Dixon

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Fun for the doorstop fiction set
This is the third volume in Stephenson's ambitious and fun recounting of the world events circa the late 18th century. Read more
Published 22 months ago by S. T. Sullivan

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for everyone
Having just completed System of the World I have now completed Neal Stephenson's ambitious trilogy in its entirety. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Corey James Quinton

5.0 out of 5 stars The End of the Beginning
Thus spake Zarathustra! That's about how someone feels upon completing the Baroque Cycle, a long extravagant tale of the life of Dr. Read more
Published on November 7, 2007 by Avid Reader

5.0 out of 5 stars High praise for the whole series.
The System of the World is the third in Stephenson's massive Baroque Cycle, and worth every minute that I spent reading. Read more
Published on September 8, 2007 by C. Gilbert

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the Foundation Series for the new millenium
Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy/Series is considered one of the great science-fiction collections ever written, forming the basis of countless derivative and inspired works over... Read more
Published on September 3, 2007 by Christopher Wanko

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