November 21, 2004System of the WorldCory Doctorow has just finished reading Book Three Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle. I'm just starting the third and final book. I've read both of the first two twice. [FWIW, it was Stephenson's use of the abbreviation &c. that was a big influence in my choice of new names for this blog.] The historicity of these books is borderline alarming. Stephenson has researched so many goddamned interesting factoids about pirates, the birth off the monetary system, natural philosophy, alchemy, the court of the Sun King, the functioning of London's ancient prisons, the nature of sewage disposal in early metropolises, and many other diverse subjects that you can practically open the books to any page and find five cool trivia questions to baffle your friends...Posted by jackhodgson at November 21, 2004 05:46 PM |
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