This book, while covering some legitimately fascinating periods and topics, feels like it is Stephenson piling on his personal obsessions and fandoms without really filtering it through the lens of a fiction story. It's at times jarring and disjointed, with over-expounded monologue-like walls of text.

This book is max Stephenson. And by that I mean if you've read his work before you'll know what you're getting in to. If you like him, you'll love this! And if you don't like him you'll hate this!!

That said, what if you've never read his work before? Well how can I describe this book....it's a long very confusing tale of mostly white men with bland names discussing complex sciences, math, politics. This all happens to be weaving fictional characters and historical characters, real events, secret events and completely fictional events. It expects the reader to have a basic understanding of European history( I did not) but

The book uses very dense vocabulary. It does a wonderful job of showing you the world through the viewpoint of the characters - who most of them are scientists - so you get a lot of scientific descriptions of things that have no plot impact, but just give life to this book.


This particular volume, Quicksilver, is broken in to 3 chunks and I'll be the first to say i took loooooong breaks between the chunks. Even said I'm excited to move on to the next book.

Book 1 in the Baroque Cycle published 2003.
A recommended 4 star read.
First thing that needs to be said is this is not a quick read, at 927 pages it’s huge by any standard.
The next thing to say is that there is no discernible plot; well none discernible to me that is.
So how does one read a 927 page plot less tome?
The answer to that, strange at it may seem, is with ease.
It reads more like a diary, a diary that records some of the most monumental scientific discoveries of all times.
The narrator, Daniel Waterhouse, is a member of the Royal Society along with some of the most influential Scientist, not only, of their day but in human history, Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibniz and Robert Hooke just to name a few.
As a member of this most elite club Daniel Waterhouse was there when these luminaries were make their world changing discoveries.
The 16 and 17 hundreds were an interesting period in history apart from the scientific advances there was the Great Fire of London, The Black Plague, religious turmoil and the Anglo Dutch war, all of which is entertainingly retold to us by Daniel Waterhouse.

As you would expect with a 927 page book there are part that just seem to go on and on so I have to admit to a bit of skimming.
But for all that Quicksilver proved to be an entertaining and illuminating look at life in the 16 and 17 hundreds.

Edit 21.8.2022
Dočteno potřetí, a pořád mě to baví. Už samozřejmě vím, co se stane atd., člověk to už čte trošku jinak než poprvé. Vychutnávám si části, které mám nejraději (hlavně Daniela Waterhouse) a hledám, co mi posledně uteklo. V tomhle maxišpalku je pořád co objevovat :) Opět doporučuju, zkuste to.
Jen škoda, že zatím nevyšel česky třetí díl. Vyjde vůbec?

I po druhém čtení nechávám čtyři hvězdy, ten překlad přece jen trochu skřípe (i když ten hon na čarodějnice, který nastal po vydání, si podle mne nešťastní překladatelé nezasloužili, jsou tu stovky hůř přeložených knih).
Jinak je samozřejmě Rtuť neskutečně zajímavý a obsáhlý úvod do Barokní trilogie, kniha nabitá jak informacemi, tak dějem a v neposlední řadě i humorem. Jsem velmi a velmi rád, že přeložená bude celá trilogie - na druhý díl se zrovna chystám.

Frustrated by this one. Superb writing, I kind of lost my way during the last third of the book.

I tossed this one because I liked it. "Quicksilver" is the book of the month for one of my reading groups. When I went to the bookstore, I saw the mass-market paperback and the trade paperback on the shelf next to each other. I picked up the mass-market version because it was cheaper. What I didn't realize was that I was only getting 1/3 of the book. A hundred paged in, I was enjoying it so much, I decided to switch the full version as soon as I had a Borders coupon.

I do have to say that I really feel cheated by the mass-market version. There is absolutely nothing on the cover that indicates that it's only 1/3 of the original book.

Nije ni čudo da mi je trebalo tjedan dana za knjigu kad je ona sama trilogija. Upravo je nevjerojatna količina istraživanja koju je autor proveo da bi oov napisao. likovi, scenografija, odjeća, maniri, sve je detaljno do u picabocu. Situacije teku, izmjenjuju se, i knjiga skoro da nema dosadnog dijela. Kraljevi, prirodni filozofi, stvarni i izmišljeni likovi izmjenjuju se iz stranice u stranicu upadaju iz situacije u sitaciju. 4.75
a sad mi treba neka nefikcija da malo isperem mozak prije idućeg nastavka.

Neal Stephenson books are not for everybody. Actually, they are but not everybody will like them. This will certainly be the case for Quicksilver. It's a "love it" or "WTF did I just read?" kind of reaction. A NS book is often dense and erratic in the linear story. Mr. Stephenson has a myriad of interests and a sizeable intellect backing him up. His stories tend to delve in a variety of side topics (all of which are very informative but outside the normal story arc) and that can be off putting to many who dislike tangential topics to the main plot. Well..you have been warned. For the rest of you that like NS, let me tell you about Quicksilver.

It is a book broken up into three parts. The first part, Quicksilver, is flashback of the early life of Daniel Waterhouse during the early 1700s. The second part, King of the Vagabonds, focuses on James "half-Cocked" Shaftoe and the vast majority takes place circa 1683. The final part, Odalisque, goes back to D. Waterhouse and details his exploits during his time as a courtier for Charles II of England.

Set during the Baroque era NS shows the monumental changes taking place. As an aside, the Baroque era was one where the Catholic Church, under the guidance of the Council of Trent (1545-1563 in Trento, Italy), decided to perform a Counter-Reformation to act against the growing Protestant outbreak. What the Council espoused, ironically contrary to past Church policy, was that the Church ought to encourage arts that explored religious themes with a direct and emotional involvement. Thus the exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail of the Baroque style found a receptive audience among the Church and the Aristocracy who felt that the the dramatic style of Baroque art and architecture was a means of impressing visitors by projecting triumph, power, and control. Thus the Baroque style originates in Italy, specifically Rome, and began to spread throughout Europe during the 1600s.

The story is a grand adventure. The setting is Europe and the cast includes many famous people from Newton to William of Orange. Along the way you will learn about the conflict between Gottfried Leibniz and Issac Newton about the math behind Newton's ideas was interesting (well..to me). It shows the basis for the creation of calculus and how it differed from geometric and trigonometric expressions. Truly amazing. It also hints at the fact that what Leibniz is referencing as a "math language" is the basis for the binaric calculations done by modern computers! Very cool.

I will not spoil the plot nor delve too much into the details since NS does it far better than I. if you're interested in the scientific, political and economic forces that drove the baroque period then this is the book for you. Vast in scope, dark in humor, dense in knowledge, lacking in a strict, linear plot-this is textbook NS. Coming in at the size of a textbook-I reiterate- this is not for everyone, but if you show the patience to get through it, I think, you will find it to be worth it. I did.

После получения исторического образования книга, конечно, гораздо интересней пошла. На любителя, наверно, но я прям залпом перечитал. Как же хорошо показано зарождение европейской науки, исторический контекст. Да, это еще не Эко, когда погружение прям тотальное, но уже есть приятные моменты "о, я помню этого мужика из курса истории Нового времени". Короче, хорошо написано, мне нравится.

I feel like an adequate review for this book would be longer than the 900 page behemoth that is this book.

Stephenson deserves an editor that will tell him to write less. The man prodigiously describes "cool" "fun" "interesting" events with such detail and precision that it usually loses its narrative flow. The guy has a command of the english language and is certainly fascinated by late 17th century and early 18th century goings-on that this feels like a historical narrative rather than historical fiction, yet the whole book feels like it was written in computer code; it is an odd stylistic quirk of his that I've noticed in his past books, but does not really fit in this book.

The most cool thing about this is that he wrote the whole book (and the next two in the trilogy - nearly three thousand full pages of book) with a fountain pen on cotton paper. Used blotting paper and everything.

Don't get into this series unless you read quickly, REALLY like his other stuff, or are unduly fascinated with the Baroque era. I'm enjoying it, but its detractions weigh it down like a sea anchor over the course of three books.

I enjoyed it, but it took forever to read because it just wasn't particularly compelling. Not a whole lot of suspense or mystery or plot, just a series of descriptions and characters and events. It's all interesting and entertaining, but it never really seemed to be leading anywhere in particular (until near the end-- maybe if I were more familiar with European history I'd have known what to expect would be happening in 1688). So I only ever read a few pages at a time, rather than wanting to read big chunks at once. I have The Confusion waiting, and I'm a little worried that if I don't read it next then I might lose my momentum, but I think I need to take a break and read something a bit lighter/quicker in between.