Maxim reviewed Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson (The Baroque Cycle, #1)
Extraordinary
5 stars
Very rarely a fiction book forces you to look up a dictionary or encyclopedia. Quicksilver does exactly that. It is an amazing amalgam of historic and fictional chracters and events - all described with scientific meticulousness. Like a time machine into 17th century England, you'll learn more about people and society of that period than from an average history course.
Apart from the historic context, it is actually a book about science and how random experiments gradually evolved into scientific method. I wish I had read that as a teenager (nevermind I was in my late 20s when the book came out). If you want your teen kid become fascinated with science and the joy of scientific discovery - give them Quicksilver.
Very rarely a fiction book forces you to look up a dictionary or encyclopedia. Quicksilver does exactly that. It is an amazing amalgam of historic and fictional chracters and events - all described with scientific meticulousness. Like a time machine into 17th century England, you'll learn more about people and society of that period than from an average history course.
Apart from the historic context, it is actually a book about science and how random experiments gradually evolved into scientific method. I wish I had read that as a teenager (nevermind I was in my late 20s when the book came out). If you want your teen kid become fascinated with science and the joy of scientific discovery - give them Quicksilver.