num_pages: 944
description: An unexpected byproduct of CRYPTONOMICON that ended up taking over my life for a number of years. As I was finishing CRYPTONOMICON, I had two chance conversations with old friends. One was with George Dyson, author of DARWIN AMONG THE MACHINES, in which he talks about the deep roots of computing in the work of Leibniz at the dawn of the Scientific Revolution. The other was with Steven Horst, who mentioned Isaac Newton's tenure at the Royal Mint and his obsession with alchemy. Of interest to me was that CRYPTONOMICON had been all about computing, codes, and gold. The fact that Leibniz and Newton were at war with each other for most of their careers suggested it was a fertile source of plot. I made a spur-of-the-moment decision that I would write a prequel set around the time of the birth of the Royal Society. The tale grew in the telling, as the saying goes, and it ended up being a trilogy: QUICKSILVER, THE CONFUSION, and THE SYSTEM OF THE WORLD, bound and sold separately.--nealstephenson.com
language: English
title: Quicksilver
titlecomplete: Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, #1)
characters: Bob Shaftoe, Isaac Newton, Jack Shaftoe, Daniel Waterhouse, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Eliza, Enoch Root
genres: Unfinished, Historical, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy, Adventure, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Alternate History
ratings_count: 41490
series: The Baroque Cycle
awards: awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Locus Award
category: Best Science Fiction Novel, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Arthur C. Clarke Award
publisher: HarperCollins