Baroque Cycle

trilogy of large novels (total ~2500 pages) by Neal Stephenson: Quick Silver, The Confusion, The System Of The World https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle. Basically takes place over the lifetime of Isaac Newton (1642-1727), and he is sometimes a major character in the books. (Though large sections go without a mention of him.)

• There was a lot of turnover in control of Great Britain during this time. It's rather confusing keeping straight the various cross-breeding factions.

Ebook bundle ASIN:B00KVIBWPI

Other historical Natural Philosophy characters: Isaac Newton, John Wilkins, Robert Hooke, John Locke, Gottfried Leibniz, Christopher Wren...

• it's interesting how many of these people had significant Big Government roles

Some topics: Alchemy (Magick), the English Revolution, the Royal Society Of London, Pirates, Watered Steel, Money, the Ottoman Empire....

kinda prequel to Cryptonomicon: characters/families: Enoch Root, Waterhouse, etc.

Reminds me of Robert Anton Wilson's Historical Illuminatus Chronicles series. Too bad they're 100 years apart. Though that wouldn't matter to Enoch Root.

http://baroquecycle.wikia.com/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle_Wiki

Here's a list of MetaWeb annotations by page for Quick Silver

• and same for The Confusion
• and a shorter list for The System Of The World

Historical novels frustrate me in making me always wonder how much is "accurate" and how much is fiction. Or even which characters are real.

Sept23'2004 - hey, the System Of The World is out!