When it takes me a few weeks to write up a book I’ve read, there’s little chance I’m going to do more than the minimum when it comes time to note thoughts here. Neal Stephenson’s The System of the World is the third and final volume in The Baroque Cycle. I pity those who wade into this swirl of characters, history, and interlocked stories at this late juncture. Stephenson, or his publisher, “minds the gap” by including a two page introduction titled “The story thus far…” which is helpful. Still, if you’ve read the earlier volumes (Quicksilver and The Confusion) as I have, System is a worthy read. I won’t summarize 887 pages, but I will say I’m glad there were maps in the hardcover’s endpapers of early 18th-century London, including a higher-scale section detailing the Tower of London, which plays a prominent role in the novel. I needed the maps, and I try and imagine what Stephenson’s workplace must have looked like while he was writing this book. To steep yourself in history, yet live in the modern world, requires an extended period of willful blindness. Or I could just call it focus. Glad to see Stephenson swims in this attribute. Maybe writing it out longhand was the answer. No internet, tempting with its email or RSS reader… hmmmm… RSS (hear Gollum’s “My precioussss” voice).
One web complaint: there are no useful links available beyond the author’s home page because despite the admirable MetaWeb, the rest of Stephenson’s web presence is visually interesting but hard to link to or otherwise address. A pop-up and Flash intro? Not what I would have expected from the author of In the Beginning . . . Was the Command Line.