Dancing About Architecture

The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3)
By Neal Stephenson

What a journey this Baroque Cycle has been! This final book from Neal Stephenson in the trilogy wraps up the storylines that have been established from the previous two books, but really it's the early 18th-century England environment that Stephenson has realized that has impressed me the most. Reading these books has been a rewarding, memorable, and at times frustrating experience.

One nice thing about reading this book, for me, was that the time, place, and characters were familiar, so there wasn't as much of a "learning curve" getting started. This book is maybe a little slower moving (perhaps reflecting the advanced age of the main characters), but still chock full of interesting tidbits about the workings of modern financial markets, the challenges of maintaining a currency system, and fanciful look at the birth of computing. An excellent exchange between Newton and Leibniz marked the high point of the book for me.

For some reason, it seems like every story I have read by Neal Stephenson ends a little too abruptly; I often have trouble following the last chapter or so, like it's an action movie where the pacing is just a little too fast. You really have to pay attention, and after 3000 pages or so, I was a little weary, but on the whole I was happy with the resolutions.

I'm really glad I read these books, and I'm looking forward to reading Cryptonomicon again this summer, but I'm also a bit relieved that I can move on to other books now!