On Finishing Stephenson's Baroque Trilogy

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             The truth of the matter is that I have no deeper understanding , after thinking a while on the
curve of this narrative. We simply follow the life of Daniel Waterhouse early Natural Philosopher as he travels
the world in search of the Engine for Raising Water By Fire and other important engineering feats of the time.

Or is it that we follow Jack Shaftoe as he becomes the vagabond king, sails the world in search of fortune and Eliza's heart?

Or is it the fight between Leibniz and Newton over who invented the calculus, who would keep the solomonic gold to study &c?


A brilliantly rendered scene, but does it have ends that tie together?

As much as any mans life does methinks.

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In sheer size -nearly 3000 pages, the work is remarkable.

Indeed it has taken me nearly 4 months to finish.

and he wrote it by hand with a quill!

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I find there is a hole in my life now, where time spent in this world used to happen. I miss the characters,
Ravenscar and Leroy, Dappa and The queen of Malabar...

but was it time well spent? I really dont know if under it all the books had a POINT. Perhpas a statement
on belief in alchemy?


but a great painting no matter what....

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WARNING SPOILERS BELOW (ie, plot devices revealed...)

On further recollection the central metaphor of a man at 75 who
thought he would die at 40 was very resonant for me.

Perhaps thats what kept me going
or perhaps I wanted to know if Newton would ever get his hands on the heavier -than-normal
gold.