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

出版者:William Morrow & Company

作者:Neal Stephenson

页数:912

出版时间:21 September, 2004

价格:$27.95

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9780060523879

具体描述

Book Description

The world is a most confused and unsteady place - especially London, center of finance, innovation, and conspiracy - in the year 1714, when Daniel Waterhouse makes his less-than-triumphant return to England's shores. Aging Puritan and Natural Philosopher, confidant of the high and mighty and contemporary of the most brilliant minds of the age, he has braved the merciless sea and an assault by the infamous pirate Blackbeard to help mend the rift between two adversarial geniuses at a princess's behest. But while much has changed outwardly, the duplicity and danger that once drove Daniel to the American Colonies is still coin of the British realm.

No sooner has Daniel set foot on his homeland than he is embroiled in a dark conflict that has been raging in the shadows for decades. It is a secret war between the brilliant, enigmatic Master of the Mint and closet alchemist Isaac Newton and his archnemesis, the insidious counterfeiter Jack the Coiner, a.k.a. Jack Shaftoe, King of the Vagabonds. Hostilities are suddenly moving to a new and more volatile level, as Half-Cocked Jack plots a daring assault on the Tower itself, aiming for nothing less than the total corruption of Britain's newborn monetary system.

Unbeknownst to all, it is love that set the Coiner on his traitorous course; the desperate need to protect the woman of his heart - the remarkable Eliza, Duchess of Arcachon-Qwghlm - from those who would destroy her should he fail. Meahwhile, Daniel Waterhouse and his Clubb of unlikely cronies comb the city and country for clues to the identity of the blackguard who is attempting to blow up Natural Philosophers with Infernal Devices - as political factions jockey for position while awaiting the impending death of the ailing queen; as the "holy grail" of alchemy, the key to life eternal, tantalizes and continues to elude Isaac Newton, yet is closer than he ever imagined; as the greatest technological innovation in history slowly takes shape in Waterhouse's manufactory.

Everything that was will be changed forever.

From Publishers Weekly

The colossal and impressive third volume (after Quicksilver and The Confusion) of Stephenson's magisterial exploration of the origins of the modern world in the scientific revolution of the baroque era begins in 1714. Daniel Waterhouse has returned to England, hoping to mediate the feud between Sir Isaac Newton and Leibniz, both of whom claim to have discovered the calculus and neither of whom is showing much scientific rationality in the dispute. This brawl takes place against the background of the imminent death of Queen Anne, which threatens a succession crisis as Jacobite (Stuart, Catholic) sympathizers confront supporters of the Hanoverian succession. Aside from the potential effect of the outcome on the intellectual climate of England, these political maneuverings are notable for the role played by trilogy heroine Eliza de la Zour, who is now wielding her influence over Caroline of Ansbach, consort of the Hanoverian heir. Eliza has risen from the streets to the nobility without losing any of her creativity or her talents as a schemer; nor has outlaw Jack Shaftoe lost any of his wiliness. What he may have lost is discretion, since he oversteps the boundaries of both law and good sense far enough to narrowly escape the hangman. In the end, reluctant hero Waterhouse prevails against the machinations of everybody else, and scientific (if not sweet) reason wins by a nose. The symbol of that victory is the inventor Thomas Newcomen standing (rather like a cock crowing) atop the boiler of one of his first steam engines. This final volume in the cycle is another magnificent portrayal of an era, well worth the long slog it requires of Stephenson's many devoted readers.

From Booklist

Stephenson, enjoying cult status for his 1999 novel Cryptonomicon as well as the first two installments in a trilogy he calls the Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver [BKL S 1 03] and The Confusion [BKL F 15 04]), brings the long-winded but compulsively readable series to its conclusion. All three volumes have been lengthy but also effective as the author delves deeply into European history in the late-seventeenth and early-nineteenth centuries, eras of great intellectual and political ferment. Daniel Waterhouse, who was introduced in the first volume, has come back to England from the American colonies to mediate a dispute between two scientists, Isaac Newton and Gottfried von Leibniz. Around this continuing struggle, which has a side story encompassing Newton's desire to find a time-bomb-armed criminal gang, led by his archenemy, a counterfeiter called the king of the vagabonds, swirls a larger arena of contention: the probably sooner rather than later death of Queen Anne and whether the Whigs or the Tories will dominate the court in the reign that follows. Obviously--given the book's length--details are profuse, but each detail speedily draws readers into the narrative rather than impeding it. The language, to correlate with the times in which the novel is set, is done in a stately but not overwrought style. Expect considerable demand.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Brad Hooper

About Author

Neal Stephenson is the author of The Baroque Trilogy (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System Of The World). His other books include Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, and Zodiac, as well as Cobweb and Interface, written in collaboration with Frederick George. Winner of the 2003 Arthur C. Clarke Award for Quicksilver, Stephenson was short listed for the same award in 2005 for The System Of The World. He lives in Seattle.

Book Dimension :

length: (cm)24.1 　　　 　　　　　 　 width:(cm)16.8

用户评价

这是一部需要耐心去驯服的巨著。开篇可能让人有些措手不及，因为它并没有采取传统的“带路人”角色来引导读者进入复杂的历史场景。相反，作者直接将我们抛入了事件的中心，让事实和观点自行在读者的脑海中碰撞、组合。我特别欣赏作者处理多重时间线和不同视角的能力，不同的叙事声音和文本形式——信件、日记片段、官方记录——共同构建了一个立体且充满裂痕的真实世界。这种非线性的叙事手法，恰恰模仿了那个时代信息传播的碎片化和不确定性。它迫使我们去主动建构意义，去质疑我们所接收到的“真相”，这本身就是对书中探讨的理性精神的一种实践。

这本书给我的感觉是，它在用最精细的雕刻刀，打磨一幅关于“秩序”与“混沌”的巴洛克式巨画。叙事结构之复杂，简直是对传统线性叙事的公然挑战。我们跟随一群跨越国界、身份迥异的角色，在他们各自的领域——无论是宫廷阴谋、秘密结社，还是实验室里的实验——追求着某种形式的真理或控制权。作者毫不吝啬笔墨去描绘那个时代物质生活的奢华与精神世界的动荡，那种繁复、华丽又暗藏不安的氛围被渲染得淋漓尽致。它成功地捕捉到了一个时代特有的那种既渴望突破旧有框架，又被旧有信仰死死钳制住的矛盾心理。读起来虽然需要投入极大的心力，但最终所收获的，是对人类心智发展轨迹的独特洞察。

读完这本书，我感觉自己仿佛完成了一场智力上的马拉松。它的文字密度和信息量是惊人的，要求读者必须保持高度的专注力。作者对于十七、十八世纪欧洲社会、政治、哲学和科学领域的描绘，达到了令人发指的精确度。这种精确性并非枯燥的文献堆砌，而是融入到角色对话和场景渲染中，使历史人物仿佛从泛黄的纸页中活了过来，带着他们那个时代的偏见、激情与智慧。那些关于物理学、代数、乃至早期工程学的讨论，虽然深奥，却又被巧妙地融入到故事情节的主线中，成为推动人物冲突和情节发展的内在动力。对于喜欢深度思考、热衷于探索知识交叉领域的读者来说，这本书无疑是一座等待开采的宝库，每一次重读都会有新的发现和领悟。

这本厚重的史诗级作品，其波澜壮阔的叙事和对历史细节的考究，简直让人叹为观止。作者构建了一个极其复杂且引人入胜的世界观，将科学革命的宏大背景与个人命运的细微挣扎巧妙地编织在一起。阅读的过程更像是一次穿越时空的深度沉浸，你会被那种百科全书式的知识量所震撼，仿佛亲身站在那个理性与迷信激烈碰撞的时代前沿。每一个章节的推进都充满了张力，那些看似零散的人物线索，最终都汇聚成一股不可阻挡的历史洪流，让人在惊叹于作者的布局能力的同时，也对那个时代的思想变迁有了更深刻的理解。尽管篇幅巨大，但叙事节奏的把握极其老道，总能在关键时刻抛出新的悬念或揭示重大的历史转折点，使得捧读体验始终保持着极高的吸引力。它不仅仅是历史小说，更像是一部关于人类求知欲和理性精神觉醒的颂歌。

阅读体验是史诗级的，充满了那种宏大叙事的宿命感和历史必然性。作者仿佛拥有一种近乎全知全能的视角，能够洞察到那些隐藏在历史台面下的权力流动和思想暗涌。书中的人物塑造极其丰满，他们不仅是历史事件的参与者，更是那个时代精神的化身，他们的成功与失败，都深深烙印着时代局限性与人类雄心的交织。特别是对新兴科学方法的引入和辩护，处理得极为高明，它不是生硬的科普，而是与人物的个人危机和道德抉择紧密捆绑。这本书的深度和广度，远远超出了普通历史小说的范畴，它更像是一部关于“世界如何被理解和构建”的哲学论著，只不过披上了引人入胜的小说外衣。