Dawn of a new age

For the war is over; most of the great conflicts have been sorted out; Natural Philosophy has conquered the realm of the mind; and -- today -- as we stand here -- the new System of the World is being writ down in a great Book somewhere.

Neal Stephenson, The System of the World

As Neal Stephenson's ambitious (nearly 3,000 pages) Baroque Cycle draws to a close with the third novel, The System of the World (2004), England is bathed in optimism. A new king mounts the throne in 1714. The nation is at peace. And science (or Natural Philosophy) seems to have explained how the universe works. Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, both major characters as well as real people, have much to do with this optimism.

The Baroque Cycle is unusual science fiction in that it deals with real science and real people, yet the plots are mainly fiction. This time the story revolves around Newton's work at the Royal Mint, an unusual job for one of the world's greatest scientists, but he is also an alchemist. Newton uses his position at the mint to watch for Solomon's gold, supposedly once owned by King Solomon himself and supposedly heavier and more valuable than other gold.

Meanwhile Jack Shaftoe, a vagabond who will be familiar to readers of other books in the series, has been counterfeiting coins, putting Newton's reputation in jeopardy as his life draws to a close. In even greater danger is Shaftoe himself after he is captured and sentence to be hanged, then drawn and quartered. The final chapters make compelling reading. The rest of the book, like much of the trilogy, requires patience.

The world is changing in 1714, although perhaps not as quickly as characters anticipate. They speak of binary code, a Logic Mill (or computer) and an Engine for Raising Water by Fire (or steam engine), but all these must wait for the future. Still, that future rested on the likes of Newton and Leibniz.