The Baroque Cycle

This has been my most recent read. Three books in an incredibly well-written entertaining series set in the late 17th and early 18th century by Neal Stephenson. The story focuses on three main characters: Jack Shaftoe a vagabond become a king of sorts; Eliza a slave become duchess and heavyweight of financials; and Daniel Waterhouse a natural philosopher, phanatique, and 'friend' of Isaac Newton.

There is no easy way to describe the tale that takes place over a 60 plus year span around the globe. The books, while at times tedious, are generally easy reading, thought-provoking, historically accurate to the times, witty, and just plain fun. The issues tend to be religious, economic, scientific and political with a dashes of adventure, romance, and hilarity.

In the past I have blogged about Stephenson's earlier work, Cryptonomicon. This is more of the same and I recommend it highly.