Quicksilver

Book One of The Baroque Cycle

By: Neal Stephenson

Narrated by: Neal Stephenson (introduction), Kevin Pariseau, Simon Prebble

Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

In this first volume of Neal Stephenson’s genre-defying epic, Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and courageous Puritan, pursues knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight.

The Baroque Cycle, Neal Stephenson’s award-winning series, spans the late 17th and early 18th centuries, combining history, adventure, science, invention, piracy, and alchemy into one sweeping tale. It is a gloriously rich, entertaining, and endlessly inventive historical epic populated by the likes of Isaac Newton, William of Orange, Benjamin Franklin, and King Louis XIV, along with some of the most inventive literary characters in modern fiction.

Audible’s complete and unabridged presentation of The Baroque Cycle was produced in cooperation with Neal Stephenson. Each volume includes an exclusive introduction read by the author.

Listen to more titles in the Baroque Cycle.

©2003 Neal Stephenson (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

“[The “Baroque Cycle”] will defy any category, genre, precedent, or label – except genius….Stephenson has a once-in-a-generation gift: he makes complex ideas clear, and he makes them funny, heartbreaking, and thrilling.” ( Time)

“A book of immense ambition, learning, and scope, Quicksilver is often brilliant and occasionally astonishing in its evocation of a remarkable time and place.” ( Washington Post Book World)

Bring the mid to late1600's to Life

Would you consider the audio edition of Quicksilver to be better than the print version?

Neal Stephenson is probably one of the best American writers currently. He has written different types of novels with different settings. The only thing that is a constant is his stellar writing ability. Quicksilver is classic Stephenson. Full of ideas and not for the lazy reader. I had very little interest in this time period, but after reading Quicksilver, I felt that I had stepped through a time portal and gotten close up view of the mores, politics, fashions, history of this time period. I felt like I had a front row seat to watch the beginning of economic theory, science, and the reasoning of the people who fled to Colonial America. Stephenson is so descriptive that I felt as though I got to speak to Newton, Hooke and Leibnitz personally. I feel as though I had a walking tour of London, Trinity College, and Whitehall. Through Stephenson I was able to secretly listen in the meetings of the Royal Society and was able to listen to the thoughts of Natural Philosophers. I was able to sit in a coffee house and see the fashionable men and women in their restoration finery.

Better than the original!

Simon Prebble is the perfect narrator for Quicksilver, and he does his usual admirable job of bringing all the characters to life. If, like me, you were a bit hesitant to embark on this series because of its sheer size, I can say that editing this into the five books as they have done here is a vast improvement over the original published three book version. As good as they were, and as entertaining as Neal Stephenson is, this edition is simply easier to follow because the reader isn't being constantly pulled back and forth between the stories of Jack and Daniel, which aren't related to each other in this part of the story. If you are a Neal Stephenson fan - or a Simon Prebble fan - this is one not to miss!

Neal Stephenson

Highly recommended, Highly recommended, Highly recommended, Highly recommended, really recommended, Hihly recomend, Highest recommender, High recommend

Satisfying and Genre Bending

Historical Science fiction at it's best. Not that there is much with which to compare it. Also this was quite well voiced both in writing and performance. Now I am off to the next book in the cycle.

Thick accent

Difficult to understand when played at speeds greater than 2X. Clarity is the most important thing.

Incredible. Historic. Dramatic. Comedic.

I have no words for how I enjoyed it. Beyond entertaining & fascinating. The nods to contemporary concepts & future History, woven into dialogue as if the characters were unconsciously tuned into today's world make the narrative beyond time & take the reader/listener back into the moments of the story in an amazing unique way. I can't recommend it enough.

Quite wonderful

Illuminating about the period and the brilliant minds who studied the natural world. Takes patience but highly recommended.

Felt like part of a story, jumped around

Not nearly as good as his other works.
Very interesting dive into historical fiction but the story wasn’t gripping and it just didn’t do it for me.

Pure Stephenson--Intelligent, insightful, funny

I rarely write reviews, but this situation seems to demand it. I am amazed at both how few reviews have been posted and how many have been negative. It is not surprising that some did not enjoy Quicksilver, but where are the reviews from those that did? It is hard to believe that this rich, original and quirky book has not found an extensive audience.


Strictly speaking this is a "secret history". That is, it faithfully covers a historical period but creates characters and events that fit neatly in the cracks between what is known and what is not about this period. Into these cracks, Stephenson inserts Daniel Waterhouse, a fiction college mate of Newton and early member of the Royal Society. He is a puritan, a member of sect at the fringe of English society. Through his eyes we receive an intelligent and intimate understanding of his time--a time when culture, science, religion and commerce where changing radically--were becoming modern.


This might sound dry, but it is not. It is the coming of age story of man in the Restoration Court of Charles I. It is filled action including one of the most perfectly described pirate battles I have ever encountered. It has a cast of compelling characters, both real and imagined; scientists, both mad and brilliant. Running though all is a vein of wit and often hysterical humor. The prose itself is first-rate, far better than we have the right to expect in a historical novel. Add to all of this an excellent narrator with a perfect ear and voice for the accents and cadences of the time.


If you enjoy Stephenson or a well written historical novel, you should not miss this. By the way, Quicksilver is the first of several volumes in the Baroque Cycle. I have only read the second book, but I can already guarantee that there is much more to look forward to.

Try starting with chapter 3

I almost missed this witty historcal novel because it was hard to relate to the narrative in the first two chapters, which consume 1 hour 27 minutes, and introduce a long-lived character named Enoch the Red. My suggestion is to listen to the author-read introduction and then skip to chapter three, set in 1716 in Newtown, Massachusetts, which introduces the book's affable, accommodating, and somewhat child-like (in terms of wonder, devotion, and curiosity) protagonist, Daniel Waterhouse. Return to the first 2 chapters at the end of the book, where their significance to the Baroque Cycle series will be immediately apparent. I deduct one star from the story for this structural flaw, but rate the overal audiobook 5 stars.

Quicksilver is not a mere exposition of the development of "natural philosophy" into what we call modern scientific reasoning. It sincerely captures the falacious reasoning and original assumptions-- most of which seem absurd and superstitious from today's standards-- of early scientists, and charitably explains how their life experiences, social status, and the prevailing dogmas of the day made their "quaint" ideas, such as the spontaneous generation of flies from filth, understandable. As a caveat, if animal cruelty is particularly distressing to you, as it is to me, I suggest visualizing only the scientists--not their animal subjects--much the way many TV medical dramas do not show the open incisions of surgical patients. Notwithstanding the book tempting the reader to slide into visualization of painful animal experiments, I am eager to read book 2.