reading matters

[Graham Croft]

http://januarymagazine.com/fiction/quicksilver.html

This is link to a 2003 review of the first book of a trilogy that came  
out some time ago set i the early days of the formation of the Royal  
Society and written by Neal Stevenson.

Like Pynchon this guy comes from a science rather than a lit  
background and his portrait of Newton is a delight - though his  
optical experiments require a strong stomach. The books suggest an  
obsessive delight in research (though as I don't share this myself I'm  
guessing as to the accuracy of the historic architecture; what ~I do  
know of the period meshes) and a real feel for the minutiae of  
circumstance - one of the many things that make Gravity's Rainbow such  
a prodigiously believable excursion into a landscape of mania.

Newton's fascination with and respect for the occult sciences gets a  
proper hearing here, and the portrayal of the academic and  
governmental politics of the time should satisfy the most demanding  
paranoia.

And if you like the first one - there are two more.