![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
More 18th Century Geekitude
Sep. 10th, 2004 10:24 pmLongitude - a three hour film, running the course of the 18th Century with Royal Society scientists, the Royal Navy, wigs and ships galore. Featuring special appearances by Lord Sandwich, reports from Captain Cook, and pretty much every Hey-It's-That-Guy from the Hornblower movies (Diplomatic Envoy, Admiral Hood, the Earl of Edrington, even the Indefatigable itself). That's what I call quality entertainment. I've ordered an inexpensive copy of the book as well.
The Baroque Cycle - Quicksilver, The Confusion and (the yet-to-be-published) The System of the World. Having finished the second, I must say that I am enjoying this more than anything else I have read by Neal Stephenson - it's chock-full of wonderful historical details, does some quite insightful riffs on the nature of finance, science and warfare, it's gone all over the world, and it's got ships! I look forward to the conclusion, and not just because of the promise of more Newton/Waterhouse/Leibniz tension.
October looks to be a good month for new reading material in any case, since in addition to The System of the World, the much-hyped Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell will be coming out. I mentioned my enthusiasm for this book in an earlier entry, but what could possibly make me more eager to read it? Well, the a recent advance review, while describing the influence of Austen, suggested it was most reminiscent of (wait for it...) the Aubery/Maturin novels of Patrick O'Brian. Mmmm.
And best of all, I have now acquired a White Ensign!
The Baroque Cycle - Quicksilver, The Confusion and (the yet-to-be-published) The System of the World. Having finished the second, I must say that I am enjoying this more than anything else I have read by Neal Stephenson - it's chock-full of wonderful historical details, does some quite insightful riffs on the nature of finance, science and warfare, it's gone all over the world, and it's got ships! I look forward to the conclusion, and not just because of the promise of more Newton/Waterhouse/Leibniz tension.
October looks to be a good month for new reading material in any case, since in addition to The System of the World, the much-hyped Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell will be coming out. I mentioned my enthusiasm for this book in an earlier entry, but what could possibly make me more eager to read it? Well, the a recent advance review, while describing the influence of Austen, suggested it was most reminiscent of (wait for it...) the Aubery/Maturin novels of Patrick O'Brian. Mmmm.
And best of all, I have now acquired a White Ensign!