I liked Quicksilver but it is a very long book that doesn't really have much a point. The mixture of historical figures of the 17th century in particular Newton Liebnitz and Hooke with fictional characters who by the way are the ancestors of the main characters in Cryptonimonicon is really cool but the book is so dense with the ambiance of the times in EnglandYea, I planned to read C first anyway. He blends history with SF in Snow Crash too - stuff about ancient Sumeria.
France and Holland that it kind of drags. Especially the first
half. Once he introduces Jack Shaftoe and Eliza things
pick up. I would read Cryptonimonicon first to see if you
like this style of writing since the structure of Quicksilver
is the same. Quicksilver is part of a trilogy so I am sure
it won't make sense unitl the end of book 3 (System of the World). Another book to consider is Illeum, Dan Simmons sci fi
version of the Iliad. Also the beginning of a series.
I haven't read Vitals. What it is about?
It's been several months since I read it but it's about a guy that's close to finding a way to stop the aging process, gets hired by a millionare to fund his research but then discovers a conspiracy that threatens the world. Kind of Creitonian, fast paced, shoot em up hope they make a movie of my book kind of thing. Not his best effort but some of the ideas were interesting.
-- Doug _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
