Brewed Fresh Daily

Neal Stephenson has always been fascinated by history. Cryptonomicon explored the science of secrets during World War II, and The Diamond Age riffed on Victorian sensibilities. Now he's looking backward even further. He spent the last seven years immersed in the 17th century, working on a three-book series set during the scientific revolution. Certainly, The Baroque Cycle has scope: The ancestors of Cryptonomicon characters cross paths with Isaac Newton and his peers against a backdrop of several continents, a couple of wars, and one fundamental change in the way humans view the world. In the context of the 1600s, Stephenson examines the nature of money, the interdependency of Europe, and the consequences of transformative scientific advances. The writing schedule is ambitious, too: The first book, Quicksilver, is out this month, and the next two will follow at six-month intervals.