Please bear in mind that this book is almost completely fantasy. In particular the supposed toings and froings of I. Newton and the R. Society are nonsensified, as are most of the politics and political figures. A much better book, if you really want to learn about the period, is TheCreationOfTheModernWorld by RoyPorter. Both are rollicking good reads.
Alchemist's name for the element Mercury.
Also working title of Neal Stephenson's sequel to Cryptonomicon. Quicksilver Publisher: William Morrow & Company; ISBN 0380977427 ; To be published in September 2003
Will this book ever come out? -- Enoch!
According to Amazon's site, the hardback edition will be published on 1st September 2003 by Avon Books, and the paperback edition will be published on 5 August 2004 by Arrow.
An excerpt of Quicksilver is now on-line at http://www.baroquecycle.com/.
Mine's in the mail, I can't wait! Meanwhile, a review/discussion can be found on SlashDot:
-- MikeSmith
See also QuicksilverWiki
Also the name of a spiffy launcher utility plus framework on Mac OS X. http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/