Quicksilver: The Baroque Cycle #1

Set against the backdrop of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, this first installment of Stephenson's multi-volume epic is available in mass market. The Baroque Cycle brings to life a cast of unforgettable characters in a time of breathtaking genius and discovery, men and women whose exploits defined an age.
In which Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and courageous Puritan, pursues knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe -- in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight.