| The System of the World | |
| Author: | Neal Stephenson |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Series: | The Baroque Cycle |
| Genre: | Historical novel |
| Publisher: | William Morrow |
| Release Date: | September 21, 2004 |
| Media Type: | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages: | 912 (first edition, hardback) |
| Isbn: | 0-06-052387-5 |
| Isbn Note: | (first edition, hardback) |
| Dewey: | 813/.54 22 |
| Congress: | PS3569.T3868 S97 2004 |
| Oclc: | 55036877 |
| Preceded By: | The Confusion |
The System of the World is a novel by Neal Stephenson and the third and final volume in The Baroque Cycle. The title alludes to the third volume of Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which bears the same name.
The System of the World won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel[1] and the Prometheus Award in 2005, as well as a receiving a nomination for the Arthur C. Clarke Award[1] the same year.
Daniel Waterhouse returns to England from his "Technologickal College" project in Boston in order to try to resolve the feud between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz over who invented calculus. Someone attempts to assassinate him with an "Infernal Device" (a time bomb), and Waterhouse forms a club to find out who did it and prosecute them. It later turns out that the bomb was intended for his friend Isaac Newton.
Jack Shaftoe, under the alias Jack the Coiner, attempts a heist at the Tower of London.
Daniel Waterhouse and Isaac attempt to track down Jack Shaftoe for his counterfeiting crimes and tampering with the Pyx. Meanwhile Eliza aids Princess Caroline of the Hanovers as her life is threatened amid the scheming over the successor to Queen Anne. Warring militias gather in London and the Whigs and Tories face off.
Newton dies of typhus (then known as gaol fever) immediately prior to the Trial of the Pyx, but is brought back to life with the philosopher's stone. Jack eventually confesses to his counterfeiting crimes and is hanged but the watching crowd intervene and he survives, unknown to Newton. Jack is reunited with his love Eliza, and they live out their days in the court of Louis XIV.
The System of the World emulates many different literary styles. As one reviewer put it: it "is a con-fusion ... of historical novel, roman à thèse, epistolary novel, roman à clef, nouveau roman, satirical novel, roman fleuve, et cetera, et cetera, all bound up in the unlikely guise of epic science-fiction page-turner."[2]