I couldn't finish the baroque cycle, which is an unusual experience for me -- I'd been reading a bunch of old philosophical transactions articles at the time an

I couldn't finish the baroque cycle, which is an unusual experience for me -- I'd been reading a bunch of old philosophical transactions articles at the time and Stephenson had wrapped up so much actual history (including a lot of really mundane stuff that people put in their publications back then) with unadulterated fiction that I felt like I was being gaslighted by the book!