Quicksilver part 2
Oct. 11th, 2005 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearWell, I've made it to the end of the first book (of three in the first part of the trilogy, so only 8 to go) and I'm still fascinated, so go me! and go Stephenson!
I have learned more stuff from this book:
- the term "drawing room" comes from withdrawing room, as it was where people could withdraw to have more privacy
This may seem incredibly obvious, but I'd never actually thought about it before and, despite that, it was somehow very satisfying to find it out.
- pi = 1/1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + 1/9 - 1/11 + 1/13 - 1/15 + 1/17, etc
Maths has never been my thing (as evidenced by the fact that one of the temps' pay claims I did yesterday came back to me this morning as it didn't add up right, and it took me four or five attempts to get it right - they're not that complicated...), but there's something rather attractive about the above.
My favourite quote of the last 300 pages - Leibniz on infinite series in mathematics (using the pi equation as an example):
"They do not resolve our confusion, so much as give us a way to think about how confused we are."
I also realised what it is about the protagonist that I like so much. He's a very effective conduit for the audience to experience the events of the book, because he's a relatively ordinary guy observing the actions of great historical figures. Thus, he serves the purpose of the Doctor Who companion, in that he asks questions and needs to have things explained to him that would otherwise remain unexplained and leave the reader in the dark. Basically, he makes me feel a lot less stupid.
I love the way he's never properly noticed by characters like Hooke and Newton - he tends to turn up when they're in the middle of an experiment and they automatically give him stuff to do without acknowledging his entrance or engaging him in conversation.
"He hoisted himself up through a hatch, rousting a couple of swallows, and found himself within the dome of the turret, sharing a hemispherical room with Robert Hooke.
'Weigh out five grains of powder for me,' Hooke said."
It's just refreshing to have a protagonist who's mediocre.
I have learned more stuff from this book:
- the term "drawing room" comes from withdrawing room, as it was where people could withdraw to have more privacy
This may seem incredibly obvious, but I'd never actually thought about it before and, despite that, it was somehow very satisfying to find it out.
- pi = 1/1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + 1/9 - 1/11 + 1/13 - 1/15 + 1/17, etc
Maths has never been my thing (as evidenced by the fact that one of the temps' pay claims I did yesterday came back to me this morning as it didn't add up right, and it took me four or five attempts to get it right - they're not that complicated...), but there's something rather attractive about the above.
My favourite quote of the last 300 pages - Leibniz on infinite series in mathematics (using the pi equation as an example):
"They do not resolve our confusion, so much as give us a way to think about how confused we are."
I also realised what it is about the protagonist that I like so much. He's a very effective conduit for the audience to experience the events of the book, because he's a relatively ordinary guy observing the actions of great historical figures. Thus, he serves the purpose of the Doctor Who companion, in that he asks questions and needs to have things explained to him that would otherwise remain unexplained and leave the reader in the dark. Basically, he makes me feel a lot less stupid.
I love the way he's never properly noticed by characters like Hooke and Newton - he tends to turn up when they're in the middle of an experiment and they automatically give him stuff to do without acknowledging his entrance or engaging him in conversation.
"He hoisted himself up through a hatch, rousting a couple of swallows, and found himself within the dome of the turret, sharing a hemispherical room with Robert Hooke.
'Weigh out five grains of powder for me,' Hooke said."
It's just refreshing to have a protagonist who's mediocre.
