Books: Isaac Newton, Action Hero

Cult-classic science-fiction novel--check. Comic novel about environmentalists--check. Best-selling thriller--also check. What is there left for Neal Stephenson--author of Snow Crash, Zodiac and Cryptonomicon, among other novels--to write? The answer is The Baroque Cycle, a stunning 3,000-page trilogy about 17th century scientists that will defy any category, genre, precedent or label--except for genius. (That's right, I'm using the g-word.)

The Baroque Cycle is so huge that it's being released in six-month intervals, Matrix-style: Quicksilver drops in September, The Confusion in April 2004 and The System of the World in October 2004. But you'll wish it were longer. Its scope is galactically vast...

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