The System of the World (novel)

infobox Book |
name = The System of the World
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Neal Stephenson
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = The Baroque Cycle
genre = Historical novel
publisher = William Morrow
release_date = September 21, 2004
media_type = Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
pages = 912 pp (first edition, hardback)
isbn = ISBN 0-06-052387-5 (first edition, hardback)
preceded_by = The Confusion

"The System of the World", a novel by Neal Stephenson, forms the third 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.

In 2005, it won the Prometheus Award and, together with The Confusion, the Locus Award.

Main characters

*Eliza
*Enoch Root
*Bob Shaftoe, brother of Jack Shaftoe
*Jack Shaftoe
*Daniel Waterhouse
*Isaac Newton

Other characters

*Henry Arlanc, Huguenot, friend of Jack Shaftoe, porter at the Royal Society
*Mrs. Arlanc, wife of Henry
*Roger Comstock, Marquis of Ravenscar, Whig ally of Daniel Waterhouse
*Will Comstock, Earl of Lostwithiel
*Édouard de Gex, Jesuit fanatic
*William Ham, Banker, nephew of Daniel Waterhouse
*Otto van Hoek, Captain of the "Minerva"
*Mr. Kikin, Russian diplomat in London
*Norman Orney, London shipbuilder
*Mr. Threader, Tory money-scrivener
*Charles White, fictional, Tory who bites off people's ears
*Peter Hoxton (alias Saturn), Horologist, engages in illicit activities

Historical figures who appear as characters in the novel

*Isaac Newton
*Gottfried Leibniz
*Christopher Wren
*Thomas Newcomen
*Peter the Great
*Caroline of Ansbach
*George I of Great Britain
*George II of Great Britain
*Sophia of Hanover
*John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
*Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke
*Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer
*Catherine Barton
*Jack Ketch

Editions

* ISBN 0-06-052387-5 : Hardcover edition.
* ISBN 0-06-075086-3 : Paperback edition.