System of the World

About “System of the World”

In 1714, Daniel Waterhouse returns to England after a dangerous journey, including an encounter with the pirate Blackbeard. He is drawn into a secret conflict between Isaac Newton and Jack Shaftoe, a counterfeiter known as Jack the Coiner. Jack plans to attack the Tower of London to corrupt Britain's monetary system. His actions are motivated by love for Eliza, a woman he wants to protect. Daniel and his friends search for clues about a person trying to kill natural philosophers with dangerous devices. Political tensions rise as the queen's health declines, and Newton searches for the secret to life eternal. The System of the World is the final book in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, following Quicksilver and The Confusion.