In my quest to catch up on some history I have read biographies of Newton and Pepys. My latest read was a bout the slightly less known Robert Hooke. He was a great experimenter who did all sorts of work with microscopes, telescopes, biology and mathematics. He did a lot of demonstrations for the early Royal Society, but didn't seem to get the recognition he deserved. He was also responsible for a lot of the rebuilding of London after the great fire of 1666, which made him quite rich.He was not the happiest of people and was continuously experimenting on himself with strange medicines that probably killed him in the end.

This book is a fairly accademic affair, but gives a pretty good picture of the man. There's a twist in that last line as there are thought to be no surviving pictures of him, but the author thinks she may have found one.

As with other similar books there is a large section of notes, but I find it annoying to have to keep flicking to the back to read the details of some quote or remark and tend to give up after a while, even though there may be interesting material there. There has to be a better way to present that information.

I did actually finish this just after System of the World, but that's because I took this when travelling as it's a much lighter book to carry around.

My next read is about the cracking of Japanese codes during WWII. Expect a report here eventually.

It seems a long time since I started reading the Baroque Cycle. Through three long books I have followed the story of a set of people during the early 18th century. The main characters are fictional, but they interact with some of the greats of the time like Newton, Leibnitz and Wren. Stephenson has a very engaging writing style that really grabs me, even though I know the ending will not be the best. When you are reading for this long it has to be entertaining. It's taken me a few months to read this book, but I have thoroughly enjoyed it. The cycle has really got me interested in that period of history and inspired me to read a few history books.

I have a few related links over at del.icio.us