BIOGRAPHY · CASINOS
John L. Smith
Also known as: John L Smith
psychologist
ENOCH ROUNDS THE CORNER JUST as the executioner raises the noose above the woman's head.
— from Quicksilver, 1999
Most acclaimed
Running scared
In this penetrating and provocative look at the American political scene, Britain's most famous political scientist, Anthony King, casts a friendly eye across the ocean to point out something we take for granted at our peril: we have more elections, more often, than any other country on the planet. There is no year in the United States - ever - when a major statewide election is not being held somewhere. More money, time and effort are devoted to American elections than to most countries' major industries. As a result, American politicians are extraordinarily vulnerable. They single-mindedly worry about their electoral futures to the point of "hyperdemocracy": in essence, the American system is too democratic. . Our term of office for members of the House is the shortest on Earth. We are virtually the only country where most incumbents regularly face primary challenges. Indeed, we are alone in having any direct primaries at all. In Running Scared, the history, causes and consequences of American hyperdemocracy are all examined in engaging detail. But what to do? King makes a number of wise suggestions: lengthening terms, eliminating off-year elections, reducing primary challenges and, in general, adopting a division-of-labor democracy wherein the people evaluate a politician on overall performance instead of directing his every move. King appreciates America's many strengths - but he warns that until the subject of hyperdemocracy can be honestly faced, our deep political malaise will only continue.
Quicksilver
1999
Volume One of The Baroque Cycle (Not to be confused with [Quicksilver: The Baroque Cycle #1]( Quicksilver is a massive, exuberant and wildly ambitious historical novel that's also Neal Stephenson's eagerly awaited prequel to Cryptonomicon--his pyrotechnic reworking of the 20th century, from World War II codebreaking and disinformation to the latest issues of Internet data privacy. Quicksilver, "Volume One of the Baroque Cycle", backtracks to another time of high intellectual ferment: the late 17th century, with the natural philosophers of England's newly formed Royal Society questioning the universe and dissecting everything that moves. One founding member, the Rev John Wilkins, really did write science fiction and a book on cryptography--but this isn't history as we know it, for here his code book is called not Mercury but Cryptonomicon. And although the key political schemers of Charles II's government still have initials spelling the word CABAL, their names are all different... While towering geniuses like Newton and Leibniz decode nature itself, bizarre adventures (merely beginning with the Great Plague and Great Fire) happen to the fictional Royal Society member Daniel Waterhouse, who knows everyone but isn't quite bright enough for cutting-edge science. Two generations of Daniel's family appear in Cryptonomicon, as does a descendant of the Shaftoes who here are soldiers and vagabonds. Other links include the island realm of Qwghlm with its impossible language and the mysterious, seemingly ageless alchemist Enoch Root. As the reign of Charles II gives way to that of James II and then William of Orange, Stephenson traces the complex lines of finance and power that form the 17th-century Internet. Gold and silver, lead and (repeatedly) mercury or quicksilver flow in glittering patterns between centres of marketing and intrigue in England, Germany, France and Holland. Paper flows as well: stocks, shares, scams and letters holding layers of concealed code messages. Binary code? Yes, even that had already been invented and described by Francis Bacon. Quicksilver is crammed with unexpected incidents, fascinating digressions and deep-laid plots. Who'd believe that Eliza, a Qwghlmian slave girl liberated from a Turkish harem by mad Jack Shaftoe (King of the Vagabonds) could become a major player in European finance and politics? Still less believable, but all too historically authentic, are the appalling medical procedures of the time--about which we learn a lot. There are frequent passages of high comedy, like the lengthy description of a foppish earl's costume which memorably explains that someone seemed to have been painted in glue before "shaking and rolling him in a bin containing thousands of black silk doilies". This is a huge, exhausting read, full of rewards and quirky insights that no other author could have created. Fantastic or farcical episodes sometimes clash strangely with the deep cruelty and suffering of 17th-century realism. Recommended, though not to the faint-hearted.