Neal Stephenson did a Q&A and book signing for his new novel Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1) in Union Square last night, so naturally I walked up from Washington Square after my drawing class and sat in an awful folding chair along with my fellow nerds to hear him talk and get my book signed. He said he wore a suit because New York was dressy but then opened his jacket to show his concession to his geek roots: five or six pens neatly lined up in his shirt pocket. I don’t know, I think I would’ve been more impressed if he’d a protractor in there, or at least a pocket protector.
Anyway, one of the things I love most about Stephenson’ last book Cryptonomicon is how authentic the parts of it set in the Philippines feel to me, in every case more so than in most any novel I’ve ever read written by someone who actually grew up in the country, so I asked him how he does his location research; he said he did it by reading up, especially about places he knew nothing about, and then visiting them with his eyes wide open, taking notes on everything he saw. He also said he could only stay somewhere to do that for about a week, because after a certain amount of time he’d get too comfortable and would stop noticing things—diminishing returns, if you will.
The Confusion, the second book in Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle, goes on sale in April 2004. Harper Collins has an interview (transcript and audio available) with him about Quicksilver, if you’d like to find out more about it. If you’ve never read any of his work, might I suggest you start out with the book he’s most famous for and that most people love most? Amazon has Snow Crash for a measly $11.16, a bargain any which way you look at it.
Thanks again to Skot, who sent me The Diamond Age off my wishlist a very long time ago, when I was too broke to buy books and feeling very sorry for myself.