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Stephenson's next novel was *Quicksilver*, the first book of the *massive* "System of the World" trilogy, in which the *extremely* historical events of Newton and Leibniz's quest to discover "the calculus" are given a sweeping, world-spanning sftnal treatment. As "system of the world" suggests, Stephenson uses this sftnal trick to situate a scientific advancement in the context of a global, contingent, complex *system* that it both grows out of an defines.

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