I don’t know anything about any specific historical facts in Stephenson’s works (other than that Qghwlm or however it’s spelled doesn’t exist). But I do know that after seeing how he always gets physics, math and chemistry slightly wrong in his books*, I don’t trust his historical accuracy a nanometer. I mean, his books are fun reads, but he always, always, always puts having a good story above getting things right.
Stick to Aubrey/Maturin, Moby Dick or others. Hey, here’s a suggestion: Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose.
Want to learn about Christian theology in the 20th century (and who doesn’t?) from a critical point of view? The Flight of Peter Fromm, by Martin Gardner.
Want to learn about the history of mathematics? The Parrot’s Theorem, by Denis Guedj—though it may be too didactic to be a true, satisfying novel.
Stephenson’s historical accuracy is horrible. It’s FANTASTIC ‘you are there’ writing, but it’s close-your-eyes-and-wing it for learning things. Call it a wiggle value of 200 years either way on either event, or things that never happend at all.
Robert Heinlein’s juveniles are full of accurate scientific fact. And maths. Now, a bit outdated, alas.
Michael Crichton is really good for this kind of stuff. His books are quick reads, and give you the basics of some serious science, like cloning/genetics and Chaos Theory (Jurassic Park) and quantum physics (Timeline), among other interesting tidbits…
You know what got me suspicious about Stephenson? The fact that at one point in the Cycle the biblical King Solomon shows up… using the alias “Solomon Kohan”. Now, Neal may have thought that “Cohen” was just a common Jewish name, but anyone who’d have down a smidgen of research (or you know, asked a Jew) would know that it has very specific meaning - namely, that it’s bearer was a descendent of the ancient Israelite priestly caste, something King Solomon most certainly wasn’t. There is no way in heaven and earth that the son of David of the tribe of Judah would have *ever *referred to himself as a Cohen. If Stephenson had done any research whatsoever he would have called the character “Solomon Ben-David” or “Davidson” or “Melech” or something of that sort.
I still love his writing, though, especially his military stuff. It’s like Tom Clancy gone horribly right.
It’s not stated that this is, in fact, the Biblical king Solomon - it is at most an implication. Nothing in respect of the “true” alchemists is ever firmly established in the books.
In any event, even if it was, why would he not be using “Kohen” as part of his name, even if not descended from a priestly caste family? It isn’t as if it was his real name, but presumably the name is for public consumption only.
I can’t speak to math and science, but what I like about his historical fictions is how he gives a great sense of a time and place: haggling with a Jewish lens grinder at a 17th century county fair, or life inside a debtor’s gaol, or Boston in the early 18th century- he’s great at atmosphere, which is something a lot of historical fiction writers (Ken Follett, John Jakes, Anne Rice, etc.) fail miserably at (i.e. they write 20th century characters in an Old World theme park.)
Speaking of historical fiction and atmosphere- not sure how much you’re into American history, but Conrad Richter’s AWAKENING LAND trilogy, which he researched for many years in many places, is the single best series ever written about the opening of the American west. It’s 3 fairly short novels (The Trees, The Fields and The Town) that span from ca. 1790 to 1861 and follows a family who settles in Ohio when it’s total wilderness and a few Indians and proceeds until both are replaced by slightly altered replicas of eastern seaboard towns. There are no famous characters (just references to Adams or Lincoln or other ‘biggies’ as needed) but the brilliance is how Richter conveys “a day in the life” of a frontier family and their dialect (the dialect in this book is just wonderful- he researched diaries and letters and accounts by foreign visitors and every other source to recreate 18th/19th century “authentic frontier gibberish”) and you have the sense that you are there in the cabin as it grows from a single room shanty to a large and prosperous farmhouse.
Also speaking of: I recently fell in love with the works of a long dead Y.A. writer named Edwin Tunis who wrote and illustrated some of the most ab-fab books on daily life in American history I’ve ever read. Check him out: Frontier Living [building cabins and furniture, cooking utensils, how to butcher, etc.], Colonial Living [similar to Frontier but wider in scope- brings in the Spanish settlers and Indians more], Shaw’s Fortune (about a Virginia plantation from its inception with the ‘orinooco’ [small tobacco planter] ca. 1620 to his mega-rich descendants during the Revolution]. As a very gifted commercial artist Tunis was able to use pictures to demonstrate “how things work” (ala David Macaulay) and how and why everyday things were the way they were (ex: it makes perfect sense when you think about it, but I hadn’t thought about it- the reason men’s coats used to have tails or a slice up the middle was so that they would be able to wear them more easily on horseback, or that skillets once had four foot long handles because there’s no way you can hold it over an open fire all day]).
There’s a bunch of fiction with real information in them, probably the most famous being Moby Dick. They should call it Whaling for Dummies. Pretty much anything that isn’t science fiction or fantasy usually has good research behind it. Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lector trilogy, for example, has tons of research about forensics, police procedure, profiling, etc.
On the other hand, why isn’t the writing itself worthy of study? For example, I have Anne Rice and Harry Potter on my shelves as examples of great, high-quality writing. On the other hand, I learn as much or more from garbage like Twilight about what not to do yet be popular.
Caleb Carr’s The Alienist is a fascinating look at the NYC underworld in the late 1800s, about the hunt for a serial killer from high society to the slums. Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt and financier J.P. Morgan both make cameo appearances. Well worth a read.
One of my favorites is Two Little Savages by Earnest Thompson Seaton. Tons of factual information on all sorts of topics - the natural world, anthropology, 19th century Ontario. Where else would you find step by step instructions on making a traditional native canadian moccasin?
I think the multiple recommendations for Moby Dick should be tempered with a reminder that much of the exposition in the book is about whaling lore; not all of it is still considered factual by modern standards. Still, whaling lore is a fascinating subject.
The historical novels of Nobel winner Sigrid Undset contain some of the most thorough and detailed information I’ve ever seen in any novel, on any subject: when you read them you’ll gain an incredible amount of day-to-day, as well as historical, knowledge about medieval Norway. Plus they’re about the most compelling human dramas ever written by anyone. I’ve read them all several times, and while *Kristin Lavransdatter *is the universal favorite, I’m growing to like Master of Hestviken even more.
The mystery novels of Tony Hillerman contain an awful lot of fascinating details about the American Southwest, particularly life and customs on a Navajo reservation.
I’ll go with a lot that has been mentioned before: Forsyth, Patrick O’Brian, Hornblower, Flashman and so on.
But for fact in fiction I think the master expositor is Arthur Hailey. The following books have a lot of information regarding the subjects listed below ;
Airport the airport and airlines industry.
Wheels about the car industry.
Hotel about hotel management. I’ve read somewhere that it is required reading for some hospitality courses.
Overload about power generation.
The Money Changers about banking.
The Final DiagnosisHospitals, but mostly pathology.
I really liked most of those books. The only problem is that many of them were written so long ago that the info in them is fairly out of date. For example, Airport was published in 1968. The security procedures described in it seem laughable today. In Wheels, published in the early 70s, there’s a scene where Japanese cars are described as junk.
Uhhh. unless someone already mentioned Tom Robbin’s novels. Probably even cowgirls get the blues. Or maybe women love men with handicaps from warm climates (that isn’t the actual title, but it is close). Or if you have a kid go with B is for Beer. Very informative on all that needs to be known about beer.