BudBix

The Great Transformation by Karen Armstrong

Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars and The Years of Rice and Salt all by Kim Stanley Robinson

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. If you like this you'll want to read The Baroque Cycle series by the same author. I prefer the original 3 books Quicksilver, The Confusion and The System of the World.

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Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words. - Baruch Spinoza