In a book

It's always nice when actuaries and their work are mentioned in a book. It makes me think "excellent - if I were ever to meet this author, I would not have to explain to them what I do for a living for they already know".

Today I found one on page 45 of "Quicksilver" by Neal Stephenson. The book weighs approx 1.2kg and runs to 927 pages. A character says "The Royal Society is infested with actuaries and statisticians nowadays". The 'nowadays' in question was 1713. I have no idea whether this is still true or not in 2004. Maybe it is overrun by their descendents rather than the ones from the 18th century. I also hope I have not given away any important plot points to those of you who might like to read the book in the future.