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Title: Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer ISBN: 0-8125-8035-4 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 15 July, 2001 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.95 (118 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Thoughtful, original, daring. A fine read
Comment: Science fiction is a genre of ideas and no other author in the science fiction genre can claim to explore them so in depthly as Robert J. Sawyer. At the heart of Calculating God is a really good idea: aliens experience the same five major cataclysmic events at the same time the earth experiences them.
An alien targets the Royal Ontario Museum as a landing spot due to its multi-disciplinary extensive and accessible fossil collection unrivaled in the world. It was nice to see aliens land in a country other than United States of America. Sawyer is after all Canadian and he delves as deeply into Canadian society as an American author would American society, writing the equivalent story.
The story may seem frustrating for some because the ending is never really explained. Sawyer was strongly influence by 2001 and it shows in Calculating God more so than his other books. He doesn't explain it at all. He gives the reader credit for his/her intelligence and leaves it open ended.
The alien first contact scenes at the beginning of the book is met with humour instead of tanks for once. I found this really refreshing. If an alien actually landed on earth, nobody would believe it, then it would be a huge event, and then eventually forgotten as people continue on with their daily lives. Sawyer doesn't fall into the trap of dwelling on this. He's a smart enough writer to focus on the story. However I'm sure that it's more than a rudimentary coincidence that an alien is shot by an American.
Sawyer - an athiest/agnostic himself - covers all the theological and scientific ground thoughtfully and convincingly. Other books such as "Canticle for Liebowitz" have touched on religious themes but not quite this head on.
On the whole, a good Sawyer effort despite a jarring point of view change. There are some really moving moments involving the main character's wife and child and his struggle with illness.
Not as solid as 'Flash Forward' or 'The Terminal Experiment' but he's without a doubt, one of the most thoughtful, original and intelligent contemporary science fiction writers working today. He does have a tendency to fall in love with his ideas at the expense of the story so this book might not be for everyone hoping for a fast paced read. Recommended.
Rating: 2
Summary: Sawyer futilely hopes that unresolved issues just go away.
Comment: An alien spacecraft lands in front of the Royal Ontario Museum. Its eight-legged occupant enters the building and asks, in perfect English, to see a paleontologist. Why? Because every inhabited planet her expedition visited went through an identical cycle of extinctions. If Earth fits that pattern, the aliens' theories of God's existence will be proved. The fossil record matches up, but can Hollus, the all-too human spider creature from a distant star, convince the terminally-ill paleontologist, Tom Jericho, that the universe has a creator?
I got through the first quarter of "Calculating God" with extreme difficulty. Here was what seemed to be the very antithesis of every science fiction book ever written. An alien emissary comes down to Earth and reveals that the speed of light cannot be transcended, that there are neither hyperspace nor parallel dimensions, that there are only three intelligent races (including humans) within conquerable distance, and that there is a God. Whereas science fiction is the discovery of new possibilities, "Calculating God" is those possibilities' denial.
"Calculating God" is a very painful read, largely because Sawyer's excellent writing is trapped within a tired plot that does little but open up some old wounds. First and foremost, there is the communication problem between Tom and Hollus on God's nature. The alien presents an exceedingly strong case for the existance of a creative force, using scientific data that is only partly fictional. Tom disagrees, because if God exists, why does Tom have cancer? This is a clear communication error: for the two main characters, the word "God" means two entirely different things, but they don't seem to see this.
Secondly, why is Tom having these conversations with Hollus at all? Nothing he says - outside of his area of expertise - can possibly be new to the alien, and yet Jericho and Hollus engage in heated discussions, despite the fact that Hollus really should have the advantage of two centuries' worth of scientific progress. Is Hollus humoring Tom, or is the alien just plain stupid? And despite the fact that Tom can't possibly contribute to the Forhilnors' knowledge in any way, he "mysteriously" solves the enigmas of alien ruins scattered throughout the galaxy, the next stage of humanity's evolution, and, best of all, God's ultimate purpose for all intelligent life.
With time, the book does get better. Character development overtakes the heated metaphysical discussions, and Tom's suffering and decline acquires a measure of pathos: Sawyer reveals that Tom has a loving family - a dear wife and an adopted six-year-old son. Meanwhile, a sideplot develops. Apparently, a pair of fanatical gaptoothed southerners are bent on destroying the priceless Burgess shales to show the aliens that the people of Earth really believe in God. Worse yet, these cardboard creationists watch the Red Green show. Here even Sawyer's considerable talent fails.
Even Sawyer's science is a bit shaky. His store of factual evidence exhausted during an intense conversation with Hollus, the writer has to resort to virtual reality and anti-gravity belts.
Possibly, there is a message of tolerance and conviviality hidden somewhere in this book. Too bad it gets garbled by all the heavy subject matter Sawyer treats with such unfair simplicity.
Rating: 5
Summary: Intelligent design with a major twist.
Comment: Sawyer's work is among the most intellectually challenging in modern SF. His plots are strong and his characters are interesting, but what makes Sawyer's novels so fascinating is the way in which he blends current scientific thinking with speculative themes. In "Calculating God," this mix includes the debate between evolutionary theory and intelligent design, first encounters with alien species, and a plot by human fanatics.
The story centers on attempts by several alien species to find (literally) God. They have come to Earth to research mass extinctions, which seem to have taken place at the same time on all planets with intelligent life. The major characters are a terminally ill human paleontologist and his alien counterpart. The human, an exponent of modern evolutionary theory, finds himself increasingly intrigued by the alien's vision of intelligent design. As they discuss their different points of view, a friendship develops, and the human becomes a participant in the search.
Although "Calculating God" is talky at times, the action is there. Some reviewers have felt that the ending was lame, but for me, it was the best part of the book. Conceptually daring and (for this reader at least) totally unexpected, it elevated the novel out of the realm of an ordinary story about the existence of God into something totally different. A reader who's looking for some light space opera probably wouldn't like this book. But for someone looking for a more philosophical novel, it would make a very good read.
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Title: Humans by Robert J. Sawyer ISBN: 0765346753 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 15 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer ISBN: 0812580346 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 15 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer ISBN: 0765345005 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 17 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Terminal Experiment by Robert J. Sawyer ISBN: 0061053104 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 May, 1995 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Factoring Humanity by Robert J. Sawyer ISBN: 0765309033 Publisher: Orb Books Pub. Date: 21 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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