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Liked It “Timescape (1980) 366 pages by Gregory Benford |
Didn’t Like It “Half of the scenery is set in the future, which is 1998. The future reads like a set from Leave It To Beaver, with June Cleaver housewives who put out for James Bond! As a fan of most anything which remotely covers time travel, this was just way too tedious and contrived for me. Sorry, Gregory.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Timescape (1980) 366 pages by Gregory Benford
John L wrote this review 9 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I really liked this book. Benford did his best to give us a plausible way for the future to contact the past. There are two sets of characters, past (1962) and future (1998). In 1998 the world is a mess, Renfrew happens to be doing his work with tachyons, which happen to travel backwards in time. They just don't interact with any matter, except indium. It turns out back in 1962 Gordon Bernstein was doing an experiment with indium, but he was getting all sorts of noise in his results.
You have the main storyline of the 1998 team trying to contact the past to somehow save the world from ocean bloom, algae that is covering the oceans and killing the aquatic life beneath, and it's growing worse. Then there are the storylines for sets of characters in the two different time frames. We get to see Gordon's mother who doesn't like the fact that he has a non-jewish girlfriend. i.e. he humanizes so that we get to know them and care what happens.
There's more science in there, too. How do we avoid a paradox?
Timescape is worth reading. I wouldn't say make a special trip to the used book store to find it, but if you happen to stumble across it, picking it up would be good. ”“Half of the scenery is set in the future, which is 1998. The future reads like a set from Leave It To Beaver, with June Cleaver housewives who put out for James Bond! As a fan of most anything which remotely covers time travel, this was just way too tedious and contrived for me. Sorry, Gregory. ”
Annabelle wrote this review Tuesday, June 23 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“it's a slice of life here, scientific life, as mr. benford takes us on a journey from an important discovery being made, to it's exploration, to it's eventual presentation to the public...only this discovery can save the world. sounds hokey, true, but mr. benford's touch is a deft one, carefully intermingling the facts that carry the story along with the varied personal concerns of the scientists and their significant others. there's megalomania, adultery, showboating, backstabbing, character assassination and that before you even leave the lab! an interesting read undoubtably, seeming more like tradition thriller fiction than science fiction...but there's science in there, yes indeedy do, you betcha. tachyon molecules, wormholes, loops in loops of time, etc., etc., etc. i don't know if i'd care to read it again, though...”
kevin michael w wrote this review Saturday, July 19 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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