Plures Libri - Many books - Muchos libros

Mis Lecturas de 2010

2010-11-22T04:47:00.001-08:00

Esta es una idea fusilada del Diario de la Pelusa. Se lo agradezco mucho

La Amenaza del Caballo Oscuro - Marcus Sedgwick
Cometas en el cielo - Khaled Hosseini
Corazón de Tinta - Cornelia Funke
La costa Más lejana - Ursula K. LeGuin
El Rey del Invierno - Bernard Cornwell
Starwars: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina - varios
The Sandman: Endless Nights - Neil Gaiman
High Five! - Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles
Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein (reread)
The Forever War - Joe Haldeman (reread)
Old Man's War - John Scalzi (reread)
The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi (reread)
The Last Colony - John Scalzi (reread)
Zoe's Tale - John Scalzi (reread)
World War Z: An oral history of the Zombie war - Max Brooks
La Puta de Babilonia - Fernando Vallejo
Cómo Ganar Amigos e Influir sobre las Personas - Dale Carnegie (reread)
The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
The Secret Handshake - Kathleen Kelly Reardon (no terminado aún)
Breathless - Dean Koontz (muy malo)

Books about Books

2009-05-31T09:14:00.003-07:00

This is a translation from my original post over at the Cave.

After reading Ivanius' beautiful article about Ivanius about libraries, I went on a small recursive loop that resulted in a short list of books where books are main characters or motors of the story.

The Name of the Rose
By Umberto Eco: During the XIV century, an eery benedictine monastery is silent witness to a rash of murders related to a misterious book hidden within its library.
The Dumas Club
By Arturo Pérez-Reverte: An antique book hunter gets into grave trouble while researching an original manuscript of The Three Musketeers and an ancient book supposedly written by devil worshippers.
The Neverending Story
By Michael Ende: An introverted boy finds a book called the Neverending Story; reading it, he finds himself one of the characters involved in the rescue of Fantasia from the Nothing.
The Necronomicon and other stories
This "terrible and forbidden" book comes from the imagination of HP Lovecraft and is a main character in many of his horror stories.
The Myst novels: The Book of Atrus, The Book of D'ni and the Book of Ti'ana
By Robyn and Rand Miller in collaboration with David Wingrove: Prequels to the videogame where the books literally transport the reader to different worlds with subtly different natural laws
The Spiderwick Chronicles
The first one of this series of books tells the tale of two children who move to a weird country house, where they find a field guide about the supernatural beings that inhabit the region.

Dear reader, if you think of another title, please add it to the list. I am not including anthologies nor textbooks nor reference works, although I was tempted to include Adler's and Van Doren's famous "How to read a book" for purely sentimental reasons.

Plures Libri suspendido / Taking a break from Plures Libri

2009-02-15T10:53:00.003-08:00

No publicaré más reseñas de libros en Plures Libri.
Esto es debido a obligaciones que han absorbido el tiempo disponible para leer y bloguear.
Si hay que escoger, prefiero leer antes que bloguear.
Sin embargo, seguiré escribiendo en La Cueva y esporádicamente en SesoLibre.

I will no longer post book reviews on Plures Libri.
This is due to obligations that have eaten into what little time I have available for reading and blogging.
Having to make a choice, I'd rather read than blog.
I will however, continue posting at The Cave and sporadically at SesoLibre.

El Maestro del Mal

2008-11-23T10:49:00.000-08:00

El Maestro del Mal - Jim Hougan

El reportero Alex Callahan está viviendo la peor pesadilla imaginable: Sus hijos gemelos de 6 años han sido secuestrados. No hay nota ni llamada exigiendo rescate, y la policía no avanza con las extrañas pistas dejadas por el secuestrador en la misma casa de Callahan: Una camisa manchada con sangre, unas monedas, una pecera con un extraño líquido, y una pieza de Origami.

Callahan comienza una investigación que abarcará las ferias medievales, el vudú y la historia de la magia para rescatar a sus hijos antes de que sea demasiado tarde.

Hay tres problemas principales con esta novela:

El primero es con la traducción al castellano (español de España), que en algunos puntos es demasiado literal y te saca de la narrativa al tratar de descifrar qué quiso decir originalmente el autor.
El segundo es con la ejecución: Aunque el tema es fuerte, la trama se desarrolla a mi gusto algo lenta, y se apoya demasiado en coincidencias.

Breve spoiler a continuación:

El tercero es con esta maldita obsesión del malo del cuento por dejar pistas, si se supone que es brillante y no quiere que lo agarren. Me cuesta trabajo suspender la realidad con ello.

Entretenida lectura si no tienes otra cosa mejor que leer

ISBN - 84-08-05831-2

Oryx and Crake

2008-11-09T09:35:00.000-08:00

Oryx and Crake - By Margaret Atwood

In a post apocalyptic world populated by strange hybrid creatures like wolvogs, pigoons and rakunks, a character we initially know as Snowman is slowly starving to death.

Through flashbacks we learn about a society run by corporations specializing mainly in genetic engineering, creators of the aforementioned hybrid creatures. We also learn about Snowman's obsession with a Oryx, a young girl he saw on a porn website. His best friend, a genius who goes by the nickname of Crake eventually locates and hires this girl as a teacher/prostitute.

Eventually everything goes to hell on a basket, and Snowman is apparently the only human being left, and is charged with looking after the Crakers, a new human species designed by his friend.

I must confess that I had difficulty finishing this one, and the end is too open ended for my taste.

Your mileage may vary.

ISBN 0-385-72167-6

The Ghost Brigades

2008-11-02T17:06:00.001-08:00

Old Man's War - John Scalzi

This is the second part in John Scalzi's Heinlenesque Old Man's War books, and delves into the Special Forces of the CDF, better known as the Ghost Brigades.

In an interesting counterpoint to Old Man's War old mind in young body, Scalzi explores the young mind in an adult body, and describes in some detail the hardware and software that make possible both CDF regular and special forces, namely the BrainPal and SmartBlood technologies.

Charles Boutin, a human scientist has betrayed humanity and is working for the Obin, who are really really nasty aliens, and have crafted an alliance with other hostile species. Boutin's conciousness had been recorded and has been transferred to the body of a new Special Forces soldier named Jared Dirac. The transfer appears to have failed and Dirac is transferred to the Ghost Brigades. But Boutin's memories start to surface, and Jared races against time to understand why his "father" turned against mankind.

Highly recommended, although for more enjoyment, read Old Man first.

ISBN-10: 0765354063
ISBN-13: 978-0765354068

Old Man's War

2008-11-01T14:41:00.001-07:00

Old Man's War - John Scalzi

If you are a Robert Heinlein fan, you are going to enjoy John Scalzi's Old Man's War books.

This first novel has a Starship Troopers flavor to it; it is narrated in the first person by John Perry, a 75 year old widower living on a very crowded Earth who enlists, and describes his experiences as he goes through the ranks in the Colonial Defense Forces, defending humanity against several alien races.

Wait a minute... isn't that kind of old to join the army? That's the premise of the whole series. I will not spoil the fun explaining how the CDF manages to create a geriatric army, but I will mention that some of the things Perry has to do during his tour of duty eventually get to him, and grows weary. But there are a couple of surprises that will keep him on his toes.

Highly recommended
ISBN 0-765-30940-8

2001: A Space Odyssey

2008-10-20T08:46:00.001-07:00

2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke

At the dawn of mankind, a mysterious monolith appears on a plain somewhere in Africa. It probes the brains of a proto-hominid tribe on the brink of starvation, and subtly changes something in their brains that enables the species to eventually evolve into homo sapiens and dominate the planet.

A few millenia later, the spacecraft Discovery is on its way to study the moons of Jupiter, but its real mission is only known to the onboard computer HAL, and one of the scientists in hibernation.
HAL grows increasingly paranoid because of the secrecy of the mission, and that is just the beginning of problems for Discovery's human crew.

The movie and book were developed at the same time. In my opinion, the book does a much better job of explaining stuff.
Although the film is considered by many one of the greatest (if not the greatest) science fiction pictures, it has been criticized as hard to understand. I would recommend rewatching it after reading the novel.

The late Arthur C. Clarke has been hailed as a visionary, having predicted communications satellites and other technologies that exist today or are very near to doing so.
What struck me most was the environmental collapse he describes in the book (and not mentioned in the movie). Sadly, it seems he wasn't off the mark there either.

A must read for any self respecting science fiction fan.

ISBN-10: 0451457994
ISBN-13: 978-0451457998

El Informe de Judea

2008-09-27T18:43:00.002-07:00

El Informe de Judea - Stephen Dando-Collins

En el año 71 de nuestra era, un magistrado romano recibe la orden de probar de una vez por todas que la resurrección de un tal Jesús de Nazaret es un mito.

La misión se complica debido al tiempo que ha transcurrido desde los eventos de Jerusalén, y la mayoría de los testigos son ya de edad avanzada o han muerto.

A la comitiva se unen diversos personajes que tienen sus propias razones para proteger o destruir el documento resultante.

Me gustó la narrativa de la vida diaria en el mundo romano de hace casi 2,000 años. JulioVarrón el investigador, a pesar de sus recelos sobre la misión encomendada, realiza su trabajo lo mejor que puede.

El final no me gustó mucho, pero espero tus comentarios lector, a ver qué opinas.

Recomendable.
ISBN 978-970-780-978-9

Battlestar Galactica: Sagittarius is Bleeding

2008-08-16T09:32:00.002-07:00

President Laura Roslin, recently cured from her cancer, is having strange nightmares that somehow are tied in to the unborn baby the Cylon Sharon Valerii is carrying.

Admiral Adama is trying to find out how the Cylons were able to predict the last jumping coordinates for the fleet. Is there a traitor on board the Galactica? The Admiral will have to make tough ethical decisions to find out.

Further complicating matters, troublemaker Tom Zarek has taken under his wing a group of Midguardians, outcasts who don't share the same religious beliefs as the rest of the fleet.

As a relative newcomer to the Galactica universe and fan of Peter David's work, I really enjoyed this one.
A big plus for it is that it tries to explain why we never see Boxey after the miniseries.

Worth the read.

Dune Messiah

2008-07-11T17:21:00.000-07:00

Dune Messiah - Frank Herbert

Book 2 of the Dune Saga, my least favorite.

Paul Atreides, better known now as Muad'Dib is Emperor, thanks to the stranglehold he holds on the geriatric/hallucinogenic drug known as the spice melange, via his fanatic and ruthless Fremen troops.

The story has Paul spending most of his time lamenting his prescience power, and seemingly inescapable fate, where he is a religious figurehead and a jihad is waged in his name, killing billions upon billions.

The rest of the book is divided about evenly between the conspirators and Hayt, the ghola created from Duncan Idaho's remains with Tleilaxu technology.

The Duneverse is greatly expanded upon, presenting the above mentioned Bene Tleilaxu and their creations, like facedancers and gholas.

It is worth reading mostly because it sets up the next Dune book, where Paul's sister Alia is regent for his chidren Leto II and Ghanima, and how they come into their own.

His Dark Materials

2008-07-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

This trilogy follows two children from different realities or universes, and how their fates entwine.

Lyra Belacqua is from a universe where people's soul or spirit is visible in animal form, and is known as a daemon. She becomes the possessor of an Alethiometer, a rare instrument that can answer any question, provided the answer can be interpreted.

Will is a boy from our reality, who becomes the wielder of the Subtle Knife, so sharp that it can cut through different realities. He is trying to find his father, an explorer who has been missing for ten years.

Their perilous journey is interspersed with fantastic creatures --armored bears, witches, Gallivespian spies, Mulefas-- some of which will aid and others will hinder their quest to stop the dissapearance of Dust, the substance of reality.

Characters who first appear as noble or evil will switch sides several times during the story, which some quarters have criticized as being "anti-church" and "anti-God". While some of the acts these characters do sometimes are terrible indeed, there are moments where the reader will wonder "would I have done any differently?".

The film adaptation of the first book was in my opinion, superb. I wonder how the rest of the books will fare, since there are scenes that may not translate well into film. Think of Stephen King novel adaptations to cinema. Some are very good, but the ones with the more fantastic elements end up looking ridiculous on screen. I fear for the Dark Materials.

Dune

2008-06-10T17:18:00.002-07:00

Frank Herbert's seminal work, considered by many the greatest SF book. I haven't made my mind up about that yet, but it is definitely in the top 10, possibly top 5.

Set thousands of years into the future, the story revolves around a desert planet called Arrakis, also known as Dune, which is the only known source of Spice melange. This drug is the basis of all interstellar travel, commerce and power, very much like oil today.

However, Dune is incredibly harsh; giant worms "swim" through the sand, capable of swallowing whole spice processing factories. Also, the desert people, known as Fremen make life difficult for miners, prospectors and soldiers alike. And they have a dream.

Two families, the Harkonnens and the Atreides have been feuding for centuries, and when the Harkonnens conspire with the Emperor Shadam Corrino to hand over Dune to the Atreides and betray them, a series of events involving young Paul Atreides unfold that will have far reaching consequences for the whole galaxy.

The novel explores religion, politics, ecology, power and technology in an intriguing way, as villains and heroes conspire, plot and counterplot both on the battlefield and in the palaces.

In these new times of ecological awareness, this book provides food for thought, and leaves us wanting more... Fortunately Mr. Herbert wrote five sequels before his death. Afterwards, his son Brian teamed with Kevin J. Anderson to write more sequels and prequels in a manner much like the Starwars expanded Universe.

El niño con el pijama de Rayas

2008-05-11T07:48:00.005-07:00

El niño con el pijama de rayas - John Boyne

Bruno es un niño de nueve años que vive con sus padres y su hermana. Debido al trabajo de su papá la familia se tiene que mudar, lo cual no le agrada ni tantito.

Sin embargo, pronto conocerá a Shmuel, y tratará de entender porqué vive del otro lado de la cerca.

Este relato nos lleva de la mano por el mundo según los niños es a mi parecer paradójico, pues crea una sensación de inevitabilidad acompañada de una porción de esperanza. No puedo decir más sin revelar demasiado de la trama, solo me queda recomendarlo ampliamente para adultos y jóvenes.

ISBN 978-84-9838-079-8

Linked

2008-03-28T10:05:00.001-07:00

Linked - How Everything is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science and Everyday Life - Albert-Lázló Barábasi

This is not an easy book to catalogue.

It deals with the mathematical properties of networks, but is not a math book.
It spends time on social networks, but is not a sociology book.
It talks about movies, but is not about Hollywood.
It also talks about the spread of AIDS, epidemics and pandemics but is not a medicine book.
The Internet and Google figure prominently but it is not a computer science book.

Prof. Barábasi takes the reader on a tour of various subjects, pointing out the characteristics of their networks, for instance:

A technology (for instance, PDAs or vaccines) will get adopted by the mainstream not because of the early adopters, but because of their friends who become convinced of the new technology and they will spread the word to the rest of the non nerd population.
Resilience vs. vulnerability - The Internet is resilient, but is vulnerable to attacks or failures, if these take place in specific hubs. One only has to remember how India's Internet access was severely disrupted a few months ago, when a transatlantic cable was accidentally broken.
The behaviour of genes is not only at the structural level, but also at a functional level. This means that it behaves differently at various levels.

Once you read this book, you will begin to see network behaviour in many different places during an ordinary day.

Strongly recommended

Kane and Abel

2008-03-27T16:48:00.003-07:00

Kane and Abel - Jeffrey Archer
Picked this one up from my sister's library because I'd forgotten to pack a book on a quick business trip; I'd heard of Jeffrey Archer, but never read anything of his.

Originally published in 1979, this parallel lives novel follows a Boston banker and a Polish immigrant, born on the same day, but worlds apart. Eventually both become very successful in their respective careers, and also bitter enemies who try to destroy each other over the years.

Recommended

The Forever War

2008-02-24T14:45:00.003-08:00

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman

Young William Mandella has been conscripted by the UN in humanity's war against the Taurans.

However, due to the nature of interstellar travel and Einstenian rellativistics, he only ages months while on Earth centuries pass.

The book is divided into sections called "Private Mandella", "Sergeant Mandella" and so on, chronicling his climb up the ranks -- more from luck than skill or leadership. Eventually he and his true love, Marygay Potter become the "oldest" active combatants.

Mandella has trouble fitting into society, because of the changes in language, ethnicity and sexuality over hundreds of years, which to him, feel like only four.
Eventually he is reunited with Marygay and they begin a life together.

This book is sometimes considered an antiwar response to Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers; it has also been said the book is the author's narrative of his Vietnam war experience with a Sci-fi veneer.

I enjoyed it very much, and I am on the lookout for A Separate War, by the same author, which tells Marygay's story of the time she was separated from Mandella.

UPDATE Oct 20th, 2008:
Ridley Scott has acquired the film-rights to Joe Haldeman's magnificent, Hugo-award-winning classic science fiction novel, The Forever War.
Via Boing Boing

ISBN 0-312-29890-0

La Historiadora

2008-01-27T05:24:00.000-08:00

La Historiadora - The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova

Este es un replanteamiento de la historia de Drácula, narrado en primera persona / forma epistolar por 4 protagonistas en diferentes épocas, alternando entre presente y pasado, para llegar a un clímax en el "presente" del libro, que resulta anticlimático.

Disfruté el ambiente académico que se respira, la evocación de los lugares (pasados y presentes) en que vivió Drácula, quien aparece hacia el final, pero con una caracterización muy interesante: la de un hombre sofisticado, amante de los libros.

Aunque tiene momentos forzados, y algunos personajes acartonados, es muy disfrutable; si Umberto Eco escribiera una historia de vampiros, el resultado podría parecerse a "La Historiadora".

Edición en español - Umbriel Editores

Stardust

2008-01-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

Stardust - Neil Gaiman
En inglés, en español

Reseñé la película en mi otro blog, y dejé claro que era una mamarrachada gringa hecha al vapor.

Sin embargo, mis amigos el 7 palabras e Ivanius comentaron que el autor de la novela, Neil Gaiman es un gran escritor contemporáneo, que además es famoso por la serie de cómics de Sandman para Vertigo comics (que no he leido).

Con esa recomendación del libro, fue una grata sorpresa recibirlo como regalo navideño de un muy querido amigo, al que le quedé mal con el suyo, pero generó buen humor.

Tristran Thorn es un joven que vive en Muro, un pueblo que toma su nombre del muro que separa los mundos de los humanos y de las hadas. Está locamente enamorado de Victoria Forrester, y promete traerle una estrella que ha caído esa noche.
Se aventura en el mundo mágico, donde capturará a la Estrella caída, conocerá diversos personajes y tendrá aventuras que lo harán madurar de muchacho a hombre, además de descubrir su verdadero origen y destino final.

La mayoría de las aventuras se deben a que la Estrella es un ser codiciado en estas tierras, y el joven Tristran pasa de secuestrador a héroe en un proceso lleno de conversaciones y reflexiones filosóficas interesantes y muy "británicas".

Tiene sus momentos para adolescentes y adultos, tanto románticos como de violencia, pero bien dosificados.

Si cometiste el error de ver la película, te recomiendo que tomes esta lectura y le des una oportunidad al Sr. Gaiman de atraparte en su mundo fantástico.

Reseña de la película aquí

Aikido - La armonía de la naturaleza

2007-12-31T18:46:00.000-08:00

Aikido O La Armonía de La Naturaleza - Mitsugi Saotome

Esta obra está dirigida al practicante de Aikido que desea profundizar en la filosofía del Fundador O Sensei, y comprender porqué este arte marcial se define como "El Arte de la Paz".
También le servirá a la persona que quiere entender un poco de este extraño arte donde buscar proteger a tu oponente.

Este no es un libro dedicado a técnicas de Aikido, pero sí encontrarás la descripción detallada cómo se relacionan algunas de ellas con las diferentes energías y fuerzas de la naturaleza, además de diferentes anécdotas de la vida en el dojo de Morihei Ueshiba. Como extra, el último capítulo tiene normas de conducta y etiqueta en el dojo.

Desde el punto de vista técnico, me abrió los ojos la explicación de la importancia del ma-ai -el espacio- y el de-ai -el tiempo- al atacar y defender. Aikido es armonía y ritmo.

Merecen especial atención los capítulos de la segunda mitad del libro, en especial la distinción entre el bujutsu -las técnicas de la guerra- y el budo -el camino del guerrero-

El Aikido busca proteger a todos, el Atemi-waza -el golpe- no es para herir o romper, sino para distraer y desequilibrar.

Desde el punto de vista espiritual, aclara que el Aikido no es una religión, pero es una filosofía y estilo de vida muy espiritual. El autor incluye elementos de diferentes religiones para aclarar la filosofía de hacernos uno con la naturaleza y esa energía primera que algunos llaman Dios.

No puede faltar en la biblioteca de cualquiera que desee ser un Aikidoka serio.

Legends of Dune

2007-12-19T12:51:00.000-08:00

For those fans of Frank Herbert's Dune saga, his son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have teamed up to shore up the backdrop of the saga itself

This Trilogy consists of three works that explain one of the main tenets of the Dune Universe, the religious ban against thinking machines, bringing into context the importance of the melange in Herbert Sr.'s saga:

The Butlerian Jihad
The Machine Crusade
The Battle of Corrin

The events in this trilogy take place over ten thousand years before the original Dune saga.
Humanity has raged a war against the thinking machines, led by Omnius, the AI (Artificial Intelligence) bent on galactic domination, and assisted by the Titans, cyborgs with human brains and mechanical bodies.

Arrakis is just a desert planet, where a few Zensunni nomads eke out a meagre living, and live in fear of the desert worms.

Vorian Atreides, the son of one of the original Titans is a trustee of the thinking machines, and has grown up believing in the lies his father, the great Titan Agamemnon ; eventually he goes to the humans' side and becomes great friends with Xavier Harkonnen.

Fans of the "Duneverse" will finally find out the reason behind the feud between the Harkonnen and Atreides Houses. As with all epic conflicts, this began with a great friendship.

We also meet the individuals who eventually create the groups that are major players in the Dune Universe: The Bene Gesserit, the Shipping Guild, the Arrakis Fremen, and the Mentats.

Although somewhat repetitive in parts, I enjoyed them very much, and got more "into" the Dune Universe.

Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron

2007-09-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

X-Wing Rogue Squadron - Michael A. Stackpole

Seven years after the Battle of Endor, Wedge Antilles is rebuilding Rogue Squadron.

One of the new hotshot pilots, Corran Horn, a former Corellian Security officer has trouble fitting in with the rest of the Squadron.

Meanwhile, an Imperial Intelligence Officer is plotting the destruction of Rogue Squadron...

No Jedi in this one, lots of dogfights, and likeable two dimensional characters in the best Starwars tradition, complete with a pompous protocol droid, and a smartass R2 unit.

Nothing extraordinary, but a good light read for those who need their Starwars fix.

El Libro del Aikido

2007-07-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

El libro del Aikido - John Stevens

Este pequeño libro es una fácil lectura que nos presenta la vida de Morihei Ueshiba, el Gran Maestro creador del Aikido, la filosofía y espiritualidad del llamado "Arte de la Paz".

Incluye también una descripción de técnicas básicas, así como de las diferentes escuelas de Aikido existentes hoy día.

Muy útil para los que empiezan, o los que quieren conocer qué es esto del Aikido.

5 de 5

ISBN 84-7245-523-8

El Sueño de Inocencio

2007-07-15T19:15:00.000-07:00

El sueño de Inocencio - Gerardo Laveaga

A pesar de haber sido criado en la fe católica, no había oido hablar de este Papa, Inocencio III.

Este hombre fortaleció la Iglesia católica, que estaba a punto de fragmentarse y de ser absorbida por el imperio germánico. Estableció los mecanismos de la confesión y matrimonio indisoluble para amarrar su poder sobre los reyes y emperadores de la época.

Estableció que la consagración de la eucaristía es una verdadera transfiguración en el cuerpo de Cristo.
Anteriormente solo se consideraba que era una remembranza de la Última Cena.
Asimismo, "unificó" la "imagen estándar" de Jesucristo.

Desfilan personajes conocidos como Ricardo Corazón de León, Francisco de Asis, Clara de Asis y otros no tanto, pero cuya influencia en la Iglesia sigue teniendo efecto hasta nuestros días.

Una recomendable lectura para aquellos interesados en la historia, la política de la Iglesia y la religión.

Gracias a Roberto por prestarme este libro.

5 de 5

ISBN - 968-21-1295-8

Timescape

2007-05-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

Timescape - Gregory Benford

Reread this one recently.
Published in 1980, it is a time travel story (of sorts), where a team of scientists in 1998 attempt to send messages to 1962 so mankind avoids certain global actions that cause an enviromental collapse in their time.
The catch is they have to avoid the grandfather paradox; they want to avoid the enviromental collapse, but without changing history so much that they eventually don't send the message back in time.
Considered "hard" sci-fi, the story sometimes plods along, and there is no climax to the story in itself, until the very end.

3 out of 5