Rating: 
Summary: Please Let there be a sequel
Review: It is hard to talk about this book without giving too much away, but if you love scientific intrigue, wonderful characters, and a page turning plot, then this is the book for you!
Rating:
Summary: Best Book I've Read in Years
Review: I've been really picky of late, and have set aside more than one book because I couldn't get into them. This book, however, I read in less than 24 hours. I literally could not set it down.
Rating:
Summary: Very ingrossing... couldn't put this book down...:)
Review: If you like to think in cutting edge terms and ideas, this book is just what you need... The ideas in here are very mind boggling, makes you look into yourself, and ask very relevent questions.... I highly recommend this book.... :)
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Summary: Darwin's review -- a review of Greg Bear's "Darwin's Radio"
Review: In "Darwin's Radio," Greg Bear takes us around the corner in time, to turn-of-the-millennia Earth -- a place where humans and humanity will never be the same again.In the tale, the world is gripped by a virus -- or more specifically, a retrovirus -- that is threatening humankind's continued existence, by, among other things, making women miscarry or bear disfigured and dead babies. The kicker is the virus originated not in the jungles of the Dark Continent, like AIDS and Ebola have, but rather, in the darkness of our own genes. The heroes of the story, Kaye Lang and Mitch Rafelson, stand against the world in their belief that the virus isn't going to destroy humanity, but rather supplant it with a newer version of man -- instant speciation, versus progressive, "survival of the fittest" speciation that conventional Darwinism supports. The idea is provocative, especially in these millennial times, when we seem to be expecting something new, exciting, or different to happen: maybe Jesus will return, maybe the aliens will come, maybe the Y2K bug will destroy us all. Or maybe, in one generation, we'll all evolve into something a little better than what we are today. Bear writes a tight, well-paced story, and peoples it with characters -- like Mitch and Kaye -- who the reader can both like and empathize with. He also wisely minimizes the polarizing evolutionism-creationism debate -- the story is about what we might become, not what we came from. Nonetheless, it's clear that, fictional or not, Bear, like Darwin, has a theory of evolution. The story is told well throughout, but the tension that drives most of the story ironically peters out at the climax. Perhaps it is because the reader knows almost from the start that this is a story about our evolution, and not (necessarily) our demise. Thankfully, Bear doesn't try tossing us a red herring here to throw us off. Still, the end is very gratifying -- but that's all I'll say about it. Bear has drawn from the headlines of today's science journals to extrapolate a tomorrow that is very plausible -- a tomorrow that we should hope to live to see.
Rating: 
Summary: Greg Bear boldly ventures into Robin Cook territory
Review: Greg Bear is a SF writer with an excellent range. While his novels uniformly show a joy in describing unusual and exotic extensions of science as we know it, from the nanotechnology of Blood Music to the unusual physics of Moving Mars, he has always kept the human element front and center in his writings. We care about the people who inhabit his worlds. Darwin's Radio is a story about people and differences. A story about the prejudice of being different, being ostracized, being demonized, being hated and feared. A story of how resistant people are to change, be it changes in scientific theories, changes in what they look like. It much resembles the medical thrillers of Robin Cook. Interestingly enough, there is even a reference to a character reading one of his novels.The plot itself is straightforward enough. SHEVA, an agent lying dormant in our very cells, in our very genes for millions of years, has started to act of its own accord and begun to infect women and men, causing strange pregnancies. Is it a virus? A mutagenic agent? A sign of the end of humanity? Or the mechanism by which the next step in evolution will take place? Several well drawn viewpoint characters, from a discredited anthropologist, to a scientist critical to the discovery of the agent are our windows into this near future world. Perhaps focused on as much as the science of SHEVA is how the scientists and ordinary people react to its seemingly implacable onslaught. All too plausible to me, as a graduate student of Biology, is the reluctance of academics and ordinary people alike to see the truth for what it is for the mere reason that it contradicts beliefs they hold dear. The blinders worn by many of the characters are all too real. The reaction to the fact that SHEVA evidently overturns formerly accepted ideas in Biology, Anthropology and Evolution is dealt with in realistic manner. In many science fiction novels, such paradigm breaking discoveries would be accepted meekly, without protest, without debate. n Darwin's Radio, Bear's scientists are much more human and much more self interested. The power grabbing by one character, using the crisis of SHEVA as a means to political power, is another fine touch. The chaotic and often irrational reaction of the general public to the crisis is also gripping, scary and page-turning. Darwin's Radio is indeed science fiction, but it is science fiction which does not spend so much time on the science that the rest of the novel suffers by comparison. As a matter of fact, the book could be effectively marketed as a general fiction novel. It's a science fiction novel for people who would not be caught dead reading a science fiction novel, yet shows clearly Bear's strengths at keeping the science plausible to satisfy even the most devout SF fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor story line
Review: I'm going to keep this review short. Just wanted to give a rating so that system is fair, meaning the ratings are not filled with all 5 star people telling you to buy it. The book meanders through needless details that do not contribute anything to the story. Main characters husband commits suicide, big deal. They find neanderthals with speciation, big deal. Read Eon by Bear, it is much better and more imaginative.
Rating: 
Summary: An evolutionary threat or a bold leap forward?
Review: Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio was an intriguing look at humanity's grappling with a virus which apparently causes women to have an abortion, but a month after this abortion takes place, the women find they're pregnant again, often without even having had sex. In response to this, riots break out all over the world as people fear these strange occurences and a possible end to modern society as we know it. In the midst of all this is Dr. Kaye Lang, a molecular biologist who has some interesting theories on this supposed virus and its real purpose, and Mitch Rafelson, a palentologist who's discovered the remains of a man, woman and baby from thousands of years ago who may have been experiencing a similar evolutionary process. The book does a very good job of giving the main characters proper attention. Each character is well defined and their complexities are explored. But, I have to say that the book may have went a little too far in this pursuit. I often found that I wanted more discussion of the attempts at studying and dealing with the virus, but instead much of the book focused on the personal lives of Kaye and Mitch. Although I must admit that the developments between them weren't completely immaterial, the description of the book on the back cover is rather misleading. I would hardly say that Kaye Lang and Christopher Dicken race to solve an evolutionary puzzle. Despite the fact that the novel headed in a rather different direction than I had anticipated, it was fairly entertaining. The premise was really rather interesting and I liked the questions which were raised by the unfolding events. This novel really had much to do with human nature and questions concerning our own origins. Plus, I hadn't ever read a science fiction novel dealing with evolution so it was a nice change. Overall, I would say read this book if you're really interested. It may not be exactly what you expect, but that doesn't mean you won't like it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent--easily Bear's best!
Review: I am not a professional reviewer. I read for enjoyment, predominately Science Fiction and some Fantasy. I read the Hugo and Nebula nominees and as many of the "Locus" recommended list as I can every year. I've read several books by Greg Bear including the EON series, The Forge of God, and Moving Mars. I've enjoyed them all; Darwin's Radio may be his best. So, I will say up front that I enjoyed this book, very much. It is entertaining. It is easy to read despite the medical and biological terminology, of which there is much. As usual, Bear's science is sound, plausible, and seamlessly fits into the story. The science enhances the story. The characters are engaging and likeable (for the most part); you care about them, especially Kay and Mitch as their relationship develops. However, if you are cynical of today's politicians and senior government officials, you may become even more so after exposure to those characters in the story. As far as shorting comings, I found the pacing of the story to be a bit inconsistent, but not overly so. I just know that at times I couldn't turn the pages fast enough as I was thoroughly engrossed in the story, while at other times I was saying to myself, "come on, let's get on with it." Once example is the part of the story line where Kay's husband Saul is involved. This sad episode may have provided an extra glimpse into Kay's humanity and compassion; but, the overall book might have been a bit tighter without this strand of the story. Finally, the ending satisfies and tantalizes. It leaves some questions unanswered; it cries sequel! I hope there is one and I hope it is soon.
Rating:
Summary: Close, but not quite great
Review: Human DNA appears to have a large amount of "junk" material (introns) that doesn't appear to do anything. Greg Bear (and some evolutionary biologists) suggests that at least some of the junk is actually a code for evolution. Others suggest that they are simply old viruses that humans defeated by absorbing them. This book tells the story of how some of these intron sections come to life. Is it an evolutionary change? Is it an old retrovirus coming back to life? This story is one of scientific debate and politics interwoven, two camps develop, arguing over the virus vs. evolution question. Throw in a pinch of religious debate, and you've got the making of a top-notch scientific thriller. The first half of the book doesn't disappoint - it's a page turner as the "virus" appears to be spreading uncontrollably, causing an alarming number of miscarriages. The government of the U.S. evokes martial law in all but name to try to clamp down on the disease, which naturally causes civil unrest and domestic violence. As the scientists scramble to understand what is going on, a split occurs, especially after evidence is found of a subspeciation event in the distant past - a family of mumified neanderthals (homo sapiens neanderthalis) with an offspring that was apparently a modern human (homo sapiens sapiens). Unfortunately, the narration runs out of steam in the latter half of the book, as we wait around with the characters to see if any infected mothers can give birth to viable offspring, and if such children are a new subspecies. By the time the last 100 pages roll around, we've already figured out what's going to happen, and there are few surprises. Scientifically, I enjoyed the book emmensely. A little knowledge of biochemistry helps, but there is a primer at the back and a glossary of scientific terms for those that have never learned much biochem. Unfortunately, most characters in the book are two dimensional. For example, all evolutionary biologists believe in the classic Darwinian (i.e. slow and constant) evolution instead of punctuated evolution (characterised by no change followed by a period of rapid development); I've never met a modern researcher that believes in classic evolution - it seems like all the scientists in this book are living in the 1950's! And, as is usual in science fiction, Christians are classified solely as evangenical bible-thumping creationists who hate science, and all other religions are ignored; again, the majority of Christians accept evolution (albeit controlled by God), but few science fiction writers seem to realise this. Greg Bear is obviously not one of them. Thus, while I enjoyed the book on a scientific level and found the first half to be exciting, on the whole it's only worth 3 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Good science, not so good story telling
Review: Bear does good homework with the science part, but misses the ball on the fiction part. The accounts of the inner workings of genetics, molecular biology and evolutionary biology begin to get in the way of telling a story and making us care about the central characters in the novel. I like Bear and read through this book rather quickly, because I did find it entertaining. But he needed to spend a bit more time crafting a story and a little less on the wonkery of the biological sciences. I felt as if I needed a stack of reference works in the field to keep up. I found myself either ignoring some deep science parts or refering back to the included glossary of scientific terms. I enjoy reading a novel more without drowing in a sea of acronyms.
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