The Light of Other Days

Rating:
Summary: Satisfying Read
Review: It takes a certain type of book for me to read. Firstly it needs to be cutting edge. Secondly it needs to be factual, I need to feel like I have learnt something relevant to me. Thirdly it needs to excite me.

The Light of Other Days did all this, and more. Not only did it have all of my required elements, it also explored the social ramifications of the technolofy that it introduced, in as many ways as it could.

The book explores what a society would be like if all windows were open. What is everything you did in the present, and in the past was open to everyones scrutiny. A new technology is invented that allows just this.

Nearing the end of the book I began to worry that the finish was going to leave me disappointed, as many books do when they don't wrap things up neatly. I have to say that the end of The Light of Other Days left me feeling satisfied.

This is my first Arthur C. Clarke book, but not the last. This experience has me wanting more.

Rating:
Summary: The soap opera of time
Review: If only Arthur C. Clarke had written this by himself! It might have been a masterpiece on the order of Childhood's End or Against the Fall of Night. But alas, the WormCam discoveries about the true past, the best parts of the book, are diluted by insipid main characters involved in a tedious plotline that all too often sinks into silliness and melodrama. Some of the writing is rather poetic and evocative, particularly the concluding tour back to the beginning of life on earth. But far too much of the book is a predictable novel-by-numbers exercise. The worst bit of unpredictable nonsense is saved for the end, however. In perhaps the most absurd epilogue I've ever read, in a remarkably off-hand way the right-to-life agenda becomes the sudden and insane conclusion. All in all, this is a disappointing book, considering Clarke's many other fine imaginative novels.

Rating:
Summary: Colorful, imaginative, but didn't hold me like "Trigger."
Review: As usual, I see a book with Arthur C. Clarke's name on it, and I pick it up. I'm not much of a novel reader, but his are the few I will read. I'm not sure of Clarke's specific influence on this volume--that may be for the better as, if his influence stands out clearly, his contribution seems contrived to sell the book--and I'm not familiar yet with Baxter's other work. Like I say, while it was good, it didn't keep me glued to it like another Clarke co-authorship, "The Trigger." And, before I forget, I'm amazed if not amused by some other critiques, particularly those obsessed with religion. Gimme a break, folks. That's what fiction is all about: imagination, speculation, even controversy. The speculation that Jesus may have been the illegitimate son of some kind of Roman official is not a new one. True or not...IT'S A NOVEL! (When it becomes an attempt at revisionist history, to make some kind of ideological point, THEN I criticize it. Until then, give the authors credit for their imagination, or their use of others' speculation, for cryin' out loud!)

I liked the intriguing concept of this novel, observation of different time and/or space using a camera or WormCam, consisting of a time/space wormhole. But what that theme reminded me of was consumerism. I never cease to be amazed, in these hi-tech, ostensibly affluent times, by people who can't afford to feed their kids yet who carry beepers, cell phones, lap top computers. This WormCam reminds me of that: people obsessed with it to the point that it is addicting; people are submitting to treatment for their obsessive use of the device as an escape.

I was distracted a little by some of the subthemes. For instance, there is an enormous asteroid, far larger than the one that wiped out the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago, that's to hit earth in 500 years, and, for now, there isn't anything we can do about it. The indifference and nihilism this brings about is one of those subthemes. Another is a person who's so obsessed with the death of her daughter that her whole life is dedicated to avenging it. I guess those literary devices gave the story more depth and realism, but I found them a bit confusing; I'd nearly forgotten they were part of the story until they reappeared as subjects later in the text.

Some of the predictions are rather ominous. Predicitions, for example, in the late 20th century of overpopulation, and pollution problems were UNDERestimated. Having spend a few years in one of the most crowded spots on earth, I tend to agree with that projection, so they were welcome to me. But the "pro-life" crowd would find them repulsive and "unrealistic."

And the part I will remember most because of the art of the wording took place near the end of the book. Characters are using human DNA and the WormCam to search ancient history for human beginnings, REAL beginnings. The descriptions of early earth were wonderful, and showed that life proceeded not at a steady, consistent pace but in jerks, then setbacks. So the asteroid is just another historical recurrance, like many others that preceded it. Back to the very beginning, they were shocked to find...well, I'll let you, the reader, discover that, lest I give away a worthwhile theme.

Overall it's a good book but I doubt you'll be glued to the chair while you finish it, except maybe throughout the colorful description of the earth of our distant ancestors. Oh, by the way, yes, I've been enticed by this one to read more of Baxter. May you be so-graced.

Rating:
Summary: Looks like a great premise for a screenplay
Review: In general, I liked the story! The premise of being able to view historical events as they happened is an extraordinary idea! Just think! We could launch a browser and watch the real Crusades etc! The story has credible character development, but takes off on tangents with them occasionally. The sex parts are okay, but I'm old enough and have read so many novels with steamy stuff that I'm really unimpressed. "This ain't no bodice-ripper!" The technology parts and business parts were interesting. IMHO: several directions could have been taken with the main premise, and they could individually have been developed better. All-in-all, this left me wanting more, not satisfied. I would go 3.75 stars - not 4.

Rating:
Summary: Seedy sex fiction masked by good sci fi precepts.
Review: I purchased this book mainly because it has Arthur C. Clarke's name on it. I have read many of his books, but I had to stop reading this book before I was 1/2 way thru. There is entirely to much explicit description of seedy trashy sex in this "sci fi" novel. I am very disappointed in Mr. Clarke. I would hope these sex parts were not his doing. He has succumbed to the general decay and slide of novels to be masked sex fiction. I could get better FREE seedy sex stories off the internet. You can discuss immorality and sexual perversion voyeurism that would happen with out the explicitness and vulgarity. Any reference to Jesus Christ must have been very little and near the end of the novel. This "science fiction" novel is definitely not worth buying as is. Of course there is some good "hard science" concepts, but they were not developed enough. This was another example of an author resting on his luarals and taking advantage of his name for financial gain which is sad.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put It Down
Review: There aren't many books that will make me put my life on hold to finish it, and this was one of them. It's not just the great writing technique, it's not just the highly-creditialed authors, and it's not just the interesting action. Like all Arthur Clarke books, this one makes you think. In this case, you're left in a deep state of distraction about the sociological consequences of a radically invasive and dangerous technology. Did anyone see the articles about Bill Joy, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems who said, "We are dealing now with technologies that are so transformatively powerful that they threaten our species"? (Washington Post, 4/16/00) This book is right on the money; it could easily be the grist for a hundred serious PhD dissertations. BUY IT! You're not often going to read such a well thought-out and relevant work of science fiction.

Rating:
Summary: very disappointing
Review: The worst of Clarke's books...more sex fiction than science fiction.

Rating:
Summary: More tingly sense-of-wonder from Baxter!
Review: I was joyed to see two of my favorite authors together on a book cover when I walked into Barnes and Noble! Sir Arthur and Stephen don't disappoint. I've come to really love Baxter's stuff in the last year, and I believe you can see more of his influence in this book than grandmaster Clarke's.

A fairly short book, an easy read, a fast pace throughout. Nicely deals with people's reaction to a paradigm shift in how we see each other. If anything, I think the reaction of society should have been more extreme.

I'm not giving away much when I say the book's wormhole past-viewing capabilities allow us to follow the lives of historical figures...including a touching and respectful chapter on Jesus (the authors could have done even more, but shied away toward the end), but the plot does not focus on any one period of history.

The plot focuses on the arrogant leader of the company who developed wormhole technology, and the difficulties that he puts his family and associates through, seamlessly integrating high tech speculation with personal stories. All this occurs under the spectre of a huge comet impact several centuries in the future. As humanity nears its possible end, we are given our past.

If you've read Greg Egan you might like some of the themes at the end, which concludes with a great Baxter sense of wonder chapter...he's great at the big-picture stuff (see the Xeelee books!), and a cool Clarke-ian epilogue.

I think the novel might make a good movie.

I think reviewers here bandy about the 5-star ratings a bit too liberally, so I'll give it a 4, since there are other books by the two I like even more, but seriously, don't miss this one.

Rating:
Summary: Better than Crichton
Review: Anyone who read Micheal Crichton's Timeline & thought it was passable should read this to take a look at how a true SF master treats a similar subject. Based on the same principle of quantum foam and wormholes Clarke comes up with an engrossing story of what it would mean for society if everyone could see through space & time.

Rating:
Summary: Wormholes and Society
Review: Imagine you own a piece of technology that allows you to view any event, in the present or the past. This technology, and its effects on society are made real through "The Light of Other Days" by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter. This book is set about fifty years from present, when the Earth is inundated with advanced technology but still retains the basic problems man has endured for all time - war, famine, water availability. A visionary company and researcher invents a WormCam - a device that opens a wormhole anywhere in the past or present. Through this wormhole anything can be viewed exactly as it happened (or is happening). At first this "time viewer" is used for news stories, voyeurism, spying, etc, but as the public gets hold of it, sweeping changes begin to occur in society. I have heard this book labeled as "hard SF" (hardcore science fiction) but I believe that even people mildly interested in science fiction would enjoy this book very much. What really captivated me was how the book started out fairly close to modern times, but then showed the rapid, awe-inspiring change in the human race as the wormhole technology finds new applications. Perhaps even bringing humanity to a kind of transcendence. As the FBI agent Michael Mavins of the book argues: "I have the feeling that wherever we're going, wherever the WormCam is taking us, it's somewhere much stranger." This process and the trials of the human race along the way make for an exciting and a thought-provoking read.