Rating: 
Summary: Take me to your...dinosaur guy
Review: Catchy title. It'll make you look, maybe even read. Since I was
raised on the Golden Age of science-fiction, I've haven't read that much for years. Recently, I've started taking a look at the newer stuff--and, darn, some of it's pretty good. Sawyer's a case in point. This particular novel is, for one thing, just
chock-full of pop culture. Second, it's funny--the alien, whose name is Hallus, offers to do an anal probe on the first human
he meets, is not the slightest bit interested in any of the
cliched "take me to you leader" nonsense, and tells the police to take a hike (he appear to be somewhat of a fashion plate, too). Third, Sawyer makes this a philosophical/
religious novel, but it able to make it interesting rather than pedantic. Fortunately, he has no particular idealogical ax to grind. He plays around with a lot of ideas, and all are given equal time. This is the first novel by Sawyer I've read, but it
won't be the last.
Rating: 
Summary: Great premise - poor execution
Review: Someone had to have asked Robert Sawyer if he thought he could get away with a deus ex machina as the grand finale for an SF book. He tried it. He didn't pull it off. The idea that a chunk of rock the size on Manhattan Island fell on planet earth sixty-five million years ago has become a theory that gains credence as more and more evidence piles up. And, of course, it was more than a little convenient - if not absolutely fortunate - for lil' ol' homo sapiens. Clearing out the dinosaurs left an ecological niche big enough for mammals, who eventually resulted in us. Sawyer then presents aliens who tell us that, yup, a big rock fell on our planet about the same time. And, curiouser and curiouser, another rock fell on a planet just a few light years down the way, and now there is a race there who just happen to be at the same tech level we enjoy.
That alone is enough to make me ask, "Say what?" After sixty five million years. homo saps have had a recognizable technology for maybe 4,000 years? Compare that to sixty-five million, and it has the thickness of one page in a Grisham novel. And I'm supposed to buy the proposition that two other races just happen to be a few hundred years ahead of us after such a long time? I don't think so.
Finally, there is this inconvenient supernova in the neighborhood, and if it has it's little tantrum, all three planets harboring sentient life will be sterilized. ....This is not a good novel for anything except starting a lively, if not rancorous, discussion at a science fiction convention.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: Let's start of by saying that at times I find the arguments of Intelligent Design proponents worthy of at least thinking about. Michael Behe does make one think, and Sawyer takes his ideas and uses them in what I think is his most ambitious work to date.
Traditional theists and traditional evolutionists will not like many of the ideas in this book. Remember it IS fiction, but of course, Sawyer seems to see that both sides have some merit to their arguments. In THIS book, theists seem to win out, but I think that this is consistent with Sawyers other books which indicate that there is SOMETHING out there, somehow. I found this to be an honest perspective of a scientific mind who understands both sides of the debate.
At times, he makes characatures of evangelicals...we are not believers of Duane Gish's horrible Creation Science, and I think I have a healthy scepticism of intelligent design theorists. Yet, I still am an evangelical and Sawyer allows that there can at times be some scientific arguments out there, though I nor many people think they are by any means conclusive.
Right until the end I was enthralled with this book, but it is the end that seemed to be hastily written and unfulfiling. On the other hand, perhaps it is just too hard to write about meeting God.
Read and Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A Fantastic Read
Review: What was immediately striking to me about this book was its tone. Humor pervades the novel from start to finish. The principal alien character has a fantastic sense of humor. The interactions between humans and aliens serve to bring out our human nature by contrasting our view of the universe to those held by the aliens. The book is also interesting due to the amount of education it provides on a number of topics. Supernovas, evolution, psychology, religion, and societey among others. A book that manages to remain light hearted even when it probes the greatest mysteries of all. Death, nature's desire to transcend death, and how death and suffering relate to the entity that created the universe. I do not have a problem with the ending as most reviewers did. I did not find it anymore unrealistic than the beginning. An alien landins in front of a museum (in Canada of all places) and asks the security guard to speak with a paleantologist. If you can deal with that, you should be fine with the ending. A great read. I recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A fine book by a fine SF writer
Review: Those of us who have been reading science fiction for more than a couple of decades are notorious for complaining that so few modern writers in the genre live up to the old masters. Well, I'm happy to report an exception. Robert J. Sawyer writes excellent stuff, and this book seems to be as good a place as any to start (both reading and reviewing). I tend to evaluate SF writers/books along two dimensions -- one for the techie stuff, as measured against James P. Hogan (one of my two favorite living SF writers), and one for the humaneness of the characterization and plot, as measured against Spider Robinson (my other favorite). It's hard to find anybody who does well at both; Charles Sheffield, for example, rates pretty high on the first axis but not too high on the second, and Connie Willis is approximately the reverse. Well, Sawyer measures up well along both dimensions. His plots include both plausible extrapolations from current science and his characters are always interesting and engaging. And he writes very well; it's hard to put one of his books down once you've started it. This one is no exception, and it's one of his more ambitious efforts to date. The plot: a non-Terran spacecraft sets down outside the Royal Ontario Museum, and an eight-legged alien (named, as it later emerges, Hollus) walks into the museum and asks to see a paleontologist. The paleontologist on call happens to be Tom Jericho, who happens to have cancer. And when he learns that on Hollus's planet, scientists think it's just _obvious_ that the universe was designed by an intelligent God, he finds that he has to deal with his own reasons for not believing in God. ("If there were a God, cancer wouldn't exist." The Oncological Argument?) Most of the plot is devoted to scientific and philosophical discussions between Jericho and Hollus. These are well done; Sawyer is right on the money in his characterizations both of the shortcomings of Darwinian theory and of the "fine-tuned" nature of the universe. (Check out Michael Denton's _Evolution: A Theory in Crisis_ and _Nature's Destiny_ for good discussions of all this stuff.) Sawyer's own resolution of these issues probably won't please too many traditional theists and I think it's questionable on other grounds as well. But hey, that's what speculative fiction is about, and Sawyer's speculations are veeeeeery interesting even when they're not altogether convincing. (I won't spoil things by giving away any details, but I think I can mention that the Oncological Argument does receive an answer in the end. Not a Pollyanna-ish one, either, but still a hopeful one.) So why did I deduct a star? Partly because Sawyer's two "fundamentalist/evangelical" characters are such stereotypical caricatures, and partly because I think he rushes his ending a little. But he's a fine writer and very much in the same class as the old masters of the genre. SF has _always_ (a) dealt with tough theological issues and (b) proposed solutions that depart from both the religious and the scientific mainstream. Sawyer continues this tradition and adds lots of new twists of his own.
Rating:
Summary: He¿s cheating!
Review: I was absolutely enchanted by this book: the story itself, the main character's struggle with God and his own manifested mortality, the aliens ... it's just great. If I have one objection and therefore won't give it five stars it's that at the end Sawyer cheats. In the book he mentions Carl Sagan and his novel "Contact" with its somewhat similar theme. Well, Sawyer fails by that standard. Because the end he wrote an oh-so-nice end solving it all: God, cancer, the works. Some things are best left unexplained and in the realm of believe. To do otherwise is risky - the end of this novel is not up to the standard of its main body. It looks like a desperate search for a miracle - like cheating.
Rating:
Summary: What've I've always suspected....
Review: I have lived my entire life trapped between creation and evolution. My father is an excellent biology teacher (he, of course, is required to teach evolution and not creation). I have always been a scientific mind that still went to church every Sunday. Now, I study philosophy in graduate school. This book spoke to me in a way most books do not. I will say that there are low points- quite a few typos in the copy I have. The ending was a little weird, but what sci-fi novels aren't, really? 2001?? I have always suspected that humans are becoming more ignorant because of all the dumbing down we do in N. America. I was so shocked to have found a kindred spirit in Sawyer. He is the only author I have ever read who head-on addresses the issue of proven science versus blind faith without pandering to his audience. I believe that, at least in America, the media teaches us that being smart is stupid (think Ross on Friends-they make fun of him for enjoying science). I've never been so sad while reading a book as I was with this one. Tom's fight against cancer is very hard to read. You want there to be a magical cure, and it speaks volumes about Sawyer that he doesn't create one. There's no miraculous savior here. I'm also sad because I totally see what Sawyer sees in the world: ignorance and violence and no way to pull out of it. But the world is also extremely beautiful. I might be a little holier-than-thou, but I don't know why others aren't believers in evolutionary creation. The world is too perfect to have been accidental, and studying science has taught me that. It doesn't concern me that some others didn't like this book. It's so rare that an author seems to speak right to you specifically, and Calculating God did that for me. It might not for you, and that's the point. Read somebody else who speaks to you.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly saddening ...
Review: If you expect a novel full of action and surprising twists of the plot(s), forget it. This book expects a high degree of technical, cultural and scientific education from its readers. But those who appreciate contemplation and a deeper approach to characters that are doubt-torn when they ask about the sense of their existence will have exactly a story they enjoy in their hands. It is very fitting that in the discussion about the question if there is a creator or not the protagonist is a dying man. His character, his despair, his unanswered questions and his doubts are all too credible. The book has a - minor - flaw, though: its ending. Of course, it is technically difficult to make a dying man end his story. But here, in comparison with the whole quiet and contemplative story before, the ending seems pompous - and vague at the same time. I did not expect answers to the questions discussed in the book, but in the end everything is drifting into nowhere, and this is a bit disappointing.
Nevertheless, it is a very interesting and in a way a pleasantly saddening novel that shows us how really unimportant we are.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a Good Book
Review: The premise is interesting, but the narrative is poor, most of the characters are weakly drawn, and the dialog is forced. Overall, not a book I would recommend
Rating:
Summary: Unique aliens and a use of modern science, Not bad.
Review: "Calculating God" is a modern sci-fi work that uses a good sense of humor and modern scientific theories to tell a pretty good story that turns some sci-fi standards on their heads. This story is about the possibility that the scientific maxim, "we are not special in this universe," is wrong. This is a very unusual viewpoint for anyone to take, since science has been working under the assumption that this maxim is true for hundreds of years. This view is expanded upon through many discussions, and is backed up by some recent theories on the universe and evolution (with the help of some future theories from the aliens). The backbone of the story is that aliens have come to the scientific conclusion that god exists, at least as an intelligent designer of the universe. The aliens think and act surprisingly human. Although this seems unrealistic at first, it can be easily justified based on the premise of an intelligent designer. The upside is that this allows for aliens that are easy to identify with and have a wonderfully human dry sense of humor, (to paraphrase) "I can give you a...probe if you want. ... I'm kidding. Seriously, what is it with you people and cattle?" Earlier when I said "modern sci-fi," I meant that to anyone who has read some of the older classics of sci-fi, it is very obvious that this was written recently. Even if you remove all the references to our current culture and modern theories of science, the tone of the book has a very modern feel to it. From the flippant humor of the aliens, to the characterization of the cancer-stricken protagonist, it's all a very accessible book. That being said, "Calculating God" still has one essential element that has permutated almost every great work of sci-fi: unreal discussions about philosophy that seem to espouse the author's viewpoint. Thankfully, probably owing to its modern style, they aren't nearly as long-winded as they tend to be in other sci-fi works, and at least these stay on topic with the main story. One other striking difference between this book and many other books of sci-fi is the ending. Without giving too much away, the second-to-last chapter basically ends with, "and they left on the spaceship to find the stars." This abstract beginning of a journey is where many sci-fi works end, and might have even made a halfway decent ending for this book. But not for Sawyer. Next chapter, "They arrived." Sawyer makes the leap and gives an actual ending for his novel, which might be a disappointment for some people who weren't given what they were expecting, or were simply expecting more. There is definitely something to be said about ending with an abstract beginning of a journey, especially in cases where a satisfying ending can't be found. That's how I felt about this book, although I did appreciate that the protagonist's story was brought to a close. My last thoughts on this book are that it's very good, but not great. Some of the characterization and dialog was a bit too typical for my tastes, and it seemed that the wrong parts of the story got the focus at some points. Overall it's fun enough to read, has a rather unique take on aliens, and is just plain interesting enough that I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a good sci-fi book.
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