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Cosm

Cosm

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Flat, boring, stagnant
Review: I have read other books by Greg Benford and have been surprised by the difference among them. His weakness is characterization - they just sit there No true internal development; this was especially true in this case where he stars as a young black cosmologist. The premise sounded great (don't they all) but NOTHING HAPPENED. The characters never really showed any excitement over what could have been a defining moment in science. I was still waiting after the last page for the action to begin. I can't think of one memorable experience from this book I will keep. Don't waste your time with this one!!!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Academics good, character not
Review: Gregory Benford's COSM was a very fun book to read. Benford described the politics of academia quite well and without sounding petty. In addition, his presentation of the 'pocket universe' was very interesting and well described for those of us who do not have Ph.D.s in physics. Of course I expect such expertise from Benford and don't think I can add anything to the comments by such luminaries as Marvin Minsky and Freeman Dyson that appear on the dust cover. The book has some weaknesses, however. Benford's ambitious attempt to get into the mind of a black female fell a little short. He relied on stereotypes and ignored many racial issues, justifying his choices by calling his protagonist a scientist and thus outside of racial (and most sexual) issues. Overall, this is a good and pleasant read, but mainly for the science, not for the main character.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cosm is a thrilling sci-fi book, one on Bendord's best
Review: This book thrilled me and excited me, as I followed the strange and wonderful life of the Cosm. The book is well writen, but ends a little abruptly. Anyone who has ideas about the formation of the universe should read this!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great hard SF - Mediocre personal drama...
Review: I bought this book as a 'travel companion" at the Albuquerque Intl. Airport, because it's title and front page struck me. I must admit I had never heard of Benford before, but 'hard' SF is the only SF I read. And as such, this is indeed a great book. This book really benefits from Benford's expertise. Research and experiments are described very well...fascinating, compelling, and nonetheless funny (I really liked a lot the quotes). On the other hand, I have to agree with some of the other reviewers, inasmuch the "private life" stories are "not really interesting" at best. A lot of times I was tempted to skip paragraphs and pages. But still, I really enjoyed this book, and I'm definitely buying another "Benford" - next time I am at Albuquerque Intl. Airport.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: GREAT READING--BENFORD AT HIS BEST
Review: This book MOVES--and excites the mind, too. Ignore the John Grisham fans and Styar Wars freaks--this is real science fiction, written by a real writer who knows science, and what it can mean. The best novel of the last year!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A TRULY ADULT HARD SF NOVEL--A CLASSIC
Review: I cannot fathom some of the comments here--are they from children? This is a brilliantly written, stylish, mind-expanding novel that deserves much wider attention. Treasure Benford or he may write less!--a loss for literature.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Benford fumbles interesting premise
Review: Once again, Benford shows us how real scientists work. But these scientists are curiously detached from the world around them and as a result the larger implications of the Cosm are only headlined but never explored. In fact, the protagonist's lack of concern for scientific ethics and the consequences of her research are disturbing.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A very boring miracle
Review: I am actually quite angry about this book. I initially put off buying it because of the mixed reviews, even though I knew that eventually I would have to read it. After all, the whole premise of the book is just so wonderfully exciting. So, I finally broke down and bought the book and started to read it. And found out why so many reviews were negative. The ideas presented in this book are so exciting and mind boggling that it is almost impossible to render them in a way that bores the reader. Yet Benford manages to do so. Because his characters are boring, and he goes far too deeply into their equally boring private lives, about which the reader has no interest. As long as he is talking about the "Cosm", as long as he is explaining the science involved in the story, everything is fine. But he keeps going off on these tangents, probably trying to personalize the story and give his characters some life and depth. I,for one,didn't care at all about the people, but was skipping pages to get more information about the Cosm. Unfortunately, very little was forthcoming. Benford should have written this book in the first person rather than trying to inject reality into a female black physicist. He isn't a woman and he isn't black, and his character has not enough reality nor depth to hold our interest. She doesn't even really get excited about creating a universe in a lab! She is not authentic, and all of the attempts to detail her personal life are a waste of time. I really wanted to like this book. The ideas presented are so interesting and so wonderful, it is a real pity that so much time was spent pursuing the throwaway characters instead of the really important ideas, which are crying out for concentrated discussion and exploration. As Michael Crichton and others have demonstrated, if your ideas are good enough, your story will be carried on the strength of those alone. Character development is not needed, but Idea development is.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Waited for something to happen - nothing happened!
Review: I kept hoping that the book would have a point. Nothing really emerged. Usually Benford tells a story. This one is slow reading with a few contrived chase scenes thrown in without reason.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: 6 good ideas do not a novel make
Review: I eagerly picked up this title when I saw it was out. As a scientist, I've always appreciated Benford and Cosm looked like an excellent prospect. Unfortunately, the book is strictly linear, with gobs of filler in between the 5 or 6 good ideas that it contains. Unlike the best in SF, Cosm does not present the reader with a small view into a much larger place. Instead, it reads like a mechanical excercise in churning a book out. Benford can and should do better. A disappointment. Only saving grace is the insiders look at the world of big science.


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