Rating: 
Summary: Good Science, Good Story, but...
Review: Manifold: Time is filled with some good scientific stuff, especially if you have an interest in quantum mechanics and similar fields but don't know much about them. It also presents some theories that are a bit more...let's say, wacky.The story is also interesting. The plot itself was fairly interesting, and the way in which it is written - by continually switching viewpoints - keeps you on your toes. It tackles some neat concepts and in the end, comes out ok. There a few problems, the largest of which is that the book has light material for a very, very heavy subject. This is a fun romp through off-the-beaten path science by an crazy billionaire mixed with apocalypse theories, the purpose of humanity, and characters that could have been drawn out far better. All of those are interesting (well, maybe not the last item), but do not mix well. It also brings up some neat ideas about the need for children (and the need of parents to have them) which I felt could have been brought out a bit more. In the end, a fun read, but I'd suggest one of the Xelee Sequence books (Ring, Flux, Raft...) for first-time Baxter readers. Saltz
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your time
Review: This book was terrible. The characters were lousy and I didn't care about any of them. The story was slow and boring. And the science was just too much. I know, it's supposed to be "hard" science fiction, but if you like it that hard, I'm sure that there are some science textbooks out there that would have a better story and much better science.
Rating:
Summary: Science played out in fiction
Review: David Deutsch of Oxford University has said of the Universe's complexity, "If we nudge one of these constants just a few percent in one direction, stars burn out within a million years of their formation, and there is no time for evolution. If we nudge it a few percent in the other direction, then no elements heavier than helium form. No carbon, no life. Not even any chemistry. No complexity at all." Baxter plays out this scenario to its logical conclusion, the end of our Universe and far beyond. How would you like to save the world? Would it be enough? How about saving the Universe? The author's tightly-plotted tale has a core of realistically-depicted, three-dimensional characters (and two strong female characters just for good measure), and it's well worth a read.
Rating: 
Summary: Good science, but depressing
Review: Baxter's novel Manifold: Time is a mind-boggling exercise in concrete scientific concepts put to theoretical use. It is interesting, well-written, and intellectually stimulating. But it has rather thinly drawn characters, and the ending, which is perhaps meant to be uplifting, strikes a depressing note. Baxter tells us his story using multiple points of view. Some characters appear once, and others many times. We occasionally feel some emotion for them, but not much, because they rarely seem fully realized. This book is enjoyable if you wish to read about informed concepts (Baxter has a doctorate in aeroengineering research), and it is successful enough to have been nominated for the 2000 Arthur C. Clark Award. But don't read it for a human story, unless you're interested in one on the galactic scale.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting, if uneven
Review: "Manifold: Time" is Baxter's most Arthur C. Clarke-ian novel to date: a bold, original retelling of "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Childhood's End." The first in a trilogy of cosmological thrillers, "Manifold: Time" is crammed with edgy physics, a rousing argument for colonizing the Solar System, and a large cast of interesting characters whose lives interpenetrate in unexpected ways. Baxter's story-telling ability is in top form, rewarding readers with the thrill of discovery and "sense of wonder" equated with the best of hard SF. "Manifold: Time" is a riveting, if uneven, novel that takes us to the edge of reality and back again. Novels like this make me appreciate the SF genre and its singular virtues; Baxter's cerebral vantage on humanity's place in the cosmos makes for an intellectual and philosophical experience not to be missed.
Rating:
Summary: BORING!!!
Review: This is a short review, so bear with me. This book is VERY boring. I read some of it a year ago, so I have forgotten about it, but what I remember is that it was boring beyond imagining! I had to FORCE myself to read it, because I had paid for the stupid thing out of my own pocket, and it really was horrible...
Rating:
Summary: Mind-bogling
Review: This is really remarkable, a tour de force of "hard" science fiction ideas (real theories put to speculative uses). A dimly perceived catastrophic fold in time will wipe out humanity within two centuries. Ostensibly a story of space exploration to escape Earth, deeply layered logical and physical extrapolations draw one wider and wider into fundamental questions of existence, life, and purpose in the universe. Baxter gives us extraordinary visualizations of other universes than our own, endlessly evolving, that would make a great special-effects movie from this book. Until the end you don't realize how much Baxter manipulates the few characters through petty conflicts for cosmic ends rather than drive them from their thin personalities. The mutability of existence eventually turns upon the main characters as well, the author almost starting the story over again with literal second thoughts. Among the disparate elements woven into a fascinating story are sea-creatures already adapted to null gravity, dooms-day equations, the End Times hysteria, super children, and quarks. There's even a list of the science sources for Baxter's most outlandish propositions.
Rating:
Summary: Fairly Rotten
Review: So, after reading a slew of post modern fantastic reality/mythic stuff by Gaiman, Mieville and others, I was in the mood for a good hard science fiction book. Stay with me...so I figure, you know, I keep hearing about this Baxter guy...He's even won science fiction awards and such. Plus, I love "time" stories (think Connie Willis). So I picked up this "Manifold:Time" thing. The thing is, it had a neat looking paperback cover too. Let me tell you - think twice before you make a similar choice.
This "story" (and I'm using the word generously) is nothing more than a painfully dull exercise in rehashing all the recent Hawking-type physics speculation that's been going around. The plot, if you can call it one, follows a ultra wealthy space advocate trying to save the human race from an earth-bound destiny. Geeze...Baxter throws in an ex-wife who just can't forsake her super-rich hubby, some emotionally devoid autistic kids, and a handful of super geeks who really have no business in the plot other to endlessly explain scientific theories to the more mentally challenged "characters" (and us, the readers, evidently). In fact, ALL the characters are emotionally void - not only the ones with autism. The most interesting person in the entire story was a squid...
But, don't get me wrong - if you like page after page of plotless, characterless scientific banter of a speculative nature, by all means buy this book...
Rating:
Summary: Fairly Rotten
Review: So, after reading a slew of post modern fantastic reality/mythic stuff by Gaiman, Meiville and others, I was in the mood for a good hard science fiction book. Stay with me...so I figure, you know, I keep hearing about this Baxter guy...He's even won science fiction awards and such. Plus, I love "time" stories (think Connie Willis). So I picked up this "Manifold:Time" thing. The thing is, it had a neat looking paperback cover too. Let me tell you - think twice before you make a similar choice.
This "story" (and I'm using the word generously) is nothing more than a painfully dull exercise in rehashing all the recent Hawking-type physics speculation that's been going around. The plot, if you can call it one, follows a ultra wealthy space advocate trying to save the human race from an earth-bound destiny. Geeze...Baxter throws in an ex-wife who just can't forsake her super-rich hubby, some emotionally devoid autistic kids, and a handful of super geeks who really have no business in the plot other to endlessly explain scientific theories to the more mentally challenged "characters" (and us, the readers, evidently). In fact, ALL the characters are emotionally void - not only the ones with autism. The most interesting person in the entire story was a squid...
But, don't get me wrong - if you like page after page of plotless, characterless scientific banter of a speculative nature, by all means buy this book...
Rating: 
Summary: Pure "Science" Fiction
Review: True lovers of "pure" science fiction will love this book. When I first started to read the book and its reference to communicating with the future, I thought it might have borrowed its subject matter from Benford's award winning "Timescape" novel. Boy was I wrong. Though the premise was somewhat the same, Baxter took time travel to a whole new level. This book not only made you think, but was able to convey theoretical physics in such a way that it didn't detract from the story. Some authors like Kim Stanley Robinson seemed determined to impress you with their scientific knowledge at the expense of the story (readability). I enjoyed the twists and turns of this novel and will begin reading the second book in the series immediately.
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