Flashforward

Rating:
Summary: Four solid leaps into the future
Review: I have always been partial to Robert Sawyer, as he is Canada's greatest borne and bred and still resident science fiction writer. Perhaps I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt especially when he rejects the staple of most Canadian writers; the government grant. That being said, I liked Flashforward. It is a good, solid, well researched, and well written novel. It's perhaps not his best but it's good.

Flashforward is set at CERN in 2009. Its primary protagonist is a Canadian scientist working at CERN trying to detect the illusive Higgs boson. The new ultra-high energy experiment causes everyone to see through their own eyes what they will be doing some 20 years in the future for two minutes. When the experience is over there have been accidents and deaths as a result. Some people see futures they don't like. Others see nothing indicating that they won't be alive in 20 years. Flashforward is an exploration of the problems caused and philosophical points raised.

Do we have free will? Is the future predetermined? Why do some relationships succeed and others fail? These are but some of the questions that Sawyer raises. Typical Sawyer themes are present including his interest in longevity/immortality. I am impressed that Sawyer can approach so many of his recurring themes from a fresh angle every time.

Sawyer's novels all appear well researched with the science not front and centre but well supported. If one is a techie then there is technical content. If one isn't then the technical content doesn't get in the way of the story.

Flashforward is a good novel but not without some weaknesses, principally in the ideas that it presents. For instance, Sawyer implies that the world of 2030 will have greater sexual freedom than today/2009. How much greater freedom could there be? On the one hand Sawyer implies that greater sexual freedom would be a good thing. On the other his protagonist regrets that someone had his divorced fiancée before he did. Sawyer also skips over the effects of marital breakdown and absentee parents on the development of children. Perhaps Sawyer will tackle these issues in his next novel.

While I like to wave the Canadian flag as often as possible, I think that Sawyer has overdone it. Some of the Canadian references make great in-jokes for Canadian readers and don't detract from the story. However, Sawyer gives some Canadian institutions, particularly the CBC, far more prominence than they receive internationally.

Flashforward is worth reading. One of the subplots has a thrilling climax. It will make the reader think. The ending is a little untidy but so is life.

Rating:
Summary: Good solid read - dense, but light (?)
Review: I read this on a camping trip, and polished it off in the space of a day. It's since become one of my frequent re-reads. It's a good book, with a really great hook for the story. Sawyer does have a bad tendency to suddenly drop in a couple of pages at a time of expository physics lecture, but (strangely) they don't _seem_ intrusive when they appear. Overall, worth buying for a compelling read.

Rating:
Summary: Is the future inevitable?
Review: Although this isn't among Sawyer's best, the issue he raises is one worthy of further discussion. 'Free will' remains one of the most compelling of human ideas. With geneticists demonstrating the impetus given our behaviour by our DNA, what is inevitable and what is left to chance? What actually drives our behaviour and how far into the future might we be able to predict? If we can garner a glimpse of the future, will that future necessarily be fixed? Sawyer gives us one means of assessing that question, although the technique he uses here is questionable. His resolution is far more mechanistic than anything even the sociobiologists have suggested.

It's fascinating to read critiques of Sawyer's characterizations. Depicting persona is easily Sawyer's finest quality as a writer. His characters may not be charming nor even heroic, but they are certainly real people in every sense of the term. Lloyd Simcoe [how Canadian!!] can be readily condemned for his waffling, but the description of his mental gyrations are portrayed with fidelity. Theo's obsession with avoiding an untimely demise is hardly far- fetched under the circumstances. Even Cheung, a man of vast wealth and power, while not an original figure, is certainly conveyed from genuine models. What person of his status wouldn't undertake the realization of immortality if the chance presented itself?

Those critical of Sawyer's scientific basis are simplistic. His science is sound, but shouldn't be taken as providing any final resolution to the many questions he raises. The issues remain open until we've delved much further into ourselves and the universe around us. The real problem with this story is Sawyer's ultimate acceptance of the Frank Tipler model of the future of humanity. Humans appear wholly incapable of envisioning that along with the rest of the animal kingdom we will go extinct. This is particularly amazing in view of the fact that we seem to be bringing that about ourselves. The Dyson sphere is a human-centred idea overlooking the diversity of life on this planet. A beautiful idea, but one dooming the remaining life on our world. Could we truly become immortal in such an environment?

Rating:
Summary: Excellent hard science fiction
Review: This book has the elements that attract me most to science fiction---interesting speculations about future technology, and a careful examination of the consequences of that technology. The characters are interesting, and their personalities are in line with the way many scientists truly are. Theo's pursuit of Michiko in the end was a little puzzling (if she blamed Lloyd, why not him too?), but this is the only complaint that I had.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: I truly enjoyed the idea behind this book. How would the path humanity takes change if given a glimse of the future? Mr. Sawyer has done an excellent job at developing the main characters (Lloyd, Michiko, and Theo) and presenting a storyline that is not only fascinating but thought-provoking. You will definitely want to pose the question of immortality to yourself after reading the book and you may either strongly agree or disagree with the choice Lloyd makes. The story gets very 'technical' in some areas, but it doesn't detract from the main story. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing ideas, unlikeable characters
Review: The action in this book starts fast; in fact, the main idea of the story occurs on page 5. The appealing part of the novel is the philosophical consequences of people seeing three minutes of their life 20 years in the future. I thoroughly enjoyed the 'news items' at the beginnings of the chapters.

My problem with the novel is that most of the main characters are either unlikeable or unremarkable. I especially found the Theo character loathesome; I was rooting for the villain to kill him at the end. The main character was harmless enough, but his finance was annoying. The only intriguing character was the 'geeky' scientist who courts the woman who he saw in his vision of the future (making love in their lab, no less).

The dialogue in this book was somewhat stilted, but it didn't bother me as much as the characters.

Rating:
Summary: Even with free will, you won't be able to stop reading
Review: Do we have free will? Or is everything preordained? As a rationalist, I thought the former was true, but Sawyer makes a compelling case drawing on modern physics that the latter is really the case. His story is poised right at the edge of our real world. It takes place at CERN (a real particle physics lab in Europe) and involves the Large Hadron Collider (which CERN is really building) and echoes the concerns of a few years ago when we were worried about a plutonium bearing satellite possibly breaking up and polluting the Earth about just who has the right to make decisions that just might affect all of humankind. The characters---Swiss, Canadian, American, Japanese, Chinese---are all well drawn. Sawyer perhaps makes too much of a tangential parallel to the movie THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL but that's a minor quibble. This is a first rate novel.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting premise
Review: This was a good book which posed some very interesting ideas. The plot was fast moving, well thought out and kept me up late at night(!)

a few minor flaws were towards the end, when things began to get a bit trite..

If you are in the mood for a novel that presents an interesting idea then this is the book for you

Rating:
Summary: Now my favorite author
Review: Sawyer just gets better and better with each new book. Believe me, I have read them all! I could not put this one down! Great premise and great characters. He has got to be the best "Hard Sci Fi" writer in the world right now!

Rating:
Summary: Totally enjoyable
Review: I didn't know what to expect from Mr. Sawyer. I had not read any of his works. I picked up this book and could hardly put it down. The story line is fascinating. The only thing I did not care for was how it ended. I got a bit lost in the "scientific" concept of time switching, and why it could not be done again. But, in all the book was a great read, and a roller coaster in development. Enjoy!