Destination: Void

Rating:
Summary: It could have been better!
Review: A chilling look at how we can manipulate our "prime motivators" and outselves.

Overly jargon-ish (I am an AI professional, and I found it profoundly difficult to follow along in some passages), and tepid in some places. Would have made an AMAZING short story.

Rating:
Summary: a good book but...
Review: but when you compare it to other frank herbert books it falls a bit short. the charachters and the story are not as well envisioned as others he has done. it is a good idea to read this book if you want to read the jesus incident.

Rating:
Summary: A little trippy, but a must for the Herbert libray
Review: Destination: Void centers on man's attempts to create an artificial mind, and the consequences its birth. The book has its strong points, and its failings, however small they may be. The most striking downside is how much computer technology has advanced since the writing of the novel. (A great deal of time is spent on detailed specifics of the characters' computer system, and it is central to the story.) There were a couple of leaps of logic in the plotline that seemed a little tenuous as well. However, overall the upside outweighs the downside. The most exciting thing for me in reading this novel was that it provided a fascinating view into Herbert's creative process. It felt to me as though Herbert was trying his hand at certain writing techniques, certain technologies, etc. There are also some very intriguing references to Axlotl tanks. Makes you wonder if Herbert may have had in mind an even wider sweeping expanse to the Dune Chronicles. This book is best appreciated by the devout Herbert fan.

Rating:
Summary: Superb!
Review: Destination: Void is perhaps my favorite Frank Herbert novel. Mind-blowing dialog discusses the nature of consciousness while the action unfolds at a lively pace. The description of computer circuits seems at once arcane (reflecting the 1966 publish date) but strangely fresh and compelling. Somehow, Herbert's extrapolation from 1960's computing machinery makes the computers more entertaining and more tangible (there are lots of wires and flashing lights instead of chips, for instance). Additionally, Herbert's characters have their own realistic-sounding mathematical jargon that makes it fun to try to understand what they are saying. In this respect, it reminds me of the descriptions of the math of "psychohistory" in Asimov's Foundation.

The real strength of the book, though, is the constant narrative and ruminations on thoughts of artificial intelligence and consciousness (and fortunately Mr. Herbert only indulged himself with an expected but brief discussion of "consciousness-expanding" drugs in a subplot!)

Rating:
Summary: The very best "speculative hard" SF...
Review: Having glanced at the reader reviews "Destination: Void" has collected so far, I cannot pass by on the other side. True, it is 30 years since I read it in college. But it is still among the best ten books I have ever read - and I have read many thousands since then. The difficulty is that it is deliberately aimed at a rather limited audience. In a world of commercialism run wild, this is refreshing indeed.

Herbert does not complicate matters wilfully, but on the other hand he makes no concessions whatsoever to his readers' ignorance. He assumes that they are interested both in technology and in the problems of existence, consciousness and religion. There should be plenty of people like that out there, right? Maybe they are all too busy doing useful work to read SF novels!

The upside is that Herbert is a real expert, and even allowing for the 30 years that have elapsed (a huge chasm in terms of technical progress) this book is vastly superior to the schlock that passes for SF today. The Tin Egg has the authentic feel of an experimental interstellar spaceship, whereas starship Enterprise is basically a flying playpen.

As for the science, it isn't too clear just where the facts leave off and the fiction sets in - and that is good, too. Suffice it to say that we still aren't any closer to cracking artificial intelligence yet, let alone artificial consciousness. (See Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" for another approach to the latter). So Herbert's speculations have hardly dated at all.

Personally, I rate "Destination: Void" as Herbert's best book, ahead of Dune, The Dragon in the Sea (Under Pressure), Dune Messiah, and The Dosadi Experiment. A matter of taste, I guess.

Rating:
Summary: Not Herbert's best
Review: I am in general a fan of Herbert's writing, and sought out and bought this book since it contained the story leading up to The Jesus Incident.

Herbert tends to idealize his characters' observational abilities. In this book, however, he takes it a bit far in the sense that he lets the characters read from each others' body language and behaviour things that simply cannot be deduced from those contexts in such a way. A bit too far towards mind-reading, in my opinion; it continually broke off my identification with the characters and thus made the book appear very fragmented.

Frank Herbert is none the less intriguing to read, so while this book would deserve a mere 1 on a Herbert 1-5 scale, it gets a 2 on a more general scale.

If I was to finish this off as the review I would have liked to read before reading the book, I would say: "Drop reading this book, and go right on to The Jesus Incident. The Jesus Incident is fully independent of Destination Void."

Rating:
Summary: Groundbreaking Sci-Fi meets Platonic Dialogue
Review: I happened to come upon a yellowed, 75 cent copy of Destination: Void while browsing through a used book store. The title intrigued me and I was familiar with Herbert's writings so I bought it. When I finally got around to reading it-- I was amazed! It followed a storyline that seemed, at first, to be a cliche sci-fi plot of colony-ship-meets-computer-intelligence, but emerged as an incredible tale. It is, I must admit, a bit technical. Jargon and concepts from computer programming and other areas of science were prevalent, but could be understood from context without an extensive scientific background. Aside from all that, the dialogue between the four primary characters developed into a discussion on the nature and origin of intelligence, religion, and life itself. No new age factless speculation here: arguments were carried out on a firm and cogent level palatable to academics of all sorts. I firmly recommend this book to any mature person who wishes to investigate what it is we mean when we say we are 'conscious'.

Rating:
Summary: Not very good
Review: I love Herbert, my favorite book of his being Dune with none of his others coming anywhere close. That being said, D: Void is my second favorite of his books. I love it that Herbert's characters seem to almost psychically be able to interpret each other's body language. I love the pacing of Herbert's prose, and I love the concept of this book. I like being walked through, step by step, what is necesarry to create an intelligence. It's like getting a crash course on the inner workings of the brain. It's fun, it makes you think, and the writing is so classically Herbert.

This book is obviously not for everybody. It's skewed to ideas rather than a narrative story (such as Dune), but the ideas are interesting, fun to think about, and I believe, still timely.

(8 out of 10)

Rating:
Summary: Mind-bender to read, but recommended to Herbert-lovers
Review: I love Herbert, my favorite book of his being Dune with none of his others coming anywhere close. That being said, D: Void is my second favorite of his books. I love it that Herbert's characters seem to almost psychically be able to interpret each other's body language. I love the pacing of Herbert's prose, and I love the concept of this book. I like being walked through, step by step, what is necesarry to create an intelligence. It's like getting a crash course on the inner workings of the brain. It's fun, it makes you think, and the writing is so classically Herbert.

This book is obviously not for everybody. It's skewed to ideas rather than a narrative story (such as Dune), but the ideas are interesting, fun to think about, and I believe, still timely.

(8 out of 10)

Rating:
Summary: Not very good
Review: I picked this up because of the author's name, having read Dune, but was very unhappy with the science of the book. People can only exist in micro-gravity for 2 hours before they'll die? Huh? Sitting at the controls of a ship headed for a star would be stressful? -- Why would that be? -- I'd imagine the real problem would be boredom. And the computer science is so dated as to be unreadable, which is why I put the book down.