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Summary: a smart book about time travel and humans confronting it
Review: It is one of my favourite books (it explains my e-mail) since i discovered it in 1982, in a paperback edition. It is not a common SF novel, nearly a main stream one. That's why it could, as some other reviews show it, disappoint a few readers. It is in fact a hard SF novel but which doesn't shy on caracter developpement. It is also a fine novel in its structure opposing two area, one full of promises (the sixties), the other dark full of fear (1999, the present of the novel). It is quite an original novel with its attempt of realistic description of scientists at work and their intercine rivalry bu with their very humane private life. It exploits cleverly scientific speculation about time travel communication by Faster than Light Particles and parallel universes. It is also a complex novel as its protagonists slowly realise the truth. In brief one of the finest Benford novel, close to the more recent "Cosm".
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Summary: !!warning!! prerequisite for this novel: physics 101
Review: Timescape, in my opinion, is a really great novel because it forces the reader to learn something about physics weather or not he or she is aware of it. I really enjoyed Benford's ideas on the paradox and how he eventually solves the riddle. Many aspects of this novel kept my interest level up; however, not being a savant in the sciences, I must admit that some of Benford's complex explanations of time loops and equations were enough to drive me crazy. P.S. Gregory if you read this, did you really have to let Peterson get to Marjorie!!!
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Summary: GREAT BOOK
Review: Exciting, engaging and ultimately very affecting (I can't say why without a big SPOILER!)I loved this book, both for the science, for the characters - I even put up with the environmentalist message (which would usually cause me to hurl!)
Rating: 
Summary: THIS was worth a Nebula award??
Review: So Gregory Benford is a physicist himself. Great! I can appreciate a scientist dousing a sf story with mounds of science. But - hey - how much? He must have thought his characters needed - well - character. So he heaps day-to-day ennui upon ennui. Was he paid by the word? And for story? This is FICTION. Why not make it fictitious? Except for a really GOOD idea of a time traveling Morse coded message where was anything outside of ORDINARY? His details of his characters life becomes ponderous, while his details of what should have been interesting were scant. How about the "Central Park bomb"? (only one mention). The Kennedy fictionalized assassination went on for pages. Then it was followed by the vaguest hints of JFK's recovery and continued presidency. BIG DEAL!! 500 pages of waiting and wanting to understand why this thing won a Nebula.
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Summary: Good science.
Review: The plot needs to be reworked. It started very interesting, but around page 350 in began to be a bit tedious. But the main idea is quite good and the science too.
Rating:
Summary: Good...But...
Review: Gregory Benford's 'Timescape' is a difficult book for me to review. I liked the idea of trying to communicate back into time to advert a present day ecological disaster. I also liked how Benford gave time to his characters (both present and past), making them real people and not cardboard characters (the problem with much of sci-fi). However, a problem cropped up while reading 'Timescape'. I found myself skim-reading far too frequently. I'm not sure just why, but it might be that Benford's descriptive text was far too laboring (at least it was for this reader). I liked 'Timescape' and I'm sure many out there will enjoy it. After reading so much science fiction without real-life characters, this novel was refreshing, however, I can't really recommend it as a must read. Between 1 and 10, 'Timescape' gets a marginal 6.
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Summary: An believable, realistically human sci-fi novel
Review: One of the best novels I have read this year, Gregory Benford's Timescape really changed the way I viewed science fiction. There was actually a grand amount of character development, atypical of the many sci-fi novels in which the scientists are about as interesting as the lab rats. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in science!
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Summary: Disapointing
Review: I've read several excellent novels by Gregory Benford. This isn't one of them. The concept was interesting, the main plot was intriguing and the science was plausible, but the story was padded with irrelevant filler. I found myself wading through pages upon pages of needless character development, hunting for scraps of plot. I suspect Benford wrote a short story and his publisher talked him into padding it into a novel. If you want a good Benford book, read Great Sky River instead.
Rating:
Summary: Multi-dimensional, although a bit cold
Review: This book operates on more than one level. The meaning behind supposed trivial activities that many of the characters undertake will not be lost on the observant reader. Best if read twice, first for the entertaining and light story of eco destruction, time travel and character portraits, afterwards for the subtlety of Benford's clever use of symbolism (his fascination with relative point of reference dominates). Book that works well for those looking for a light summer read as well as for deeper meaning, although ending is weak, Benford tries too hard and many episodes are irrelevant. No Orwell is he.
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Summary: Real people aren't always interesting.
Review: This book was as long as it was for a reason. By adding detail to the characters lives it makes them more real. I actually liked that effect on occasion, but at times it made it dreary & boring. Like spending a weekend with your dentist. The science was ,at times, more interesting then the people. Also the character detail undercut the plot at times. If you want a plotless non-novel try China Mountain Zhang if you want stories about a message from the future try Ascent of Wonder the evolution of hard sf. Ascent of Wonder contains "A Very Slow Time Machine" by Ian Watson & "Beep" by James Blish which are good examples of future message stories. This book does make scientist seem like real people so I give it a marginal recommendation. One last thing I know literary types believe all serious fiction should be solely about characters & I think that's a moronic idea that sf authors have mostly avoided. If this book represents a trend in sf wh! ere idea & plot will be sacrificed for characterization then I hate it. Don't misunderstand me I like characterization, but even the great works of non-sf literature I've read have plots & sometimes even ideas.
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