Factoring Humanity

Rating:
Summary: CONTACT meets BEAUTIFUL ?
Review: I tought I was reading Science-Fiction,and I felt plunged in a Barbara Cartland plot.The scientific part,aside from the family dysfunction story,is good,though. But the human interest part is implausible,to say the least. And how could a family doctor and friend counsel such a deranged psychiatrist to a person in his care ? Please,Robert,stick to science.

Rating:
Summary: Mind Stretching book chock full of ideas
Review: This book was so good I read it all in one day. There are so many ideas packed into the plot, and all of them are worthy of debate and thought. I would recommend this book to anyone, and then want to talk to them about it after they read it.

Rating:
Summary: The first memorable bit of sci fi in years
Review: So many ideas crammed into so little space. This is a really thought-provoking read and one of the few positive future scenarios that comes across as genuinely gripping.

Rating:
Summary: Real SF in the Arthur C. Clarke mode
Review: Another reader, below, makes the incredible comment that he was wondering when the "sci-fi" would begin. For Pete's sake, it begins on page 1, line 1, with "The messages from space had been arriving for ten years now." By the end of chapter two, we're introduced to one of the best AI characters I've ever encountered. Not SF? Ridiculous -- this is PURE SF. New Age? Quite the contrary -- it's an ANTIDOTE to New Age thinking. This is a truly excellent read.

Rating:
Summary: Great New Age Book, Bad Sci-Fi Book
Review: The entire time I was reading this book I kept wondering when the Sci-Fi would kick in. I was still waiting when I finsihed the last page. This can only be described as sience fiction in the most liberal sense -this is new age, mysticism, et al. If I were intertested in those topics perhaps I wouldn't feel cheated out of my purchase price.

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Summary: I LOVE THIS BOOK! `E=O)--|---<
Review: Words simply cannot express how much I enjoyed reading this novel. Sawyer is unbelievably talented and "Factoring Humanity" is only one of the many reasons why he is the ONLY author to have won all four of the worlds most prestigious SF awards. I can't believe some of the comments I have read about his characters being underdeveloped. Are we reviewing the same book here? Heather Davis and Kyle Graves (even Cheetah for crying out loud) could not have been more endearing and beloved. I extremely enjoyed his take on humanity and how our selfish nature is finally overturned. "Factoring Humanity" is worth 5 stars, it contains a thick, juicy plot with many themes that overlap, yet perfectly come together by the end of the story. As a result, my fingers kept turning the pages to satisfy the suspensefull nature of this sci-fi wonder.

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous book, an antidote to depressing SF
Review: Terrific book, with realistic characters. The "Humanity" in the title really does apply, despite lots of neat quantum computing and 4D geometry. And although it starts off quite downbeat, the ending is transcendent, in the best oldtime sense of wonder way.

Rating:
Summary: This book has my vote for the Hugo Award this year!
Review: I wish this book would come true! Sawyer's depiction of a loving family, torn apart from within, is packed with emotion. But the trip through the emotional minefield is worth the ride! The "sense of wonder" uplifting ending is just incredible! And somehow, Sawyer gets the science in there too. The story of Cheetah, the AI who wants to be human, touched me more than I expected. This is the best book of 1998!

Rating:
Summary: Not to plausible
Review: Sawyer paints the fourth dimension as something easily experienced like some kind of fractal screen saver program where you can view peoples memories like so many VCR tapes. The protagonists are able to pop in and out of 4D with no lasting effect. The heroine is supposedly "experiencing" other peoples minds, yet she simply reacts to their thoughts as though she were reading their minds. She doesn't actually become that person and feel what they feel. If she did she would be totally sympathetic to each of them while she was "in their heads." The"overmind" is presented with out causality. Why should it exist at all? Why would it "back up" peoples minds after they died if there is no existence after death? Apparently the entire structure of the universe formed itself in a particular way just so one of the characters could be cleared of incest allegations.

Rating:
Summary: Psychotic Psychospace = Joyous Jungian .....
Review: Great book. Provides a great introduction to quantum mechanics to those who have no idea what it is or those who just want it reinforced. Also provides a good background on Jungian psychology. I really enjoyed the emphasis on tesseracts and hypercubes and the 4 dimensions. The overmind and the hexagonal representation of each human being, alive or dead, made the reader think. The only problem was that the sexual abuse situation with Kyle's daughter distracted a little bit from the main plot, but in the end, provided what it had come for: closure. It was fascinating and overall a great book... advanced enough to keep any adult on the edge of their seats... and simple enough for a sci-fi obsessed 14 year old (like me) to understand. :)