Genesis

Rating:
Summary: Very (poor)
Review: This is one of the worst books that I have ever read. It is fairly depressing, first humans are taken over by their own computers and then they become extinct.

Rating:
Summary: A good read, if a little tough to identify with at times
Review: When I read this book I immediately thought of Olaf Stapledon's book "Last and First Men." Both books are very well written, explore some very interesting ideas, and cover such a wide swathe of time that you really have no individual characters to identify with. They are almost closer to history books than they are to science fiction novels (merely an observation, not a criticism).
Having said that, "Genesis" does maintain some characters throughout the book, and somehow this makes it easier on the reader when Poul Anderson starts to really push and question what it means to be human, both mentally and biologically (if you can make that distinction).
This is not a light summer read. It is good solid science fiction that pushes the reader outside of his or her comfort zone and into a world where "human" is not a clear-cut concept, but is more a question of perspective.