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Title: Eater by Gregory Benford ISBN: 0-380-79056-4 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3 (22 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Sci-Fi Story Especially Good for (Would-Be) Scientists
Comment: Gregory Benford, a professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine, provides an educational, rather than entertaining, sci-fi story. Actually, he writes in the afterword of this book, "I have endeavored to show . . . how scientists do think, work, and confront the unknown." The present reviewer is a physicist. So he enjoyed how the physicist-writer well expresses scientists' thinking, working, and loving. However, the reader who is a sci-fi aficionado but a layperson of science might find the long descriptions of scientific discussion by the characters a little tedious or difficult to understand. The author also gives satirical descriptions of politics and politicians. Educational and satirical descriptions are elements not of sci-fi but of purely literary novels. Thus the author seems to be writing for a genre partly unsuitable for his talent.
The story begins when Benjamin Knowlton and his wife Channing, both working at an astronomical center in Hawaii, find a strange interstellar object. It is identified to be a black hole approaching Earth, and the name "Eater" proposed by Channing is adopted. The British astronomer Kingsley Dart joins the center. Channing, formerly a brilliant astronaut and now having a heavy cancer, and Kingsley feel an attractive force between themselves. The Eater has intelligence stored in its magnetic field, and sends messages to Earth, demanding its "remnants." Channing makes up her mind to . . . You will like this book very much, if you are a romantic scientist or hope to be one.
Rating: 3
Summary: An uneven reworking of a classic SF theme
Comment: -----------------------------------------------------------
The Eater is a small black hole that enters the Solar system in 2023,
and opens a conversation with the astronomers who discover it.
Hijinks ensue.
The book opens with some of the strongest writing in Benford's
career -- the three major characters come to life in prose that's
pretty near perfect. Channing Knowlton, an astronaut-turned-
astronomer who is dying of breast cancer, is particularly well-
drawn. And her husband Benjamin, a senior astronomer at Mauna
Kea, and Kingsley Dart, Britain's Astronomer Royal, once Channing's
lover and a master scientist-politician, are very fine indeed. Benford's
portrait of scientists at work is wonderful, unmatched by any other
novelist I know. Reading the first 100 pages, I got that primo creamy
rush from great writing, neat ideas and wonderful characters....
But -- when the politicians enter the story, greatness tails off to
competence (though still with flashes of the Pure Quill) -- and when
the shoot-em-up starts -- well, hell, it's still pretty good, but not
*magic*, y'know? Drama turns to melodrama, and a bold remake of
'Mankind meets a Cosmic Being' becomes just another thriller. Sigh.
But those first 115 pages -- wow. Worth the price of admission.
Overall: 3.5 stars
Happy reading!
Pete Tillman
Rating: 4
Summary: Ultimata, The Eater of All Things
Comment: Another fine effort of hard science fiction from a good author. This time around astronomers detect an anomaly that turns out to be much smaller and closer than originally thought. The object appears to be an intelligent black hole.
The first half of the book details the discovery and revelations of the new object and what it could mean. This is told through the small group of scientists heading the investigation. Two are married to each other, one is the Royal Astronomer from England and the other has more bureaucratic tendencies. But they balance our into an effective team.
The second half of the book deals more with how to deal with this entity and how to survive its curiosity. The second half deals more heavily with politics than the first half but does not lose the science pace.
Throughout the book we find ourselves following the life of the lead scientist who is dying of breast cancer. As she is coming to grips with her upcoming demise she is also at the heart of one the greatest moments in scientific history. We really get into her character.
The Eater in an ancient entity and it has certainly been around the block, but that does not make it wise. Its system is subject to destruction through many means and mankind manages to utilize one to deter it, not destroy it. There is a definite feeling at the end that it, or another like it, could return at any time.
This book sprang from Mr. Benford's attempts to play with some new ideas about magnetic fields, their nature, and their capabilities. I think he did a great job and the book is quite worth reading.
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Title: Cosm by Gregory Benford ISBN: 0380790521 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 February, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Martian Race by Gregory Benford ISBN: 0446608904 Publisher: Aspect Pub. Date: 01 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Timescape by Gregory Benford ISBN: 0553297090 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 August, 1992 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Great Sky River by Gregory Benford ISBN: 0553052381 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 November, 1987 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
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Title: Tides of Light by Gregory Benford ISBN: 0553053221 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 January, 1989 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
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