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Title: The Web Between The Worlds by Charles Sheffield, Arthur C. Clarke ISBN: 0-671-31973-6 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 2001 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.86 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Tense, stretched, he spins a good yarn...
Comment: It doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice that burning vast quantities of combustible fuel to move an object from here out into orbit, let alone out into the solar system, is phenomenally expensive and dangerous. Science Fiction authors have, for decades, tried to come up with all manner of workarounds, from gravitation drives to Star Trek style transporters.
One proposal that, until the late seventies, didn't attract a lot of attention was the idea of a cable stretching from the Earth into space, held in place by some form of geosynchronous structure. It's probably the least sexy technology available, nothing more than a really, really, strong, long, cable with objects climbing up and down it using whatever means fit the designer's imagination.
Two science fiction authors, Arthur C. Clarke and Charles Sheffield, decided to raise the idea of such a cable at roughly the same time (Clarke's book, The Fountains of Paradise, was published two weeks before Sheffield's), and at once the obvious simplicity and advantages of the idea captured the public imagination. Well, sort of, currently there is no known material strong enough to withstand the tension a useful cable would carry, but we're probably not far off.
This book is a treat. As well as the story itself, mostly a thriller centered around an engineer (who builds the cable, 'natch), a billionaire solar system miner, and a dubious amoral biologist, the book comes with a contribution from Arthur C Clarke on the history of the how the idea was brought to press, and a long appendix detailing the physics involved in building a "beanstalk" (Sheffield's name for the thing.) It was this part I personally found most interesting - it covered how such a thing would be built, other designs centered around the same principle, advantages the cable would have such as the ability to slingshot ships from the end, using the Earth's own rotation to move objects to anywhere in the solar system.
The novel itself is a multi-layered story which is centered so much around a sub-plot that the beanstalk itself is almost an afterthought. In a pinch, Merlin, the main character, investigates the death of his parents and why they were murdered, after the new project he's hired to lead unexpectedly brings him into contact with people who were involved or knew the reasons. The Science in the Fiction includes the beanstalk (obviously), genetic engineering, the mining of asteroids and other trips around the solar system. About my only grouse is that the characters are a little wooden and come across in that kind of pseudo-machismo usually associated with salesman culture and office politics, something that ought not to have irritated me to the extent that it did.
A wonderful book though, proposing a wonderful idea that, if ever implemented, will probably mean more for mankind's eventual exploration of space than the moon landings themselves.
Rating: 3
Summary: Good charecters, weak plot.
Comment: First of all - don't mistake this book with "Between the strokes of night" which deals with life-prolongation by altering the body's metabolic speed and time sense. Now, the reason everybody are so dissapointed, I believe, is that the book lacks Sheffield's usual giant scope, and therefore highly advenced thechnolegy, with the setting in the far future. (allthough thet description is'nt compatiblle with the wonderfull "Proteus" series). But the plot did waver a bit. the climax was not all that. I do think though that all the charecters were excellent, and developed through the book. Not a bad story, it's only the higher expectations of the readers from sheffield.
Rating: 3
Summary: Solid effort, "Straight" Sci-Fi, hope it ain't the last.
Comment: This may be the last of Mr. Sheffield's work, it is not his best, but it is a good read. Charles Sheffield is (or was) actually pulitzer prize winning author James Kirkwood. His non-Sci-Fi works fall out along the same lines, and level of quality, as John Knowles, John Irving, and even J.D. Salinger --- except Kirkwood was prolific rather than puckish. It would be a shame to see him go out on such a mediocre novel, & I hope others and betters are banked, and soon for publishing.
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Title: Cold As Ice by Charles Sheffield ISBN: 0812511638 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 15 June, 1993 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Fountains of Paradise, The by Arthur C. Clarke ISBN: 0446677949 Publisher: Aspect Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Dark as Day by Charles Sheffield ISBN: 0812580311 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 14 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Spheres of Heaven by Charles Sheffield ISBN: 067131856X Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Transvergence by Charles Sheffield ISBN: 0671578375 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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