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sch91086's review
4.0
This is my first experience with Neal Stephenson. At a mere 104 pages, it was much less intimidating than some of his other very lengthy novels. The premise is very simple: eccentric billionaire wants to build tower twenty miles high. It moves at a meandering pace, going over everything from the tower proposal to purchasing the real estate to the actual engineering of the tower and the various obstacles they must face.
But the science behind building something so completely impossible was fascinating, and I didn’t mind the slower pace here. It’s obvious that Stephenson does his research and is very thorough about it. It’s incredibly imaginative and immersive. Little ideas kept popping up here and there like helipads and base jumping and they each put a smile on my face.
The characters were great. I adored Carl, which is truly impressive given that we never really meet him, and I liked Emma a lot too. Within the first few pages it occurred to me that she was someone I could have easily been friends with in real life, which I know sounds strange, but it isn’t a thought that occurs to me about fictional characters often.
It all culminates in one explosive ending which I won’t spoil. I very much enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick break from their usual fare. Thank you to NetGalley and Subterranean Press for the ARC to review.
But the science behind building something so completely impossible was fascinating, and I didn’t mind the slower pace here. It’s obvious that Stephenson does his research and is very thorough about it. It’s incredibly imaginative and immersive. Little ideas kept popping up here and there like helipads and base jumping and they each put a smile on my face.
The characters were great. I adored Carl, which is truly impressive given that we never really meet him, and I liked Emma a lot too. Within the first few pages it occurred to me that she was someone I could have easily been friends with in real life, which I know sounds strange, but it isn’t a thought that occurs to me about fictional characters often.
It all culminates in one explosive ending which I won’t spoil. I very much enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick break from their usual fare. Thank you to NetGalley and Subterranean Press for the ARC to review.
wwtpeng's review
4.0
A very detailed story on the construction of a space elevator from the eccentric billionaire financier to construction workers, to the property agent. This book has the type of the science that you would come to expect from Neal Stephenson, but an abrupt ending that will leave you disheartened.
hazel_reads's review
2.0
This one really didn't do it for me. It was a quick read, but it was pretty much just about building a tower, and engineering. This may appeal to some people, but it wasn't for me.
I received a copy from Net Galley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I received a copy from Net Galley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
gerhard's review
4.0
I have not read Neal Stephenson in ages. He is one of those SF writers whose books (by default) are long and demanding, though not on the same level as a writer like Kim Stanley Robinson. So imagine my surprise when I stumbled across this … novella on Goodreads. Neal Stephenson writing short fiction? There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Indeed.
Imagine also my surprise at discovering that this slim book is quintessential Stephenson, a distillation of the author’s talents and preoccupations in just about 100 pages. It is a deceptively quick read, with the author masterfully ratcheting up the tension and detail … until a truly mesmerising ending that seems out of this world. Except it takes place on earth. Well, actually at the top of a 20-km-high building, the construction of which is the narrative engine here.
I actually think that Atmosphaera Incognita (got to love that grandiose and baroque-sounding title) is a masterclass in How To Write An Effective SF Tale of Ideas. Stephenson has an incredible ability to break down highly complex ideas into Big Screen style images – he will make a helluva effective teacher, if he hasn’t done so already.
Yes, some reviewers have griped that the characterisation is not as carefully constructed, but they are missing the point: The bloody building is the main character. And SF is a genre about Big Ideas, after all. It rather leaves character navel-gazing to literary fiction. Of course, you get true fireworks when you combine the two, but that, as they say, is yet another story …
P.S. BoingBoing reports that this story is actually from a collection called Hieroglyph: Stories & Visions for a Better Future. This, of course, was a project of Arizona State University’s Centre for Science and the Imagination, with which Stephenson has been associated since 2011.
Imagine also my surprise at discovering that this slim book is quintessential Stephenson, a distillation of the author’s talents and preoccupations in just about 100 pages. It is a deceptively quick read, with the author masterfully ratcheting up the tension and detail … until a truly mesmerising ending that seems out of this world. Except it takes place on earth. Well, actually at the top of a 20-km-high building, the construction of which is the narrative engine here.
I actually think that Atmosphaera Incognita (got to love that grandiose and baroque-sounding title) is a masterclass in How To Write An Effective SF Tale of Ideas. Stephenson has an incredible ability to break down highly complex ideas into Big Screen style images – he will make a helluva effective teacher, if he hasn’t done so already.
Yes, some reviewers have griped that the characterisation is not as carefully constructed, but they are missing the point: The bloody building is the main character. And SF is a genre about Big Ideas, after all. It rather leaves character navel-gazing to literary fiction. Of course, you get true fireworks when you combine the two, but that, as they say, is yet another story …
P.S. BoingBoing reports that this story is actually from a collection called Hieroglyph: Stories & Visions for a Better Future. This, of course, was a project of Arizona State University’s Centre for Science and the Imagination, with which Stephenson has been associated since 2011.
pvn's review
4.0
This is an unusually short work by this well-known author, but a good one! The story is concise and interesting, and you'll probably learn a few things along a way. Recommended.
I really appreciate the ARC for review!!
I really appreciate the ARC for review!!
paladinjane's review
3.0
Full disclosure: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
An eccentric billionaire decides that his legacy will be to build a 20-kilometer-tall steel tower. As nothing like this has ever been attempted before, the project poses massive engineering and supply problems, not to mention the political challenges of convincing local government and the local community at the proposed site to allow the project to move forward. The novella follows the construction of the tower over decades, offering a vision of how engineers might resolve some of the challenges of designing and constructing such an ambitious project.
While the story is told from the perspective of the billionaire’s friend and employee who is involved in the project from the beginning, offering glimpses of her life over time, it is focused on exploring the ways the engineers resolve the unique design problems posed by extremely high winds, extreme temperature fluctuations, etc. that would come with building a structure that high into the atmosphere. It also offers glimpses of the uses to which such a structure could be put, such as an airport in the sky.
I thought it ended in an odd spot, with the story not quite resolved and the tower still incomplete (although nearing completion). It works as a fascinating thought experiment, more than anything else. Indeed, that seems to have been its purpose. This novella was originally published in Ed Finn and Kathryn Cramer’s Hieroglyph, an anthology of near-future, optimistic sci-fi stories of how technology and science can change the world.
In short, Atmosphaera Incognita offers a tantalizing tale of what human engineering might be able to accomplish, given the resources to do so.
An eccentric billionaire decides that his legacy will be to build a 20-kilometer-tall steel tower. As nothing like this has ever been attempted before, the project poses massive engineering and supply problems, not to mention the political challenges of convincing local government and the local community at the proposed site to allow the project to move forward. The novella follows the construction of the tower over decades, offering a vision of how engineers might resolve some of the challenges of designing and constructing such an ambitious project.
While the story is told from the perspective of the billionaire’s friend and employee who is involved in the project from the beginning, offering glimpses of her life over time, it is focused on exploring the ways the engineers resolve the unique design problems posed by extremely high winds, extreme temperature fluctuations, etc. that would come with building a structure that high into the atmosphere. It also offers glimpses of the uses to which such a structure could be put, such as an airport in the sky.
I thought it ended in an odd spot, with the story not quite resolved and the tower still incomplete (although nearing completion). It works as a fascinating thought experiment, more than anything else. Indeed, that seems to have been its purpose. This novella was originally published in Ed Finn and Kathryn Cramer’s Hieroglyph, an anthology of near-future, optimistic sci-fi stories of how technology and science can change the world.
In short, Atmosphaera Incognita offers a tantalizing tale of what human engineering might be able to accomplish, given the resources to do so.
lostinagoodbook's review
3.0
Disclaimer: I received this book free from Netgalley
Since this one is so short, there isn’t a great deal to say that won’t compromise the plot. So here is the synopsis from Goodreads:
Atmosphæra Incognita is a beautifully detailed, high-tech rendering of a tale as old as the Biblical Tower of Babel. It is an account, scrupulously imagined, of the years-long construction of a twenty-kilometer-high tower that will bring the human enterprise, in all its complexity, to the threshold of outer space. It is a story of persistence, of visionary imaginings, of the ceaseless technological innovation needed to bring these imaginings to life. At the same time, it shows us our familiar planet from an entirely new perspective, and offers vivid snapshots of the unique beauties and unexpected hazards of the “atmosphæra incognita” that lies between this world and “the deep ocean of the cosmos.”
I feel that this description is inadequate. Maybe I was reading a little too much into the blurb, but conjuring the iimage of the Tower of Babel story led me to expect some drama, some human interest. In fact, the comparison to Babel is only a physical one. This novella goes into detail about the building of an enormous tower, and while the human characters are interesting their lives and motivations are secondary to the feat of scientific achievement being accomplished. This book is very much hard Sci-fi. Which will be great for some readers … not so much for me personally. That being said, it was easy to read and absorbing. It is also very short at 104 pages. I enjoyed reading it even though I’m not into the technical details, I much prefer character development. If you like hard sci-fi then this would be a very good little morsel for you to whet your appetite on.
Since this one is so short, there isn’t a great deal to say that won’t compromise the plot. So here is the synopsis from Goodreads:
Atmosphæra Incognita is a beautifully detailed, high-tech rendering of a tale as old as the Biblical Tower of Babel. It is an account, scrupulously imagined, of the years-long construction of a twenty-kilometer-high tower that will bring the human enterprise, in all its complexity, to the threshold of outer space. It is a story of persistence, of visionary imaginings, of the ceaseless technological innovation needed to bring these imaginings to life. At the same time, it shows us our familiar planet from an entirely new perspective, and offers vivid snapshots of the unique beauties and unexpected hazards of the “atmosphæra incognita” that lies between this world and “the deep ocean of the cosmos.”
I feel that this description is inadequate. Maybe I was reading a little too much into the blurb, but conjuring the iimage of the Tower of Babel story led me to expect some drama, some human interest. In fact, the comparison to Babel is only a physical one. This novella goes into detail about the building of an enormous tower, and while the human characters are interesting their lives and motivations are secondary to the feat of scientific achievement being accomplished. This book is very much hard Sci-fi. Which will be great for some readers … not so much for me personally. That being said, it was easy to read and absorbing. It is also very short at 104 pages. I enjoyed reading it even though I’m not into the technical details, I much prefer character development. If you like hard sci-fi then this would be a very good little morsel for you to whet your appetite on.
bookwyrmknits's review
4.0
Enjoyable novella about some people who build a space tower. For such a short piece, I got more character development from Stephenson than I had expected. Granted, we're told rather than shown a lot of the character development, but the story was not quite 100 pages long. (The book's official total is 104 pages, but include some reference material at the end.) It was an enjoyable read, but more than anything it makes me think of the science behind the story and the currently unknown difficulties we'd have if we really tried something like this.
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