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legohelmet's review against another edition
2.0
In the near future, a signal is detected coming from the Alpha Centauri system and continues for a period of ten years. Once the data has stopped being sent, Heather Davis, a professor in the University of Toronto psychology department becomes more obsessed with working out what the signal means. While this is going on her daughter has accused her estranged husband of molesting her, which he denies.
Hmm the book starts off quite enjoyable but about half way through we encounter psychospace, a concept more horrible than the name suggests.
The backdrop of the families situation makes it more like a bad tv show than character development and tends to hamper the story.
Hmm the book starts off quite enjoyable but about half way through we encounter psychospace, a concept more horrible than the name suggests.
The backdrop of the families situation makes it more like a bad tv show than character development and tends to hamper the story.
brettp's review against another edition
3.0
Finished "Factoring Humanity" by Robert J. Sawyer. In this book, a signal comes from Alpha Centauri for years, then suddenly stops. What does it mean? But then we go through the lives of a broken family in Canada (of course - Sawyer's Canadian). I thought the story was good and it was a quick read - Sawyer's writing style seems to match what I like to read - but I wasn't a huge fan of where the story ultimately went. Interesting, for sure, but either not long enough or too long, depending on if you think as I did that what was presented could have been a short story, or if you think as I did that the story elements presented could have been explored much more deeply.
oleksandr's review against another edition
3.0
This is a SF in style of older works, which were more interested in playing with real ideas from science than in characters growth and interactions. Both are important and while most current SF leans to the later, it is nice to read the former. I read it as a part of monthly reading for November 2021 at Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group. The novel was nominated for Hugo in 1999, but lost to [b:To Say Nothing of the Dog|77773|To Say Nothing of the Dog (Oxford Time Travel, #2)|Connie Willis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1469410460l/77773._SY75_.jpg|696].
The story starts with a great reveal – an adult daughter meets her estranged parents to state that her father molested her and her sister, who committed suicide some time ago. Then we shift from point of view of her father to find out that he is sure it hasn’t happened. The reader introduced to the parents, who are both working in an university: he is developing a quantum computer and having an AI to chat; she is a psychologist, who tried to decode alien signal from Alfa Centauri. The signal started to appear several years back, and while initial transmissions were understandable basics, for years no one can understand what exactly they are getting, so after the initial surge of interest, people shifted to other themes.
There is some edu-taitment, giving simple depiction of stuff, from SETI and quantum computer (and how it affects breaking currently used cyphers) to Jung’s ideas of archetypes and collective unconsciousness. The fictional part reminded me a bit of [a:Arthur C. Clarke|7779|Arthur C. Clarke|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1357191481p2/7779.jpg]’s works. Overall, an interesting read but nothing spectacular.
The story starts with a great reveal – an adult daughter meets her estranged parents to state that her father molested her and her sister, who committed suicide some time ago. Then we shift from point of view of her father to find out that he is sure it hasn’t happened. The reader introduced to the parents, who are both working in an university: he is developing a quantum computer and having an AI to chat; she is a psychologist, who tried to decode alien signal from Alfa Centauri. The signal started to appear several years back, and while initial transmissions were understandable basics, for years no one can understand what exactly they are getting, so after the initial surge of interest, people shifted to other themes.
There is some edu-taitment, giving simple depiction of stuff, from SETI and quantum computer (and how it affects breaking currently used cyphers) to Jung’s ideas of archetypes and collective unconsciousness. The fictional part reminded me a bit of [a:Arthur C. Clarke|7779|Arthur C. Clarke|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1357191481p2/7779.jpg]’s works. Overall, an interesting read but nothing spectacular.
johhnnyinla's review against another edition
3.0
For a "first contact" sci-fi story, there isn't a lot of "hard SF". This book is more like "hard SF-lite". This one borrowed heavily from Sagan's "Contact" (which was hard SF, par exemplar, and also had great character development and deep philosophical implications on several levels, but I digress..) and dabbles a bit in 4 dimensional geometry, quantum computing and cosmic consciousness. The characters are sort of ill-defined (except for the AI who seemed deeper and more human than the homo sapiens), but the plot keeps things moving. If you want an enjoyable light read that has just a bit of science in the fiction, Sawyer is your guy for plot-driven page-turners.
denizyuret's review against another edition
2.0
This book touches some of my favorite subjects: AI, consciousness, quantum theory... Unfortunately it does not clarify, it rather unnecessarily mystifies them and misleads the reader. Not cool.
matas's review
5.0
Awesome book ^^
Viena geriausių skaitytų knygų. Rekomenduotina paskaityti visiems, ką domina AI, kvantinė mechanika, psichologija ir tiesiog žmonija.
Viena geriausių skaitytų knygų. Rekomenduotina paskaityti visiems, ką domina AI, kvantinė mechanika, psichologija ir tiesiog žmonija.
traveller1's review
Not bad, not bad, but no better. The story: aliens tell humans how to create a device to allow humans to view each others memories. More than this, the human 'overmind' is revealed, the collective unconscious. Once this is achieved, people become more compassionate to each other, e.g. jocks open doors for encumbered professors. Generally, the future looks better. Interesting side-plot: AI is the nemesis of organic life. (Is this the author's own view?) The story is well told, with a relevant back story, but somehow it did not click with me, but I am inspired to read more of the author's work.