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professorfate's review against another edition
4.0
I must have enjoyed this book, since I finished it in just over three days.
A spaceship lands in front of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. An alien emerges and walks into the museum, wanting to meet with a paleontologist. This alien (and others not only of her race but of another) have been travelling around the Universe trying to scientifically prove that God exists. The paleontologist that she meets up with, Tom Jericho, is dying of lung cancer and is an atheist. The two have a good, healthy exchange of ideas but then are forced to confront the ugly side of religion on this planet when two Christian fundamentalists try to destroy an exhibit of fossils and to convince the alien that Jericho is lying to it, that God exists and created the world 6,000 years ago, etc. etc. etc.
There are two reasons why I bought this book. First was because I like Mr. Sawyer’s writing (although I have only read one other book of his, “WWW: Wake”) and the title and description intrigued me. The second was to try to piss off the reactionary, holier-than-thou Bible thumpers here in South Carolina (guess the second mission failed because I read it so fast). Don’t get me wrong: Christians are cool (to me) as long as they keep their beliefs to themselves. Unfortunately, around here, that doesn’t happen: it is assumed that all people are Christian and if you’re not, you’d better keep quiet. I am an agnostic—I think the existence of a god is most unlikely, but since I can’t prove it, I can’t discount the possibility.
The book really does not take a side one way or the other. Jericho does have a conversion of sorts at the end of the book (due to an event that I won’t tell you about—read the book), but the author doesn’t say that yes, God does exist; it is left up to the reader to decide for themselves. It is a book that will make you think, believer or not. And it does stay with you (I finished it this morning and I’m still thinking about it). Will it make you change your beliefs? It might, but probably not, but it will entertain and challenge you. Highly recommended.
A spaceship lands in front of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. An alien emerges and walks into the museum, wanting to meet with a paleontologist. This alien (and others not only of her race but of another) have been travelling around the Universe trying to scientifically prove that God exists. The paleontologist that she meets up with, Tom Jericho, is dying of lung cancer and is an atheist. The two have a good, healthy exchange of ideas but then are forced to confront the ugly side of religion on this planet when two Christian fundamentalists try to destroy an exhibit of fossils and to convince the alien that Jericho is lying to it, that God exists and created the world 6,000 years ago, etc. etc. etc.
There are two reasons why I bought this book. First was because I like Mr. Sawyer’s writing (although I have only read one other book of his, “WWW: Wake”) and the title and description intrigued me. The second was to try to piss off the reactionary, holier-than-thou Bible thumpers here in South Carolina (guess the second mission failed because I read it so fast). Don’t get me wrong: Christians are cool (to me) as long as they keep their beliefs to themselves. Unfortunately, around here, that doesn’t happen: it is assumed that all people are Christian and if you’re not, you’d better keep quiet. I am an agnostic—I think the existence of a god is most unlikely, but since I can’t prove it, I can’t discount the possibility.
The book really does not take a side one way or the other. Jericho does have a conversion of sorts at the end of the book (due to an event that I won’t tell you about—read the book), but the author doesn’t say that yes, God does exist; it is left up to the reader to decide for themselves. It is a book that will make you think, believer or not. And it does stay with you (I finished it this morning and I’m still thinking about it). Will it make you change your beliefs? It might, but probably not, but it will entertain and challenge you. Highly recommended.
suzemo's review against another edition
2.0
I have never read this author (though I guess he's rather prolific and well known and, from what I can gather - not too bad otherwise), and I bought this book based on the blurb. Essentially, an alien lands on earth (for whatever reason) and proceeds to argue with a human, who is both a paleontologist and atheist, about the existence of god. Or God, I suppose.
I will say that the foreward put me off. It was an honest to (hah) god blurb of "if you don't like my book, you're a close-minded asshole."
Well, I didn't like the book very much, and not because of the subject matter. I actually found the writing rather lacking, so I guess that makes me a closed minded asshole.
The author, btw, is himself, an atheist. I've seen some reviews that seem to think he's pushing the creationism or intelligent design theory, but the book really doesn't push much of anything, except bad arguments.
So, essentially. An alien lands on earth. This alien is part of a species that are (obviously) star-faring and they have come with another alien race to check out Earth/Terra. We're all at about the same technological level, and what they've discovered is that there are 5 mass extinction events that have happened *at the exact same time* to all three races. So, for whatever reason, they're trying to look at the history of Earth to see what other comparisons can be made. Apparently most of the other species discovered thus far have gone post-physical and are out of the picture, but these aliens believe that there is another race out there, playing "god", in that it's causing events, nudging the races to the state they are at. And then a star explodes (well, hundreds of millions of years ago, but, you know, astronomical stuff takes some serious time) and the author pulls a literal deus ex machina and the god-alien saves the day.
In all of this, the scientist-protag is fighting cancer and at the end travels off with the aliens to visit "god."
There is also a very, very weak subplot involving some super-christian neo-con types who are bombing abortion clinics and fossils (lies created by the scientists to manipulate people away from god, of course). This book, btw, takes place in Canada, and I don't know how bad their crazy neo-con abortion-bomber problem is, but it sounds very stereotypical for 'Murika.
So, my issue was I was looking forward to the arguments of this "god" that the aliens know of, but really, the author perverts the idea of god - he takes Clarke's third law (you know, the one about advance technology and magic) and essentially applies that to any sufficiently advanced race/alien. So the argument is moot. It's not that there is a god, it's that there is a powerful enough alien that feels the need to play with other races/lifeforms to get what he wants out of the deal. Which. Meh. Cute, but ultimately boring.
I will say that the foreward put me off. It was an honest to (hah) god blurb of "if you don't like my book, you're a close-minded asshole."
Well, I didn't like the book very much, and not because of the subject matter. I actually found the writing rather lacking, so I guess that makes me a closed minded asshole.
The author, btw, is himself, an atheist. I've seen some reviews that seem to think he's pushing the creationism or intelligent design theory, but the book really doesn't push much of anything, except bad arguments.
So, essentially. An alien lands on earth. This alien is part of a species that are (obviously) star-faring and they have come with another alien race to check out Earth/Terra. We're all at about the same technological level, and what they've discovered is that there are 5 mass extinction events that have happened *at the exact same time* to all three races. So, for whatever reason, they're trying to look at the history of Earth to see what other comparisons can be made. Apparently most of the other species discovered thus far have gone post-physical and are out of the picture, but these aliens believe that there is another race out there, playing "god", in that it's causing events, nudging the races to the state they are at. And then a star explodes (well, hundreds of millions of years ago, but, you know, astronomical stuff takes some serious time) and the author pulls a literal deus ex machina and the god-alien saves the day.
In all of this, the scientist-protag is fighting cancer and at the end travels off with the aliens to visit "god."
There is also a very, very weak subplot involving some super-christian neo-con types who are bombing abortion clinics and fossils (lies created by the scientists to manipulate people away from god, of course). This book, btw, takes place in Canada, and I don't know how bad their crazy neo-con abortion-bomber problem is, but it sounds very stereotypical for 'Murika.
So, my issue was I was looking forward to the arguments of this "god" that the aliens know of, but really, the author perverts the idea of god - he takes Clarke's third law (you know, the one about advance technology and magic) and essentially applies that to any sufficiently advanced race/alien. So the argument is moot. It's not that there is a god, it's that there is a powerful enough alien that feels the need to play with other races/lifeforms to get what he wants out of the deal. Which. Meh. Cute, but ultimately boring.
gloame's review against another edition
3.0
Overall quite enjoyable as fiction. I really loved all of the science written into this book and spent some time Googling things mentioned but was disappointed that so much of it was completely made up, and not just science somewhat twisted to make an interesting plot.
The resolution was not great. For one it didn't make sense, and for two it was kind of comical. It felt rushed, which was a shame.
Did not feel any religious or evolutionist anger, despite being of no religion and a believer of evolution.
The resolution was not great. For one it didn't make sense, and for two it was kind of comical. It felt rushed, which was a shame.
Did not feel any religious or evolutionist anger, despite being of no religion and a believer of evolution.
samikki's review against another edition
3.0
Taattua Sawyeriä: hyvää scifiä, mielenkiintoisia ideankehittelyitä, kevyt ja nopealukuinen.
rick_k's review against another edition
3.0
Calculating God was a bit of a roller coaster for me intellectually but ultimately I enjoyed it. It is a science fiction story where the conceit is the proof of intelligent design and a creator of the universe. The majority of the book I was annoyed with Robert J. Sawyer because his alien scientists did not submit actual evidence; describing an experiment or finding which revealed the existence of a god. Relying on circumstantial evidence undermined the weight of the alien credibility and lessened the sociological and cosmological impact. I am an unapologetic non-theist but welcomed the conjecture within this framework but was left mostly incredulous. I think it is important to note that late in this book there is potential direct evidence integrated into the narrative which grounds the discussion and salvages the purpose of this book. There is a good amount of solid science incorporated including detailed exobiology which is always fun to think about, but ultimately the structure of the book and quality of the dialog and writing kept this from being a favorite. It is however a worthwhile read and a unique specimen in the genre of science fiction.
sassyporcupine's review against another edition
3.0
This was an interesting book. Not quite what I thought it was going to be and a bit over my head in the space talk. But I enjoyed it though I admit I had hoped for more from the ending.
barium_squirrel's review against another edition
3.0
This was a clever and thoughtful book about death, life, evolution, and God. The "God" referenced is not the Christian God; instead, the book tells the story of a Canadian paleontologist named Thomas Jericho who meets extraterrestrials with indisputable evidence that the world was created (and is still maintained) by a powerful and intelligent entity. Thomas, a lifelong atheist, struggles to reconcile this information with his own convictions, and with his impending cancer diagnosis. Also, there are some crazy American fundies who don't really contribute anything except making it clear that the book doesn't endorse Christianity. The book would be better if their subplot had been cut out entirely, but it's still very well-written and thought-provoking.
elzabetg's review against another edition
I finally just had to stop reading this book. The author had an interesting idea but...I've read it all before. All the Young Earth/Old Earth Creationist arguments, all the Intelligent Design arguments, all the Pure Materialist arguments and frankly all Sawyer did was toss an alien into the mix. I got to page 250-ish out of 338 and frankly couldn't stand it any longer. Life is too short for boring books.
travisbenton's review against another edition
2.0
One of the corniest main characters I've ever come across