Reviews

Calculating God, by Robert J. Sawyer

futurepoint's review against another edition

4.0

As someone who doesn’t read much fiction, I really enjoyed this book. A big part of this book is simply a discussion between Tom (the paleontologist) and Hollus (the alien). And those discussions alone were enough to make this book worth reading. Every time I read a chapter, it got me thinking about what was being said, and always in a very enjoyable way. Sawyer takes our scientific knowledge, adds in some assumptions about alien worlds and how they function and then builds creative arguments with those. While these conversations took up quite a large part of the book, they aren’t the only thing that made it so enjoyable. The depiction of alien life felt very refreshing and also somewhat amusing (in a good way) at times. I also enjoyed the extent to which Tom’s personal life was described. It was enough to understand why he thinks the way he does, what motivates him and also to make him likeable. Sure, his backstory was very generic, but I feel like the complexity of the conversations didn’t require to also have a complex main character. Around the mid way point of this novel, a sidestory is introduced. And I do agree with most other reviews that this feels a little off. It just doesn’t really contribute to the story and has such a different pace compared to the rest of the book. Since it didn’t take up much of the book I didn’t mind it too much though. What I did enjoy a lot on the other hand, is the end of the book. It’s satisfying enough to be able to happily put the book down, but does at least give some opportunity to think about what it entails. In my opinion some things don’t make complete sense towards the end, but that’s okay since the general idea is a really fun one.

(also not really related to the book, but at the end there is a “Book Club Discussion Guide”. While I love the idea, I feel like the questions were a little boring and could have been chosen a little better.)

jmeyers888's review against another edition

3.0

there was a lot of good and bad with this book. I actually had to stop it and come back later because I became so annoyed with the characters.

I would consider this a "Hard" science fiction book. Meaning, Sawyer explains out the sciences. (This part is the good) Sawyer does an amazing job of his explanations of true scientific developments. His explanation of cell biology, DNA, neurology, astronomy, anthropology and so on, were phenomenal and all based on recent scientific research. His imagination is wonderful. He thinks of cool new alien life forms that are explained by science.

That being said, however, the story was terrible! Multiple times I caught him in discrepancies in the story. The characters seemed very one dimensional and bland. It was a struggle to feel anything besides annoyance with these characters. This sounds terrible, but the main character in the story is dying from cancer, and half way through the story I began thinking "will you just die already!"

the only thing that got me through this book was the science. The only reason why I rated it a 3 star is because his explanation of the science is REALLY REALLY good, and there is A LOT of science in this book.

fastfinge's review against another edition

4.0

This book made me think about a lot of things. In the field of science fiction, religion is most often something to be scorned and laughed at, mostly through[return]heavy handed pokes at the Catholic church. While I'd agree that Christianity has a set of major problems, I think most readers and writers of science fiction[return]are throwing out the baby with the bathwater. That's what makes _Calculating God_ so interesting: it takes a new and fresh look at creationism. Oh, basic[return]religious issues have been looked at before, but the treatments that I've seen have been confined to the classic Adam-and-Eve storyline, or to the tiny[return]genre of Christian science fiction. Yeah, there are books in this genre, and the fact that you've most likely never heard of them proves my point. _calculating[return]God_, however, isn't particularly Christian; the ending proves the fact beyond all doubt. It manages to make points about the existence of God, and our[return]societies views on the matter, without preaching one religion or another. This is not a book to be read for plot or characters. In fact, it's seriously[return]lacking on both those fronts. As with most of Soier's work, I think it would be happier as a popular nonfiction text. Still, the quality of the ideas was[return]heigh enough to make up for the lack in...well, everything else.

sobolevnrm's review against another edition

3.0

A strange sci-fi book about a scientist's slow transition to faith. Too preachy but very well written; definitely need to check out other books by Sawyer ([book:Terminal Experiment] won the Nebula award).

thejoshpit's review against another edition

5.0

Easy and fun read.

forjay's review against another edition

I kind of hated this book.

The premise is that an alien comes to earth and asks to meet with a paleontologist. The alien is devoutly religious, and the book is mostly a dialog between the two, with the religious alien trying to convince the atheist scientist of the existence of a god (or intelligent designer).

That wouldn't be so bad, necessarily, if it was an interesting argument that relied on facts on both sides, but because it's a work of fiction the author tips the balance in favor of the intelligent design argument by inventing facts in his fictional world—facts that would indeed convince a rational thinker that intelligent design is correct.

The story gives the impression of being a convincing argument for intelligent design, when in fact the intelligent design argument relies on certain suppositions from the fictional world that have no basis in reality, like a fifth fundamental force, simultaneous development of DNA-based life on multiple worlds, and simultaneous mass extinctions on multiple worlds.

The end of the book is particularly vexing, because after arguing for a deist (non-interventionist) creator for the whole book, the author has the creator directly intervene to cause a miracle.

Read one of Sawyer's other books instead. I recommend [b:Hominids|264946|Hominids (Neanderthal Parallax, #1)|Robert J. Sawyer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316730227s/264946.jpg|1500323] or [b:Flashforward|337132|Flashforward|Robert J. Sawyer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316727290s/337132.jpg|327550].

yaburrow's review against another edition

4.0

Very enjoyable and thought-provoking book - especially liked all the Canadian flourishes in it, including a mention of Robertson Davies. And the mention of Philosophers' Walk in Toronto, which I have walked along.

The scientific details of Robert J Sawyer's books are always meticulously researched, and this one is no exception.

I have lots of thoughts about the science and religion debate, and on the various theories that account for why the universe in which we live is peculiarly "geared" towards the production of life. Like, if all the physical constants that helped life to arise were different, wouldn't a different type of life-form have emerged? I also like the idea of multiple universes, some of which support life, some of which don't.

There are some rather moving bits in the book, particularly the reflections on human mortality.

legohelmet's review against another edition

2.0

An alien walks into a museum and says in perfect English "Take me to a paleontologist".

Sadly this is not a bad joke but it is the start of a pretty poor book, not only does the alien come to Earth, it has came with another race and has scientific proof of the existence of god. sigh...

adamantium's review against another edition

Incredibly ambitious. Really likable and yet alien aliens. Contemplates life, the universe, and everything.

The entire subplot with the fundamentalists could and should have been dropped to focus on the sudden threat that arises 80% through, which initially disgusted me.

But...I won't say it pulled off the ending perfectly, but damn it was a ballsy ending. Points for that.

Entertaining, some hard science, usually satisfying. The "human angle" re: Tom's life, career, and future was a little boring compared to the sweet, realistic friendship between Thomas and Hollus, the greatest triumph here.

remocpi's review against another edition

3.0

Este libro es extraño. No extraño, sino diferente. Es un libro de ciencia ficción dura, pero en el que lo más importante parecen ser las emociones y las controversias éticas de los protagonistas. El comienzo es supremo:

Lo sé, lo sé; parecía una locura que los alienígenas hubiesen venido a Toronto. Vale, la ciudad es popular entre los turistas, pero uno pensaría que un ser de otro mundo iría directamente a las Naciones Unidas. O quizás a Washington. ¿En la película de Robert Wise Ultimátum a la Tierra no iba Klaatu directamente a Washington?

En efecto, unos extraterrestres, sospechosamente parecidos a los humanos en cuanto a su forma de pensar y razonar, llegan a la Tierra buscando a un paleontólogo. Quieren que les informe de la historia fósil de la Tierra, para comprobar que también aquí ha habido cinco grandes extinciones como en todos los mundos que han visitado. A Thomas Jericho, paleontólogo jefe del Royal Museum of Ontario, le toca la papeleta.

El libro está muy bien escrito, se lee muy rápido y engancha. El cogollo del libro se presenta cuando los alienígenas le dicen al Dr. Jericho que es obvio que existe Dios, y que todos ellos creen en él. Jericho considera que como científico su misión es ser ateo, a falta de otras pruebas. Esto sucede cuando llevamos pocas páginas, por lo que no les estoy desvelando mucho. El libro narra las idas y venidas intelectuales del alienígena con el humano, mientras se ponen al día de los últimos cientos de millones de años de sus respectivos planetas y otras cosas suceden alrededor. Se nos presenta en todo su esplendor la falacia del Diseño Inteligente, a veces ridiculizada, a veces soltada para "que lo pensemos&". De vez en cuando el Dr. Jericho reflexiona sobre hechos científicos conocidos en la Tierra y nos regala algunos párrafos de divulgación que, la verdad, hacen subir de nivel al libro.

El libro, reitero, está muy bien. Es cogerlo entre las manos y no poder parar. Es rápido y directo. Peca un poco de abuso de drogas alucinógenas hacia el final, pero todos sabemos lo difícil que es terminar bien una novela, sobre todo si ésta empieza con un puñado de seres de ocho patas aterrizando en la puerta delantera de un museo canadiense. El meollo principal son los dilemas éticos del protagonista y las discusiones “fé y razón” sobre la existencia de un dios y de la representación que de él hacen las distintas razas galácticas. Al igual que Sagan planteó como una trama menor en su inmensa Contacto el debate constante entre la Dra. Ellie Arroway y el predicador, aquí los papeles son interpretados por el Dr. Jericho y Hollus, el alienígena que resulta luego ser la alienígena (sólo hay dos sexos en el tercer planeta de β Hydri).

Mi nota: Muy entretenido.