Be Specific About Books Toward Darwin's Radio (Darwin's Radio #1)
| Original Title: | Darwin's Radio |
| ISBN: | 0345459814 (ISBN13: 9780345459817) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Darwin's Radio #1 |
| Characters: | Kaye Lang, Christopher Dickens, Mitch Rafelson |
| Literary Awards: | Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel (2000), Nebula Award for Best Novel (2000), Locus Award Nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel (2000), John W. Campbell Memorial Award Nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel (2000), Endeavour Award (2000) |
Greg Bear
Paperback | Pages: 448 pages Rating: 3.7 | 12976 Users | 745 Reviews
Define Based On Books Darwin's Radio (Darwin's Radio #1)
| Title | : | Darwin's Radio (Darwin's Radio #1) |
| Author | : | Greg Bear |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 448 pages |
| Published | : | March 4th 2003 by Ballantine Books (first published May 4th 1999) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction |
Ilustration As Books Darwin's Radio (Darwin's Radio #1)
So I keep on reading Bear novels, feeling disappointed, waiting a while, then rinse and repeat.This time I've clarified why I am so ambivalent about this guy: he has fascinating ideas then writes dull books about them. The premise here is an extreme example. Our "junk" DNA turns out to be a collection of emergency rapid-response evolutionary accelerators - and the emergency response has just been triggered. Cue mysterious pregnancies, peculiar facial mutations and a really big scientific mystery that turns very political very fast. The detail is very convincing - Bear did a heap of research.
But here's the problem: almost every event of a dramatic nature happens off-stage and the middle part of the book, between the initial scientific drama and the political nightmare at the end bogs down severely. (view spoiler)[Then, to add insult to injury, the book closes before the new generation of evolved humans reaches their teens, so the social consequences are not fully explored (but there is a sequel). It looks like things are heading into X-Men territory, but of course more seriously treated, or, more precisely, in the vein of Nancy Kress's Sleepless books. (hide spoiler)]
There is a theme of the disaster that occurs when science gets forced into the political arena; you only have to look at the climate change debate to know how that goes. It is very realistically handled but develops too slowly. I am reminded of Kim Stanley Robinson. Several of his works deal with science and internal and external politics and how real science is done and I can't help thinking a more interesting novel would have resulted if he had started with the same material.
I acquired Darwin's Children without realising that it was a sequel and then picked up this book subsequently. I will probably read Darwin's Children at some point, since it is lying around and because it really ought to cut to the chase, with the background already painted in with excessive attention to detail but I shall try to resist the urge to buy any more Bear novels regardless of how interesting the premise sounds...
Rating Based On Books Darwin's Radio (Darwin's Radio #1)
Ratings: 3.7 From 12976 Users | 745 ReviewsCriticism Based On Books Darwin's Radio (Darwin's Radio #1)
The first time I read this I felt horrified and dazed for weeks. I still consider this a masterpiece of horror/sci-fi. The characters are somewhat memorable, but more memorable is their pain; indeed, the pain of the whole world was felt in the back of my mouth, preparing it rise up from my stomach, up the pipe, out the maw, to hang onto my lip and smack me thrice on my face, wink, and then jump off to slither under the door-jam and horrify someone else.Don't get me wrong, this is a pure sci-fiA fast-paced, page-turning sci-fi/medical thriller, with an acknowledged nod to Robin Cook's "Outbreak." However, the interesting (although improbable) scientific ideas in the book lift it above the run-of the-mill bestseller.An unusual discovery is made - two Neandertal mummies, with a seemingly normal, Homo Sapiens infant. Is the child theirs?Meanwhile, a new transmissible retrovirus is discovered - although it might seem to be nothing more than a cold, one of its side effects in pregnant
This sci-fi "thriller" never really worked for me. The basic premise -- there is a virus that allows the human genetic code to undergo a massive change to a higher lifeform -- provides a reasonable basis for the novel, but as a story it never comes together.The details of the new virus slowly emerge, as more people become infected and scientists start to study it. Instead of building dramatically in the novel, it gets slowly dished out with enough hints as to where it is going that I started to
Vaguely scifi...a current day medical science intrigue. Cool idea. The story is really a thriller about the world's reaction to scary disease-like symptoms resulting in aborted babies and immaculate conceptions, which has occurred many times before in human history, and even before. The main characters are magnificently drawn; I really cared for them or at least could empathize with those I did not like. There were no cardboard cutout placeholders. The writing was magnificent, even if it wasn't
Actually 3.5, were that possible on GoodReads.I really enjoy science fiction with lots of science, and especially evolutionary concepts, so this book appealed to me immensely in theory. In practice, I found myself skipping huge amounts of text so I could move the plot along. The science behind the concept was intriguing and well developed, but the rest of the story dragged on longer than I thought necessary. For those who like their scifi with indepth descriptions of every character and their
I really liked this book. The author obviously researched the subject matter thoroughly, and there was a good balance of science and engaging plot line. I found it to be an easy and fun read, and I will definitely be reading more books by this author in the future.
The first 200 pages or so of this book are incredibly engaging and interesting. I wasn't put off by the science talk, though there was too much of it -someone who truly understood it would probably find a lot of holes in it, and someone who didn't get it beyond the basics didn't really need to read so extensively about it- but after the first half, the book starts taking a plunge south. I stopped caring about the characters at some point in the middle, the female lead turning into quite a trope
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