Finally, the tent covering is provided by what i call a writers scrapbook. The primary goal of modern science, he continued, is to discover why god has behaved as he has and to determine his methods. It seems that earth and hollus home planet, and the home planet of another alien species traveling with hollus, all experienced the same five. But the book also proves to be very moving and characterdriven sf, as jericho in the face of hollus s convincing arguments grapples. Sawyer, the awardwinning and bestselling writer, hits the peak of his powers in humans, the second book of the neanderthal parallax, his trilogy about our world and another parallel one in which it was the homo sapiens who died out and th. The alien, hollus, has come to earth to gain access to the museums large collection of fossils, and to study accumulated human knowledge in order to gather evidence of the existence of god. Hollus regarded me again, as if i were failing some test. Both books are based on clever premises, unfold nicely, but are in my opinion ruined by the authors penchant for invoking deusexmachina scenarios near the end. Factoring humanity, a canadian, is one of contemporary sfs most consistent performers. An alien shuttle craft lands outside the royal ontario museum in toronto out pops a six legged, two armed. An eightlegged alien emerges, enters the building, and asks to see the museums senior paleontologist.
Starlog vigorous speculationsawyer ends with some grandeur worthy of vintage arthur c. The first problem is the greyish page background, thats not adjustable. The premise of calculating god is that an arachnoid type alien named hollus one bright day lands her spaceship in front of the royal ontario museum in toronto, canada, walks to the entrance and asks the guard to be introduced to a paleontologist. I have already written on sawyers calculating god and how it presentsin great detailthe teleological argument. Im always excited to be exposed to new ideas, and one of the most interesting for me was the linguistic concepts articulated by evolutionary and cognitive psychologist steven pinker ive read some of his earlier popular work, like the language instinct and how the mind works, and another of which is waiting patiently to be read sawyer cites him as discussing consistency of metaphorical. It seems that earth and hollus home planet, and the home planet of another alien species traveling with hollus, all experienced the same five cataclysmic events at about the same time, including events exactly like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs. A novel and millions of other books are available for instant access. Mar 03, 2009 inventive, fastpaced, and alternately funny and touching, calculating god sneaks in a wellresearched survey of evolution science, exobiology, and philosophy amidst the banter between hollus and jericho. Rocky mountain newsa spaceship lands outside the royal ontario museum in toronto. This happens to be thomas jericho, who by the way is an atheist. Calculating god part 1 of 2 leave a comment if you have followed this blog for very long, you know that its not uncommon for me to cite from, or at least refer to, various books on the topics of science, politics, and religion.
Tom jericho, the human scientist with whom he ends up working, is convinced there is no god. Oct 14, 2012 calculating god does not have much to say about god in the real world the god that exists in the fictional universe is based on evidence that has never been observed in the real world. An alien being emerges and says, in perfect english, take me to a paleontologist. It is safe to say that sawyer has accomplished both with calculating god. Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books youve read. If you have followed this blog for very long, you know that its not uncommon for me to cite from, or at least refer to, various books on the topics of science, politics, and religion. Hollus counters that god is a scientist, and all the events that have happened in the universe since the beginning of time are evidence of gods existence. Calculating god academic dictionaries and encyclopedias. Wel come back, said hollus, his eyes now looking at me.
Their debates, and their growing friendship, drive the narrative in this fastpaced, morally and intellectually challenging story of ambitious scope and touching. Calculating god is an exploration of the idea of god through the lens of science and more specifically science fiction. Jun 05, 2008 calculating god is one of those novels, and jonathan davis is an excellent narrator, so this audiobook leapt to the top of my tbr list the moment i realized it existed. Tom jericho, who is astounded to find out that the alien, named hollus, wants to study earths fossil records to. Calculating god is one of those novels, and jonathan davis is an excellent narrator, so this audiobook leapt to the top of my tbr list the moment i realized it existed. Sawyer is one of the major authors in the genre today have to know it now that his novel hominids has won the 2003 hugo award. The climax is an exhilarating and touching glimpse of transcendence. Calculating god is the new nearfuture sf thriller from the popular and awardwinning robert j. Recently, ive spent exercise time with a couple of scifi entries by author robert sawyer. But the book also proves to be very moving and characterdriven sf, as jerichoin the face of hollus s convincing argumentsgrapples with. Everyday low prices on a huge range of new releases and classic fiction. The book i choose to write about is calculating god by robert j sawyer. Both alien races believe this proves the existence of god.
The aliens speak english, of course, and ask to see a paleontologist. I have also heard the phrases a loving god, and a compassionate god. Calculating god is a 2000 science fiction novel by robert j. Hola, identificate cuenta y listas identificate cuenta y listas devoluciones y pedidos prueba prime carrito. An alien spaceship lands on the grounds of the royal ontario museum. The fine tuning argument is presented in full forceeven enhanced by some fudging of the scienceand it leads to the inevitable conclusion that god exists.
The structure of calculating god resembles a tent supported by two main poles. A sixlegged, twoarmed alien emerges, who says, in perfect english, take me to a paleontologist. Nothing is outside the scope of science, he said firmly a position i did not, in fact, disagree with. Inventive, fastpaced, and alternately funny and touching, calculating god sneaks in a wellresearched survey of evolution science, exobiology, and philosophy amidst the banter between hollus and jericho. Sep 27, 20 recently, ive spent exercise time with a couple of scifi entries by author robert sawyer. Whether youve loved the book or not, if you give your honest and detailed thoughts then people will find new books that are right for them. I think you humans apply too many adjectives to the creator.
Similar to the natural philosophers weve studied, sawyer often writes about how science and religion or god merge together. I started out with flashforward, then moved to calculating god. It takes place in the present day and describes the arrival on earth of sentient aliens. Enter your mobile number or email address below and well send you a link to download the free kindle app. Jericho flatly denies gods existence and indicates to hollus that he is within the minority three percent of earths population that shares this belief. It is exactly the type of novel that you might have your grandmother read, then talk about it with her. In this hugonominated novel, neanderthal physicist ponter boddit brings canadian geneticist mary vaughan back to his world to explore the nearutopian civilization of the neanderthals. The appeal of calculating god is that the story is deceptively designed to be as simple as possible, creating a nice coating around the many deep questions embedded in the novel. The main characters struggle with cancer is the perfect subplot, for one does wonder how such injustice can exist.
Hollus is traveling from star to star on a quest to scientifically prove that god exists. Calculating god offers a unique look at theology from a science fiction perspective. Robert sawyers calculating god was a runnerup for the hugo award in 2001 and, having listened to this audiobook version, i again am forced to wonder why it didnt win. Calculating god opens with a spaceship landing in front of torontos royal ontario museum. Boddit serves as a candide figure, the naive visitor whose ignorance.
Jul 15, 2001 calculating god is the new nearfuture sf thriller from the popular and awardwinning robert j. He closed the newspaper and faced the front page toward me. Finally, hollus takes the dying thomas off in the forhilnor ship to meet god. Sawyer calculating god i found this an intriguing novel its a first contact novel with a surprising theme. In calculating god, an alien arrives at a museum in toronto and asks for a paleontologist. The bulk of the novel covers the many discussions and arguments on this topic, as well as about the nature of belief, religion, and science. After an extremely funny start, the major part of the book consists of a lively discussion between the alien, who is gathering additional evidence to prove the existence of god, and tom jericho, a paleontologist who is diagnosed with cancer and starts to wonder about some very basic questions. Abortion, fundamentalists, physicalism, and evolution. But the book also proves to be very moving and characterdriven sf, as jerichoin the face of holluss convincing argumentsgrapples with his own bitter reasons for not believing in god. Calculating god does not have much to say about god in the real world the god that exists in the fictional universe is based on evidence that has never been observed in the real world.
However, sawyers scope in this masterwork of science fiction was not limited merely to a discussion of heady philosophical and scientific arguments for the existence of god. Calculating god is probably a fine book, but the nook reader is so problematic that even though i bought the book, i havent read it. Mar 25, 20 i have already written on sawyers calculating god and how it presentsin great detailthe teleological argument. From the author of flashforward 1999, etc a theological polemic masquerading as a science fiction novel. He has clearly gone beyond just popular science sources.
Calculating god robert j sawyer the good, the bad and the. His new novel concerns the appearance at the royal ontario museum in toronto of a spiderlike alien paleontologist named hollus. Buy calculating god by sawyer, robert from amazons fiction books store. Jun 23, 2014 the book i choose to write about is calculating god by robert j sawyer. The most he does is explains the modern rationale of atheism and undermines them with fiction. An alien shuttle craft lands outside the royal ontario museum in toronto. The majority of its pages take the form of a dialogue between hollus, an alien forhilnor, and thomas jericho, an aging, cancerstricken paleontologist at the royal ontario museum. Calculating god i have an epub of, the first match. Yet this god is not at all amenable to the god of christianity or classical theism. Another great appeal of this novel is the believability of the. Sawyer is a canadian science fiction author of 21 books, including the book flashforward the abc tv show 20092010 was based on. For your reference, we provided these calculating god quotes with page numbers using the following version of the book. Then you can start reading kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer no kindle device required.
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