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The Chronoliths
Witness to it all is our narrator, Scott Warden. There's nothing special about this guy. He's no clever scientist, no tough soldier. He's just a computer programmer who happens to be close to the location of the first arrival. After that he's pulled into the Chronolith investigation by a series of seeming coincidences. But where the manipulation of time is involved, coincidence becomes a slippery concept--something his co-investigators are well aware of.
I consider this quiet, unassuming novel to be on the cutting edge of science fiction for this reason: it creates a literary metaphor for our current view (and fears) of the near future. Just as giant, mutant bugs stood for our fear of the bomb in the '50s, the Chronoliths represent our fear of what's just around the corner today. But today we can no longer easily predict what the future holds. Science changes things too quickly--so quickly that we can only say with confidence that we cannot say what the future will be like.
Science fiction writers have devised a variety of means to cope with this threat to their livelihood. Vernor Vinge pulls off a plausible (and excellent) space opera in A Fire Upon the Deep by having the universe limit how far science can progress depending on its location in the galaxy. Other writers retreat to the very near future. The rise in popularity of alternate history stories could be another byproduct of this dilemma.
But in The Chronoliths Wilson doesn't resort to any tricks. The novel is all about the unknowableness of the future, as represented by the Chronoliths themselves: impenetrable, unstoppable, and, most importantly, of our own making.
*Perhaps one reason Wilson isn't as well known as he should be is that his novels are not as strong as his short fiction. The Chronoliths, interestingly, is his first novel written in first-person, the point of view he chose for many of his best short stories including "The Perseids" and "The Inner Inner City."
You can purchase The Chronoliths from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
"t's dated twenty years in the future..."
Okay, i'm with you so far...
"and each lauds another victory by a leader who does not currently exist."
So, teenagers are winning the wars fought in the future? I knew the dexterity I had built up with a gamepad would come in handy some day... My giant robot remote controlled robot can beat yours anyday!
dmarien
> He's just a computer programmer
Whaddya mean, JUST a computer programmer. Didn't you know that the geeks will inherit the earth?
Not everything that can be measured matters; Not everything that matters can be measured.
**Disclaimer** I really know nothing about carbon dating, just babbling here...
Now unless the "Born On" date was stamped to the bottom how exactly does one Future Date something? Does it actually gain more carbon that it would have now, so that by the time we see it the carbon is right?
MessEdUp
#/var/www/v
Chapter by chapter highlights? Are you certain you are not looking for the Cliff Notes version of the book instead?
I suppose it's fairly common to confuse the concept of a review vs. Cliff Notes....
The reviewer allready answered this. Look in the table that precedes the review...
:)
"summary: Big honking monoliths beam in from the future."
Don't know how much more concise it can get...
dmarien
Science fiction writers have devised a variety of means to cope with this threat to their livelihood.
Science fiction has _never_ been about "this is what the future will be like!". Well, some of the crappy stuff is. The best science fiction is all about what-if. Good science fiction places characters in strange circumstances that may or may not bear any relation to a plausible future for humanity. The fun is in seeing how humans (or aliens for that matter) would deal with these circumstances. What-if there was an alien loose on your ship with acid for blood and lightning quick reflexes? What-if a colony of nanobots became self-aware? What-if we found the sun was inhabited with creatures who were slowing down the fusion processes at the center? The plausibility of these scenarios _actually happening_ is slim to none. But that has nothing to do with whether or not this is good science fiction. For me personally, if the story is based on hard science, then thats when I stop caring about the plausibility of the story.
Any science fiction writer who sees himself as a prophet for the future needs to find a new line of work, like say, I don't know, start a cult for instance.
---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
Cronolith: (noun) any entry in /etc/crontab whose width exceeds 80 characters
On the plus side, the characters do come to life, and the story sweeps you along pretty well, and has a couple of interesting sub-plot twists. Overall, not a bad read, but it's not something I'll stand on the rooftops and shout about, either.
Umm you seem to be thinking this is a high school book report. What you have here is actually a book REVIEW and is meant to do nothing but whet your appetite for reading the book, as well as give a few opinions about how it stacks up relative to other books.
Also the only kind of book reports that give chapter subjects and highlights are for purchasing technical or text books.
But since you are obviously some sort of alien who only reads slashdot this may have been the only kind of book review you've seen.
Regards,
----- 70% of all statistics are completely made up.
Specifically, I read it on June 18, on airplanes and in airports taking a trip with my daughter.
Good book, though IMHO "The Harvest" is still my Robert Charles Wilson favorite. (Kind of like "Childhood's End" but different.)
To clear up a few basics, the Chronoliths appear, smashing cities where they do. They have writing on them, commemorating a battle victory 20 years in the future. No carbon dating needed, they read the information. If you suddenly had a big monument materialize obliterating your city, would you be prone to distrust the writing on it?
Of a more interesting nature is a hero who is a hero by working his craft, not his fists. This aspect is reminiscent of Neal Stephenson's works or "Crosstime Engineer". (Author forgotten, but I think he was Polish) In most fiction no matter what the profession of the hero, the hero-work seems to get done with fists and guns. Nice to see a change.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
The tale begins in 2021 with the abrupt arrival of the first Chronolith, a 200-foot-high monument of unknown composition that memorializes a military victory.
So, the Red Sox finally win a World Series?
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
http://www.sfsite.com/10b/cl114.htm
http://www.januarymagazine.com/SFF/chronoliths.htm l
http://www.mervius.com/books/chronoliths.htm
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
That being said, I have read this book and it is quite good. Also, I found it refreshingly short: Average readers will finish it in just a few sittings. Wilson manages to tell a complete and satisfying SF story in a few hundred pages, which is occurring less and less often.
Anyway, if your curiosity is piqued, check out a more complete review here: http://www.sfsite.com/10b/cl114.htm
The strength of Robert Charles Wilson's latest book is not in the time travel per se, but rather the response of a group of fully-developed, sympathetic characters to the phenomena they are encountering.
To my delight (and unlike so much literary fiction these days), Wilson's protagonists DO SOMETHING. It may not always be the right course of action, but there is an understandable human motivation when it is the wrong course of action.
Scotty, the protagonist, is strong yet flawed, and his fascination with The Chronoliths is kept in proper perspective. Sue Chopra, the brilliant physicist, is handled gingerly by an accomplished author.
The time travel theme -- the appearance of "artifacts" from the future -- is not new but is integral to the story. And this latter point is crucial to good science fiction. The science (regardless of what you think of time travel dynamics) is consistent and interesting and becomes a de facto character in the tale.
The only area where the novel could've been strengthened was the development of Scotty's relationship with his father, and indeed, development of the father's character in general.
Nevertheless, this is an entertaining and thought-provoking book with a broad scope, engaging characters and a very interesting ending.
It is also an optimistic allegory to the hope and renewel that always follows tragedy, like the euphoria following World War II.
It is well worth the read. Wilson is going to be a major force in speculative fiction in years to come.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
You also have to pay close attention to the biological processes involved. One of the favorite "proofs" that evolution is all wrong and therefore the literal interpretation of the Christian book of Genesis *must* be accurate is the fact that some breed of oyster (or at least some type of clam) preferentially uses one isotope of carbon over another. It's enough so that you can pull an oyster from the ocean, eat most of the meat, and date the rest as thousands of years old.
I don't remember the mechanism involved, but it's something that makes sense to the scientists involved and they can account for it. But anyone who's only had the standard K-12 exposure to science would be utterly confused by the results.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
> "unknowableness" is a.k.a. uncertainty.
Heisenberg unknowableness principle doesn't have the same ring to it though, does it?
Not everything that can be measured matters; Not everything that matters can be measured.
Personally (not that anyone will care, but just add to the thread):
- History: currently reading Barbara Tuchman's The Proud Tower - A Portrait of The World Before the War, a somewhat episodic but interesting review of the late 19th century. There are some fascinating correspondances with the current climate (the chapter on the anarchists is particularly interesting - I was a bit vague on them before, but there is a real resonance with the current terrorist threat).
Another big favourite recently was A World Lit Only By Fire - The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance by William Manchester. Many medieval history books can be pretty dry, but this one is a cracking good read.
For fiction I used to be a big fan of John Irving - I think The Hotel New Hampshire remains my favourite book of his, though I'm less enchanted with his recent stuff.
There's an excerpt (from the grossly-overpriced ebook version) here.
Come now, certainly at least a few of you slashdotters out there have read Ender's game. Everyone knows that children make the most skillful and deadly military leaders. It is just one of those known facts.
With my dying breath, I curse Zoidberg!
Why would two of them appear?
All you need to do after the first one is make your own, saying "Stop spamming our time period!" They're bound to see it and realize their mistake.
That'll stop them.
--Blair
An unknown terrorist leader from the future begins beaming back monuments to himself through time (think of the Washington Monument appearing suddenly in the middle of colonial virginia), which tell of a terrible war where this terrible leader won everything. These monuments appear with more and more frequency as time moves on, and the world begins to panic as they imagine a new Ghengis Khan, Hitler, or Hannibal. Like people claiming to be the Messiah today, people begin taking on the name of the leader and claiming to be HIM in their own areas of the world. Chaos threatens to engulf the world, as our heros try to find a way to prevent an outcome which has apparently already happened.
Basically, I found the book interesting, but not exciting or compelling. The narrative was diverse and the ideas unusual, but in the end many threads were left unexplored and the book sort of peters out rather than ending with a bang. If you like speculative fiction, this will fill a pleasant afternoon but is not a "must-have."
At least that is my two cents.
But you're right, they both have monoliths
Wouldn't that be multiliths if there is more than one?