Product Description
The world of the past eventually died in the conflagration toward which it had been doggedly heading. A more fragmented and diversified order has emerged from the ruins and . technology has reappeared to a greater or lesser degree in some places and not at all in others. 

    Unique among them is the nation-state of Sofi, with an exceptional population that has rediscovered advanced science. However, as the old patterns that led to ruin before begin to reassert themselves across the rest of the world, a scientific-political movement within Sofi embarks on a years-long project to build a generation starship that will enable them to create their own world elsewhere.

    The circumstances and thinking of future generations growing up in the totally unknown situation of a space environment cannot be known. Accordingly, the mission will include different groups of idealists, reformers, misfits, and dissidents who are not satisfied with the world-in-miniature that constitutes the original mother ship, to go out and build whatever they want. Hence, what arrives at the distant star generations hence will be a flotilla of variously run city states, frontier towns, religious monasteries, pleasure resorts, urban crushes, rural spreads, academic retreats, and who-knows what else. 

    The trouble began, of course, when all the old patterns that they thought they were getting away from started reappearing . . . 

  ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Avoiding Tyranny
Migration (2010) is a standalone SF novel.It is set in a future after a worldwide Great Conflagration.Sofi is the strongest of the societies established after the Conflagration, leading all other states in rediscovering advanced technology.It has recently developed a starcraft -- the Aurora -- which will take a large group of people to colonize an extrasolar world named Hera.

The pre-Conflagration world had sent out interstellar probes to nearby solar systems containing planets.One had investigated Hera and then returned with data about the planet.Apparently Hera is biologically active with an viable atmosphere.

In this novel, Korshak is a creator and performer of magical tricks and illusions.He loves a princess of Arigane and is determined to set her free from her father and betrothed.

Ronti is Korshak's partner and assistant.He is also a juggler and acrobat.

Vaydien is the daughter of the ruler of Arigane.Her father Shandrahl has betrothed her to Zileg, the Crown Prince of Urst.She hopes that Korshak will not forget her.

Masumichi Shikoba is a recruiter for the Aurora complement.He also makes robots.

Andri Lubanov is an officer in the Internal Security Office of the Sofian military.He disagrees with the idea behind the migration.

Tek is a robotic prototype developed by Masumichi.It is exposed to various human activities to expand its knowledge base.

In this story, Korshak has returned to Escalos to perform at court.He has a new trick, a disappearance box.He intends to use it to get Vaydien away from Shandrahl and Zileg.

Ronti visits the kitchen to catch up on gossip and to recruit a helper.Korshak lures Vaydien outside her quarters and briefs her on her role.That evening, Korshak performs for Shandrahl and his guests and gets away with Vaydien.

Korshak, Vaydien, Ronti and Mirsto -- the court physician and Vaydien's friend -- slip through the escape tunnel and ride away from the palace.Unknown to them, Zileg has guessed their destination and is in hot pursuit with a troop of cavalry.

Meanwhile, Masumichi is making a final effort to retrieve the last few recruits -- and his family -- from Earth before the starship departs the system.Zileg has cornered the fugitives and is moving in for the capture when a lander appears overhead.Thanks to the unforeseen actions of a robot on the lander, the fugitives escape and join the Aurora complement.

A conspiracy among the Sofi population moves on the launch facilities to prevent the departure of the starship.Fortunately for the Aurora crew, Lubanov is a double agent and keeps the Directorate of Aurora informed of the conspiracy plans.He leaves two days before the coup tries to take the starship supplies.

Several years later, Masumichi discovers that Tek is missing.He had taken the robot with him to the amusement area and left instructions for it to rejoin him later.It never appear at the rendezvous point.

Masumichi asks Korshak to investigate.Naturally, Korshak takes Ronti with him in the investigation.They find that the robot had tried to join a cult, but was rejected.

Korshak learns that many cults send their recruits to Plantation, a vessel within theAuroran Constellation.He goes to that satellite to learn if Tek had also gone there.He convinces an official on the habitat to provide him with directions that might lead to Tek.

Korshak visits friends while he is looking for Tek.Their daughter thinks Korshak will force Tek to return to Aurora and sends a warning to the robot.When Korshak reaches the place where Tek had been working, the robot had already gone.

This tale involves Korshak in a politics.He had previously avoided any thinking on governments, considering all of them as bad or worse.Now he is caught in the middle of a conflict between rival governmental systems.

The story presents a form of government in Sofi and the Aurora that is somewhat like an elective tyranny similar to Athenian democracy.But the executive is not selected by the citizens, but by popularly elected representatives.This group -- like the electoral college -- then selects the executive.There are no legislators and apparently judges are appointed by the executive.

This form of government concentrates all powers in a single individual rather than a committee.Decisions can be made without compromises.Although the author did not describe any method of recall -- other than revolt -- one assumes that some method exists to remove an ineffective or pernicious executive.

The story also points out that arguments of growth limits only reflect restrictive viewpoints and political constraints.World hunger results more from national rivalry than true scarcity.Human ingenuity has always made fools out of the doomsayers.

Essentially, the story stresses cooperation over competition.Every person has the opportunity to seek out compatible individuals and to share the resources of the state, but not to block others from such resources.In other words, it combines economic socialism with personal liberty under an autocratic government.

This novel does not complete the migration to Hera.Maybe there will be a sequel describing their exploits on the planet.Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Hogan fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of governmental systems, social conflicts, and personal competence.

-Arthur W. Jordin ... Read more

Product Description
Discover the first three books in the ground-breaking 21st century hard-science fiction saga by James P. Hogan:
INHERIT THE STARS
The skeletal remains of a human body are found on the moon. His corpse is 50,000 years old, and nobody knows who he was, how he got there, or what killed him.
THE GENTLE GIANTS OF GANYMEDE
A long-ago wrecked ship of alien giants is discovered by Earth's scientists on a frozen satellite of Jupiter. Then, spinning out of the vastness of space, a ship of the same strange, humanoid giants has returned....
GIANTS' STAR
Humans finally thought they comprehended their place in the universe...until Earth found itself in the middle of a power struggle between a benevolent alien empire and a cunning race of upstart humans who hated Earth!
... Read more

Customer Reviews (44)

A Book Review
The Gentle Giants of Ganymede by James P. Hogan is about a research scientist, Dr. Victor Hunt.He was one of the first people to examine an alien found on the moon.He was again called by the U.N. Space Arm when a deep space scan of one of Jupiter's moons reveals a high concentration of metal under one of the moon's icy surface.An expedition is proposed to see what this anomaly is.It is eagerly accepted because of the chance that it is another type of an alien technology from the [Lumarians].Reaching the moon they find that it is another type of alien's spaceship.The dead aliens found on board were from the destroyed planet Ganymede.In the ship they find a machine that has a slot were power can go in.They put power in it, it sends a signal to another Ganymede spaceship which comes to Earth.The Ganymedes Eight foot tall purple people befriend the Earth men.A planet outlined in a Lumarian star map could contain more Ganymedes.their planet was destroyed in a giant war.So they set off and found other Ganymedes and were happy.
I think this was a very good book.I would Recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction.My favorite part was when the Ganymedes found other Ganymedes.I hope you enjoyed my book review.

Great SciFi adventure
I can't say enough good things about this book or any of the Giants books. All are a great read and great sci-fi adventures. If you love sci-fi these should be in your collection.

Great Mix of Science and Sci-Fi
I was introduced to James Hogan by reading "Inherit the Stars."Then I read the rest of this volume (2 other books.)I really enjoy Hogan's ability to take a scientific theory and weave it into a story.He gives you enough puzzles to think about as he writes and keeps the story line moving.If you enjoy Sci-Fi that is not just one fantastic creature after another, but is built around a plausable story line, then you will enjoy Hogan.
The first book was written in the late 70's, so some of the politics have changed.As Arthur Clarke said in one of his books, this story happens in this solar system, but not in this universe.

3 in 1 Giants Omnibus -Wonderful series
The Giant's series provides a fascinating adventure through the complex world of our universe that requires "science fiction" to honor the facts as we know them.Although we know it has not happened, we can follow the "action" of the story as it is realistic and interesting.After working as a geologist for 30 years, I am in awe of the through analysis that went into creating the overall plot and facts that were unfolded in the series.As I tried my best to use science and geologic history to find fault with the books, I could only admire how well it was put together.Others have complained that it is "too scientific", it is accurate to this day.Based on the condition that it was written almost 30 years ago, it is as true for the attitude of stogy scientists and management now as it was then.Management has not changed in 30 years, if in 2,000 years.If you want a fantasy book without depth, then this is not a book for you.You are required to think.An open mind is hard to find and Hogan clearly has a good one.

We are quick to criticize that few women were key characters in the book but we can also read the beginning that said that the big contract was "200 million dollars".Now, a big contract like that would be 4 billion dollars in today's terms.Based on the time it was written, one must not require the author to adhere to modern standards as we know them today.The book must be read based on the time it was written as many classics of ancient history have been.It may not be "politically correct" by modern standards, but try to simply enjoy the story without making judgments. No insult to minorities was intended.Note that smoking was often referred to in a positive way and now that would be really negative.

The real joy of this book is being able to let your mind look at ways to examine what you see/evaluate in new ways, released from the sterile and confined ways of modern life, but to, what we may call "out of the box" thinking, and see what can happen when you have an open mind, intelligence and a team working for a common goal of knowledge. The series drags you from a simple concept of a man on the moon through the ideas of a different race and then meeting them.As you travel this road, each step is reasonable and fascinating.Yet, if you had made the leap from the beginning, it would have been absurd.Finding yourself in places where science is described 30 years ago in ways that is common to us now is also comparedto emotional relationships we can all relate to.Science and life are well balanced in this author's trilogy.

Many will disagree with the hypotheses that Hogan presents in this series, but few can disagree that an intelligent person that critically, and without preconceived bias, evaluates information in their lives will find these books stimulating. Turn out the lights, light a candle and escape into a world of possibilities of a world that could have been worse that the one we have now, but maybe not.You can decide that.

After 50 years, I will say that "Inherit the Stars" is still my one and only favorite.When I think I know it all, I read this and begin to get humble again.An open mind is a beautiful thing.As they say, "try it, you might like it".

Thought Provoking
This volume presents the Giants trilogy which consists of "Inherit the Stars," "The Gentle Giants of Ganymede," and "Giants' Star."All three are well written.They are written from a scientist's point of view.The emphasis is on creating theories, and the proces in which theories are developed.This is hard science fiction, so action fans may be disappointed because there isn't much action until the end of the third novel.The first and second novels are resolved by discovering a truth unrealized before.

The first novel begins with the discovery of a human corpse on the moon which at first doesn't seem so unusual because there are lots of humans on the moon.But the odd points start adding up.First, no one is missing on the moon.Second, the suit doesn't match any of those used by the governments of Earth.On opening the suit, they find the body has been mummified, and when they date it, they discover that the body is 50,000 years old!Everything that humans had believed about their origin is put into doubt.Will they be able to unravel the mystery of this early visitor to the moon? ... Read more

Product Description
Earth is adapting to a future of amicable coexistence with the advanced aliens from Thurien, descended from ancestors who once inhabited Minerva, a vanished planet of the Solar System. The plans of the distantly related humans on the rogue world Jevlen to eliminate their ancient Terran rivals and take over the Thurien system of worlds have been thwarted, but the mystery remains of how it was possible for the fleeing Jevlenese leaders to have been flung back across space and time to reappear at Minerva before the time of its destruction. Victor Hunt and a group of his colleagues travel to Thurien to conduct a joint investigation with the alien scientists into the strange physics of interconnectedness between the countless alternate universes that constitute ultimate reality. When their discoveries lead first to bizarre communication with bewildered counterparts in other universes, and thence to the possibility of physical travel, the notion is conceived of sending a mission back to the former world of Minerva with the startling objective of creating a new family of realities in which its destruction is avoided. But Imares Broghuilio, the deposed Jevlenese leader, along with several thousand dedicated followers with five heavily armed starships, are already there. And they have a score to settle. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Hack writer and loony
I thought he was just another mediocre writer, but I chanced to do some internet research on him--he denies the Holocaust, doubts evolution and has many other ignorant, sick theories. Beware which writers you are giving your hard earned money too!

Convoluted Return to the Well
In taking an excellent trilogy from the 1970s and extending it into the 21st century, James Hogan has overreached a bit. There has been a lot of new science since then, including the geological composition of the moon and the probable origin of the asteroid belt such that speculative plots from an earlier era may not necessarily mesh with what is generally accepted today. Set that aside for a moment. Fans (such as myself) of "Inherit the Stars" and its sequels will find "Mission to Minerva" to be a nostalgically enjoyable return to characters who haven't been visited in many years.

Still, though, "Mission to Minerva" rambles like nothing I have ever read from Hogan.

There is something strange about this book. Not only is the plot longer and more convoluted than it needs to be, with purely half the book dedicated to a literary struggle to reinforce a highly-speculative parallel universes theory, but the book also contains more typos than I have ever encountered (and I wasn't reading a first edition). The "action", as it were, was undeveloped and quick, and this following page after page after page of exposition on the means by which parallel universes could be accessed. This makes "Mission to Minerva" a story about the way things were done rather than about the characters who did them, as if Hogan were using this book to air out his own pet theories. There were also missed opportunities to explore deeper into the backstory of "Inherit the Stars". Despite these criticisms, Hogan has set up the ability to easily extend the series, and perhaps future books will be more coherent.

In the mean time (and despite the comprehensive chronologies that are included in the book), if you have not read the previous four books in the series, don't start here.

A fast-paced adventure.
James P. Hogan's MISSION TO MINERVAprovides a fine timeslip epic in which Victor Hunt and his colleagues are investigating the strange physics of alternate universes in conjunction with Thurien's alien scientists. Add military action and you have a fast-paced adventure.

Number 5 in the "Giants" series
This excellent story is number five in the "Giants" series.

It starts with the main hero of the previous books, Dr Hunt, getting a call from his equivalent self in another universe ...

The individual volumes in the series to date are

1) Inherit the Stars (one of the best SF stories ever written)
2) The Gentle Giants of Ganymede
3) Giants Star
4) Entoverse
5) Mission to Minerva

There are also two omnibus volumes: "The Two Moons" which combines the first two books (The moons concerned being Earth's moon, and Jupiter's moon Ganymede) and the a "3 in 1 Giants Omnibus" which combines the first three.

All these novels follow on from a story which begins in "Inherit the Stars" when modern astronauts on the moon find a 50,000 year old human body which completely overturns our ideas about man's place in the universe.

During the course of the series, and usually several times per book, the heroes keep finding new discoveries which force them to re-evaluate their ideas about the origins of humanity all over again. A positive aspect of that is that it keeps the books fresh as the stories often go off in different directions: a negative aspect is that some readers who like the first book may find some of the subsequent ones a little silly.

The scientific and computer backgrounds appear to be very carefully researched and thought through, but some readers will find the leaps of imagination a too extreme to retain credibility: others will find the sheer ambitious breadth of Hogan's imagination to be the very thing which makes these works of fiction so memorable and entertaining.

I enjoyed all five novels and warmly recommend them. If you like the kind of science fiction which stretches the imagination, you will very probably enjoy these stories.

What's up with Hogan?
If you are contemplating buying James P. Hogan's MISSION to MINERVA, you have probably already read the first four books in the series, starting with INHERIT the STARS and moving to to ENTOVERSE.Probably the main characters-- Vic Hunt, Chris, Greg Caldwell, etc. are like old friends.If so, you will want to read MISSION and will probably enjoy it.

But, and here I disagree with a number of other reviewers, I did not find MISSION to be a fully worthy sequel, for a number of reasons.If you don't want to read a somewhat negative review, please just stop here.

First, I almost resented being brought back to this series after so many years.Entoverse came out in 1992 and when I read it, I remember being mildly annoyed that it had been about a dozen years since the original trilogy.The GIANTS trilogy stood well on its own.I always suspected that when sales of more recent novels tanked, Hogan went back to it for sequels to pay the rent, and that rankled a bit.

Second, Hogan has always been good with hard science SF but this time it has just taken over the novel, esp. the first half.And I'm not sure the physics therein could even be called hard science.You'd have to make some wild assumptions and toss out most of what we know about quantum mechanics to find the basic hypotheses in MISSION to be plausible.

Third, is it just me or has Hogan undergone a radical political shift in his advancing years?The "utopian" future he presents in Thurien civilization seems astonishingly Marxist and egalitarian and the expostulations he lets many characters spout made him seem embarassed to be human.It seemed that Danchekker's cousin was tossed in specifically to do just that.

All that said, the second half of MISSION is fun and better-paced and less expository.And, as Confucius said at the beginning of The Analects, "To have friends come from afar, is this not, after all, a delight?"(You peng cong yuan fang lai, bu yi le hu")

Yes, it is, after all 12 years, a delight.Welcome back, Vic Hunt!Here's hoping for a somewhat better sequel! ... Read more

Product Description
"[Hogan] once again demonstrates his mastery"-Publisher's Weekly **** "...on the cutting edge of technology...Hogan's talent carries the reader from peak to peak in the story"-Booklist **** "In the grand tradition of the classic super-science stories, but with more exciting science and with better writing too. What more can anyone want?"-Isaac Asimov ****In this spectacular sequel to the acclaimed Code of the Lifemaker, James Hogan returns to the strange world of Titan, inhabited by bizarre self-conscious robots. **** Little is known about the civilization that gave birth to these machine intelligences until scientists discover blocks of embedded computer code that appear to be strangely out of place. **** Reactivating the computer codes results in the re-awakening of ancient alien beings, creators of the strange robot culture, totally alien and immensely powerful. And they are unhappy at being restrained within the narrow confines of the machines they find themselves in. They would much rather be the masters of all. **** But while the scientists are helpless against these mighty beings, Karl Zambendord, the media-star 'Psychic' and his support team prepares to meet the challenge. **** The alien intelligences might be intellectually superior and super rational, but this also makes them hyper-materialistic and mechanistic in their outlookand hence, totally unprepared for such "higher" concepts as the spiritual, the mystical, and the transcendental. And selling such notions is precisely Zambendorf's stock in trade ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A good read, with Hogan's usual faults
I just finished this book in a late nite read-a-thon!Towards the end, like seemingly all of Hogan's work that I've read, I got drawn into the story despite the sometimes clunky and cliched writing.Hogan is above all an "idea man"-- with very engaging concepts and ideas (it probably don't hurt that I'm fascinated with robots and AIs and all that), but the ideas suffer a bit from his writing style and often flat characterization.If you've read Hogan before, you know what I mean.

Even still, it seems very unfair to me to bludgeon this book as UNIQUELY bad for James P. Hogan, as though he suddenly went downhill.I would actually say that this book is better than _The Code of Lifemaker_.It seems to me that Hogan had some time to think about the backstory of his characters more and invent even more intriguing ideas in the time between the two novels.Yes, as one reviewer noted, there is a VERY silly passage about some kind of seamless media conspiracy to spin the news, but that one paragraph only detracts so much from the whole book.Look, in the first book, there was a cigarette vending machine(!) aboard one of the NASO spaceships(!!!!).One must allow for Hogan's little quirks.

The biggest "con" about this book, in my humble opinion, is the same con for _The Code of Lifemaker_: The tedious psuedo-medieval gibberish spoken by the Taloids, the naturally evolved race of bipedal machines.After so many thees and thous and other sophomoric attempts at the King's English of antiquity, you really long for the action to shift to the humans or the Borjians or anywhere else...!!!Also, the females in Hogan's books (the few that exist) are either conniving witches, total airheads, feminazis, or baby-making machines... quite literally on the last one!But so many authors (both male and female) are guilty of this, it hardly seems fair to single out Hogan.

The pros include: the return of Karl Zambendorf, who has grown personally as in the last book, but who is more than capable of all his old tricks; some hilarious moments with the Borjians, the bird-like aliens whose advanced culture produced the Searcher ships that spawned the Taloids; and above all, GENIUS 5, an AI who is hilarious and winsome and one of Hogan's most fully rendered characters.Despite Hogan's oft-noted clunky writing style, and some very predictable scenes, _The Immortality Option_ contained some genuinely exciting plot twists and developments.Often, just when you think that Hogan has lazily written his characters out of a conundrum, realistic disaster strikes and plans go awry. And without giving too much away, it has a happy ending!

Sloppy, silly thinking wrapped in a "hard science" label
I LOVED the original "Code of the Lifemaker" so long ago, but 20 years later, I found this sequel to be nothing short of appalling, bad in ways that suggest Hogan has no respect either for his audience or even himself.

While the original showed a wonderful imagination, it was grounded in both real science and the way real people behave. The sequel, on the other hand, is grounded in neither, and reads more like Internet fan fiction or an entry in some sort of "bad science fiction" contest. When I read the paragraph where Hogan described the notebook of "correct opinion" the evil media elites distribute to newsrooms as part of the vast, sinister media conspiracy (literally), I had to re-read the paragraph several times, since I didn't want to believe something so comically stupid could have been written by someone who once seemed destined to be one of the great science fiction writers.

Nope, he did write it. And into the garbage went this book.

If you're looking for wonder and imagination set in Saturn's orbit, check out John Varley's Gaea trilogy instead, and stay well away from "The Immortality Option."

Fast Paced Sequel to Code of the Lifemaker
Twelve years after publishing "Code of the Lifemaker", Hogan followed the steps of that success with this sequel. The main characters are back (with Karl Zambendorf at the top of all of them) and also the background is set on Titan.

Being asked to write this sequel by his publisher, Hogan responded that he did not want to as he had effectively finished the story on "Code of the Lifemaker". Nevertheless, the publisher insisted and Hogan intelligentely found a thread from the first novel to follow an adventure which has weight enough to carry on the story.

Although the charm and originality of the initial situation has faded,Hogan compensates with a fast-paced adventure and a satisfactory conclusion to what can be labelled as the series of "Zambedorf on Titan".

Rating=3

The sequal succeeds as well as the original
In the original, the author blew me away with natural evolution for robots. In this book, he keeps artful, suspenseful control of a plot that spans over a million years, two star systems, three very distinct species,and several outstanding individuals.

I made the mistake of reading thisbook before going to bed..I couldn't put it down to go to sleep! The moodswings, sometimes abruptly, from wonder, to laugh-out-loud funny, tonail-biting tension.

All my favorite characters from the originalreturn, and are joined by the imaginatively-rendered Borijans and their AIGENIUS in a three-way battle for the future of Titan, which is also abattle between science and nonsense, gullibility and guile, compassion andselfishness.

An excellent sequel to a classic novel
Considering the massive set and costume changes between successive "Star Trek" movies, which are generally 2-3 years apart, I wondered how well the author would pick up after over a decade.I must say, it was as if the books had been written one after another.

In this sequel to "Code of the Lifemaker" we learn much about the race that created the craft that landed on Titan and started the ball rolling and find out that a hidden agenda made a routine exploration mission somewhat less than routine.

By the end, we discover that paranoia and gullibility are not strictly human traits but universal in nature and applicable to aliens and computers alike.

While "Code of the Lifemaker" and "The Immortality Option" stand up on their own, together they're a blast. ... Read more

Product Description
Something strange is happening on the planet Cyrene, which is in the early phases of being "developed" by the mammoth Interworld Restructuring Corporation. Terrans from the base there have been disappearing. Myles Callen, a ruthlessly efficient "Facilitator," is sent to investigate. Also with the mission is Marc Shearer, a young, idealistic quantum physicist, disillusioned with the world, who’s on his way to join a former colleague, Evan Wade. On arrival he finds that Wade too has vanished and doesn't want to be found by the Terran authorities. Wade has arranged contact via the Cyreneans, however, and accompanied by two companions that he has befriended, Shearer embarks on a journey to find his friend that will change Cyrene—and Earth itself.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The Moon Flowers Did It
Moon Flower (2008) is a standalone SF novel.It is set about four decades from now.Discoveries in quantum physics have led to the invention of an FTL drive that makes interstellar exploration and colonization possible.

Dozens of solar systems have been explored with robot probes.Aliens -- who look much like humanity -- have been found on several planets.New corporations have been formed to exploit interstellar resources and natives.

In this novel, Evan Wade is a physicist on the first expedition to Cyrene by Interworld Restructuring Corporation.His specialty is advanced waves.Retarded waves are the normal kind that travel forward in time, but advanced waves travel into the past.Wade has tried to detect advanced waves using biophysical sensors.

Marc Shearer is also a physicist and Wade's former assistant.Now he is head of the project at Berkeley while Wade is away.He has heard from Wade that some interesting things are happening on Cyrene.Wade tries to wire a job request to get Marc to Cyrene as his assistant.Naturally, Marc applies for the job when the opening is posted.

Jerri Perlok is an anthropologist.She has recently been hired by Interworld for the third expedition to Cyrene.She skipped a preflight training session to attend a social event.After all, she has plenty to observe at such occasions.

Jeff Lang is a historian.He is traveling to Cyrene to prepare an account of their progress.He is also an agent for Milicorp, the company that provides security for Interworld.

Myles Callan is a Facilitator for Milicorp Transnational. He is now a civilian executive of the mercenary corporation, but he has worn a uniform in the past.He is very intelligent, but rather cold-blooded, rational and calculating without strong emotions.

In this story, Myles finishes his last assignment and returns to the San Francisco area for a briefing on his next task.Rath Borland tells him that the Interworld effort on Cyrene is disintegrating.Personnel have been deserting the company and the remaining employees are showing signs of mental disorientation.

Interworld had sent two prior shipments of personnel and equipment to Cyrene.Now they are assembling a third emergency voyage to resolve the situation.Myles will be going with the third complement.

In addition to resolving the personnel problem, Myles is tasked with returning Evan Wade to Earth.Interworld suspects that his presence has worsened the situation and would like him off the planet.Borland has also arranged for Shearer to be on the ship, so he should lead to Wade.

Arriving for his preflight orientation, Marc meets Jeff in the cafeteria.Soon Jeff is a close associate, but he becomes a little irritating due to his obsessive questioning.He seems especially interested in Evan Wade.

Marc also meets Jerri during the preflight training.She seems different from other women whom he knows.For one thing, Jerri is more of an observer than a participant.Maybe that comes from her professional training?

When they reach Cyrene, Marc and Jerri wander around the base and find an unlocked gate.Beyond it, a path leads down into the surrounding greenery.Walking down the path, they find a native group waiting for them with a letter from Wade.

This tale leads Marc and Jerri into a puzzle.The natives always seem to know intuitively what to do about problems.They can't explain it, but a premonition leads them to the optimal choice on many things.Moon flowers are considered to invoke the best solutions.

The natives are positive that trying for longrange solutions is the wise thing to do.Ways that lead to the best solutions for everybody seem to reduce social unrest and internal conflict.The natives have had very few intergroup hostilities, possibly because of such feelings about ideas and the individuals who espouse them.

The author introduces strange scientific speculations into his novels.This work continues the Velikovsky premise from Cradle of Saturn, but also adds some strangeness from quantum mechanics.Not that strangeness is anything new in QM, but advanced waves have only recently become an acceptable subject for scientific experiments.Some labs are currently trying to explore such exotic events, but the author takes these efforts a bit further.

This novel emphasizes the gullibility of humanity as compared to the Cyreneans.OTOH, the Cyreneans are deficient in logical reasoning.The combination of humanity and natives may well lead to some exciting discoveries.Read and enjoy!

Recommended for Hogan fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of exotic physics, social theories, and human relationships.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Moon Flower
Typical J.P.Hogan science fiction with a solid nononsense message about life on our planet and what to do about it.
Good solid science fiction.

oh, darn
Why oh why can't Hogan's newer books be as good as his older ones?I found Moon Flower to be overly wordy and badly edited.Too many unanswered questions, and the characters are sadly one-dimensional.
Oh, darn.

fascinating sci fi
In the middle of the twenty-first century the mega-conglomerate Interworld Restructuring Corporation controls much of earth and other planets through its questionable ethics enforced by its even less scrupulous military contractor, Milicorp Transnational.The Bill of Rights does not exist as those amendments were protection from government not corporations and was affirmed by Supreme Court judges.

Quantum physicist Marc Shearer has plenty of offers to join the weapons of mass destruction wing of MT, but prefers basic and applied research rather than experimental design so is on the outside not looking in.At the same time Marc studies physical reality, anthropologist Jerri Perlok is whimsically comparing the preening of the affluent elite to that of peacocks in heat.

People are vanishing on the recently found Cyrene while those still in contact seem to not care about anything; if it was just a civilian lost no one would care, but officials of IRC and officers of MT are some of the missing.Hard ass Myles "the Facilitator" Callen leads an expedition from earth to Cyrene to learn the truth.Marc was given no choice but to join the crew as his scientific mentor Dr. Evan Wade vanished while Jerri is also drafted due to her unique social anthropology skills of studying bizarre cultures like the rich and almost-famous.

This is a fascinating encounter between humans and a sentient species that thinks radically different.Whereas mankind is avaricious in its one for one belief that the individual matters regardless; the selfless Cyreneans feel everyone counts as no one is left behind.What makes James P. Hogan's latest sci fi look at human avarice and the extrapolation of the Bush corpocracy is the reaction of the Cyreneans who understand revering teachers and doctors, but not social flits.This comparison of the two human species make for a strong social anthropological thriller as the greedy invoke the wrath of the God of Economics to save Wall St while the altruistic wonder why waste energy negatively when Main St needs help.

Harriet Klausner

Listen to the Flowers
According to James P. Hogan's latest novel, "Moon Flower", Earth of the mid-twenty-first century has become a truly disagreeable place.The world is ruled by mega-conglomerates like Interworld Restructuring Corporation and its thuggish military contractor, Milicorp Transnational.Countries like the United States of America have fragmented into smaller, regional entities which serve primarily as bill collectors for the corporations.Personal rights have practically ceased to exist.You can't even leave the university at Berkeley for lunch without passing through a checkpoint and getting wanded and frisked.Is it worth the hassle?

Certain people are born misfits.Take quantum physicist Marc Shearer.Sure, he could make tons of money coming up with nasty new superweapons for one of the big corporations, but he'd rather do basic research to further the understanding of reality.Very early on, he gets dumped by his girlfriend because he isn't Going Places.He amuses himself by playing a certain parlor game called "nuts" with his companions -- it serves as a fascinating insight into basic, dysfunctional human nature.

Then there's Jerri Perlok.She's an anthropologist who looks at the strutting and preening of the privileged classes, and sees little difference between them and peacocks going through their mating rituals.She trusts her instincts, as well as the instincts of her little dog, Nimi (short for Nimrod).If the dog doesn't like someone, neither does she.

Both Marc and Jerri quickly find themselves on an interstellar voyage to a recently discovered planet called Cyrene.Marc was selected because of his ties with another physicist, his mentor, Evan Wade.Dr. Wade has gone missing -- along with practically everyone else in the two previous missions to Cyrene.Even hardened, dedicated officers of Interworld or Milicorp.Those who do stay in touch with Earth seem oddly lackadaisical.They just don't see any reason to keep up with Earth's mindless rat race any more.Something about Cyrene is getting to them.Is it the water?Something in the air?Or something much more mysterious?

Thus begins Hogan's latest engaging story.The basic theme will be familiar to long-time Hogan readers:the tyrannical forces of greed and conformity -- and their deluded minions -- on the one side, versus the more individualistic and altruistic people on the other.It's embodied in the question native Cyreneans, a humanoid race, ask of their Terran visitors:"But what is it that you actually DO?"They understand architects, doctors and engineers.They don't understand spoiled, bratty socialites whose sole claim to fame is whom they're related to, or how big their house is, or how many pictures they have hanging on their walls.

Interworld, we learn early on, has a very brutal, underhanded way of subjecting uncooperative client worlds.They pit different factions against one another, or appeal to religious phobias with an updated version of Moses and the Ten Plagues of Egypt.But the Cyreneans aren't impressed.They have a peculiar sort of intuition which renders them immune to the usual sorts of ploys.It even guides their science:they just "know" that this particular type of steam engine is "right", even if they don't fully grasp the fundamentals of physics.Interworld is losing a lot of money on this latest venture, and it's time to lay down the law.

I found the characters very engaging right from the outset, with none of that clunky, awkward dialog some of Hogan's recent novels have suffered in the opening chapters.Hogan's descriptions of the world of Cyrene are very imaginative.Picture a world with a very elongated orbit, around the larger member of a binary star system.It has complicated extremes of day and night, summer and winter, depending on how close together the two suns are in the sky, and how close the planet is to its primary sun.Hogan's landscape descriptions are very vivid, making me want to reread them and savor them.In fact, I'm thinking of rereading the whole book.

And, of course, there's the science.A hallmark of Hogan's novels can be described by this dust jacket blurb:he combines "informed and accurate speculation from the cutting edge of science and technology with suspenseful story-telling and living, breathing characters."

Central to the plot is the study of "A-waves", an artifact of certain quantum mechanical wave functions, which theoretically propagate backward in time.If it could be established that these actually existed, and that biological systems (plants and animals) were sensitive to such things, what would be the effect?Of particular interest to Terran scientists like Wade Evans is the ubiquitous Cyrenean moon flower.

About the only major complaint I have about this book is poor editing.Hogan uses "perigee" and a misspelled "perigree", which he really means "perihelion".Ditto for "apogee" versus "aphelion".And there are a few other typos which occasionally jar the reader and obscure meaning.Come on, guys:advanced spelling and grammar checkers are no substitute for a real, live human being.

No doubt some detractors will see Hogan as harping monotonously on the same themes over and over again:the need to escape from a society mindlessly squabbling over a bowl of beer nuts, be it to another planet, another star, or a distant timeline in the multiverse.But for me, each Hogan novel is just enough different to keep my interest piqued.I'm looking forward to many more. ... Read more

Product Description
When they found the corpse in a grave on the Moon, wearing a spacesuit of unfamiliar design, his identity was a complete mystery. Analysis showed that the deceased was 50,000 years old - meaning that he had somehow died on the Moon before the human race even existed. On another moon, Jupiter's Ganymede, another mystery was found: a wrecked spaceship, which had been there for millennia, and was obviously designed for beings larger than the humans of Earth. The mystery seemed insoluble until another ship, manned by the same humanoid giants arrived, and were very surprised to find humans inhabiting their Solar System. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Review - The Two Moons by James P. Hogan
These are very good stories by my favorite science fiction author.
Little did I know that this book is a combination of two books I have had for many years from Hogan's earlier works "Inherit the Stars" and "The Gentle Giants of Ganymede".

Back in Print!!!
I was sooooooo happy to find this reprint: I would not have to damage the 1st edition paperback of this novel by reading it, risking breaking the spine.

And what a great story -- I agree with the first review posted (by SF Fan "RO"): "Inherit the Stars is one of the best SF books ever written..... If you haven't read the Giants Novels by all means buy this book."

Why SF Fan "RO" had to dis the reprint escapes me. I feel his disappointment yet know that large sales of this novel would bring additional reprints which would further the appreciation of James P. Hogan.

This is not a new book!!!
James P. Hogan is my favorite SF author and Inherit the Stars is one of the best SF books ever written. I was excited to see a 'new' book in the Giants series offered on Amazon. However, THIS BOOK IS NOTHING BUT THE FIRST TWO GIANTS NOVELS re-released in a single cover with a new title and a new copyright date.

If you haven't read the Giants Novels by all means buy this book. If you are looking for a new `Hogan' this isn't it!!!!! ... Read more

Product Description
Once, long ago, a robot factory-ship flew too near a star unexpectedly gone nova. After suffering extensive damage, it continued blindly for millennia.

A million years passed...

Then, in the twenty-first century, a colony ship destined for Mars was surreptitiously rerouted to Titan...and only the leaders of the military industrial complex knew why.

In addition to its flight crew, the interplanetary transport carried parapsycholoy researchers, linguists, psychologists, representatives of industry, an ambassador...and elite military units from several Western nations. Clearly something was up.
But no one was talking! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

after a slow start, it becomes a quick read and enjoyable.
This book starts off very slow.Knowing that I'd previously enjoyed Hogan's Sci-Fi (more than many other authors in the genre), I kept going and going.Eventually, after perhaps a third of the way in, it became hard to put down.From that point on the book becaume a quick and enjoyable read.

There's a few theme's of the book.One is that a self replicating and administered alien machine infrastructure could, over time, develop in a biological fashion, and eventually acquire life like properties and even sentience.Another is that there would likely be an attempt by humanity to exploit a local sentient race and technologies if discovered, repeating once again the historical story of our conqueror culture.Both themes were played out in a typical Hogan-like believable way that was a pleasure to read.There is a lot one could potentially reflect on from this story, the science and cultural aspects of the story, and what the nature of life and sentience is.

The book ends very optimistically, with everything working out just perfectly in the end.An ending with a few more loose ends hanging around, ragged and still in need of repair, would probably have made the story more believable and realistic. But, hey, it is fiction after all.

A must for Hogan fans
I have read practically every one of Hogan's 20+ books and this one one of his best works in my opinion. It is chock-full of amusing gem's that keeps the story intriguing and thought-provoking, such as one character's astonishment when hearing that there is a planet that is so hot that it is covered with "liquid ice". If you like Hogan, you'll love this book.

Great Idea, but Washed Away
As stated in other comments, the Prologue is great, it sets the basis for this alien machine life form.Hogan excels at what's considered `hard core' science fiction, the problem is that he strays from that in this book.The idea of machine life occurring via natural selection through software genomes was written very believably.In the book though, this lifeform becomes in almost every way the machine equivalent to humans and thus strains the credibility of the story.Hogan does this purposely though because the story is obviously a political allegory.The machines are in the midst's of their own Renaissance, but the big bad humans oligarchs are there to exploit them.It's ironic, in the book Hogan complains, in what sounds personally, about young engineers who have opinions on how they can change the world for the better in one swoop, yet Hogan does that himself in the novel.That's what drives this book from a great idea with potential to a somewhat preachy, so-so political commentary.I'd give it 2-1/2 stars.However Hogan's Inherit The Stars is a superb book which I would highly recommend.

Another Brilliant Philosophical Allegory
This is a very intriguing book that follows the formula of all Hogan's other novels.The plot is used as a tool to examine what ails our society."The Legend That Was Earth" and "Thrice Upon a Time" are good examples of this technique.The characters are for the most part very interesting.Zambendorf is in constant conflict with Massey, until they realize that their real goals coincide(i.e., preventing corporate greed from exploiting and destroying an alien race).The book was entirely enjoyable, although the periphery characters were a bit one dimensional.All in all, a great read.

Another Interesting Work by Hogan
James Hogan's usually blends solid scientific ideas with action paced stories and "Code of the Lifemaker" is one of his most succesfull achievements. The central character, Karl Zambedorf is highly ingenious and likely to be liked by readers. Around him and his travel to Titan, Hogan builds an attractive plot, using ideas from the evolution theory which he seems to address on a basis of strong conviction. Paradoxically enough, in more recent articles, Hogan has revised his ideas on the topic, revealing a reflective man capable of going back some steps and reconsidering his positions.

Of course, there are some things that are less convincing in the novel. The trilled (and recurrent in Hogan's work) theme of a confrontation between science and religion is handled quite superficially and some characters in the "wrong" side are defintively cartoonish.

All in all, an entertaining ride well worth reading. Watch out for the superb prologue and yes...there is a sequel ("The Inmortality Option").
Rating=3.5 ... Read more

Product Description

"THAT PLANET HAS NO RIGHT TO BE THERE!"

Among the Saturnian moons, farsighted individuals, working without help or permission from any government, have established a colony. They call themselves the Kronians, after the Greek name for Saturn. Operating without the hidebound restrictions of bureaucratic Earth, the colony is a magnet, attracting the best and brightest of the home world, and has been making important new discoveries. But one of their claims -- that they have found proof that the Solar System has undergone repeated cataclysms, and as recently as a few thousand years ago -- flies in the face of the reigning dogma, and is under attack by the scientific establishment.

Then the planet Jupiter emits a white-hot protoplanet as large as the Earth, which is hurtling sunwards like a gigantic comet that will obliterate civilization....Amazon.com Review
So there's this big hunk of rock hurtling through space, see? And it just might be on a collision course with earth. Now, theauthorities are skeptical at first, mind you. But thanks to evidenceamassed by plucky scientists, they eventually relent (although toolate to do much about it) and recognize the impending disaster forwhat it is. Rock meets earth. Earth meets rock. Panic and calamityensue.

Forgive him the by-now terribly hackneyed premise, andyou'll actually find that the able James P. Hogan has infused thisArmageddonscenario du jour with some novel science. The pluckiest of Hogan'splucky scientists are the Kronians, brainy colonists from Saturn'ssatellites, who try, along with like-minded earthlings, to persuadeothers that Athena, a white-hot comet ejected from Saturn's core,threatens to cook the earth on a near-miss. And along the way, we gettreated to some neat, eye-opening theories, among them that the earthmay have orbited Saturn as recently as the Pliocene--with giant humansrubbing shoulders with titanotheres--and that Venus may have been spitout by Jupiter just a few thousand years ago. The workmanlike actionin Cradle of Saturn is typical disaster-flick fare (althoughwith more politicking than car chases), but it's these ideas that makethe book worthwhile. That, and the fact that at no point does BruceWillis attempt to blow Athena up. --Paul Hughes ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

Where is the story?
I've painfully tried to find my way through this book, it certainly looked good on the shelf. After 100 pages I couldn't figure out what the story was about. I had an idea it was about new theories of planetary and solar system development, but there were so many other "facts" and theories being thrown about, I got confused.
There are lots of half baked and half developed theories. Most of the story is developed in cryptic, espionage-esque dialog. The science is marginal, and there is a tremendous focus on the politics of science and the reluctance to accept different views.
There could have been something good here.
I rate this as a decent idea with terrible execution.

Velikovskian
I found this to be one of the best book's that I have ever read.Hogan puts together a great storyline with convincing scientific ideas.He challenges the reader to think for themselves and not just to accept what they are told because the "experts" have told it to them.He also points out many flaws with society and presents possibilities of a change.While any closeminded person would find this book ridiculous and very bad, anyone that is willing to think that the way it is may not be the best way will find it interesting, if not enthralling.I also have read two of the reference books that Hogan put in the back of Cradle of Saturn.I've read both Worlds in Collision and Ages in Chaos by Immanuel Velikovsky.I find he has presented his theory with very much fact behind it and those that argued against it haven't used much fact.James P. Hogan does an excellent job of mixing real life science with a fictional story line to create an awesome book.

good application of a story to real events
This book really did make me think on a few of the things that "could" actually happen in the universe.It also gives a good presentation of what Immanuel Velikovsky tried to tell about in his book, "worlds in collision".Hogan goes as far as to show how stagnate and closed-minded our scientific community has become.Hogan's characters, while relativly flat to begin with, begome very developed towards the end.This is a good book for the sci-fi theorist.

Science Fiction is SPECULATIVE Fiction
Remembering that Science Fiction should more properly be called Speculative Fiction (from Larry Niven), this book meets the criteria very well.Hogan puts a readable and interesting tale around the question "What if Velikovsky was right?"If you like stories that explore different ideas that make your mind work somewhat, you should enjoy this one.If you decide that all existing scientific theories are wrong, or right, based on this book, you are being as closed minded as Hogan's "establishment" scientific bad guys. Treat this one as a good read exploring, literally, earthshattering ideas and handle the scientific arguments by looking at source documentation, (some of which Hogan was nice enough to reference in the paperback), not relying on this fiction book, and you'll enjoy "Cradle of Saturn".

Bizarre non-science Fiction
I bought this book in an airport bookstore between connecting flights. I had not read about the book but generally have liked Hogan's works since he is a good writer and has enough science to create some interesting fiction. The book was tremedously disappointing. The idea that Earth was one of Saturn's moons until as recently as the Jurassic Era and was then blown somehow to its present orbit just makes no sense. Even if you bought the argument that warmth radiated from Saturn was enough to get life started on satellite Earth as it orbited Saturn, what sustained life during what would have been tens if not hundred's of years of interplanetary drifting by the orphaned Earth until it settled into its present orbit? The idea that Jupiter somehow ejected what became Venus from its own mass in the past 10,000 years is equally preposterous. The energy to hurle the mass of Venus out of Jupiter's gravity well would be astronomical. Hogan's superficialreference to Jupiter's known role as a protostar at during the formation of the solar system is really hoaky. Enjoyable SF requires some suspension of belief. This book requires suspension of intelligence. ... Read more

Product Description
“Hogan skillfully draws the reader into a fascinating philosophical and theological debate, without ever forgetting he’s supposed to entertain and tell a good story.”—Newsday ***

Long ago, an alien “searcher” ship flew too close to a star gone nova. Though heavily damaged, the ship landed on one of Saturn’s moons, Titan. ****

Attempting to fulfill its original function of seeding suitable planets for exploitation, the ship creates an bewildering society of self-replicating machines that gives rise to a bizarre ecosystem and culture with intelligent beings and organically grown houses. ****

The intelligent beings are known as Taloids and they have developed their own brand of religion around a mythical figure, a creator of machines, and hence, life. ****

When humans descend from the sky, the Taloids see them as those creators. ****

However, powerful financial and industrial interests are all set to exploit the moon and the Taloids to maximize Titan’s vast production potential and the future for the Taloids looks grim. ****

But they find a champion from an unexpected source. Karl Zambendorf is a “psychic” who has wrangled a place aboard the human mission to Titan. And when all of man’s forces are conspiring to ruthlessly exploit Titan and the Taloids, Zambendorf becomes their champion and in the process challenges not only the religious imperatives of the Taloids, but the core of our own beliefs as well. ... Read more

Product Description
Awakening in a hospital with no memory of his past, Joe Corrigan learns that he is the creator and test subject for the failed Oz computer project, which has trapped Joe in an irreversible and terrifying life simulation program. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Pretty good, but not his best - dragged a bit
I've read LOTS of Hogan's books and normally love them, but this one seemed to drag a bit in the middle.I found myself skimming the chapters around 2/3's of the way through and just reading the last 50 pages to find out what happened.

It got a bit bogged down in the inter-corporate politics of the characters.Perhaps some would say that "fleshes out" the characters, but I'm more intrigued with the premise and how the characters are dealing with the virtual reality.Not whether or not the main character is going to get promoted.

A little predictable in the plot (!) but still a fun ride to get there and, as always, with the Hogan's marvelous talent at getting the science right (or at least making it seem so believable that it MUST be real somewhere).The predictability isn't really a negative, but no curve balls at the end.

In the end, I would recommend other titles he's done over this one and I can't see myself saving this book to re-read later.Harsh I know, but he's set a pretty high bar for himself with past books (a double-edged sword).

World going wrong? Hit control-C
James P. Hogan is one of my two favorite living SF writers and the only one of the two who writes "hard" SF (the other one is Spider Robinson). I've been reading his stuff since the late 1970s and I think this novel is one of his best.

The premise, of course, is that virtual reality has reached such an advanced stage of development that it's not easy to distinguish the "virtual" from the "real"; the essential plot element is that Joe Corrigan is trapped inside a simulation he helped to create. The reader knows all of this from the beginning, but for obvious reasons (and some that are not so obvious) it takes the protagonist a while to work it out.

That's where much of the tension in the novel comes from. It's so clear to the reader what's going on that you'll want to reach into the page and say, "Joe, man, wake up and _think_. Don't you _know_ where you are?" This effect is heightened by a couple of really really obvious details that you'll almost physically itch for Joe to notice.

But much of what makes the story _interesting_ is the extremely plausible tale Hogan tells about the development of the technology itself. Hogan does this sort of thing better than nearly any other SF writer past or present, and this novel is no exception; indeed, when virtual reality really does reach this level of development, it may well have gotten there by roughly the path Hogan describes.

Anyway, I can't tell you much else without spoiling the story. All I can do is mention in a general way that, as usual with Hogan, the story is full of mind-blowingly cool touches.

But speaking of spoilers, here's a warning: just inside the front cover, the current edition includes an excerpt that you probably shouldn't read before you read the book. Somebody made a bad editorial decision here: the excerpt comes from near the _end_ of the book and it gives some things away too early.

Hogan is all-but-unarguably the finest writer of "hard" SF today. Start here or start somewhere else -- but if you like good SF, start somewhere.

Unable to put the Book down! Read it all in 1 sitting!
Well this a perfect book for all you folks out there waiting for another Snow Crash. This is just the kind of Book I love. It's cyberpunk at it's finest. Believeable but just slightly ahead in tech. Perfect book, great price. Buy it...you won't go wrong. It is a VERY good book for anyone looking for a good computer Virtual Reality adventure.EJ

An O.K. Hard Science Fiction Story
Mr. Hogan always does a good job with the science in his novels, but this one just wasn't a very interesting story.It's an enjoyable enough read, but it's not one I'll ever read again.Mr. Hoagn has written several novels that I've read 3 or 4 times, this just won't be one of them.

In this story Joe Corrigan finds himslef a misfit/outcast in a humorless world filled with identity-less humans.Eventually he realizes that he is inside a computer-simulated world that he helped create.He spends the rest of the novel trying to figure out what went wrong, can he leave, and should he leave.He finally solves the puzzle at the end of the novel, but the problem and the key/solution were obvious even before the author revealed that it was a simulation.

If you have a lot of time on your hands, then go ahead and get the book.But if you only have time to read a certain number of books this month, skip this one. (Sorry Mr. Hogan)

Hogan pulls it through again
This is another one of those novels that make me wish that Amazon used a slightly more flexible rating system.To me a three star rating means that the book is either free of significant faults but fails to excel or excels in some way but contains significant faults.On the other hand I believe a rating of four stars indicates that the book is both free of significant faults AND excels in some way.This novel transcends this rating scale and does not fit.I do think that this book contains significant faults, which I will explore further, but I also believe it excels in certain areas far higher then any average book does.For this reason I rate the book four stars.

Realtime Interrupt by James Patrick Hogan is an exploratory novel.What I mean by exploratory is that the novel explores human reaction to stress events that don't exist today.The topic of exploration in this novel is virtual reality and to a limited extent artificial intelligence.I know what some of you may be thinking.Virtual Reality exists today.Well, virtual reality most certainly does not exist in the way in which it is shown in this tale.The story follows one persons story in several stages of the virtual reality experience, creation, testing and moral questioning.There are several other well-defined characters included but they are in the story in as much as they impact or are impacted by the primary character.I really can't go too much further into the story without ruining some rather clever plot twists.

The novel excels in its painting of the primary characters personal growth.The book also does an excellent job of painting a realistic picture of the science involved.This is always a strong aspect of Hogan stories.

The weakest part of the book, in my opinion, is the ancillary stories that surround the primary character and his tale.The book seemed at times bogged down by detail, which was necessary but perhaps served up a tad awkwardly.

All faults aside this book was a great read.This is one of those novels, which you read and you keep reading even if it meanders a bit on the way because you absolutely must read the conclusion.In many way it reminds me of Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card in that respect.

A great read and a book I can recommend to virtually anyone. ... Read more

Product Description
Human society on Jevlen was falling apart -- and it looked as if JEVEX, the immense super-computer that managed all Jevlenese affairs, was at the heart of the matter. Except that the problems didn't stop when JEVEX was shut down. People were changing -- or being changed. It was almost as if the Jevlenese were being possessed...

Meanwhile, in a very different universe, where magic worked and nothing physical was predictable, holy men caught glimpses of another place, a place where the shape of objects remained unchanged by motion, and cause led directly and logically to effect. And the best part was that when the heart was pure, the mind was focused, and circumstances were right, some lucky souls could actually make the transition to that other universe. If only they all could...


From the Paperback edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

stretched a good story to far
The first three books were excellent, however I think Mr. Hogan stretched the story to far.First of all it took till chapter 22 to finally get in to what the story was actually about and although Mr. Hogan has a great way of tying things together at the end of the story, it was just not the same.Next time, don't listen to your agent Mr. Hogan. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a great mix of fiction and non-fiction
This book is a wonderful mix of fiction and non-fiction stories.The stories are so well written, the reader is unsure which is which.There is also a blend in some of the stories of both types of story.If anyone canfind this book, read it and see for yourself.You will never get rid ofit. ... Read more

Product Description

EARTH FIRST! TERRA FOR TERRANS!

They've eased our problems. They've raised our standards of living. Their science has shown us that everything we thought we knew about the universe was wrong. And now the alien Hyadeans' high-tech gifts and their flair for social order promise to make a paradise of planet Earth.

To us, the Hyadeans seem a model of efficiency and clear thinking. But in Hyadean eyes, Earth's culture wallows in imagination and dreams, artforms and concepts which would never have occurred to a citizen of their world. To some of the aliens, this demonstrates Earth's backwardness; others are increasingly fascinated by us.

But when a political assassination plunges his life into chaos, wealthy socialite and "fixer" Roland Cade discovers the dark underbelly of the alien presence. Our government obeys them. Our economy serves their wealthy masters. And the CounterAction "terrorists" on the news are truly fighting for freedom for Terrans and Hyadeans alike -- and one of them is his ex-wife.

Soon Cade is caught up in a terrifying adventure that will take him around the globe, and a conflict that will threaten to destroy the world as it turns American against American -- and Hyadean against Hyadean. Cade will find friends in unexpected places, among the agents of CounterAction, and among the aliens themselves. But he will also face deadly enemies closer than he ever could have feared.... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Good, gripping SF
Many of the reviews state that, in their opinion, this book is not science fiction at all. In my mind it is one of the best sorts of science fiction. It gets you thinking "What if things worked this way?" I don't agree with all of his conclusions. But the best science fiction gets you thinking. If you read science fiction from some of the best authors of the 50s and 60s, there is a lot that they got wrong. But there was also a lot that they got right. The important thing was that they felt free to speculate.
The action is definitely there in the book too. It was a wonderful story to read. The only reason I didn't rate it 5 stars was that the end was a bit "deus ex machina", but I still enjoyed it.

not HIS best...not a waste of time.
If You've never read Hogan, don't start with this one.
If you've enjoyed some of his other Titles, go for It.

Writer shoves social commentary down my throat. Film at 11.
I am prohibited from presenting my initial review due to the overabundance of spiteful remarks that it contained.Suffice it to say that overall I did not like the book.I feel passionate enough about this to warn off others from buying it in any published form.

What I liked:
1)Cover art was ok.
2)Hmmmmm....

What I did not like:
1)Book seemed sketchy.
2)Book was carrier for author's latest left-wing socio-economic-political ideals.And it shows.
3)Book preached author's ideals over and over and over and over......(ad nauseum).
4)Author's use of limited omniscience is inconsistent and leaves threads dangling by end of book.(Please do NOT interpret this as a request for a sequel!)

I don't read fantasy or science-fiction with the yearning desire to know the author's every ill-conceived opinion about how governments stink and oppress the masses.

Keep it to yourself, James.

Not much of a science fiction novel.
I have to admit right off that I only got as far as page 168 in this novel.I was just too bored to continue with it.It is difficult to believe that James P. Hogan wrote some of my favorite science fiction novels, "Code of the Lifemaker" (1983) for one, and then wrote this novel.

"The Legend that was Earth" does have space aliens but they really are just another class of people in this novel.There are a few futuristic ideas that are interesting but not many.This is really just another would be political adventure novel.I don't recommend it for science fiction fans.

A refreshingly enjoyable story
They're called the Hyadeans, and they've come to help.They promise to bring order and prosperity to a politically fragmented, often chaotic Earth.But are they really what they seem?Who are they really helping?

As a long-time fan of James Hogan, I pounced on the paperback edition of "The Legend That Was Earth" the day it came out.Forewarned by the negative reviews posted on this site to date, I didn't get my hopes up too much.But I needn't have worried.While the book admittedly isn't among Hogan's greatest, it was still very hard for me to put down.I devoured it within a single 36-hour period.

The story starts out a little slowly.Wealthy socialite Roland Cade leads a comfortable existence as a "fixer", a man who knows how to get Terrans and Hyadeans together to trade often-illicit goods and services.He's the man to see if, say, an off-worlder is interested in procuring exotic Navajo sand art for shipment back to the home world, where everything is utilitarian, drab and grey.He knows how to "go with the flow," not worrying about the Big Picture.He organizes cocktail parties filled with shallow people making insipid conversation.Their phraseology feels stilted, wooden, unnatural.People just don't talk like that in the real world!Are the naysayers right?Has Mr. Hogan lost his edge???

It was enough to really get on my nerves.But not to worry:a few chapters in, Roland gets a rude wakeup call when he comes across his ex-wife, who works for an armed resistance movement.It doesn't take him long to discover the dark side of the alien presence, as his life is turned upside-down.He falls in with people who have a genuine purpose to their lives.They talk like normal people.And he and his new-found friends discover that it isn't a strict conflict between Terrans and Hyadeans.There are "good" and "bad" people on both sides.Who will prevail?

Granted, the themes Mr. Hogan explores are familiar territory for those who, like me, have read most of his works.He is very much a proponent of Libertarianism.At least one of the villains in Hogan books always manages to self-destruct in a spectacularly creative way.The bad guys are into big-time feudalism, and they'll stop at nothing to get their way.The end is somewhat predictable.But that's OK by me:in this crazy, mixed-up world, "predictable" has its appeal.Do we really want the bad guys to win?Just this once?

Picture "Legend" as mental comfort food.Do you complain because you've eaten chocolate a thousand times before?

As has become Mr. Hogan's custom in recent novels, he explores exotic scientific theories.In the case of "Legend", it is the Hyadeans who believe in the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, Catastrophism and alternatives to Einstein's Theory of Relativity.Between several of the chapters are little italicized sections describing the theories and their implications.They're not, for the most part, central to the plot, but they make for fun reading.Whether or not they're valid theories I leave to the scientists to hash out.

All in all, I don't regret spending the money on this book.Serious Hogan fans should give this one a chance. ... Read more

Product Description
Galileo may have been forced to deny that the Earth moves around the Sun; but in the end, science triumphed. Nowadays, science fearlessly pursues truth, shining the pure light of reason on the mysteries of the universe. Or does it? As bestselling author, James P. Hogan demonstrates in this fact-filled and thoroughly documented study, science has its own roster of hidebound pronouncements which are Not to be Questioned. Among the dogma-laden subjects he examines are Darwinism, global warming, the big bang, problems with relativity, radon and radiation, holes in the ozone layer, the cause of AIDS, and the controversy over Velikovsky. Hogan explains the basics of each controversy with his clear, informative style, in a book that will be fascinating for anyone with an interest in the frontiers of modern science. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (30)

Startling and mostly persuasive.
Most educated persons in modern society believe that science and scientific theories about the world are based upon the scientific method--the relentless search for knowledge based solely on hard facts as observed in nature.Galileo exemplifies our view of how science progresses; providing an example of a brave and brilliant man applying scientific findings to a skeptical world regardless of the consequences.Most people believe that the modern world allows science to thrive because scientists relentlessly apply the scientific method to their theories, and thus theories that are not supported by objective data are inevitably cast aside in favor of better theories that are. Most of us believe that in the modern world, a Galileo would receive acclaim and research funding, not vilification and suppression.In this piece Mr. Hogan tells us: "Not so fast..."

Hogan's writings in this book question the above view of much of modern science to an astounding degree.Far from constituting a community of skeptics in the relentless pursuit of scientific truth, author Hogan thoroughly documents numerous instances in which the scientific community is highly politicized in favor of certain conventional theories, and scientific data is selectively, and perhaps dishonestly, applied in order to support these theories.In numerous instances leading scientists appear to have established a vested interest by way of reputations and prestige in certain theories.Documented instances exist in which those scientists who question this orthodoxy have been treated not with constructive analysis, but by political and financial suppression and professional demotion and exclusion.This is not how science is supposed to work, but Mr. Hogan does an excellent job of showing the reader that the scientific community in many instances has behaved not as a body engaged in the selfless pursuit of knowledge, but as a self-interested and politicized group much like any other human endeavor, riven with factions and controlled by, of course, whoever controls the purse strings and research grants.Not surprisingly, often the government is involved in the suppression of unorthodox scientists by preventing such scientists from obtaining funding, or sometimes even the right to publish their theories or participate in scientific conferences and seminars.

Hogan provides many examples of the scientific community's rejection and suppression of dissenting points of view.To name a few:

AIDS Research.As everyone knows, the dominant theory regarding the cause of AIDS is that the disease is caused by a highly contagious virus, that is usually sexually transmitted.Thus AIDS is a viral disease much as Polio is also caused by a virus.The only problem is, upon examination the "evidence" that the so-called HIV organism causes AIDS is extremely questionable.In fact the foregoing conventional theory is not supported by Koch's Theorem or the other usual tools that scientists use to determine whether a given microbe causes a specific disease.Mr. Hogan shows us that AIDS prevalence statistics have been hopelessly hyped to an extent that bears no resemblance to reality.Data has been selectively applied to fit the theory, rather than the other way around as we are taught that science is supposed to do things.More than twenty years, countless billions of dollars and many lives later, we are no closer to a cure or vaccine against AIDS than we were in 1985 when the conventional theory of AIDS was unveiled.It seems certain that the problem is that all of the research dollars are being spent to attack a virus (HIV) which does not cause AIDS or any disease.Scientists of the highest integrity such as Dr. Peter Duesberg who have questioned AIDS scientific orthodoxy (and presented simpler, and more elegant explanations of what is happening that actually fits the observed data) have been vilified, suppressed, and denied funding in a manner reminiscent of the way that society treated Galileo.Far from welcoming newer, and perhaps better, theories, the scientific establishment has largely closed ranks against anyone who might upset the AIDS applecart.After all, billions of dollars in AZT and other drug sales, research grants upon which scientists' livelihoods depend, and lots of other goodies are dependent upon maintaining the status quo."The Science is settled" the public is told.One thing Mr. Hogan teaches in this book is that whenever the media tells us this, that the public should beware.

The ban against DDT is another sad chapter in science, according to Mr. Hogan.We have all been taught that DDT was the cause of horrific harm to eagles, birds in general, and other beloved species. This resulted in a worldwide ban on what in reality is probably one of the most valuable and ecologically neutral substances ever discovered.Mr. Hogan makes a convincing case that the science behind the ban on DDT was flatly unsound.The result has been perhaps hundreds of millions of deaths caused by maleria in Africa and other places with limited worldwide political clout due to lobbying efforts by powerful and politicized groups against DDT.Scientists who have tried to speak out against this dysfunction in the political system have been suppressed.A familiar story.

Global Warming.Every educated person would do well to read Mr. Hogan's analysis of the global warming controversy.Here we again see a tight group of scientists, media, and politicians selectively applying some facts, rejecting others, in favor of one theory concerning the climate which theory remains completely unproven.Hogan shows us that in particular the global warming (or "climate change") hype is based on the careful exclusion of important data so that data can be selectively applied to support the desired result, i.e. that bigger government, more regulation over ordinary people, and higher taxes are necessary to fight "climate change."Read the book. Mr. Hogan is persuasive.

I do not buy all of the theories that Mr. Hogan seems to support.I do not know enough about the science to be able follow some of the arguments that Mr. Hogan presents.(For example, the startling theories of Immanual Velokovsky seem to me to be perhaps too incredible to be true, but I am no astrophysicist.)But I know a persuasive presentation of a case when I see one.The author cites a regrettable array of instances in which established scientists denounce theories that they admit that they have not even read or examined.Mr. Hoganmakes an excellent case that the scientific establishment is not merely a selfless group of hard-headed skeptics engaged in the relentless search for truth.To the contrary, he shows us that depressingly often the scientific establishment acts like any other special interest group and is often swayed by money, politicization, and the other lures of modern society.Hogan is particularly persuasive on the AIDS and climate change controversies, but there is a lot more than those theories discussed in this excellent book.The theory of evolution, the light-speed limit and relativity, and many other accepted theories are questioned in a wide-ranging presentation of alternative theories derived from the work of competent scientists (whether they turn out to be right or not), but rejected by the present orthodoxy.

It has been said that all true science quickly becomes engineering, because engineering has to actually work to be successful.All else is just speculation.Mr. Hogan does a good job of promoting this useful perspective in this excellent book.He will make the thoughtful reader question what we actually "know" about the universe, and frankly, one wonders what scientific thought will be like in a few hundred years.

A new "Lo!"
Charles Fort (1874-1932) was one of America's more entertaining eccentrics.For thirty years he pored and pondered over newspaper reports of the unusual, the anomalous, the unexplained and the downright hinky.From time to time, he would gather up his clippings for book publication:"The Book of the Damned" (1919), "New Lands" (1923) and "Lo!" (1931).The title of the last derived from Fort's notion that scientists were forever pointing up at the skies and exclaiming "Lo!"

In the 1930s, the pulp magazine industry opened up a new niche by publishing what would come to be called science fiction.The Street and Smith entry into this new market was called "Astounding Stories of Super Science." (It would evolve into "Astounding Stories," "Astounding Science Fiction" and finally "Analog.")Shortly after Fort's death, Astounding discovered him and the magazine loved what it saw.The new science fiction fans, a virtually all-male demographic ranging from age 10 to 25, loved the unusual, the anomalous, the unexplained and they were themselves, often as not, downright hinky.Month after month, the magazine ran hefty chunks of the books sandwiched between tales of time travel, scantily-clad space women and tentacled invaders.The fans ate it up.

Fort's material was popular but finite in volume.Eventually it ran out, but the taste for the stuff was so firmly established among the readers that Astounding regularly ran "hard science" articles along with the fiction--and so did the other pulp SF mags.Contributors to the hard science sections included some of the most illustrious names in American science fiction: Willy Ley, Fletcher Pratt, L. Sprague de Camp, Robert S. Richardson, Hal Clement and, of course, Isaac Asimov.Many, indeed most of these articles were informative, well-researched and otherwise admirable examples of popular science reporting.

On the other hand, that Fortean hinky-factor never entirely disappeared.Magazine science fiction fans of a certain age will remember the ominous syllables of "The Dean Machine" with either a shudder or an uproarious laugh.

Jim Baen of Baen Books was once upon a time the editor of Analog.James P. Hogan is a science fiction writer.The whole tone and feel of "Kicking the Sacred Cow" is exactly the tone and feel of those old "hard science" articles.

Hogan clearly believes in a dichotomy in what the world calls "science."There are theorists and there are engineers.Here is his credo: "Science really doesn't exist.Scientific beliefs are either proved wrong, or else they quickly become engineering.Everything else is untested speculation." [Page 1 of the mass paperback edition]

Introductions and prefaces are really very useful things.It's a pity that more people do not read them.In the introduction to this one, Hogan very kindly tells us what the book is all about: "This book is not concerned with cranks or simple die-hards, who are entitled to their foibles and come as part of life's pattern,Rather, it looks at instances of present-day orthodoxies tenaciously defending beliefs in the face of what would appear to be verified fact and plain logic, or doggedly closing eyes and minds to ideas whose time has surely come.In short, where scientific authority seems to be functioning more in the role of religion protecting doctrine and putting down heresy than championing the spirit of free inquiry that science should be." [Page 8]

From that, it is plain to see that Hogan has donned his armor and has settled himself on his destrier in preparation for a joust with all manner of scientific dragons.Among those dragons are mathematical and observational cosmology, the theories of relativity, the astronomical catastrophism and historical revisionism of Velikovsky, global warming, DDT, AIDS and Darwinism.

Now that is a wide range.I certainly haven't the knowledge to comment with any expertise on all those subjects.Off hand, I can't think of anybody that I would regard as equally authoritative on cosmology, the effects of DDT on ecology and "intelligent design."After reading this book, I am depressingly positive that James P. Hogan is not.

I should make it clear that some of Hogan's ideas sound reasonable to me.I think that his screed against the banning of DDT, for instance, is pretty convincing.On the other hand, his defense of Velikovsky is hilariously wrong-headed.(An attitude, I am sure, Hogan would toss right back at me--in spades!)In between those extremes is his attack on "orthodox" cosmology in which he advances a number of theories that smite it root and branch without ever managing to take note of the fact that each of those theories contradicts all the others as firmly as they do the Big Bang.

So far, so good.There are unquestionably a few grains of gold among the dross.Many books in this general category of writing can't offer even as much as that.

Read this book not as a declaration of war but as an amusing set of notions ranging from "could be" to "not a chance".

Three stars.

Thinking Optional?
As a long time reader of science fiction and a reader of Hogan's previous work, I approached this book with relish and I was not disappointed.

I find it interesting that many of the negative reviews that I read seemed to have been written by persons who made up their minds prior to reading the book. I could be wrong, but their comments tend to support the views that Mr. Hogan expressed in the book. -There are no sacred cows in science (or there should not be), and any substantive subject should be examined from all angles before any final pronouncements are made.

I will not attempt to defend or garble the arguments made in the book, but I am intrigued by the venom that they inspire. I can only ask the following question, make one observation, and give my thoughts on the book:

1) Has it ever been recorded that one instance where, "Everybody knows," was right?

2) James Hogan does not present any of his arguments as the last word in science, he does not pretend to have all of the facts; he only attempts to reopen the discussion and our minds.

3) The book is worthy of study, well written, presents countervailing opinions to scientific 'fact', and it chaps the backside of every person who lives in an immutable and dogmatic (spoon-fed) -world. I highly recommend it to anyone who really wants to think about the greatest issues that face humanity in our time. It is an argument for free thought and scientific rigor and it exposes the modern blacklisting of persons who dare to question conventional wisdom. It isn't easy and it challenges us to use our own minds. Read it and make up your mind AFTER you read it.

Excellent overview of current "Sacred Cows"
By some of the other reviews it's obvious Mr. Hogan has rattled some cages.Similarly to other books challenging current orthodox dogma, especially in the area of evolution, this one causes fits in those whose world-view is threatened by its claims.
From other sources I am familiar with most of the issues Hogan reviews in this book.He gives a good overview.He's probably not right about everything, but I suspect he's right about some of it.My only complaint was the sections are too short; I would have liked to see more depth, especially in some areas.
Overall a good, thought-provoking read for those who aren't afraid of a look at "out of the box" ideas.

cowtipping at it's finest?
if you don't have enough spare thoughts, this will generate a few.the topics covered are large, and his discussion is generally thorough, coherent, and convincing, although i feel much is left out of his entire argument on ecology.

if you are not careful, you may find your paradigm shifting gears before you are ready. you certainly will be more well-versed in your understanding of the issues. whether you are cognizant of the red-shift and it's pertinence to the theories of origins of the universe, or looking at non-darwinian evolution, you will surprise yourself in here.

it didn't sound like it would be fun, but it is.have fun. ... Read more

Product Description
Accepting without question her indoor life with metal companion Kort, twelve-year-old Taya begins to wonder about the world for the first time when her world undergoes a dramatic change. Original." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Surprising, to say the least...
I just now finished the last page, heh heh. I wasn't sure I would like this book, after reading some of the reviews, but I bought it anyway.

Right from the start the story seems to be about Taya as the main character, with Kort playing a supportive role. Hogan leads us on a merry journey of deception, misleading you into thinking that the main plot is about this young girl growing up, about the discoveries made on the planet Azure, the redevelopment of a long lost human culture. I fell into that masterful weaving of misdirection, just as others have. I fully expected the story to conclude in similar fashion to Echoes of an Alien Sky, with confirmation that the ancients had built the ship and machines with the sole purpose of resurrecting the human race, which in fact was true.

BUT, it isn't 'til the last ten pages or so that you realize that the main story wasn't about the continuation of the human race at all. The real story all along is about the awakening of the machines, and Kort in particular, the evolution taking place in his mechanical being. I was totally taken by surprise at the ending...

While the huge time line gaps in the storyline does seem tedious, and the detail is missing in spots, this book by James P. Hogan is a definite must read!

You will be surprised at the real depth of character that surfaces...

The Meaning of Mind
I believe that most of the criticisms of this book are accurate. I am rating it reasonably well because I came away with some insights that I thought were worthy of investing time in the book and in the book's author, James P. Hogan. It is true that the human characters are somewhat flat, including Taya the central character, while the machine characters are much better drawn. I suspect this was a conscious decision by Hogan because this book is really about the machines more so than the humans. Still, this does not absolve Hogan of a plot that seems incomplete; of a fantastic story that just begs to be fleshed out in much greater detail. However, "Star Child" was developed from a short story published more than a quarter century ago, and that original story, "Silver Shoes for a Princess" (also the first chapter in this book), stands alone as well-written and thought provoking. I found (after some frustration with the pace and exposition of the book) that I began to enjoy the book more if I considered it to be a collection of short stories rather than a fully developed novel. And the ending scenes, although brief, were quite poignant.

I thought that Hogan's exploration of mind was fascinating, with artificial intelligences probing the meaning of their existence. Artificial intelligence is usually portrayed as an omnipotent and often-threatening force prone to total logic, overseeing humanity (or competing with it) like a digital god, evolving through a process of digital compilation and development that spontaneously springs into self awareness with full knowledge of its pre-awareness history. But Hogan's machine minds have no idea where they came from and find themselves asking the very same questions human minds ask: Where did I come from? Why am I here? What happens when I die? The circular existence of the human minds and machine minds in Hogan's plot demonstrates that mind transcends the matrix that houses it, rendering artificial intelligence not as a vaguely disturbing threat in a possible future, but rather, perhaps having more in common with the human mind than is generally considered.

Light reading, some gaps in the story
I like James Hogan's work, but I don't think this book is one of his better efforts.

The story has a good initial premise, providing the baseline of intelligent machines on a starship creating Taya from old (DNA) codes. Taya is a nine year old girl at the beginning of the story. I think it left out some obligatory developmental filler between the first section of the story when Taya is in self-discovery, and the next sub-story of planetfall with her younger cohorts. The way the mean and nasty king would revert to sugar and spice was too much of a reach for me.

Another large gap in development to the next section which tied up the loose ends of the starship origins and meaning of life (for Taya). Throwing in a little mystical mumbo jumbo at the end along with a post-life meta-space just didn't flow well for me.

OK, but misses on some scores
During the first third of this book I was afraid it was going to end with ".. and they called their new planet EARTH!"Fortunately Hogan is much better than that.

I found problems with the necessary suspension of disbelief in a couple of areas which seemed to be unnecessary to the story.It it an intriging idea to have a self-aware machine build a self-aware bio-form (the star-child) out of component molecules based on nothing more than an imperfectly understood DNA record.The part that doesn't sit so well is the resulting person -- with utterly no connection to any human society -- could nonetheless end up with so much culturally in common with people living on a planet.

Hogan also skates over the massive problems that would accrue if you had a person raised in a sterile environment (no bacteria or viruses at all) and plonk them down into a fully functioning Earthlike ecology, even eating the local food.I'm no expert but I think it would be unlikely that such subjects would survive.At least not easily.

And if you would be interested in the star-child's first experiences with sex, you will be disappointed.

The part of the story about the machines were more believable, actually.I like the part where they developed multiple personalities to serve different functions: the Scientist, the Skeptic, the Mystic and so on.

Worth reading, but as I said it has shortcomings.

Wonderful!
One of the best books ever written!

When Taya was eight, she discovered that she wasn't like the machines around her. Her robot friend, Kort, no matter how kind, couldn't tell the difference between a pretty shape and a not pretty shape. Kort then showed her the bio-bodies that had been engineered after her. When they are brought to life, they call her "queen".

Ten years later, the robots and their charges land on Azure, a planet similar to our earth. Here, they meet with violence and destruction, foreign behaviors to them. For the most part, the story is about the "Star Children" and their influence on the planet. ... Read more

Product Description
Rumors surrounding the peaceful utopian space city of Valentina Tereshkova--built with the dwindling resources of twenty-first-century Russia--suggest it is actually a weapon designed by the last heirs of the Soviet dictators. Reprint." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

endgame enigma
Good book...but....too much social interaction on the space station....I prefer more techincal action type of book.

James P. Hogan is no Tom Clancy, but...
Don't get me wrong, I've been a fan of Hogan ever since I bought an old, battered paperback of "Inherit the Stars" at a street- market bookstore in 1989.However, "Endgame Enigma" is not "Inherit the Stars."The science in the book is well thought-out, as always, but the plot is far too simplistic, and the spy-story theme just doesn't stand up to the rest of the genre. I will give kudos for the surprise ending, though. To simplify, if you are a fan of both sci-fi and political fiction novels, don't buy the book. However, for fans of sci-fi only, or especially James P. Hogan fans, buy the book as an introduction to the world of political intrigue. Then go pick up some Clancy.

The Cold War meets the future and space......
In the not to distant future Russia has built a space station that istotally unique and indescribable.However, prior to the final constructionof the space station, American intelligence has gotten word that the spacestation is actually a battle platform that will totally wipe out theAmericans in a nuclear war.

Since the Americans are still in a powerstruggle with the Russians, they decide to send in two covert spies inorder to find a missing data that will show the space station is not whatit seems.However, the two Americans are caught and forced into a jailthat is located on the space station.

While in prison the Americans finda way to make contacts to the Americans, but the Russians are stillpublically claiming that the space station is just that....a space station. These two spies must determine the relevance of the space station or haveAmerican face politically humiliation by accusing the Soviets of potentialnuclear battle platforms in space.

The novel is pretty simple to getthrough, and the plot can be intriguing at times.But, the novel can alsodrag at certain parts.Overall, the idea is interesting due to thesimilarities of the stress during the Cuban Missile Crisis.Overall, thebook is average, but has an interesting political situation in it.

Something for everyone
When I read this book I had the feeling that I was watching a very well made movie.The pace was fast, the discriptions vivid, and the characters were belivable.Mr. Hogan is a very crisp writer and nothing is put into the book without a reason.I felt like I was on a rollercoaster towardsthe end of the book.Thanks for a good read!

Not completely outdated
On the surface, this book may appear outdated since it extrapolates the cold war US/Soviet standoff into the near future.However, at a deeper and more personal level, this book is fundamentally about the nature of truth. The surprise ending forced me to reread the book and look at it more fromthe angle of deception and truth.This theme is as relevant if not morerelevant today than it was when the book was written.And, it is certainlyan entertaining yarn. ... Read more

Product Description
Eighteen years have passed since the first manned mission to Earth arrived from Venus. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

space fantasy, not sci-fi
The book could have been ok.Space fantasy can be quite fun - turn reality on its side and see what happens.But the author presents the fantasy elements as facts of the real universe.And he does so poorly.Some of the dialog between characters is undisguised criticism of current science.It doesn't advance the story, and doesn't fit the characters.

"Venusians" walking around on Earth?!Riiiiight...
I am a longtime fan of James P. Hogan.To me, just the first few pages of "Code of the Lifemaker" where he imagines and describes a plausible non-organic (machine based) form of alien life that can evolve was mind-blowing to me... it made me rethink my notions of DNA-based life, and the bizarre, perhaps unimaginable other kinds of life that might be possible in this universe.Plus it was a fun, exciting book to read.

As I started "Echoes of an Alien Sky", I quickly became troubled by statements describing the Venusian characters in the story like "so-and-so had a long beard"... of what--titanium?I have no problem with the idea of aliens that are made of titanium or exotic metals or crystal or whatever, but that should be explained up front.I stopped reading when I got to page 19, where they talked about the "oceans" of Venus.Oceans of what?Molten lead?

The surface tempurature of Venus is about 860 degrees fahrenheit.It rains sulfuric acid on Venus.The atmosphere is nitrogen and carbon dioxide--oxygen is a trace component if it is there at all.The idea that any kind of lifeform that could survive on Venus would be able to walk around on the Earth without freezing solid or exploding from the lower pressure--pick a physical prohibition, there are so many--requires not just suspension of disbelief, but... well I don't know what it requires but I don't have it.

If Venus was somehow "terra-formed" or if the surface conditions are different than what we know them to be now, that should be explained up front.Worried that this amazing oversight would never be corrected in the book caused me to look here on Amazon to see if these things are ever explained and the reviews suggest not.I'm thankful for that, because I have stacks and stacks of books I want to read, and wasting time on something like this is just something I can't afford.

General Relativity is wrong?OK, intriguing:but explain that up front, don't just throw out some nonsense about how gravity is some molecular dipole differential something or other and expect hard sci fi readers to swallow that!This is not hard science--I'm not sure what it is.

But don't let this put you off of James P. Hogan.Try "Code of the Lifemaker" or some of his other excellent works.He really is a fun, imaginative, a capable writer and storyteller!Somehow he seems to have dropped the ball with this story, however.

Good science fiction
James P. Hogan is one of my favorite science fiction writers.I do however prefer his earlier work to the newer novels.I like stuff that is technically believable even if it is very futuristic and Hogan's novels are.The empahasis is on the science part of science fiction.

Not one of his best
Mr Hogan's "Giants Novels" ([[ASIN:0345388852 The Giants Novels (Inherit the Stars, The Gentle Giants of Ganymede, and Giants' Star)]) were brilliant, each one of the trilogy presenting a clever scientific mystery. This book, unfortunately, tries to do the same but falls short. The big mystery involving the amazing similarity between humans living on Venus and the extinct humans on Earth is so obvious that I couldn't help wondering why the Venusians, who had realized that humans were better suited to Earth's environment than Venus', were so dumb. The subplots involving Venusian politics, the age of the earth and charged particle space drives were uncompelling and never really resolved.

Refreshingly delightful...
I bought this book as an afterthought, relying on my love for the way Hogan weaves his tales. I was not disappointed...

As others have stated, the main story outcome is pretty much telegraphed from the beginning. However, the way he arrives at the finale makes this book a must read, heh heh. Throughout, twists in the characters logic are presented that make you wonder about the finish, and the individual personal stories continuously distract you.

Definitely worth picking up, and you won't put it down often! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Proteus Operation
I love this book. The use of historical and scientific facts makes the sci-fi story sound plausible.

Sci Fi meets WWII with less than thrilling results
Some local radio jocks use the term "tired head" to refer to their feelings when someone is explaining to them something that is both complicated, and not interesting enough for them to concentrate on understanding. This book gave me tired head. The multiple time traveling scenarios, coupled with an alternative history World War II, just weren't interesting enough to make the effort to keep it all straight.

The Alternate History that Created Our History
James P. Hogan's Proteus Operation is one cleaver book. The plot is a standard alternate history of World War II, but with a twist. Time Travelers from the 21st Century have gone back to the 1920s to help Hitler dominate and win World War II. By the 1970s, with the United Kingdom's leaders living in Canada, Hitler and Japan have conquered everywhere outside of North America - including nuking Russia - and Canada and the United States are gearing up for the final conflict for world domination. The problem for the last hold outs of democracy are obvious to its leaders: no matter how valiantly they fight, they will fail.

But, they have a secret weapon: the time traveling technology has fallen into the hands of Kennedy's America and a small group of Special Operations forces and scientists will travel back to 1939 to change history and prevent the fall of the British Isles.

What a brilliant idea, especially so once the full extent of the plot and its twists reveal themselves in this entertaining story.

Once in 1939, the small group of time traveling interlopers must enlist the help of Churchill, Einstein, Roosevelt, and Fermi if they are to succeed. Hogan nicely weaves both the real character and historic events into the story in such a way that it meshes nicely with the history as we understand it.

The Proteus Operation is one of Hogan's best books.

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

A Guide to my Book Rating System:

1 star = The wood pulp would have been better utilized as toilet paper.
2 stars = Don't bother, clean your bathroom instead.
3 stars = Wasn't a waste of time, but it was time wasted.
4 stars = Good book, but not life altering.
5 stars = This book changed my world in at least some small way.

Outstanding Read!
I'm not too sure but I think this was my first AH book.What a wild ride, is history what you think it is?Talk about taking the red pill!

Parallel Universes & Quantum Mechanics
This is James Hogan's best book in my opinion.I will be short.It's about the theory that all possible outcomes of events occur based upon their probability.In doing so parallel universes form as a result!So we have worlds where WWII never happened and competing futures try and alter the past to formNEW future universes more ameniable to those losing their power in what they feel is an unfavorable future.

This book has time travelers going from 1976 America where President Kennedy sends them to go to the 1930s to try and alter the course of history to save mankind from the coming nuclear war with Nazi Europe.They can only go back so far because they only have a standard 1970s power facility and not the Fusion Power plants of the 21st century where the whole process was developed.From THAT 21st century meddlers from the future helped bring Hitler to power and cause the recession of the 1920s rise to the great depression.Hilter of course turns on his masters however.

Eventually these travelers froma version 1976 facing Nazi Europe fights to cut off the 1930 Nazi gate to the their 21st century patrons.

Great cameos for Edward Teller, Albert Einstien, and many other prominent politicians and scientists of the 1930s!

Great read! ... Read more

Product Description
Hogan is in the top rank of writers who write real science fiction about "real" science, and now he offers enthusiastic readers a special treat, giving them a guided tour through his many worlds. Learn new possibilities for smuggling through space travel; let Hogan explain how he personally brought about the fall of the Soviet Union; see what it would be like to rent-a-body of your choice; and much more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Amazing!
This is the first book I've read written by Paul Hogan.A collection of articles he wrote for various scientific journals and short stories - along with some personal anecdotes - this work is created to make you think.Mr. Hogan seeks to debunk common beliefs regarding AIDS, the hole in the ozone and exposure to radiation.Regarding the latter: he states that scientific research actually shows that exposure to small amounts of radiation is beneficial.He points out that many scientific "truths" are actually political machinations and gives us the information we need to prove his point of view.As a person who prides herself in learning all I can about various things, it was a remarkable piece of luck that led me to buying this book.I definitely will want to pass this book around and let others read it.You should, too!

This book may actually change the way you think.
Most of us are slow to change our opinions about "big issues."That is a normal human trait.This book may actually cause you to do that about various issues, including the problem of AIDS, the issue about CFCs and the "Ozone Hole" and certain other trendy issues of the day.

This book is a reprint of various science articles Hogan has written, a couple of science fiction short stories, and a few personal anecdotes.If you are a Hogan fan, you'll like most of this book.If you are not a Hogan fan, you very likely will STILL like the science articles.They are dazzling, well-written, and understandable to the layman.

The most important part of the book is Hogan's analysis of the AIDS controversy.He points out numerous facts that the ordinary news media has refused to tell us.For example, no one has ever proved that the HIV virus causes AIDS.When you culture the HIV virus and try to infect a chimp or other animal, there is not a single case of the animal contracting AIDS.Nor are there any documented cases of a human being contracting AIDS by being infected with the HIV virus, unless such person was either a drug user, a hemophiliac, or a member of a similar risk group.This defies "Koch's Theorem," a basic premise of biology, which says that being able to predictably cause a disease (i.e. AIDS) by infecting a host with a virus (i.e. HIV) is a basic requirement for concluding that the virus causes the disease.If the "HIV causes AIDS" theory fails this test, then why do we believe that HIV does in fact cause AIDS?Hogan suggests some answers, and it's not pretty, but it's pretty darned thought-provoking.I am no scientist myself, but I will admit that Hogan managed to force me to "think outside the box" of conventional wisdom on this one.

Similarly, Hogan's article "Fact-Free Science" questions whether CFCs have caused the "Ozone Hole" or, in fact, whether the "Ozone Hole" even actually exists as a man-made (or a dangerous) phenomena.If you are an environmental activist who believes this, at the very least Hogan's book will give your belief structure a good workout.It will make ordinary people question.

Hogan consistently tries to think outside of the box.This is a recurrent theme in most of his writing.Sometimes he succeeds, sometimes, in my opinion, he fails. (The "Justice System" in "Voyage to Yesteryear," another one of his novels, was idiotic, and its economic system was asinine.)But at least he is thinking, and trying to make YOU think.That's more than most writers ever do.

This is a book well worth reading and owning.I have bought copies for friends, who are sometimes angered and sometimes stunned, by the facts Hogan brings to light.I would say that he made them think as well.

Recommended.

Once again hogan blew me away
As Hogan is my favorite author, it's no surprise that Rockets, Redheads and Revolution was a pure delight. Even though it makes one think long and hard about one's opinions. It opens one's eyes on a variety of subjects;the Soviet Union and the Space Race, AIDS, the ozone layer, the theory ofevolution and offers some thoughtful, but delightful "stories",as well. What can we do about bad, evil people? Read and see what you thinkof Hogan's "solution." If you think you know all, read and thinkagain! Is it politics, or the media, or are we just not paying attention?If you want to challenge yourself, don't miss this one. And if you likethis one, don't miss Minds, Machines and Evolution, a previous work in thesame vein.

You've GOT to read this book!
This book will challenge your assumptions.No, change that -- It will shake your belief system to its very core.This is not a book for the faint-hearted, or the mush-headed, because this book will actually expectyou to THINK.

And oh, by the way, Hogan will entertain you with somedelightful stories for your efforts.

Some will dismiss this book becausethey wrongly interpret one of Hogan's essays as pro-creationism, but itisn't.It is much more radical -in the good sense of meaning "gettingto the root"- because it dares to ask science to look at the evidenceand come up with a better explanation than the standard evolution theory. But he is not a creationist.He understands how science is supposed towork; he does not accept the supernatural or the irrational as a means toexplain how the world works. The same is true for his essays on "ozonedepletion" and on AIDS.He asks questions that others have beensuppressed from asking.He takes some controversial points of view --which some people don't even realize exist.He asks us to open our eyes,and look at the facts.I wonder how many of us will have the courage tolook.As Hogan draws the analogy, how many of us will be like the bishopswho refused to look through Galileo's telescope, and will deny theexistence of those things that don't fit with our parochial view of theuniverse.

It's not all science and politics, though.There's plenty ofhumor and warmth.His story "Madame Butterfly" is a wonderfulexposition of the effect of "random acts of kindness".The talesof his struggles to restore a house in Ireland are bitter-sweet, like acool pint of Guinness.

So pull up a barstool.Take a sip.It'llsharpen your wits.

A good author gone bad
I've liked all his past books, but certainly not this one.Some of the fiction is good--but I had already read it elsewhere.The non-fiction, though:He is asserting that HIV doesn't cause AIDS, he basically supportscreationism and he's saying that ozone depletion is nonsensical.If theywere well-supported positions I could accept that from a SF author, butthey are only well-supported by very selective use of evidence. ... Read more