Synopsis
|
The
Fermi Paradox:
If there are
billions of
planets in the
universe that are
capable of
supporting life,
and millions of
intelligent
species out there,
then why haven't
we encountered
any?
The great
sunliner But
the Sky, My Lady!
The Sky! is
nearing the end of
a
four-hundred-year
journey. A
ship-born
generation is
tense with
expectation for
the new system
that is to be
their home.
Expecting to find
nothing more
complex than
bacteria and
algae, the
detection of
electronic signals
from one of the
planets comes as a
shock. In
millennia of slow
expansion,
humanity has never
encountered
aliens, and yet
these new signals
cannot be
ignored.
They suspect a
fast robot probe
has overtaken
them, and send
probes of their
own to
investigate.
On a world
called Ground,
whose inhabitants
are struggling
into the age of
radio, petroleum
and powered
flight, a young
astronomer
searching for
distant planets
detects an anomaly
that he presumes
must be a
comet. His
friend, a
brilliant foreign
physicist,
calculates the
orbit, only to
discover an
anomaly of his
own. The
comet is slowing
down ..... |
Review
|
Reminding
us that the
universe is not
only stranger than
we imagine, it is
stranger then we can
imagine, Learning
the World is
Ken Macleod's
stunning novel of
exploration,
discovery and
Mankind's destiny
amongst the stars.
'A hectic ride,
through slaloms of
audacious
complexity,
irreverent
ingenuity and
paradox as
purposeful as it
is playful'
Guardian
'The modern-day
George Orwell'
SFX |
