Akiva Reads

by James P. Hogan

The bad first: there are no women or boys in this book, only men and girls. "Girls" are rare creatures: they are mostly secretaries, their presence turns scientific discussions into parties, and they will wink at you when you claim their major discoveries as your own. They may not exist on the moon, and definitely don't exist at scientific research stations on Jupiter. They sometimes take long, grueling treks and make brave and difficult moral and interpersonal decisions (which mostly seem to result in them dying), but somehow that doesn't elevate them to the status of women.

Soanyway, apart from that kind of thing, it's an odd book. It's a thriller where all the plot and suspense is based on the process of scientific discovery. And don't get me wrong, I had trouble putting it down. It's quite interesting and suspenseful. Although there are lots of creepy and vaguely menacing events, none of them turn out badly. Even the vaguely menacing manipulative boss-figure only wants the project to succeed, and only good things come from his conniving. By the end, though, I was wondering why Hogan wrote the book---just to show us all how smart he is for being able to come up with this convoluted scenario?

It's kind of interesting that book!Earth is ironing out its adolescence (world peace, global government on the horizon) but the Earth of today (only 15 years 'til this all supposedly happens!) is more like Minerva: dwindling resources we fight for tooth and nail and a looming carbon dioxide problem.