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Loading... Manifold: Space (2001)by Stephen Baxter
 jasonfurman | Aug 3, 2011 |  Book 2. In my opinion, the three books should be read in order. The three books in the Manifold Trilogy will take you on a mind stretching journey. While the characters are somewhat one-dimensional, they keep you grounded enough to enjoy the science which is presented on an immense scale. Why isn't there any evidence of other sentient life in the universe? What is the purpose of intelligent life at the end of billions of years of evolution. What would the "old ones" do to change things "downstream", to make life more meaningful? Baxter's characters search for the answers to these questions in unique and fascinating ways. Stimulating, entertaining, and ultimately satisfying. (  ) KAzevedo | Nov 27, 2009 | Just like Douglas Adams said, Space is big. Space is really big. This book is a novelised exploration of the Fermi Paradox, which basically says that if aliens existed, we would see them, and since we can't they don't. This book posits an answer. (  ) lorelorn_2007 | Oct 22, 2007 | It didn't go where I was expecting this book. After the first few pages I was unimpressed, the middle sections I found very gripping in parts, and then it veered off into the fantastical quite a bot towards the end. It is a story of first contact set in the near future, and tackles head on the question of why the aliens aren't here. It raises some interesting questions about the life-expectancy of a space faring species (or any species). We tend to assume resource scarcity is limited to Earth - maybe not so much if you think about it logically... Not bad at all if you like hard science fiction, but I didn't find the characters particularly engaging. The bibliographic data here suggests it is part of a series - I wasn't aware of that reading it, and I can't really imagine how... (  ) daniel.links | Oct 8, 2007 | Manifold is a series of books with big, visionary concepts, and Space is no different. This time the twist on the Fermi paradox has the aliens existing and actually quite near the Earth. Reid Malenfant investigates with a mysterious Japanese scientist Nemoto. The first contact is made and the truth starts to unfurl... As I said, the ideas are big - seriously big. The flow of the story isn't always fast enough, it all gets a bit too slow at times. Still, one has to admire Baxter's vision and while parts of the book were slightly boring, the whole of the story was definitely captivating enough to get me through the slower bits. Manifold: Space offers an interesting what-if scenario of the future of humankind in a world that has extraterrestrial life. (Original review from my review blog.) (  ) msaari | Aug 8, 2007 | no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0345430786, Mass Market Paperback)Stephen Baxter follows up his Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee Manifold: Time with the second book in the Manifold series, Manifold: Space. In this novel, former shuttle pilot and astronaut Reid Malenfant meets his destiny once again in a tale that stretches the bounds of both space and time.The year is 2020 and the Japanese have colonized the moon. The 60-year-old Malenfant is called there by a young scientist named Nemoto who has discovered something in the asteroid belt that can only mean humans are not alone in the universe. The aliens seem robotic in nature and appear to be building something in Earth's backyard. The Gaijin, as they are called by humans, don't respond to communication efforts so an unmanned ship is launched to investigate. In the meantime, Malenfant decides answers are only possible by mounting an expedition to Alpha Centauri, which may be where the Gaijin come from. Baxter, who won the John W. Campbell Award and the Philip K. Dick Award for his novel The Time Ships, orchestrates a stunning array of scientific possibilities in Manifold: Space. Each chapter adds a new piece to his mosaic of humanity's future. The novel is admirable in its enormous scope, but it's hard to invest much emotion in the characters. Although they are well drawn, they vanish for long periods of time as Baxter leapfrogs through time and space. Manifold: Space, by its nature, lacks passion but excels in grand ideas. --Kathie Huddleston (retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 14:01:04 -0500) This thrilling sequel to "Manifold" finds Reid Malenfant, fueled by curiosity, venturing to the far edge of the solar system. There, he discovers a strange alien artifact; a gateway allowing instantaneous travel through interstellar space. What lies beyond the other side of the gateway will push Malenfant beyond terror, sanity, and humanity itself.… (more) |
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Wikipedia in English (2)
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Manifold: Space is an exploration of the Fermi Paradox -- why we don't see life elsewhere in the universe. And the answers it gives are quite chilling but ultimately hopeful. It is as much about evolution as physics as it explores the adaptations of humans living everywhere from Mercury to Triton -- not to mention the other non-carbon based life forms the star travellers find throughout the universe, in many cases dead or dying from violent expansionary cultures and ultimately recurrent physical phenomenon themselves. (