Group Read, April 2016: Contact

Our April Group Read is carl Sagan's Contact. I've made an early start on this and I'm enjoying it so far - there is a fair bit of science in it, as you might expect from the author, but it's more grounded in the "real world" than a lot of sci-fi books.

I've started too and am enjoying it more than I expected.

>2 annamorphic: the unexpected twist at the end of chapter 5 reminded me that I had watched the movie but beyond that I can't recall anything else.

OoOoo, one of my favourite from the list! I'll just say that the movie was disapointing.

The library has it so I will pick up a copy this weekend. I have always been interested in this one! And yes, the movie was rather disappointing.

I'm up to Chapter 8 and loving it!
Some of the books on the 1001 list feel like just another chore to get through, but this book is FUN! And I like all the science information.
I'm currently taking some evening classes at a local planetarium and we have discussed the methods that astronomers use for finding planets outside our solar system and the requirements for "life" on other worlds. The whole field of astrobiology is fascinating to me. So this group read choice is perfect!

FYI - Barnes & Noble has the ebook The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence by Paul Davies for $2.99. I just got it and it looks interesting.
I love the introductory quote by Arthur C. Clarke:
"Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering."

A couple of minor asides.

Firstly I'm enjoying the quotes from writers and philosophers down the ages that start each chapter.

Secondly I find it a little hard to reconcile the overt sexism that Dr Arroway experiences in the workplace with the fact that there is a female President of the USA. There again I am a male and maybe not best qualified to assess this, and many females may find themselves in this situation before the end of 2016...

I am about 120 pages in and not too enthusiastic about the book so far. I seem to be the only one but I find all the science stuff rather boring.
We'll see, maybe I will be drawn into the story in the chapters to come.

There is a lot of science! I have to admit that I skim those parts a bit.

Me too although I am afraid to miss something important then.

I finished today. I enjoyed the core story and the science around it. I felt less compelled by the science v religion debate that takes up a chunk of the middle of the book, and the emotional/relationship side of the story. Both pay off towards the end though so I understood why they were there, but overall it appealed more to the logic side of me than the emotional side.

Started this today. I'm not very far in but I am enjoying it, which I expected to do. I love the main character and I'm wincing at the sexism of the times. It is probably worse due to the country she lives in as America is probably the most socially conservative (polite way of saying 'backward' :-)) of the 'Western' countries.

Still, I doubt it would be easy for any woman trying to be taken seriously in science during the 1960/70s. In NZ women weren't even given home mortgages until the 1970's! Absolutely inconceivable to me.

I'm getting bogged down in all the science v. religion stuff too. If I wanted to read debates on this topic I would pick up an essay, not a novel. I felt irritated by Coetzee's Elizabeth Costello for much the same reason, and also Milan Kundera has some of that same let-me-instruct-you-here tone. It's just not what I'm looking for in a novel.

>13 annamorphic: It felt a bit forced to me - why would a scientist caught up in a huge project take time out to placate a TV evangelist when nothing was likely to be achieved? I just got the sense that Sagan wanted to make sure his story covered as much science and philosophy as he could pack in.

I'm about 2/3 through this and am ready to be done. The characters are drowning in science; they don't have enough space (excuse pun) to be subtle. The writing isn't good. I keep going because I do want to know what happens if/when they do whatever the Machine does.

Well, what shall I say. I finished it and am half-disappointed, half-enthusiastic. The 'drowning in science', as Annamorphic called it, was rather tiresome. Just like her I wanted to find out what was going to happen with the Machine. When it happened and what happened afterwards I did enjoy and thought rather plausible. Then I drowned again in an essay on 'pi' and then I had another look into Ellie's personal life, something unexpected (It came 'falling out of the sky', as we say in Dutch, which is kind of suitable here :-) and I am not sure what it meant or added to the story as a whole.

Well, in the end I am just glad I finished it. I don't think I'll go watch the movie. On to the next!

I have picked up this book from the library, but won't be starting it for a while yet.

In the meantime, I would say that sexism in science is still very real.

Here's one I'll add to my TBR:
http://chronicle.com/article/If-America-Wants-to-Kill/236011

I finished this a couple of days ago. I found it interesting and I liked the conflict between science and religion but thought that it needed more of a human heart to make it a truly good read. Ellie never really connected to anyone and as she was the main focus, her distance kept me at a distance.

I loved the concept although the book had few surprises as I've seen the movie (which I greatly enjoyed) and the book was faithful to the general plot while at the same time it added some 'heart'.

I have been hovering between giving this 3 or 3 1/2 stars.