Timescape

This science-fiction classic is lauded for marrying hard physics-based sci fi with strong character stories, but the characters were precisely the reason I didn’t like the book. The plot is intriguing: in a future (actually 1998) plagued by environmental catastrophes, a couple of physicists hatch a plan to send a message back in time, hoping that the scientists of the past can avert the catastrophe. But I couldn’t get into the story because all of the characters were unlikeable, stereotyped or just plain flat.

For example, in an early chapter, the wife of one of the physicists is approached by a squatter asking for some milk for her child. She refuses, saying she only has enough for her family. Okay, I can understand that reaction; show more food supplies are obviously running short. But then, a few days later, she hosts a lavish dinner party for her friends, where she serves three desserts! This brought to mind what I most dislike about humans and what is really at the root of a lot of our problems, including climate change: that we can rationalize that avoiding our own minor discomforts and deprivations is more important than helping to meet the basic needs of a fellow human being. I really couldn’t like any of the characters after that scene, no matter how hard they tried to save the world. show less

This is a novel of scientific discovery that does not neglect the story of the people who make the science. It is a better novel as much due to both its fusion of detailed character development and interpersonal drama and the science fiction narrative that includes time travel, an alternate reality, and ecological issues.

The story is written from two viewpoints, equidistant from the novel's publication in 1980. One narrative is set in a 1998 ravaged by ecological disasters and is on the brink of large scale extinctions. It follows a group of scientists in the United Kingdom connected with the University of Cambridge and their attempts to warn the past of the impending disaster by sending tachyon-induced messages to the astronomical show more position the Earth occupied in 1962–1963. Given the faster-than-light nature of the tachyon, these messages will effectively reach the past. These efforts are led by John Renfrew, an Englishman, and Gregory Markham, an American most likely modeled on Benford himself.

Another narrative is set in La Jolla, California at the University of California-San Diego in 1962, where a young scientist, Gordon Bernstein, discovers anomalous noise in a physics experiment relating to spontaneous resonance and indium antimonide. He and his student assistant, Albert Cooper (also likely based on the author and his experiences at UCSD), discover that the noise is coming in bursts timed to form Morse code.
The resulting message is made of staccato sentence fragments and jumbled letters, due to the 1998 team's efforts to avoid a grandfather paradox. Their aim is to give the past researchers enough information to start efforts on solving the pending ecological crisis, but not enough that the crisis will be entirely solved (thus making a signal to the past unnecessary and creating a paradox). Due to the biological nature of the message, Professor Bernstein shares the message with a professor of biology, Michael Ramsey. Since the message also gives astronomical coordinates, he also shares it with Saul Shriffer, a fictional scientist who is said to have worked with Frank Drake on Project Ozma. Initially, these characters fail to understand the true meaning of the message. Ramsey believes it to be an intercepted military dispatch hinting at Soviet bioterrorism, while Shriffer thinks the message is of extraterrestrial origin. Shriffer goes public with this theory, mentioning Bernstein in his findings. However, Bernstein's overseer, Isaac Lakin, is skeptical of the messages and wants Bernstein to keep working on his original project and ignore the signal. As a result of this interruption in their experimentation, Bernstein is denied a promotion and Cooper fails a candidacy examination. The signal also exacerbates difficulties in Bernstein's relationship with his girlfriend, Penny.

In 1998, Peterson recovers a safe deposit box in La Jolla containing a piece of paper indicating that the messages were received. Meanwhile, it is clear that the viral nature of the algal bloom is spreading it faster and through more mediums than originally expected. Strange yellow clouds that have been appearing are said to be a result of the viral material being absorbed through the water cycle, and it soon affects the planet's agriculture as well, resulting in widespread cases of food poisoning. Flying to the United States, Markham is killed in a plane crash when the pilots fly too close to one of the clouds and experience seizures.

In the past narrative, now advanced into 1963, Bernstein refuses to give up on the signals. He is rewarded when the signal noise is also observed in a laboratory at Columbia University (a nod "Tachyons were the sort of audacious idea that comes to young minds used to roving over the horizon of conventional thought. Because of Feinberg I later set part of my tachyon novel at Columbia towards the inventor of the tachyon concept, Gerald Feinberg of Columbia). Using hints in the message, Ramsey replicates the conditions of the bloom in a controlled experiment and realizes the danger it represents. Bernstein finds out that the astronomical coordinates given in the message represent where the Earth will be in 1998 due to the solar apex. He also receives a more coherent, despairing message from the future. Having built a solid case, Bernstein goes public and publishes his results.

The remainder of the story involves the possibility of an alternate reality and some surprising consequences. The combination of science, the impact of the scientists' work on their interpersonal relations, and the impact of the science itself on the future made this an excellent work of science fiction. It is no surprise that it won several awards including the Nebula Award in 1980. show less

Fans of theoretical time travel stories, and fans of hard SF should find this classic science fiction novel by Gregory Benford right up their alley. Published in 1980, the events in this novel take place 18 years before and after that date. In the "future" 1998, the planet is suffering from global ecological disasters, and despite the fact that humanity is facing the danger of extinction, a small group of scientists must still fight bureaucracy and limited financial resources in order to attempt an experiment that may allow them to send a message back in time to try to forestall or prevent the catastrophes that their society is facing. In 1962, scientists in California are analyzing seeming unexplainable results they are getting from an show more experiment they are running -- results that appear to be static but when analyzed seem to be a message from the future. Benford handles the theoretical physics in his SF plot very well, without talking over the heads of his non-scientific readers. His characters are well-developed too, although sometimes their "soap opera" plot elements get in the way of a gripping science fictional story. This one is a true modern classic of the genre -- having won both the Nebula Award and the John W. Campbell Award (both for best SF novel of the year!) -- and I highly recommend it!

Originally reviewed for my local library's website: http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/depts/bookguide/srec/staffrec11-07.htm show less

This is probably the best book about time I've ever read.

The fact that Gregory Benford is a physicist is obvious throughout the book.
First, to the questions regarding time travel, time paradoxes, alternate universes, he gives his well documented answers in accordance with modern physics, and they are bewildering by the fact that they do not contradict what we know so far about this universe.
Whenever I read something about time travel I say to myself nice story" but never take it seriously. This is not the case here - this book raises questions about the very essence of time. What is time, really?

Second, Benford does a good job in describing the world of the scientists - his characters are well portrayed and interesting.

This is SF at show more its best. It will teach you something about physics, it will make you sympathise with the characters and it will make an exciting and intriguing reading." show less

As ecological catastrophe spreads in 1998, a team of scientists at Cambridge attempt to send a warning back to 1962 using tachyons.

The story alternates between the transmitters and the receivers, with the reader feeling a mounting sense of despair as to whether the warning will be deciphered or acted upon. Excellently done.

This was a very good book. It dealt with a similar theme as Gibson’s Jackpot series: communicating with the past causes a division in the timeline multiplying the multiverse. Of course Benford wrote this before Gibson wrote The Peripheral. Inappreciated how human Benford writes his characaters. This reminded me of how Connie Willis writes: you end up caring about the characters even those who are clearly flawed. I enjoyed Timescape.

Physicists as rock stars. Meh. While I did find Benford's style of writing to be very readable, the overall problem I had with this book; it's kind of boring. Benford has an almost mystical reverence for 'The Equations' and spends an inordinate amount of time inside his character's heads as they think about and work upon 'The Equations'. Sorry, but that does not make a compellingly nail-biting storyline. At least not for me.

My other complaint is - with a couple of exceptions - the lack of character development. Also, the rather provincial depiction of the female personalities. For a book published in 1980, Timescape feels like a book at least 10-20 years older. The tone makes Benford appear to be an author out of touch with his times.

On show more the plus side, the central concept of the story is actually very interesting and I really enjoyed the way Benford dealt with how the 'time-travel' aspect affected his characters and their worlds. Too bad it all gets bogged down by paragraph upon paragraph of exposition about the coolness of physics. Not really my cuppa... show less