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Robert J. Sawyer, the award-winning and bestselling writer, hits the peak of his powers in Humans, the second book of The Neanderthal ParallaxThe trilogy tells of our world and a parallel one in which it was the Homo sapiens who died out and the Neanderthals who became the dominant intelligent species. This powerful idea allows Sawyer to examine some of the deeply rooted assumptions of contemporary human civilization dramatically, by confronting us with another civilization, just as morally show more valid, that has made other choices. In Humans, Neanderthal physicist Ponter Boddit, a character you will never forget, returns to our world and to his relationship with geneticist Mary Vaughan, as cultural exchanges between the two Earths begin.
As we see daily life in another present-day world, radically different from ours, in the course of Sawyer's fast-moving story, we experience the bursts of wonder and enlightenment that are the finest pleasures of science fiction. Humans is one of the best SF novels of the year, and The Neanderthal Parallax is an SF classic in the making.
Humans is a 2004 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel.
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Humans, by Robert Sawyer, is volume 2 in his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy. In volume one, two parallel universes were discovered in which modern humans existed as normal, but in the other, Neanderthal became the dominant humans while we had become extinct. Neanderthal advanced to a very high level and, in a scientific lab accident, created a portal between our two parallel universes inadvertently sending one of their own into our world. The contact between him and us and the efforts made to return to his universe was the story line of volume one.
In this volume, a dozen of Neanderthal’s finest scientists, artists, philosophers, government representatives, etc., pass through a device which they have created which keeps a portal open show more between their universe and our universe so the two worlds can pass between each other. This was in an effort to establish diplomatic contact and create a cultural exchange program of sorts to the mutual benefit of both worlds.
The second volume of any trilogy is frequently not as good as the first volume and this one is no exception. The uniqueness of the story is established in the first volume and the climax comes in the third volume. So, what is left for the second volume? Character development? Not really much here. Plot thickening? I can’t really say so.
There is a lot of human bashing going on in this volume, especially in conversations between Ponter Boddit, the Neanderthal, and Dr. Mary Vaughan, his human love interest. In these conversations everything from our exploitation of the environment to America’s involvement in Vietnam were criticized. One interesting point was discussed regarding humanity’s Agricultural Revolution. As the conversation went, one byproduct on it was overpopulation (in comparison to Neanderthal populations, who remained hunter/gatherers). Forests were chopped down for more farmlands, and animals were domesticated. A byproduct of this was various diseases associated with domesticated animals. Furthermore, a byproduct of agriculture was slavery, to provide the necessary labor force, in its various forms, such as sharecropping, peonage, feudalism, etc. The implication is such that we are destroying our world slowly but surely. This reminded me a lot of Elisabeth Kolbert’s book, The Sixth Extinction, in which she convincingly argues that we are, in fact, experiencing the world’s sixth mass extinction. If so, did our own Agricultural Revolution plant the seeds – sort of speak – of this mass extinction?
I disagree with some of the harsh criticisms from other reviewers of this book, it is still an enjoyable read. show less
In this volume, a dozen of Neanderthal’s finest scientists, artists, philosophers, government representatives, etc., pass through a device which they have created which keeps a portal open show more between their universe and our universe so the two worlds can pass between each other. This was in an effort to establish diplomatic contact and create a cultural exchange program of sorts to the mutual benefit of both worlds.
The second volume of any trilogy is frequently not as good as the first volume and this one is no exception. The uniqueness of the story is established in the first volume and the climax comes in the third volume. So, what is left for the second volume? Character development? Not really much here. Plot thickening? I can’t really say so.
There is a lot of human bashing going on in this volume, especially in conversations between Ponter Boddit, the Neanderthal, and Dr. Mary Vaughan, his human love interest. In these conversations everything from our exploitation of the environment to America’s involvement in Vietnam were criticized. One interesting point was discussed regarding humanity’s Agricultural Revolution. As the conversation went, one byproduct on it was overpopulation (in comparison to Neanderthal populations, who remained hunter/gatherers). Forests were chopped down for more farmlands, and animals were domesticated. A byproduct of this was various diseases associated with domesticated animals. Furthermore, a byproduct of agriculture was slavery, to provide the necessary labor force, in its various forms, such as sharecropping, peonage, feudalism, etc. The implication is such that we are destroying our world slowly but surely. This reminded me a lot of Elisabeth Kolbert’s book, The Sixth Extinction, in which she convincingly argues that we are, in fact, experiencing the world’s sixth mass extinction. If so, did our own Agricultural Revolution plant the seeds – sort of speak – of this mass extinction?
I disagree with some of the harsh criticisms from other reviewers of this book, it is still an enjoyable read. show less
I was a little surprised at how much I enjoyed this follow-up novel to 'Hominids'. What I like are the scientific explanations and discussions that are built into the stories. There is a lot of sociological discussion as well. Big things. The human-neanderthal romance that was begun in 'Hominids' becomes much more of a driver to the story. I see it as the vehicle that gets this story done. It doesn't really interest me. But the stuff around it does. For example I thought the scene at the Washington Mall where the woman explains the Vietnam Memorial was quite well done. To me, this second novel is as good or a little better than the first. The religious discussions are even interesting (mostly). I think the character development of show more several principals is well done. I was rather surprised at a few things as well. There is a mystery that involves a rape that was carried over from the first novel that is resolved by book's end here.
I was bothered by the technological advances of the neanderthals in the first book and it only gets worse in this one. Still, I'm looking forward to the final book of the trilogy, 'Hybrids'. I hope it doesn't let me down. show less
I was bothered by the technological advances of the neanderthals in the first book and it only gets worse in this one. Still, I'm looking forward to the final book of the trilogy, 'Hybrids'. I hope it doesn't let me down. show less
Humans turns out to be a somewhat tepid follow-up to the fascinating Hominids. The story picks up where it left off in the previous book and revolves around the growing relationship between the Neanderthal Ponter and the human Mary (technically Neanderthals are also human, but for brevity’s sake I'm using the term to stand for Homo Sapiens). Mary travels with Ponter to her world as the portal between the two alternate Earths is opened up for trade. There we get a closer look at Neanderthal society as Mary tries to adjust to its norms. Ponter also finds that he has to come to term with how his time on our Earth and his love for Mary has changed him.
In terms of plot structure and inventiveness, Humans is inferior to its predecessor. show more Ponter and Mary aside, the other supporting characters don’t develop at all and seem to recede into the background. None of the new characters take on three dimensions. We don’t see much of Neanderthal society that we haven’t already seen before. Even the social and political ramifications of the establishment of links between the two worlds is avoided altogether. The only plot threads with any weight are those of the love between Ponter and Mary and Ponter’s growing ambiguity about religion – a concept he had initially dismissed as illogical and even detrimental to the functioning of a well-adjusted society. These are interesting themes but neither are handled well enough to give the book the kind of depth and pull of Hominids.
This is not to say that Humans is a poor read. Sawyer’s prose is as fluid and easy on the eye as ever, and our interest in this interweaving of the two Earths carries over from the first book. The urge to discover what happens next provides a powerful incentive to keep reading. All in all, it’s a decent read and forms a bridge to the third book that is sufficiently entertaining, for the reader to want to complete the journey. show less
In terms of plot structure and inventiveness, Humans is inferior to its predecessor. show more Ponter and Mary aside, the other supporting characters don’t develop at all and seem to recede into the background. None of the new characters take on three dimensions. We don’t see much of Neanderthal society that we haven’t already seen before. Even the social and political ramifications of the establishment of links between the two worlds is avoided altogether. The only plot threads with any weight are those of the love between Ponter and Mary and Ponter’s growing ambiguity about religion – a concept he had initially dismissed as illogical and even detrimental to the functioning of a well-adjusted society. These are interesting themes but neither are handled well enough to give the book the kind of depth and pull of Hominids.
This is not to say that Humans is a poor read. Sawyer’s prose is as fluid and easy on the eye as ever, and our interest in this interweaving of the two Earths carries over from the first book. The urge to discover what happens next provides a powerful incentive to keep reading. All in all, it’s a decent read and forms a bridge to the third book that is sufficiently entertaining, for the reader to want to complete the journey. show less
Humans, the second novel in Robert J. Sawyer’s The Neanderthal Parallax series is more romance than science fiction complete with the mandatory steamy sex scene. Unfortunately the female lead in this romance story, Mary (Homo sapiens), provokes little interest. I personally found nothing especially admirable about her and actually found her somewhat annoying. The male lead, Ponter (Homo neanderthalensis), is more interesting, but even he seems to fluctuate from being scientifically objective, as one would expect for a prominent theoretical physicist, to emotionally unstable, which one would not. Romance isn’t a genre I read and maybe this kind of soap opera contrast is common in them but these are not the kind of personalities I show more look for in science fiction.
Personally, I didn’t find the social commentary in this book overly preachy, as did many other reviewers. Sawyer contrasts a low population, hunter-gatherer culture with ours, which has a high population and extensive farming. Each has good points and bad points and I don’t think he came down too hard on Western society. There are other problems with the premise though.
The one that perhaps most bothers me is that all the major characters seem to accept the hypothesis that “consciousness” somehow suddenly appeared 40,000 years ago. Such an astounding and counterintuitive assertion in science fiction is not uncommon but must have at least enough techno-babble to make it possible to suspend disbelief long enough to entertain the idea for the sake of the story. This book does not provide that. It’s stated as if this is a well-known and accepted scientific theory.
The other thing I find hard to accept is that a hunter-gatherer society can achieve the population density required for the individual specialization needed to achieve a high-tech society, which the Neanderthals in this book obviously have. In areas of artificial intelligence, their tech is well beyond ours, in fact, although their achievements in other areas are not. There is some techno-babble to explain this but it seems weak.
The prose is competent and the book is readable, but in the areas of plot and characters, I think it fails. Will I read the next in the series? Yes. The first book, Hominids, was interesting enough and I have hopes that the third is more like it. show less
Personally, I didn’t find the social commentary in this book overly preachy, as did many other reviewers. Sawyer contrasts a low population, hunter-gatherer culture with ours, which has a high population and extensive farming. Each has good points and bad points and I don’t think he came down too hard on Western society. There are other problems with the premise though.
The one that perhaps most bothers me is that all the major characters seem to accept the hypothesis that “consciousness” somehow suddenly appeared 40,000 years ago. Such an astounding and counterintuitive assertion in science fiction is not uncommon but must have at least enough techno-babble to make it possible to suspend disbelief long enough to entertain the idea for the sake of the story. This book does not provide that. It’s stated as if this is a well-known and accepted scientific theory.
The other thing I find hard to accept is that a hunter-gatherer society can achieve the population density required for the individual specialization needed to achieve a high-tech society, which the Neanderthals in this book obviously have. In areas of artificial intelligence, their tech is well beyond ours, in fact, although their achievements in other areas are not. There is some techno-babble to explain this but it seems weak.
The prose is competent and the book is readable, but in the areas of plot and characters, I think it fails. Will I read the next in the series? Yes. The first book, Hominids, was interesting enough and I have hopes that the third is more like it. show less
This was an enjoyable-enough novel. But Robert Sawyer has set his bar so high that I was mildly disappointed in this one. Still, it was nice to get more details on the Neanderthal world.
A generally pretty good sequel to Hominids. There are some further interesting discussions between characters about differences in human and Neanderthal customs, attitudes and technological development. However, unlike its predecessor, there isn't a great deal of action throughout much of the book, the main focus being on Ponter Boddit's growing relationship with Mary and the conundrums and tensions this throws up. The ending was rather unpleasant. Given the sex scene in this novel, and the fact that the third one is called Hybrids, it's fairly obvious what that will be about!
Volume 2 of Sawyer’s Neanderthal trilogy was pretty good. I think where it fails is in its making this reader curious about the events of the two cultures clashing nicely and then shifts over to a soap opera of sorts. That, I was not thrilled with!
The book picks up where Volume 1, Hominids, left off. Humans could somewhat stand on its own, but go ahead and read Hominids first.
It was fun to read about Ponter and the new ambassador and how they deal with the alternate Earth (us). As the story goes on, there is an assassination attempt (which fails) and the solution the ambassador has for the assassin is surprising to say the least.
Instead of shutting down the “portal” between the two worlds, the ambassador brings over the best show more and brightest of their generation to our Earth for further cultural exchange. She guesses rightly that the High Gray Council would not shut it down and leave them stranded. This was great! I could hardly wait to see how our Earth scientists, sports fiends, artists and so on deal with the new and exciting world of the Neantherdal.
And then he drops it. Sawyer drops it. Oh my!
Throughout the narration we have Ponter talking to his shrink (“personality sculptor”) which I thought a good vehicle from which we could quickly move through the story. The rest of the book however deals with Mary’s frustration and guilt she feels over a rape that happened back on Volume One, and Ponter’s response to it. We also have Mary falling madly in love with our caveman with a somewhat explicit sex scene in a hotel room.
But the love triangle of sorts – man-mates, woman-mates, Mary, her lover, and what about the rapist and her ex, all come together.
Hey, what happened to all those artists and scientists?
Bottom Line:
The book flows well, easy to read and Sawyer sets us up to get the skinny on the relationships between a human and a Neanderthal. But why keep us guessing on the other stuff? Plot points dropped, questions lay waiting for answers.
Recommended for only the most rabid of Sawyer fans. But hey, I’ll read Hybrids anyway. I want to see what happens next! show less
The book picks up where Volume 1, Hominids, left off. Humans could somewhat stand on its own, but go ahead and read Hominids first.
It was fun to read about Ponter and the new ambassador and how they deal with the alternate Earth (us). As the story goes on, there is an assassination attempt (which fails) and the solution the ambassador has for the assassin is surprising to say the least.
Instead of shutting down the “portal” between the two worlds, the ambassador brings over the best show more and brightest of their generation to our Earth for further cultural exchange. She guesses rightly that the High Gray Council would not shut it down and leave them stranded. This was great! I could hardly wait to see how our Earth scientists, sports fiends, artists and so on deal with the new and exciting world of the Neantherdal.
And then he drops it. Sawyer drops it. Oh my!
Throughout the narration we have Ponter talking to his shrink (“personality sculptor”) which I thought a good vehicle from which we could quickly move through the story. The rest of the book however deals with Mary’s frustration and guilt she feels over a rape that happened back on Volume One, and Ponter’s response to it. We also have Mary falling madly in love with our caveman with a somewhat explicit sex scene in a hotel room.
But the love triangle of sorts – man-mates, woman-mates, Mary, her lover, and what about the rapist and her ex, all come together.
Hey, what happened to all those artists and scientists?
Bottom Line:
The book flows well, easy to read and Sawyer sets us up to get the skinny on the relationships between a human and a Neanderthal. But why keep us guessing on the other stuff? Plot points dropped, questions lay waiting for answers.
Recommended for only the most rabid of Sawyer fans. But hey, I’ll read Hybrids anyway. I want to see what happens next! show less
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Robert J. Sawyer was born in Ottawa on April 29, 1960, but raised in Toronto. In 1980, while still in high school, Sawyer submitted a short story to the the Rochester Museum and Science Center, which was running a contest for light show ideas. Sawyer didn't win, but the Museum purchased his story Motive anyway and it ran for 192 performances. show more Sawyer went on to attend Toronto's Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, majoring in Radio and Television Arts. In September 1979, he had his first piece of fiction published at the end of his first year, in Ryerson's literary annual, White Wall Review. Sawyer graduated from Ryerson in 1982. Sawyer was hired back the following semester to teach television studio production techniques to second- and third-year students. In the four months interim, he worked for minimum wage at the local SF bookstore, spending all his earnings on books. From 1984 to 1992, while teaching, Sawyer also coordinated a social group of Toronto-area science-fiction writers founded by SF editor Judith Merril. He established a Canadian region of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America; and in 1998, served as that organization's president. Sawyer also retained freelance nonfiction writing contracts, writing articles for newspapers and magazines, press releases and brochures for corporations, newsletters for government departments. He churned out vast amounts of promotional materials and over 200 articles for computing and personal-finance magazines in a span of five years. But in that time, his only really significant publication was the novelette Golden Fleece, which appeared as the cover story in the September 1988 edition of Amazing Stories. The novel-length Golden Fleece was sold to Warner Books a year later in 1989. The sales of his first five books were uninspiring and Sawyer faced being dropped by his publisher. Sawyer decided to take the time to write a book, without a contract, take as long as necessary, and produce a blockbuster. He also wanted to tackle a controversial issue and deal with it head on. With that in mind, Sawyer wrote The Terminal Experiment, about abortion and the soul. His publisher rejected it on grounds of controversy. HarperPrism then bought the book and serialization rights were sold to Analog, the number-one best-selling English-language SF magazine. The Terminal Experiment went on to win the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's Nebula Award for Best Novel of 1995. His novel Frameshift was his first book published in hardcover, and was nominated for the Hugo Award, and won Japan's Seiun Award for best foreign novel of the year. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- Humans
- Original title
- Humans
- Original publication date
- 2003-02
- People/Characters
- Ponter Boddit; Mary Vaughan; Louise Benoît; Daklar Bolbay; Jurard Selgan; Jock Krieger (show all 14); Kevin Bilodeau; Tukana Prat; Hélène Gagné; Arnold Moore; Rufus Cole; Lonwis Trob; Henry Running Deer; Cornelius Ruskin
- Important places
- Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada; New York, New York, USA
- Epigraph
- If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every ... (show all)human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? - Aleksandr Solzhentsyn
- Dedication
- For Mark Askwith
Master of Multiple Universes - First words
- I've done a terrible thing, said Ponter Boddit, straddling the saddle-seat in Jurard Selgan's office.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)You should visit the world you are dealing with.
- Blurbers
- McDevitt, Jack; Brin, David; Gear, W. Michael; Gear, Kathleen O'Neal; Busby, F.M.; Levinson, Paul
- Original language
- English
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- 5 — Czech, English, Polish, Spanish, Turkish
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- ISBNs
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