Interesting that the plot involves both hero and heroine with past issues that get in the way of love. The story moves along and the relationship between the boys and Jill developes at an even pace. In the real world, they'd all be in therapy for a few years. This is the first book I've read in this series and I think I started with the last in the group. I'm looking for the others, hope I find them.
delightful?
Pretty good read but --M
Product Description
She had a part-time husband and a full-time urge!
Average customer rating:
- Other Manifolds Better
- A Magnificent, Awe-Inspiring Thrill Ride!
- There's a decent book in here somewhere
- Good SciFi, Medium Baxter
- Not worth the money or time
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Manifold: Origin
Stephen Baxter
Manufacturer: Del Rey
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
 Baxter, Stephen
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Manifold: Space (Manifold)
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Manifold: Time
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Ring
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The Time Ships
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Evolution
ASIN: 0345430808
Release Date: 2003-01-01 |
Amazon.com
Award-winning author Stephen Baxter turns to the origin of species in this final novel of the Manifold trilogy. Reid Malenfant and Emma Stoney are flying over Africa when a new moon appears in the sky--and Emma disappears. She finds herself on the Red Moon with people resembling human evolutionary ancestors, with whom she must learn to live in order to survive. On Earth, Malenfant teams with Japanese scientist Nemoto on a desperate rescue mission that leads to greater questions about the origin of the alien moon, and ultimately of humankind.
Because the Manifold novels take place in alternate universes, Origin works well as a stand-alone read. Baxter effectively explores how modern humans and their ancestors might be thoroughly alien to one another, but the book is more focused on thoughtful scientific speculation than in-depth characterization. However, readers who are swept away by novels of cosmic scope and compelling imagination will find Big Idea science fiction at its best. --Roz Genessee
Book Description
“ONE OF THE BEST SF WRITERS IN THE BUSINESS . . . [Manifold: Origin is] filled with marvelous scientific speculations, strange events, novel concepts, and an awe-inspiring sense of the wonders of the universe.”
–Science Fiction Chronicle
In the year 2015, astronaut Reid Malenfant is flying over the African continent, intent on examining a mysterious glowing construct in Earth’s orbit. But when the very fabric of the sky tears open, spilling living creatures to the ground and pulling others inside (including his wife, Emma), Malenfant’s quest to uncover the unknown becomes personal. While desperately searching to discover what happened to the woman he loves, Malenfant embarks upon an adventure to the very fount of human development . . . on earth and beyond.
Download Description
Stephen Baxter's Manifold novels have struck the world of science fiction like a meteor. Heralded by Arthur C. Clarke as "a major new talent," Baxter stands time and space on their collective heads, envisions the future reflected in the past, and the past in the galaxy's most distant reaches and unformed speculations. Claiming the legacy of Heinlein and Asimov, Baxter now returns with his third Manifold novel -- in which he uses an astounding adventure story to posit a breathtaking vision of the origin of species... on earth and beyond.
In the year 2015 a red moon appears in the Earth's orbit: brooding, multitextured, beautiful, and alive. Catastrophe follows. While coastlands flood by the new gravitational forces, millions of people die. Scientists scramble desperately to understand what is on the big red moon and how it got there. And NASA astronaut Reid Malenfant, and his wife Emma, are hurtling through the African sky in a training jet, when everything changes forever.
For Malenfant and Emma, a reckless flight in a T-38 above the sun-baked continent sends them colliding with a great wheel in the sky. Now Emma has awakened in a strange, Earthlike world, among physically powerful, primitive creatures who share humankind's features and desires but lack the human mind. And Reid Malenfant is back in Texas, reliving the plane crash, looking up at the red moon, and knowing in his heart that Emma is there.
Emma is there, beginning a journey of survival that is both horrific and fascinating, utterly familiar and totally beyond comprehension. Malenfant, teamed with a Japanese scientist named Nemoto, will get his chance to rescue his wife. But neither can foresee the extraordinary adventures that await them. Neither can imagine the small and immense evolutionary secrets cloaked in the atmosphere of the red moon, or guess at how a vast, living, tightly woven cosmos has shaped our planet as we know it -- and how it will shape it again.
Customer Reviews:
Other Manifolds Better.......2007-01-13
Although I had already read the not-good reviews of this book on Amazon, I bought it anyway. The reviews are largely correct. The story went on too long, the characters are flat, the subplots detracted from the main plot rather than adding to it, and the science was much less interesting than that in last two books.
Still... I am glad I read it. It did have a few interesting ideas. I might suggest a reading plan to get the most out of this book. Read the first 50 pages or so to get an idea of all of the characters (they won't change for the duration of the novel) and the plot. Read all of the sections labeled Manekatopokanehedo. Skip to Part Four -- "The World Engine" and read to end, skipping the sections labeled Shadow.
With that reading plan, you should really enjoy the book. You'll get all of the key ideas and characters without having to slog through pages and pages and pages of the primitive lifestyles of the hominids. Hope this helps!
A Magnificent, Awe-Inspiring Thrill Ride!.......2007-01-02
From front cover to back I felt woven into the multi-layered tapestry of every scene. One of my new favorites of its kind.
Sometimes - When you really enjoy a certain genre, writer or subject, one may lack patience or even become subconciously "snobbish" with the approach, digestion and/or analyzation of any artist's latest release. It is with this in mind that I can only begin to understand the basis of any negative comments about this novel.
Completely opening the mind to any eventuality and hypothesis - and Baxter's gift (and gift to us) of colorfully illustrating his epic, Hard Science, reality-based work allows those of us with less than a degree in physics the joy of intelligently pondering miracles such as the origins of galaxies, universes and life itself.
The "ride" of Manifold:Origin was a favorite aspect for me. I smiled every time I saw a new scene title - could be a few pages away, or even a few paragraphs. Pleased, not only in anticipation of which landscape or scenario I would soon be in, but also because I cared deeply about the characters and places I'd just left behind. Getting back there was a pleasure and a relief...and so on, and again...
Until at last you're there. Standing on the cradle of the universe, your mind racing with possibilities. If you let yourself, you are allowed a window to view a spectacular theory of the creation of space, time and life. With some creative visualization you can end up moved by this story. I was.
This novel should be read and re-read.
Shockingly truthful
A breath-taking ride
Deeply visual
Scientifically digestable
Heart-breakingly real
Beautiful
There's a decent book in here somewhere.......2005-10-31
Have you ever been a good portion of the way through a book and been faced with the total certainty that it's not going anywhere. And yet, you've invested so much time in it that you feel silly not bothering to finish it and besides, it's not that bad. It's just not great. This was the situation I found myself in reading this book and true to form I did finish reading it only to find that the book was merely okay. Not good, certainly not great, but just "okay." I guess I should elaborate. This is the third (and presumably) last book in the "Manifold" trilogy, which so far has been a loose consortium of absolutely fascinating hard science ideas held together by fitfully entertaining plots. The stories may not have been nail-biters but the cosmic vision kept you coming back and made the experience memorable, although you won't achieve any kind of transcendence reading these. But they were fun, for what they were. Then we get to this book. By now, we know the drill, as Baxter reboots everything again and gives us the characters we've seen before, but in different circumstances. This time our hero Reid Malfenant is back (with his wife still alive, Emma sat out the last book due to death, so it's nice to have her along) and as usual he's ticking off NASA. But the book sets up its premise early on, as a weird red moon replaces the actual moon in the sky, also scooping up a bunch of people along the way. Emma winds up being one of those people and Reid throws together a mad gambit to go up there and rescue her and bring her back. Looking back, I'm not quite certain where the book went off the rails. The red moon, for whatever reason, contains a wide variety of hominid species all living together and while this should be the central mystery, Baxter goes absolutely nowhere with it for a long, long time. He sets up the whole weird society well enough, and integrates the people who have been picked up in previous trips, but the plot just sort of shambles along. Emma wanders around with other survivors. Reid attempts to get up there. Various other peoples with one word names and simple narrative style jump in just to spice things up without really adding anything to the overall story. Once in a while someone decides to sit up and ask, "Just what the heck is this here moon for?" On some level a lot of it feels like Baxter just killing time and the book is so stretched out that when the Big Ideas start to come, you run the risk of just not caring anymore. Page upon page deal with people just wandering around, or beating each other up, or foraging for food, or engaging in acts that I really can't describe here, to no real purpose, it seems. Subplots feel tacked on and Baxter fumbles his money shot with the ending, which is generally the place where he dazzles us with his knowledge of science and his interpretation of whatever wild theory he's been reading up on. In the first two books, his grand visions made up for any shortcoming in plot. This time out, it falls flat and the grand speculations and revelations just don't seem to have any impact, it's all stated so matter of factly (and sort of repeats something that happened in another book) that it's like reading people discussing a scientific paper, which is the opposite effect the previous books had on me. In his defense, after going with "time" and "space, it's probably hard to figure out something to top that, so I do give him credit for trying. And in the end he gives it the ol' college try, it's never less than readable and although I doubt it'll ever be anywhere remotely near my favorite book it was a pleasant reading experience, if a bit overlong. So you can decide if the author was simply biting off more than he could chew or just executing it poorly. And although your milage may vary, if you've read the other two Manifold books it's worth a shot at least, you might as well finish it and besides, you might like it more than I did. Anything's possible.
Good SciFi, Medium Baxter.......2005-10-18
As usual, there is a core of hard science to the book. Knowing a touch of quantum theory and special relativity is a big boon.
The plot seems to be a trellis on which other, more interesting, elements are hung. Those other elements, such as theoretical views of proto-human activities, thought patterns, and motivations recur in Baxter's writing. I enjoy them.
As for the "darkness" in the story, it's true that this isn't clan of the cave bears. Criminalizing homicide was a huge mental leap for our ancestors and is of recent vintage. Baxter understands this.
I was disturbed by the notion that predators know to keep their populations down. Not true. There are too many population studies revealing the critters in general have population explosions and implosions based on resource availability, predation, and disease. Oh well, no author is perfect.
Not worth the money or time.......2005-10-11
The first two books in this "series" (its really not a trilogy) are decent. Solid science, solid plot, solid storyline. However, this one is horrible and I highly recommend you spend your time doing something else.
The plot is incredibly dull, and the concept is strangly familiar (can you say Planet of the Apes)?
Its a shame really. Like I said, I really like his other two books in this set.
Product Description
Manifold
1. Time (1999)
2. Space (2000)
3. Origin (2001)
Product Description
"In the year 2015 a red moon appears in the Earth's orbit: brooding, multitextured, beautiful, and alive. Catastrophe follows. While coastlands are flooded by the new gravitational forces, millions of people die. Scientists scramble desperately to understand what is on the big red moon and how it got there. And NASA astronaut Reid Malenfant, and his wife, Emma, are hurtling through the African sky in a training jet when everything changes forever." "For Malenfant and Emma, a reckless flight in a T-38 above the sun-baked continent sends them colliding with a great wheel in the sky. Now Emma has awakened in a strange, Earthlike world, among physically powerful, primitive creatures who share humankind's features and desires but lack the human mind. and Reid Malenfant is back in Texas, reliving the plane crash, looking up at the red moon, and knowing in his heart that Emma is there." Emma is there, beginning a journey of survival that is both horrific and fascinating, utterly familiar and totally beyond comprehension. Malenfant, teamed with a Japanese scientist named Nemoto, will get his chance to rescue his wife. But neither can foresee the extraordinary adventures that await them. Neither can imagine the small and immense evolutionary secrets cloaked in the atmosphere of the red moon, or guess at how a vast, living, tightly woven cosmos has shaped our planet as we know it - and how it will shape it again.
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-24
I am not quite sure what about this story did not jibe for me. I may have to give it another go, or at least another in this series. I think it may possibly be that I never was, or never will be, a Steven Baxter fan. I suspect it is something about his style or how he writes that does not gel for me personally. Otherwise, I can't pin down what is wrong with it, but I have tried it twice and didn't finish.
Average customer rating:
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Origin (Manifold)
Stephen Baxter
Manufacturer: Voyager
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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ASIN: 0006511848 |
Book Description
Here are all the tools pastors and teachers need to mine the Greek text and other language resources for the enhancement of personal study and sermon content.
Customer Reviews:
A succinct discussion of the Greek exegetical task........1999-10-16
Dr. Black provides helpful suggestions and guidance, most of which could be found in other sources. He has brought many of the best elements of other works into one volume. He reprimands the negligence of seminaries to equip ministers for the task of Greek exegesis. He explains the need for exegesis and provides some common sense tips for using Greek in ministry. However, I object to Dr. Black's comments regarding those who cannot work in the languages. He refers to pastors who lack skills in the Greek language as "average" in understanding (23). He characterizes these pastors as having to borrow their ideas from others in order to preach God's word, possibly passing on ignorance in God's name. Additionally, they are less "serious" about their preaching than their seminary-trained brethren. A more serious objection is that the author seems to casts spurious doubts upon the reliability of English translations. He says, "Not even the English translations. . .are completely trustworthy" (24). The tenor of his discussion leaves one with the impression that the average parishioner who does not know the languages cannot fully understand God's word. This is unfortunate. No pastor should ever leave the impression with his flock that their English Bibles are not completely trustworthy. While some translations are undoubtedly better than others are, no one sitting in the pew should ever think that the only person able to accurately understand the Bible is the pastor. This comes dangerously close to sacerdotalism. An important role of the pulpit ministry is to demonstrate the veracity of the vernacular Bible, not just the Greek New Testament. The people need to know that God speaks to them through their English Bibles. Chapter Three and Four are the "meat and potatoes" of the book. Dr. Black briefly sketches a road map for complete exegesis of a text. Much of the information is discussed more thoroughly in other works like Fee and Stewart's "How to Read the Bible for All its Worth." The greatest strength of the book is the application of the exegetical process to a passage of scripture in Chapter Four. The author takes a passage step-by-step through the process outlined in the previous chapter and reaches its conclusion with a homiletical outline. Dr. Black provides a succinct discussion of the exegetical task for the preaching minister. He provides no new information, but brings together in one place all the tools necessary for the task.
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- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- Homo Zapiens
- i never knew what time it was
- Illustrated Incumbered Estates
- In the Fold: A Novel
- Intertextualidad Generativa En: El Beso De LA Mujer Arana, De Manuel Puig (Coleccion Polymita) (Coleccion Polymita)
- Ira Foxglove
- JACK O'CONNOR THE LAST BOOK, CONFESSIONS OF A GUN EDITOR
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