WWW: Wonder - Robert J. Sawyer

The final part in Robert J. Sawyer's latest trilogy was released earlier this month. I liked the first novel, WWW: Wake, a lot so I've kept an eye out for the sequels. Unfortunately I thought the second part WWW: Watch, which I read earlier this year, was not nearly as strong as the first. I hate to leave series unfinished however, so let's have a go at the third book. WWW: Wonder is the sixth book by Sawyer I've read, and in all six he has the tendency to bludgeon the reader with his views on science, religion and society. Even for me and, by and large, I agree with his views, this does not make for good reading. The previous novel in this trilogy was particularly marred by this and as a result I enjoyed it a lot less than book one. WWW: Wonder does not escape it entirely but my fear that the WWW trilogy would end in a disappointment similar to the Neanderthal Parallax, didn't materialize either. It does have a few aspects I am not thrilled about though.

The secret of Webmind's existence is out, he has introduced himself to the general public and launched a PR-offensive by eliminating all spam e-mail from the Internet. Still, not everybody is convinced of Webmind's good intentions and the pressure to find a way to get rid of him persists. In the mean time, Caitlin Decter is enjoying her 15 minutes of fame. She has been taken from school after a run-in with the Canadian intelligence service and is now being home schooled. Although Webmind is now free to chat with just about everybody on the planet with an Internet connection, Caitlin, or prime as he sometimes thinks of her, remains special. Her input will be crucial in creating a place for himself in human society.

In WWW: Watch, Sawyer managed to create and atmosphere of subdued suspicion. The people at WATCH, who are paid to be suspicious, didn't quite manage to convince me that Webmind was a genuine threat. On the other hand, Webmind wasn't too successful in convincing me otherwise either. It was one of the stronger parts of the previous novel. Sawyer is much more explicit in that respect in WWW: Wonder. The character of Colonel Hume, someone who is determined to see Webmind cleansed of the Internet, uncovers some disturbing facts. Some of the best hackers known to the intelligence community, people whom Hume considers capable of writing the code necessary to achieve Webmind's eradication, are disappearing. Suspicious, but not really Webmind's style.

While Webmind sets off all Hume's alarm bells, his behaviour as witnessed by the rest of the planet becomes increasingly that of humanity's saviour. One of the works is finding a cure for cancer, or more accurately, combining all human knowledge (found on the Internet) on it and combining it in new ways that suggests a possible cure. He reunited people who have lost track of each other, prevents crime and uses his Big Brother capabilities for a lot of other good causes as well. Where in the previous novel Webmind makes you suspicious, these two extremes are so far apart that is seems almost impossible we're talking about the same entity here. I appreciate Sawyer's attempt to break away from the line of reasoning, and countless science fiction novels, that an artificial intelligence will automatically see humans as inferior and a threat (or worse, a pest to be exterminated). It is definitely a theme that sets this trilogy apart from other novels, but a slightly more subtle approach would have been nice.

One other fascinating idea that pops up in this novel is what happens if part of the Internet is disconnected from the rest, thus splitting Webmind in two parts. Somewhere along the line, I can remember if it was in the first or second book, perhaps both, Sawyer already mentions that a certain threshold, a minimum of complexity in the system needs to be reached in order for Webmind to remain conscious. Here, both parts are seriously diminished, causing the smaller of the two parts to behave erratic. Again, Sawyer chooses to go for an extreme here and portrays the smaller part of Webmind as some sort of evil twin. I thought this part of the story a bit underdeveloped. Why does one part of Webmind seek to reunite the two entities where the other doesn't even seem to be aware of the other or the loss of such a large part of itself? It could have made a very interesting story line, with possibilities for parallels with certain psychological conditions for instance. Its a pity the author doesn't dig a bit deeper here.

I don't consider WWW: Wonder a great novel but there is still a nice mix of ideas on consciousness, information technology and the sheer impact the Internet is having on today's society. Sawyer also includes a little less Canadian peculiarities into this book, which is a good thing. I am all for cultural diversity but if you do decide to include it, please make sure it is relevant to the story. Despite my quibbles with some aspects of the novel, it was an enjoyable read. Sawyer concludes the book with an epilogue reminiscent of the writing of Arthur C. Clarke, which I though was a nice touch. On the whole the trilogy left me with the feeling that it leaned a bit too heavily on interesting ideas at the expense of a good plot. I guess Sawyer's book is not unlike Webmind in that respect. Good at combining already existing information into new patterns, but a little light on artistic creativity.

Book Details
Title: WWW: Wonder
Author: Robert J. Sawyer
Publisher: Ace Books
Pages: 338
Year: 2011
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-441-01976-2
First published: 2011

WWW: Watch - Robert J. Sawyer

I recently realized that I still hadn't read this book despite rather liking the first part in the WWW trilogy. Since the final book is expected to be released in April, now seems to be a good time to get if off the to read stack. I thought the first book, WWW: Wake, also the first I have read by Sawyer, was a very interesting novel on many levels. The trilogy deals with consciousness in various forms and Saywer uses some unusual protagonists to tell this story. I have since read Saywer's Neanderthal Parallax, which after a strong start in Hominids, finishes a disappointment with de decidedly weaker sequels Humans and Hybrids. After having read WWW: Watch I'm left wondering if something similar is going to happen to this trilogy.

WWW: Watch picks up the story where we left it in the first book. Fifteen year old and, until recently, blind girl Caitlin Decter has made contact with the conciousness that has arisen on the world wide web. The question that needs answering is what to do next? Caitlin is worried that if the existence of Webmind, as the entity is called, becomes common knowledge, someone will try to take him out. Still, she has to trust someone. There are things Caitlin cannot do for Webmind and she can't be by his (Caitin insists Webmind is male) side twenty-four hours a day. There is such a thing as school after all. Reluctantly Caitlin informs her parents and so Webmind is introduced to the world.

Caitlin's fears are not entirely unjustified. Without her knowledge the Web Activity Threat Containment Headquarters (WATCH), a branch of the American intelligence agency NSA, has figured out what is going on. Monitoring the communication between Caitin, her parents and Webmind they, naturally, see a threat. What they need is a way to take out Webmind but if it has an off switch, the location of it is not apparent. There appears to be only one way to learn more about it, and that is asking the Decters. Unfortunately they reside in Canada and are not willing to cooperate.

In this novel Sawyer sets out developing some of the ideas he set loose on the reader in the first book. It is a book that deals with consequences for the most part. He describes Caitin's response to seeing the world for the first time, Webmind's reaction to being able to communicate with humans and the world's reaction on finding out Webmind exists, among other things. The way these developments are portrayed are not quite as convincing as in the first novel. Especially the character development of Caitlin leaves something to be desired.

In the first novel, I thought Sawyer managed to depict the world of a blind teenager quite convincingly (as far as someone with reasonably good eyesight can judge anyway). The challenges posed by a PC for instance, are quite detailed in that book. In this novel, I feel Sawyer slips. It's in the details, the way Caitlin responds to being able to see mostly, but also an unguarded comment on how the only chore in the Decter household Caitlin was able to perform is setting the table. That's on top of the problems Sawyer, a middle-aged male who to my knowledge does not have children, of getting into the mind of a teenage girl. It's a valiant attempt but it doesn't fully succeed. It gets even worse when Caitlin decides she is in love.

Webmind is handled a lot better. He, for the moment I'll agree with Caitlin, is an interesting character, a hugely intelligent entity coupled with an almost childlike naïveté about the world. Given the amount of science fiction that deals with artificial intelligence (can Webmind be considered AI without having been purposely created by humans?) turning against humanity, it is not surprising some of the characters, most notably Caitlin's mother, keep this possibility in the back of their mind when dealing with him. Sawyer never let's Webmind do anything remotely evil, although it does need some pointers on privacy, but the author clearly shows what damage Webmind is capable of, if he put his mind to it. There's a subtle sense of suspicion you can't quite shake even if you dismiss all the intelligence agency nonsense. I wonder if this aspect of the novel will be further developed in the last novel of the trilogy.

Another noticeable difference between the first and the second book is that Sawyer is more preachy in this novel. He's never made a secret of the fact that he prefers rationality over religion or that he quite likes Canada and would not like to see certain aspects of US society introduced there. There is nothing wrong with these opinions of course, in fact I agree with him for the most part, but the way they are woven into the story is annoying at some points. I know Thanksgiving is not on the same day in the US and Canada (and there is no such thing here in the Netherlands!), I know the outlook on the history of both nations is very different on either side of the border and still tinged by nationalism in some cases. There's quite a long list of little items such as these. They are only marginally relevant to the story, there is absolutely no need to bludgeon the reader with it. To top it all off, Sawyer includes a reference to FlashForward, the television series based on one of his stories, which is the most shameless bit of self-promotion I've come across in a novel.

These little annoyances add up an distract to what Saywer has to say on consciousness and the rise of Webmind. That is a shame because the author adds a whole lot to what was already discussed in WWW: Wake. Caitlin's father performs a Turing test on Webmind for instance, which I consider one of the more interesting scenes in the book. The results and implications are very interesting but it doesn't settle whether or not Webmind is conscious in the way humans are. It looks like Sawyer's got some more ground to cover on this subject. In this novel he's beginning to integrate the story of Webmind and that other non-human conciousness, the Bonobo/Chimpanzee hybrid Hobo. I look forward to seeing how this will develop in WWW: Wonder.

Overall I guess there were a few too many little annoyances in this book the make it as good a read as WWW: Wake was. Although that book does clearly contain some of the same bad habits as Sawyer displays here, it is a lot more muted in that novel. I will admit that my opinion of this novel may have been a bit coloured by reading the Neanderthal Paralax in the mean time though. Still, I do hope Sawyer can raise his game a bit for the final novel and prevent this trilogy from ending in disappointment. There is plenty to work with in this series, he should still be able to reach a satisfying conclusion.

Book Details
Title: WWW: Watch
Author: Robert J. Sawyer
Publisher: Ace Books
Pages: 352
Year: 2010
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-441-01818-5
First published: 2010

WWW: Wake - Robert J. Sawyer

After finishing Connie Willis' rather big book All Clear I decided to dive into Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. It will perhaps not come as a surprise to you but I won't be able to finish it in time for a midweek review. To keep you entertained until I finish it an older piece. I wrote this review in April 2009. I rewrote part of the introduction because the original doesn't make sense for this blog. Other than just some polishing. I hope to read the second part in the WWW trilogy sometime in December.

WWW: Wake is the first part in Sawyer’s new WWW trilogy. It was released in April 2009, followed by WWW: Watch two in 2010. The final part, WWW: Wonder, is expected in 2011. This book is my first exposure to Sawyer’s work. One of his novels, Hominids, has been gathering dust on my to read pile for quite a while now. It’s one of those books I intend to read whenever I can fit them into my review schedule. So far I haven’t found an opening but after reading this book I think I may have to make an opening for it soon, WWW: Wake was a very entertaining read.

Fifteen year old Caitlin has been blind from birth. She has a very rare medical condition that affects the link between her eyes and the part of her brain interpreting visual signals. So far no treatment has helped but now a Japanese doctor contacts her with a proposal for an experimental treatment. It involves an implant that will restore the connection between her brain and eyes digitally and hopefully allow her to see. The procedure itself seems to be a failure but soon Caitlin notices some interesting side effects. She can visualize the world wide web.

In the mean time some seemingly unrelated events take place elsewhere on the planet. In China an outbreak of the bird flu is handled by the Chinese government by shutting the country off from the outside word completely and taking some very rigorous containment measures. In a research facility in southern California a Bonobo/Chimpanzee hybrid Hobo, taught to communicate with it’s caretakers by using American Sign Language, shows it is capable of producing representational art. Soon a fierce battle over it’s custody erupts. All of these events are witnessed at some level, by a rising intelligence on the world wide web. It’s struggle to gain awareness is hard, without a physical environment it is a very abstract way of evolving. It is learning fast however and it seems to have found a teacher in Caitlin.

Sawyer has written a pretty fast paced novel with WWW: Wake. Deceptively so in fact. Although it does not slow the story down, he has packed the text with references to developments in information technology, mathematics, physics, linguistics and a number of other fields. He does so without the reader having to understand every detail of the science he describes, the general idea is usually enough, but all this scientific and technical detail does create a second layer into this novel. Parts of the novel read like Oliver Sacks writing science fiction. There is a wealth of references to all manner of technological and scientific ideas and a number of books (including some science fiction, Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey for one). I’m pretty sure that after this first reading in I missed quite a few too.

By using all of these different ideas Sawyer creates an interesting view on the main theme of the novel, the development of self-awareness. The debate on how intelligent Chimpanzees are for instance, and to which extend they are capable of using language is one that has been going on for quite a while. The researchers in this book are constantly battling disbelief and prejudice, but are also faced by the question of whether what they are seeing is truly intelligent behaviour or just copying an example. What is happening on the web is something of a different nature, a being without a physical component, or at least not aware of the fact is has one, struggling to master concepts that are more mathematical in nature. While Hobo already exhibits complex behaviour the web entity starts from scratch. The contrast between those two is one of the most interesting parts of the novel.

The main part of the novel is devoted to Caitlin. Sawyer obviously put in a lot of effort to try and understand how a person who has never been able to see, experiences the world. Not being blind, I have no idea how accurate it is but it certainly feels convincing. Sawyer doesn’t overdo it though, despite her handicap Caitlin is pretty much what you’d expect of a teenage girl. Apart from a perverse enjoyment of mathematics that is. Seriously, that can’t be healthy. There was one thing that did bother me however, Caitlin’s discovery of her father’s autism. Even without the visual clues that seems to be hard to miss if you live with someone on a day to day basis.

There are plenty of interesting ideas in this book but it is the first in a trilogy. I guess it is not surprising but while the end of the novel is satisfying in a way, it does leave an awful lot of open questions. The main story lines are beginning to converge but the relevance to the story of Caitlin of both Hobo’s story and that of the bird flue outbreak in China is far from clear. WWW: Wake is a very good read but with so many open ends it does feel like the introduction to a much larger story. I guess the wait for the second part in the trilogy, WWW: Watch, begins. Sawyer still has a long way to go on this project but he is certainly off to a good start.

Book Details
Title: WWW: Wake
Author: Robert J. Sawyer
Publisher: Ace Books
Pages: 356
Year: 2009
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-441-01679-2
First published: 2009

Hybrids - Robert J. Sawyer

I was hoping to finish Robert J. Sawyer's Neanderthal Parallax in 2009 and I have managed in the nick of time. This is going to be the last review of the year. Hybrids continues the story of Sawyer's parallel Neanderthal populated world he began to reveal in his award winning novel Hominids. I thought Hominids was an interesting novel but the sequel Humans turned out to be not nearly as good. I'm afraid Hybrids doesn't manage to get us back to the level of Hominids. It's a decent read but he takes some elements introduced earlier in the trilogy too far to be believable. Before reading any further, be advised I have some things to say about this book that could be considered spoilers.

The political disaster in the second book that almost lead to the permanent closure of the connection between our own earth and the Neanderthal world has been successfully averted. Some of the most highly regarded Neanderthal scientists, artists and philosophers have crossed over to freely share their knowledge with humans and see what they can learn in return. Almost everybody seem happy with the way events have turned out yet some people remain cautious. Neanderthal society is very different from ours, its technology could threaten a number of liberties western society takes for granted.

Mary in the mean time is trying to figure out how to deal with her relationship with Ponter. He may be a wonderful man, he does come with ties to a man-mate as well as two daughters. She may be liberal by the standard of the catholic faith, there are some elements in Neanderthal society she finds very hard to accept. And there is another problem. Mary has proven Homo Sapiens and Neanderthal are genetically different species. They will never be able to have children the natural way. There is a piece of Neanderthal technology that could help them but it has recently been banned by the Neanderthal government. Mary intends to find it anyway.

As with the previous two volumes, Sawyer stuffs a lot of science and speculation into this work. We find out more about Neanderthal society, which in some ways seems to perfect to be true. On the other hand this is the third book, Sawyer is already committed to most of those elements in the story at this point. There is a quite a bit on genetics and also a lot of speculation on the way the human brain works. One of the researchers Mary and Ponter meet studies the areas of the brain that are associated with religious experiences. She is even able to activate these parts of the brain in a controlled experiment. Ponter shows no reaction at all, Neanderthals seem to lack whatever it is that makes Homo Sapiens religious.

As with the previous volumes I thought a lot of the scientific ideas presented in the book very interesting. I am not thrilled by how he used two of these elements however. The first one is the piece of Neanderthal technology that allows one to sequence DNA and RNA one base pair at a time if you so desire. I was completely baffled by Mary's naiveté in this matter. How can the truly enormous potential for abuse be so completely ignored by a trained geneticist? Science is not the main thing on Mary's mind in this book but certainly all those years of training should kick in at some point. Handing over banned technology to someone who has spend his life trying to outsmart the Russians in war game scenarios is simply beyond stupid.

The second thing that really bothers me about the story is the storyline dealing with the scientific explanation of religious feelings. I am not religious myself, in fact, I think there is something to say for the Neanderthal view on such matters presented in this book but I think it could have been dealt with in a slightly more subtle fashion. The reduction of a religious experience to a series of electromagnetic pulses in the brain on an experimental scale will not sit well with some people, the massive scale on which this occurs at the end of the novel under the influence of fluctuations the earth's magnetic field, seems to be almost deliberately provocative. Now there is nothing wrong with making people think about these things, it is a science fiction novel after all, but I fail to see why the story needs this epilogue. Mary is rapidly loosing faith in the Catholic church this book, the epilogue seems designed to drive the point home. She was right to doubt.

Despite its flaws I did enjoy reading the Neanderthal Parallax and its final volume Hybrids at some level but I very much doubt they represent Sawyer's best work. Hybrids is a fast paced novel rich in ideas and scientific concepts but with a rather unlikely plot. I guess it shows that it takes more than a good premise and fascinating ideas to write a really good science fiction novel. If you are like me, unable to put down a trilogy once you started, then this book is very readable but I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone less stubborn.

Book Details
Title: Hybrids
Author: Robert J. Sawyer
Publisher: Tor
Pages: 396
Year: 2004
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-7653-4675-9
First published: 2003

Humans - Robert J. Sawyer

Humans is the sequel to Hominids, Robert J. Sawyer's Hugo award-winning opening book of the Neantherthal Parallax. Hominids raised a lot of interest because of the concept of a parallel earth where not our ancestors, but the Neanderthals survived to build an advanced society. It was a very strong concept indeed, but I thought the book leaned too much on it to be really exceptional. In Humans Sawyer continues the story of these parallel earths. We get a more in depth view of the Neanderthal world as well as a lot more science and speculations on Neanderthals, the rise of consciousness and our own ancestry.

Adikor's rescue attempt at the end of Hominids enables Ponter Boddit to return to his own universe. The brief connection with his world is closed. For Mary Vaughan it is time to get back to life as usual and return to her job in Toronto. A new college year is about to begin after all. Shortly after her return she is approached with a job offer from an American think tank that is simply too good to refuse. It seems Ponter's visit has gotten her more than 15 minutes of fame and an abruptly terminated relationship after all.

Ponter in the mean time, is arguing for re-establishing the connection to Mary's world. He thinks there is simply to much to gain from contact to ignore the possibility but he soon finds out the conservative Neanderthal elders hard to convince. They see some serious security concerns and there is the question of Ponter's motives. Does he really think the possibilities outweigh the risk or does he just want to see Mary again? After some discussion the elders reluctantly agree to renewed contact and a formal ambassador is appointed to accompany Ponter on his next trip. A trip that will prove eventful for all those involved.

I thought Hominids has a few problems but not enough to distract from the reading experience. Unfortunately Humans amplifies these problems. I love the speculative part of this book but I nonetheless have a major problem with one key plot element. Sawyer speculates that Neanderthals have a much better sense of smell than we do. As I understand it there is some evidence to support that. Ponter seems to possess the sense of smell of a top narcotics dog however, and that raises some questions. Does such a huge increase in a sense of smell not necessitate a larger area of the brain devoted to it? Wouldn't that go at the expense of something else? This increased sense of smell is supposed to be a side effect of the large nasal capacity of a Neanderthal, developed to warm up cold ice age air before it reached to lungs. Would a side effect really increase the sense of smell to such extremes without a clear ecological benefit? I'll admit to not having done any research on it but somehow that doesn't seem likely.

Sex is another issue with this book. There is of course no escaping the question whether or not Neanderthals left their DNA in the current population. This question seems to fascinate both anthropologists and the general public. Based on Ponter's DNA Mary discovers early in the book Neanderthals are a separate species, which puts her relationship with Ponter in a different light for her. It does little to discourage her however, she continues to regard Neanderthals as human. What felt wrong about the relationship between Ponter and Mary is how Ponter is pictured as an ideal man. Both manly and then some but on the other side sensitive and caring. Ponter's society has put sever restraints on violence, it is considered too dangerous given their great physical strength, but does that really suppress aggression or competitiveness of any kind that much? In combination with Mary coming to terms with being raped early in the first book it seems a bit too much.

What I did like about the book was the snippets of Ponter's talks with his personality sculptor (shrink) in which Ponter confesses a crime that is revealed in the final stages of the book. Along the way they also discuss the differences in world view between the humans and Neanderthals. Despite his better judgement Ponter is not entirely convinced the belief in an afterlife and a God that judges all our actions are a fallacy. Personally I lean more towards the Neanderthal view of things but the way Ponter discusses his doubts and how it motivates his actions is very well done.

Humans is quite a fast read and one you'll probably enjoy if you liked Hominids. That being said, it is far from flawless and with the new and exciting concept of modern Neanderthals established in the first book, it does not manage to make up for these flaws as well as Hominids. I liked the scientific speculations Sawyer put in, I liked part of Ponter's character development but there are a number of elements dealing with sexuality and religion that strike me as extremely unlikely. All in all not a brilliant book but good enough to stay on board for Hybrids, the final volume of this series.

Book Details
Title: Humans
Author: Robert J. Sawyer
Publisher: Tor
Pages: 317
Year: 2003
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-7653-4675-9
First published: 2003

Hominids - Robert J. Sawyer

Hominids, the first book in the Neanderthal Parallax and a novel that won Sawyer a Hugo award, is probably one of his best known works. I had this one lying on the to read stack for more than half a year now and ended up reading a more recent book, WWW: Wake, first. I very much liked WWW: Wake so my expectations were rather high. I guess this is one of those love it or hate it books. It has the potential to piss off just about every person on the planet of for one reason or another. If you manage to keep your anger in check however, there is a very interesting novel underneath. It does lean a bit too much on ideas though.

In Hominids an experiment with quantum computing by two Neanderthal scientists goes awry. One of them, a man named Ponter Boddit, is transported to a parallel dimension and ends up in our universe. He needs to rescued from the Sudburry neutrino observatory by a number of perplexed scientist. He did after all, emerge in a closed room. Geneticist Mary Vaughan is soon called in to determine if Boddit, is indeed what he appears to be, a living breathing Neanderthal man. In the mean time Ponter's partner, Adikor Huld, has his own problems. He faces charges for the murder of Ponter and this is preventing him from figuring out where his partner disappeared to.

This novel is driven by ideas and I must say the concept of a man from an advanced Neanderthal society appearing in our own appealed to me. Sawyer has managed to create a very interesting Neanderthal point of view in the novel. Their society is about as different from ours as you can imagine. This is also the source of lot of criticism on the book. Especially the unusual way in which male/female relationships are organized and the fact that all Neanderthals are in effect bisexual will strike many readers as unrealistic. On top of that Neanderthal society has implemented a system of anti-crime personal surveillances than would make Big Brother jealous. All of the characters seem to be very convinced this system is uses to serve justice, with the data only being made available in case of a suspected crime, but it certainly gave me the creeps. As it turns out, it is not so infallible as many Neanderthal seem to think.

On top of this unusual society Ponter, once in our universe, challenges just about anything we take as a given. From the Big Bang theory to religion, from our judicial system to the minimum age to vote, from population control to our sexual morale, there doesn't seem to be much we do agree on. These challenges are what makes the concept of this book absolutely brilliant. Ponter forces you to rethink everything. If you are overly attached to a particular item he challenges that may cause some readers to dislike the book. Personally I think the necessity to rethink certain ideas is one of the things that make science fiction interesting. This novel contains more challenges than your average science fiction novel so don't say I didn't warn you.

Sawyer has, as usual, done his homework on Neanderthals. There is a lot of speculations about this species still. Scientists don't agree on whether it is a sub-species of Homo Sapiens or a species in it's own right, the don't agree on what caused their extinction, whether they could speak and had language, if they had a religion or even how intelligent they are. There's a lot of research being done so some of the things Sawyer refers to are no doubt out of date already. He's also had to make some choices about what theories to use and which he considers the most likely. The science dealing with our ancestors (or cousins, as seems to be more likely in the case of the Neanderthal) is full of often contradicting theories. On top of that there is also the image of the dumb brute of a Neanderthal dragging his woman (whom he fist clubbed in some sort of mating ritual) in a cave by the hair. Science may not agree on a lot when it comes to Neanderthals but this idea surely is outdated. Sawyer manages to navigate this minefield of perhaps, maybe and inconclusive evidence skilfully to create a scenario that is not unlikely given the knowledge available at the time of the writing. His thorough research notwithstanding, he'd probably be the first to tell you that in a decade the picture might look different altogether.

If you consider science fiction the literature of ideas, you can't get much better than this book. Hominids is so full of ideas and interesting theories than one reading is probably not enough to catch them all. I think it did go at the expense of the story itself though. As you can see I used one paragraph for the synopsis where I usually need two or even three. I felt I couldn't write more without giving the entire plot away. The story is a bit thin. I hope Sawyer manages to create a bit more depth in the following two books in this trilogy. Saywer injected some very interesting ideas but the way his characters deal with sexuality and the choices them make in that respect made me cringe at some points. Hominids is a very good read but from a literary point of few it leaves a few things to be desired. That surprised me a little given the fact that the book won one of the biggest awards in the genre. Still, it is well worth reading. I am most certainly going to dig up the next two book on my next visit to the (online) book store.

Book Details
Title: Hominids
Author: Robert J. Sawyer
Publisher: Tor
Pages: 444
Year: 2003
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-7653-4500-4
First published: 2002