In the end, the worst nihilistic impulses of humanity are on display at large scale back on Earth, and at tiny, claustrophobic scale among the remaining astronauts. A Christian fundamentalist was in the White House, science education was pushed out of schools, mysticism and superstition came to dominate everyday life, and by the time the astronauts completed their years-long voyage, only a few people cared enough to watch the landing on a grainy web stream. It wasn’t the voyage of the central characters (to Titan, using re-purposed Shuttle technology) that I found memorable, it was the way the world deteriorated after they left. There was a core theme about the forces of ignorance and militarism corrupting, and ultimately prevailing over, the “old school” people of NASA that still believe in science and human advancement that resonated with me. It’s not a very optimistic book, but it really stuck with me. This book is a personal favorite of mine in the “all things interplanetary and near-real tech” department.
Some of the weird alien sex seemed kind of shoehorned in there but somehow I got over that. Also its bizarre explanation of the origin of humanity. I loved it for its wildly fantastical yet legitimate sounding feats of engineering.
If you liked the Rama books GET THEM! They help flesh out the universe, and answer a lot of questions from the later Rama books that went unanswered. They are Bright Messengers and Double Full Moon Night. Gentry Lee (who co-wrote the last three books in the series) also wrote two outstanding books set in the Rama universe. I was quite ecstatic when I found out that Rama Revealed was set to be released later that year. I remember picking up Rendezvous With Rama from my school library in 7th grade (yeah I was that popular) and couldn’t put them down until I finished Garden of Rama. And be sure to comment below if anything is missing. Below, find two dozens of your best recommendations, from childhood favorites to Mars colonization to, yes, alien sex.
0 kommentar(er)
