A spaceship lands on Earth. Instead of dishing out a hackneyed “Take me to your leader,” however, the alien inside enters the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and requests to meet with a paleontologist. This peculiar scene marks the beginning of Robert J. Sawyer’s Calculating God, a novel that boldly discards science fiction’s stereotypical “alien narrative” by defying all preconceived notions. What if, asks Sawyer, there were different ways of understanding the universe? What if aliens landed on Earth with scientific proof of God’s existence? And—to complicate the scenario even further—what if God, too, were a scientist: the literal programmer of the universe?
At the center of Calculating God is paleontologist Tom Jericho, a dying protagonist who must grapple with the concept of creation during his own decline from lung cancer. Sawyer’s prose sings in its simplicity, its relatable musings and understated humor. The plot is fast-paced yet easy to follow, alternating between Tom’s meditations on death and his meetings with the alien, in which the pair trades scientific facts and debates God’s existence. By following this unlikely friendship between an atheistic human and a religious …show more content…
These political asides did not feed the plot in any way, but rather served to express the author’s personal viewpoints in a manner entirely unrelated to the novel’s overarching themes. Fortunately, however, they were just that—asides—and could easily be omitted in the editorial process.
A Hugo Award finalist, Calculating God is well deserving of its esteemed place in the market, and I recommend it without reservation. It is unlike any science fiction novel I have read before—with each page, breaking down the barriers that entrap today’s society in its search to understand the universe and our place in
At the center of Calculating God is paleontologist Tom Jericho, a dying protagonist who must grapple with the concept of creation during his own decline from lung cancer. Sawyer’s prose sings in its simplicity, its relatable musings and understated humor. The plot is fast-paced yet easy to follow, alternating between Tom’s meditations on death and his meetings with the alien, in which the pair trades scientific facts and debates God’s existence. By following this unlikely friendship between an atheistic human and a religious …show more content…
These political asides did not feed the plot in any way, but rather served to express the author’s personal viewpoints in a manner entirely unrelated to the novel’s overarching themes. Fortunately, however, they were just that—asides—and could easily be omitted in the editorial process.
A Hugo Award finalist, Calculating God is well deserving of its esteemed place in the market, and I recommend it without reservation. It is unlike any science fiction novel I have read before—with each page, breaking down the barriers that entrap today’s society in its search to understand the universe and our place in