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Manifold #1
Time
The year is 2010. More than a century of ecological damage, industrial and technological expansion, and unchecked population growth has left the Earth on the brink of devastation. As the world’s governments turn inward, one man dares to envision a bolder, brighter future. That man, Reid Malenfant, has a very different solution to the problems plaguing the planet: the exploration and colonization of space. Now Malenfant gambles the very existence of time on a single desperate throw of the dice. Battling national sabotage and international outcry, as apocalyptic riots sweep the globe, he builds a spacecraft and launches it into deep space. The odds are a trillion to one against him. Or are they?
480 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1999
About the author
Stephen Baxter
389 books2,451 followersStephen Baxter is a trained engineer with degrees from Cambridge (mathematics) and Southampton Universities (doctorate in aeroengineering research). Baxter is the winner of the British Science Fiction Award and the Locus Award, as well as being a nominee for an Arthur C. Clarke Award, most recently for Manifold: Time. His novel Voyage won the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History Novel of the Year; he also won the John W. Campbell Award and the Philip K. Dick Award for his novel The Time Ships. He is currently working on his next novel, a collaboration with Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Mr. Baxter lives in Prestwood, England.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 414 reviews
January 24, 2011
Squuuuiiiidddsss innnnnn sppppaaacceeeee….
I enjoyed attending Stephen Baxter's class…wait, this was a novel?? Manifold: Time is the epitome of a Baxter three-star effort: some mind-bending ideas about the cosmos, a plot, some classroom lessons, some bad exposition of facts and some cardboard characters. That being said, I have enjoyed three of the four Baxter novels I've read to date, including this one.
In true Baxter style, Manifold is a canvas for awesome cosmological theories and implications. I re-read passages to understand the scope. It was very cool in that respect. However, the characters are forgettable and are basically mouthpieces for the physics lessons. Also, and unfortunately, most of Baxter's books are lessons in how not to handle exposition in a story. Good exposition gives us information in the flow of the story. We don't even know it's being done. We're just being introduced to the author's world and ideas…naturally. Baxter kind of gives up and just uses a smart character to explain things to a less smart character, who is a proxy for the likely even less smart reader.
Manifold: Time covers the Doomsday argument, Fermi paradox, genetic engineering, and humanity's extinction. I occasionally read non-fiction that discusses these types of ideas, and I'm sure I could perhaps find better sources to base myself on, but I have a day job and I like fiction. So, as a rule, and to a limited extent, I forgive Mr. Baxter's failure to use good exposition and characterization. Whatever, it's fun. The fact that a ragtag plot holds some of the information together is fine. Just be prepared to read with your eyes constantly rolling due to how you're being fed the information.
In this first book in the Manifold series, entrepreneur Reid Malenfant has an idea to exploit an asteroid for space travel when he's convinced by a weirdo to communicate with future humans to figure out how to outsmart humanity's doomed destiny. There's Big Dumb Objects, statistics, time travel, black hole energy harvesting, and squids. In space.
A particular beef: this book introduced me to the concept of the "Carter catastrophe". In looking it up during and after the book, I'm pretty sure that Baxter could have described it a little better. When I read the probabilistic doomsday prediction in Manifold, it felt very flawed to me, and I couldn't let that go. I'm no mathlete but it was kind of the lynchpin to the whole story and I wasn't buying it. I also did not buy how quickly Malenfant accepts the theory wholesale.
I love being exposed to these kinds of ideas, so I will continue to read Baxter. In particular, I am fascinated by the Fermi paradox (the apparent contradiction between high estimates of the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of evidence for, or contact with, such civilizations) and its solutions. I understand this is dealt with more in the sequel, Manifold: Space. I'll read that…and likely give it three stars and copy, paste, and only mildly edit this current review.
I enjoyed attending Stephen Baxter's class…wait, this was a novel?? Manifold: Time is the epitome of a Baxter three-star effort: some mind-bending ideas about the cosmos, a plot, some classroom lessons, some bad exposition of facts and some cardboard characters. That being said, I have enjoyed three of the four Baxter novels I've read to date, including this one.
In true Baxter style, Manifold is a canvas for awesome cosmological theories and implications. I re-read passages to understand the scope. It was very cool in that respect. However, the characters are forgettable and are basically mouthpieces for the physics lessons. Also, and unfortunately, most of Baxter's books are lessons in how not to handle exposition in a story. Good exposition gives us information in the flow of the story. We don't even know it's being done. We're just being introduced to the author's world and ideas…naturally. Baxter kind of gives up and just uses a smart character to explain things to a less smart character, who is a proxy for the likely even less smart reader.
Manifold: Time covers the Doomsday argument, Fermi paradox, genetic engineering, and humanity's extinction. I occasionally read non-fiction that discusses these types of ideas, and I'm sure I could perhaps find better sources to base myself on, but I have a day job and I like fiction. So, as a rule, and to a limited extent, I forgive Mr. Baxter's failure to use good exposition and characterization. Whatever, it's fun. The fact that a ragtag plot holds some of the information together is fine. Just be prepared to read with your eyes constantly rolling due to how you're being fed the information.
In this first book in the Manifold series, entrepreneur Reid Malenfant has an idea to exploit an asteroid for space travel when he's convinced by a weirdo to communicate with future humans to figure out how to outsmart humanity's doomed destiny. There's Big Dumb Objects, statistics, time travel, black hole energy harvesting, and squids. In space.
A particular beef: this book introduced me to the concept of the "Carter catastrophe". In looking it up during and after the book, I'm pretty sure that Baxter could have described it a little better. When I read the probabilistic doomsday prediction in Manifold, it felt very flawed to me, and I couldn't let that go. I'm no mathlete but it was kind of the lynchpin to the whole story and I wasn't buying it. I also did not buy how quickly Malenfant accepts the theory wholesale.
I love being exposed to these kinds of ideas, so I will continue to read Baxter. In particular, I am fascinated by the Fermi paradox (the apparent contradiction between high estimates of the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of evidence for, or contact with, such civilizations) and its solutions. I understand this is dealt with more in the sequel, Manifold: Space. I'll read that…and likely give it three stars and copy, paste, and only mildly edit this current review.
September 15, 2024
"Време" е сложна книга, пълна с идеи, физика и астрономия. Определено не е масово четиво и мисля, че даже не е и писано с такава насоченост.
Краят ѝ ме поизмъчи, но не съжалявам, че я дочетох. Идеите на Бакстър са грандиозни и добре развити, макар и на моменти твърде многословни, клонящи към скучни. :)
Има доста неща в книгата, над които си струва човек да се замисли. Много допълнителна информация прочетох в интернет и пак не съм сигурен, че вникнах цялостно в идеите на автора. Все пак, общата концепция ми се поизбистри достатъчно, за да ми хареса краят на човешкото космическо приключение.
Интересно ще ми е да разбера, участват ли сепиите и Маленфант в следващите части от серията. Сините деца ми напомниха за децата от "Краят на детството" на Кларк, също превъзходна книга.
Ще си почина няколко дена и продължавам със следващата част - "Пространство".
Краят ѝ ме поизмъчи, но не съжалявам, че я дочетох. Идеите на Бакстър са грандиозни и добре развити, макар и на моменти твърде многословни, клонящи към скучни. :)
Има доста неща в книгата, над които си струва човек да се замисли. Много допълнителна информация прочетох в интернет и пак не съм сигурен, че вникнах цялостно в идеите на автора. Все пак, общата концепция ми се поизбистри достатъчно, за да ми хареса краят на човешкото космическо приключение.
Интересно ще ми е да разбера, участват ли сепиите и Маленфант в следващите части от серията. Сините деца ми напомниха за децата от "Краят на детството" на Кларк, също превъзходна книга.
Ще си почина няколко дена и продължавам със следващата част - "Пространство".
January 18, 2009
Baxter's work, if I'm remembering the right author, is generally difficult stuff. This one, though, really aggravated me, because the whole thing (including all the characters' motivations) revolves around a flawed concept of how statistics and probability work. In brief, this is the notion of a "probabilistic doomsday," which suggests that because the probability of any given human being alive now is very small if the future holds an indefinitely expanding or even stabilizing population of humans, then the real future must involve a population crash of Malthusian proportions. Circular argument much? Further, in the real science of probability and statistics, nobody who wants to be regarded as sane would suggest that the overall shape of a probability curve can be extrapolated from any one or three of its constituent observations. AND finally, the curve representing total human population over time is not a probability curve at all - it's a statement of fact and/or extrapolation, not a sample taken from an actual or postulated total population! But if none of this bothers you, then you might enjoy this tale of a "successful" effort to save the human race from eventual extinction at the heat death of the universe. (No, really. That's the part that seems to make more sense than this other thing, if you're really inclined to obsess over something that far off.) And it's not, by the by, a fun book for a theist either.
November 15, 2021
I'm not sure why I put off this book for so long. I didn't expect to get as involved as I did and was pretty startled by how emotionally engaged I was. My own prejudice, I suppose, as I don't generally enjoy the more technically based stories. Baxter included enough human interaction (and squid interaction) to keep me happy.
It helped that one of the major point of view characters is Emma Stoney, the ex-wife of one Reid Malenfant, billionaire with grandiose plans. Emma still retains a significant position in his business empire and seems to be an important presence at any of his dramatic events. In fact, nothing of any import happens without her and even she is not sure why she sticks around.
There are details that remind me of earlier science fiction. H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, with its intelligent cephalopod invaders from Mars. On page 254, there was a little shout out to Kurt Vonnegut: So it goes. The mysterious object on the near Earth asteroid reminded me of the black monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. The Blue children smacked of another Clarke novel, Childhood's End. Maybe some echoes of David Brin's Uplift series regarding the engineering of the intelligent squid pilot, Sheena, and her dreams of the shoal (much like the Whale Dream that Brin's dolphin space explorers experience).
This novel is copyrighted in 2000, but some of the plot details are pulled from the 2021 news headlines: billionaires starting space companies, religious nuttiness about science, protesting, etc. I read the first few pages and thought about Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson and their space travel plans, separate from NASA. Today’s entrepreneurs just seem to be fixated on Mars rather than the asteroids.
I know the ending is meant to be hopeful, but I found it rather depressing. I can't imagine what is left to be discussed, but there are two more books. Curiosity will carry me along to the next one for sure.
Book number 427 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.
It helped that one of the major point of view characters is Emma Stoney, the ex-wife of one Reid Malenfant, billionaire with grandiose plans. Emma still retains a significant position in his business empire and seems to be an important presence at any of his dramatic events. In fact, nothing of any import happens without her and even she is not sure why she sticks around.
There are details that remind me of earlier science fiction. H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, with its intelligent cephalopod invaders from Mars. On page 254, there was a little shout out to Kurt Vonnegut: So it goes. The mysterious object on the near Earth asteroid reminded me of the black monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. The Blue children smacked of another Clarke novel, Childhood's End. Maybe some echoes of David Brin's Uplift series regarding the engineering of the intelligent squid pilot, Sheena, and her dreams of the shoal (much like the Whale Dream that Brin's dolphin space explorers experience).
This novel is copyrighted in 2000, but some of the plot details are pulled from the 2021 news headlines: billionaires starting space companies, religious nuttiness about science, protesting, etc. I read the first few pages and thought about Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson and their space travel plans, separate from NASA. Today’s entrepreneurs just seem to be fixated on Mars rather than the asteroids.
I know the ending is meant to be hopeful, but I found it rather depressing. I can't imagine what is left to be discussed, but there are two more books. Curiosity will carry me along to the next one for sure.
Book number 427 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.
June 24, 2010
3.0 to 3.5 stars. It has been a while since I read this and it is on my list to re-read in the near future. I do remember being blown away by the science of the story but feeling that the plot was a little slow at parts.
Nominee: Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
Nominee: Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
Nominee: Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
Nominee: Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
August 27, 2008
I'm going to preemptively review this book with five stars.
Allow me to explain why--
One of the POV characters is a genetically enhanced squid (given human level intelligence) who is sent on an exploratory mission to an asteroid. The squid, without the human trainer's knowledge, is pregnant when she leaves on the trip.
After a while, space squids begin expanding their habitat, developing culture, expanding through the solar system.
You can see why I like this book. SQUID IN SPACE!
It also features the first squid sex scene I've ever read, so it deserves five stars simply for that.
I've enjoyed every other part of the book. There's time travel to the distant, distant future (like, trillions of years in the future). There's super intelligent children being rounded up in concentration camps. Did I mention space squids?
There's a lot of interesting stuff about the possibilities of private companies exploring/exploiting extraterrestrial bodies.
All in all, awesome. I will hopefully finish it tonight, but I don't feel the need to wait in order to accurately review this book. If the ending somehow ruins it, I'll come back and say so. Otherwise, I recommend it highly.
Edit: The ending definitely did not ruin this book. So I continue to highly recommend that. Highly entertaining, and thought provoking.
Allow me to explain why--
One of the POV characters is a genetically enhanced squid (given human level intelligence) who is sent on an exploratory mission to an asteroid. The squid, without the human trainer's knowledge, is pregnant when she leaves on the trip.
After a while, space squids begin expanding their habitat, developing culture, expanding through the solar system.
You can see why I like this book. SQUID IN SPACE!
It also features the first squid sex scene I've ever read, so it deserves five stars simply for that.
I've enjoyed every other part of the book. There's time travel to the distant, distant future (like, trillions of years in the future). There's super intelligent children being rounded up in concentration camps. Did I mention space squids?
There's a lot of interesting stuff about the possibilities of private companies exploring/exploiting extraterrestrial bodies.
All in all, awesome. I will hopefully finish it tonight, but I don't feel the need to wait in order to accurately review this book. If the ending somehow ruins it, I'll come back and say so. Otherwise, I recommend it highly.
Edit: The ending definitely did not ruin this book. So I continue to highly recommend that. Highly entertaining, and thought provoking.
November 13, 2009
I don't want to take the time to write out a full review for this book, so here's just a few un-organized thoughts:
Sometimes it feels like the story is just a framework for Baxter to explain cosmological theories and principles of physics. This leads to very boring stretches in the book, like when the main characters are traveling through hundreds of virtually indistinguishable universes that differ only in their laws and durations (which the characters are somehow able to intuit based on being in the universe for a few minutes).
Perhaps as a result of point one, Baxter sometimes has characters thinking thoughts that don't seem natural for their background/characterization, for example, the Senator that sits and contemplates aspects of quantum theory.
The portrayal of humanity at large was a bit of a caricature. Sure, some of the events in the book would cause some wide-scale panic, but it seems like he goes a bit overboard here. By the end of the book you're thinking, "Gosh, if we were really like that than we probably should all be destroyed."
Honestly, I stuck to it, but I seriously contemplated just moving on to something else several times. The book seems to go on and on, and I was genuinely bored by about 75-80% of this book. I kept thinking "Life's too short to read a boring book for entertainment." I stuck it out, thought, and gave it a chance. The end of the book was actually fairly interesting and relatively engaging. If the book were about half its length, I think all of the story could have been told, and all of the points (philosophical, theoretical and political) could have been made, and the whole story would have been much more engaging.
Sometimes it feels like the story is just a framework for Baxter to explain cosmological theories and principles of physics. This leads to very boring stretches in the book, like when the main characters are traveling through hundreds of virtually indistinguishable universes that differ only in their laws and durations (which the characters are somehow able to intuit based on being in the universe for a few minutes).
Perhaps as a result of point one, Baxter sometimes has characters thinking thoughts that don't seem natural for their background/characterization, for example, the Senator that sits and contemplates aspects of quantum theory.
The portrayal of humanity at large was a bit of a caricature. Sure, some of the events in the book would cause some wide-scale panic, but it seems like he goes a bit overboard here. By the end of the book you're thinking, "Gosh, if we were really like that than we probably should all be destroyed."
Honestly, I stuck to it, but I seriously contemplated just moving on to something else several times. The book seems to go on and on, and I was genuinely bored by about 75-80% of this book. I kept thinking "Life's too short to read a boring book for entertainment." I stuck it out, thought, and gave it a chance. The end of the book was actually fairly interesting and relatively engaging. If the book were about half its length, I think all of the story could have been told, and all of the points (philosophical, theoretical and political) could have been made, and the whole story would have been much more engaging.
November 23, 2012
Take one part "The Midwich Cuckoos" and one part "2001: A Space Odyssey", chop roughly.
Add One Years Subscription of "New Scientist" - first setting aside feature articles on "The History of the Cosmos" (to be used as garnish later).
Blend mix till lumpy mess and strain out any hints of believable character.
Pour slop into a Robert Heinlein rusty mould (shaped like pubescent male wish fulfillment - you know what that looks like - hint - BIG Rockets). Sprinkle with stale dust of Ayn Rand's Far right Technocracy and add a tiny drop of Essence of God - just a whiff makes all the difference. Half bake.
Serve with lots of calamari rings mmmmmm - best part of the dish.
Add One Years Subscription of "New Scientist" - first setting aside feature articles on "The History of the Cosmos" (to be used as garnish later).
Blend mix till lumpy mess and strain out any hints of believable character.
Pour slop into a Robert Heinlein rusty mould (shaped like pubescent male wish fulfillment - you know what that looks like - hint - BIG Rockets). Sprinkle with stale dust of Ayn Rand's Far right Technocracy and add a tiny drop of Essence of God - just a whiff makes all the difference. Half bake.
Serve with lots of calamari rings mmmmmm - best part of the dish.
June 17, 2020
This is the first in the Manifold series -
1) Manifold: Time
2) Manifold: Space
3) Manifold: Origin
4) Phase Space (collection)
While I appreciate the understanding of modern physics that Stephen Baxter demonstrates in this book, what with the multiple universe interpretation of quantum theory, wavefunction collapse, and spacetime manifolds, I did find a few bones to pick with the science. Especially, the prediction of the end of humanity two centuries hence based on the unlikelyhood of living too early in the history of the universe. While it is an interesting point epistemologically, it just didn't convince me that the date of the end of humanity can be set.
On the other hand, I was fascinated by the experiences and travels of Reid Malenfant through near-future Earth and Cruithne and through the many universes. And the enhanced Cephalapods are a concept worth reading about unto themselves. So overall, I am giving this book a good rating for the breadth of ideas described - and trying hard to imagine how a sequel is even possible. 3.5 stars
1) Manifold: Time
2) Manifold: Space
3) Manifold: Origin
4) Phase Space (collection)
While I appreciate the understanding of modern physics that Stephen Baxter demonstrates in this book, what with the multiple universe interpretation of quantum theory, wavefunction collapse, and spacetime manifolds, I did find a few bones to pick with the science. Especially, the prediction of the end of humanity two centuries hence based on the unlikelyhood of living too early in the history of the universe. While it is an interesting point epistemologically, it just didn't convince me that the date of the end of humanity can be set.
On the other hand, I was fascinated by the experiences and travels of Reid Malenfant through near-future Earth and Cruithne and through the many universes. And the enhanced Cephalapods are a concept worth reading about unto themselves. So overall, I am giving this book a good rating for the breadth of ideas described - and trying hard to imagine how a sequel is even possible. 3.5 stars
December 29, 2012
Manifold: Time is one of those books that blows you away, but subtly at first--you don't realize how epic it is until you're halfway through, and you look back and can only think: "...wow."
However, it wasn't immediately love at first sight with this book, for me. I spent the first forty-odd pages getting hung up on the rapid POV shifts (sometimes several on one page), choppy two-paragraph scenes of action followed by a similarly-choppy two more paragraphs of action. The story starts out jumping between characters so much that it is difficult to build a sense of rapport with them...at first. The writing itself, the craft of the prose, is a bit wanting at times. It starts out being more "showing" than "telling"...blunt, to the point.
And then, something amazing happens.
I know that my misgivings above are arguably the tools of the trade of Hard SF--that's just how most of it is written. It's not about the skill of the prose itself or wordsmithing and all that, as much as it's about the science and the technology. And this book is heavy on the science...there is a lot of physics bring thrown around, though most of it is dumbed down for those of us who are laypersons. The fact that I didn't get half of the physics-related discussions that took place in this story was ameliorated by the fact that most of the characters in the story didn't understand it, either.
Another observation--one that I find a particular interest in, though it is very tangential and not directly related to the story itself, as much as the crafting of the story--is that the author, Stephen Baxter, is British, but the story focuses mainly on American characters and most of the scenes on Earth take place in the US. And a lot of what he writes, hits the mark, but as with any novel that is written in British English and then "translated" into American English, there are some inconsistencies which stand out like a sore thumb--some being words or phrases that were overlooked when the text was being "Americanized"...references to the windscreen of the car instead of the windshield, or forgetting to change 'colour' to 'color'...those are more editing issues and not a commentary on the story itself. But beyond that, it made me realize just how much word choice and sentence structure can vary between British and American English. Being well-acquainted with both, although most of the characters in the story were American, in my head they had British accents, because the dialogue itself was very British and not very American. Not a complaint nor a critique...I just found that interesting.
It is also interesting to look at the "future" of the story--well, let's make that the near future--which is actually our present. The book was written in 2000 but much of it was set in the 2011-12 timeframe, and it is always neat to see which things the author manages to predict correctly and which s/he doesn't. Mobile computing devices are present, but in the form of "softscreens"...which bring to mind some kind of flexible gel/fabric square instead of a smartphone. Cars that drive themselves with assistance of GPS...technically those are available now, but not to the general public. Things like that.
Another thing that really surprised me--but which also really made Stephen Baxter earn my respect--was his fairness when it came to gender. I was floored, but happy, of his use of the impersonal third person pronoun as "she" instead of "he." (Such as, "Each child would have her own choice of her course of study.) I haven't seen that much, especially from a male writer in a male-dominated genre such as hard SF. I give this book a definite thumbs-up for that. And the female characters themselves are very strong and well-written...although Manifold: Time brings to mind the great SF classics that came before it, this story has neither damsels in distress nor mothers waiting at home for the hero to return; instead it has tough women who get the job done, even when the job isn't pretty. That's pretty awesome, in my mind.
Now. As for the story itself. About halfway through, I suddenly put the book down abruptly because it had really really gotten good, on several levels, in a way that snuck up on me unawares. The parallels drawn between some of the various characters in the book and the situations they're going through, and more importantly the questions that it makes not only the characters ask themselves, but also make us ask ourselves as well--moral, soul-searching questions, which aren't as black-and-white as they first appear--leave no doubt in my mind that this book is good. Darn good.
Why the four starts instead of five, then? I struggled with that. The answer is somewhat spoilerish in nature, though, so I'll censor it. Overall, this is a very strong, very powerful book, and one I would highly recommend. Good books make you think...and WOW, does this book ever make you think.
However, it wasn't immediately love at first sight with this book, for me. I spent the first forty-odd pages getting hung up on the rapid POV shifts (sometimes several on one page), choppy two-paragraph scenes of action followed by a similarly-choppy two more paragraphs of action. The story starts out jumping between characters so much that it is difficult to build a sense of rapport with them...at first. The writing itself, the craft of the prose, is a bit wanting at times. It starts out being more "showing" than "telling"...blunt, to the point.
And then, something amazing happens.
I know that my misgivings above are arguably the tools of the trade of Hard SF--that's just how most of it is written. It's not about the skill of the prose itself or wordsmithing and all that, as much as it's about the science and the technology. And this book is heavy on the science...there is a lot of physics bring thrown around, though most of it is dumbed down for those of us who are laypersons. The fact that I didn't get half of the physics-related discussions that took place in this story was ameliorated by the fact that most of the characters in the story didn't understand it, either.
Another observation--one that I find a particular interest in, though it is very tangential and not directly related to the story itself, as much as the crafting of the story--is that the author, Stephen Baxter, is British, but the story focuses mainly on American characters and most of the scenes on Earth take place in the US. And a lot of what he writes, hits the mark, but as with any novel that is written in British English and then "translated" into American English, there are some inconsistencies which stand out like a sore thumb--some being words or phrases that were overlooked when the text was being "Americanized"...references to the windscreen of the car instead of the windshield, or forgetting to change 'colour' to 'color'...those are more editing issues and not a commentary on the story itself. But beyond that, it made me realize just how much word choice and sentence structure can vary between British and American English. Being well-acquainted with both, although most of the characters in the story were American, in my head they had British accents, because the dialogue itself was very British and not very American. Not a complaint nor a critique...I just found that interesting.
It is also interesting to look at the "future" of the story--well, let's make that the near future--which is actually our present. The book was written in 2000 but much of it was set in the 2011-12 timeframe, and it is always neat to see which things the author manages to predict correctly and which s/he doesn't. Mobile computing devices are present, but in the form of "softscreens"...which bring to mind some kind of flexible gel/fabric square instead of a smartphone. Cars that drive themselves with assistance of GPS...technically those are available now, but not to the general public. Things like that.
Another thing that really surprised me--but which also really made Stephen Baxter earn my respect--was his fairness when it came to gender. I was floored, but happy, of his use of the impersonal third person pronoun as "she" instead of "he." (Such as, "Each child would have her own choice of her course of study.) I haven't seen that much, especially from a male writer in a male-dominated genre such as hard SF. I give this book a definite thumbs-up for that. And the female characters themselves are very strong and well-written...although Manifold: Time brings to mind the great SF classics that came before it, this story has neither damsels in distress nor mothers waiting at home for the hero to return; instead it has tough women who get the job done, even when the job isn't pretty. That's pretty awesome, in my mind.
Now. As for the story itself. About halfway through, I suddenly put the book down abruptly because it had really really gotten good, on several levels, in a way that snuck up on me unawares. The parallels drawn between some of the various characters in the book and the situations they're going through, and more importantly the questions that it makes not only the characters ask themselves, but also make us ask ourselves as well--moral, soul-searching questions, which aren't as black-and-white as they first appear--leave no doubt in my mind that this book is good. Darn good.
Why the four starts instead of five, then? I struggled with that. The answer is somewhat spoilerish in nature, though, so I'll censor it. Overall, this is a very strong, very powerful book, and one I would highly recommend. Good books make you think...and WOW, does this book ever make you think.
January 27, 2023
It was perhaps a mistake to read this book so soon after Stephen Baxter's 1995 sequel to The Time Machine called The Time Ships. For some reason, Baxter had passed me by until recently, so, impressed by reading his recent The Thousand Earths and World Engines: Destroyer (which confusingly features another version of the same main character is this book), I've been digging back into his earlier work. Time is certainly is a book of ideas - but there are three big problems with this 1999 novel. Despite a totally different setting, it has too many similarities to The Time Ships, it has structural issues and its view of 2010 is bizarre.
Time features time travel, a portal on an asteroid, talking squids in space, the sudden emergence of super-intelligent children, a riff on time travel, alternate histories and universes, and more. You can't fault it for its reach, or all the (admittedly highly speculative) scientific concepts that are brought in. And when Baxter settles down and does a bit of action writing, notably in an attack on the asteroid, things suddenly kick up a gear. This is without doubt an impressive and interesting piece of thoughtful science fiction.
However, lets get onto those problems. Both this and The Time Ships feature time travel, intellects of the far future and alternative realities. Even more so than its predecessor, Time also has an ending with strong echoes of the finale of Blish's Cities in Flight series. That, to be honest, was more a problem from reading the two books one after the other, rather than anything fundamental. Structurally, the book is rambling and could do with a good tightening edit. It spends far too long on plodding through situations. Until the structure suddenly changes for a while near the end, it is broken up into sections from the point of view of different characters, each headed with the characters' names. I suspect it might have been originally framed as first person views from these individuals, because on a couple of occasions the text briefly switches into the first person, suggesting it was missed in a re-write. This all feels a little clumsy. The characterisation is often two-dimensional as well, while the character of Emma, the ex-wife of central character Reid Malenfant, is unbelievable in the way she is willing to go along with decision after decision she doesn't agree with.
Oddest of all, though, is Baxter's vision of 2010. It's worth noting that Baxter was something of a protégé of Arthur C. Clarke, as there are several echoes of 2001, A Space Odyssey here - one consciously and clearly making a direct reference to the film. And like 2001, Time shows us technological advances in its setting that are way too far ahead of what was ever likely. Of course, there was more excuse for the anomalies in 2001 as this came out 33 years before its setting, but Baxter used a date just 11 years in his future, yet introduced technological changes that are often still decades away. It just feels wrong. It's also amusing in retrospect that a major theme in the book is NASA and the US government's attempts to prevent private companies doing space flights (even resorting to military attack) - considering what has happened in the last few years.
It's also worth briefly picking up on the 'squids in space' thing. Baxter suggests that squids are sentient and very intelligent (even more so when their intelligence is enhanced by some technical magic) - this now seems exaggerated, especially if the suggestion in the book Sentience that only warm blooded animals are sentient is true. But the reason the concept is fascinating is in the context of Margaret Atwood's put-down of science fiction that it's limited to 'talking squids in outer space.' I've never found a date for that, so it's not clear if Baxter did this intentionally as a wind-up - if so, it's hilarious.
All in all a fascinating, if deeply flawed, book.
Time features time travel, a portal on an asteroid, talking squids in space, the sudden emergence of super-intelligent children, a riff on time travel, alternate histories and universes, and more. You can't fault it for its reach, or all the (admittedly highly speculative) scientific concepts that are brought in. And when Baxter settles down and does a bit of action writing, notably in an attack on the asteroid, things suddenly kick up a gear. This is without doubt an impressive and interesting piece of thoughtful science fiction.
However, lets get onto those problems. Both this and The Time Ships feature time travel, intellects of the far future and alternative realities. Even more so than its predecessor, Time also has an ending with strong echoes of the finale of Blish's Cities in Flight series. That, to be honest, was more a problem from reading the two books one after the other, rather than anything fundamental. Structurally, the book is rambling and could do with a good tightening edit. It spends far too long on plodding through situations. Until the structure suddenly changes for a while near the end, it is broken up into sections from the point of view of different characters, each headed with the characters' names. I suspect it might have been originally framed as first person views from these individuals, because on a couple of occasions the text briefly switches into the first person, suggesting it was missed in a re-write. This all feels a little clumsy. The characterisation is often two-dimensional as well, while the character of Emma, the ex-wife of central character Reid Malenfant, is unbelievable in the way she is willing to go along with decision after decision she doesn't agree with.
Oddest of all, though, is Baxter's vision of 2010. It's worth noting that Baxter was something of a protégé of Arthur C. Clarke, as there are several echoes of 2001, A Space Odyssey here - one consciously and clearly making a direct reference to the film. And like 2001, Time shows us technological advances in its setting that are way too far ahead of what was ever likely. Of course, there was more excuse for the anomalies in 2001 as this came out 33 years before its setting, but Baxter used a date just 11 years in his future, yet introduced technological changes that are often still decades away. It just feels wrong. It's also amusing in retrospect that a major theme in the book is NASA and the US government's attempts to prevent private companies doing space flights (even resorting to military attack) - considering what has happened in the last few years.
It's also worth briefly picking up on the 'squids in space' thing. Baxter suggests that squids are sentient and very intelligent (even more so when their intelligence is enhanced by some technical magic) - this now seems exaggerated, especially if the suggestion in the book Sentience that only warm blooded animals are sentient is true. But the reason the concept is fascinating is in the context of Margaret Atwood's put-down of science fiction that it's limited to 'talking squids in outer space.' I've never found a date for that, so it's not clear if Baxter did this intentionally as a wind-up - if so, it's hilarious.
All in all a fascinating, if deeply flawed, book.
July 11, 2024
j'abandonne au bout de 400 pages, trop peu d'action, trop peu de philosophie, trop peu de mystère, c'est vraiment de la hard SF pure c'est vraiment pas du tout à quoi je suis sensible
January 14, 2011
I am a fan of Stephen Baxter's. Vacuum Diagrams and The Time Ships were two of my favorite sci-fi books in the last ten years (at least among the Sci Fi I have read.) And I was looking forward to diving into a meaty trilogy of his that I could be reading for awhile. However whereas those two novel's took some fascinating contemporary science and built interesting conflicts and narratives on top of them, this book drowns beneath them.
Too often the action gets bogged down in a scene where one scientist or mathematician is standing in a room with one of the protagonists (who were neither scientists nor mathematician)explaining some scientific principle or another which Baxter feels is imperative to the story. And just as the protagonists, through one cliche or another, express their confusion ("In English" - "X...tried to act like they understood." - "Malenfant tried to contain his frustrating confusion.") over and over and over again, so too was I squinting at the page and struggling to distill the important principles. Invariably the scientist or mathematician would sigh in patronizing frustration at the protagonist/me and simplify things...which they could have just done to begin with.
This happens over and over again to the point where I just got bored and ended up getting bogged down in this one for quite awhile. It's a pity because this past weekend I finally made a concerted effort to finish it and, where the first 250 pages were like a pushup drill, the last 150 were a lot of fun and I flew through them. In typical Baxter style, the story was elevated from interesting straightforward premises to questions about the very nature of the universe and what could be our place in it's present, beginning, and ultimate end. Even in the midst of the climax there was STILL that convention of the smart characters stopping to explain what was happening to the dullards in the story, but at that point the action had reached a level that I didn't care.
Even though I found this one excruciating at points I'm surprisingly still interested in the sequels, if only because I have no idea how this one could carry on. If you can soldier through the first half this one gets a hesitant recommendation.
Too often the action gets bogged down in a scene where one scientist or mathematician is standing in a room with one of the protagonists (who were neither scientists nor mathematician)explaining some scientific principle or another which Baxter feels is imperative to the story. And just as the protagonists, through one cliche or another, express their confusion ("In English" - "X...tried to act like they understood." - "Malenfant tried to contain his frustrating confusion.") over and over and over again, so too was I squinting at the page and struggling to distill the important principles. Invariably the scientist or mathematician would sigh in patronizing frustration at the protagonist/me and simplify things...which they could have just done to begin with.
This happens over and over again to the point where I just got bored and ended up getting bogged down in this one for quite awhile. It's a pity because this past weekend I finally made a concerted effort to finish it and, where the first 250 pages were like a pushup drill, the last 150 were a lot of fun and I flew through them. In typical Baxter style, the story was elevated from interesting straightforward premises to questions about the very nature of the universe and what could be our place in it's present, beginning, and ultimate end. Even in the midst of the climax there was STILL that convention of the smart characters stopping to explain what was happening to the dullards in the story, but at that point the action had reached a level that I didn't care.
Even though I found this one excruciating at points I'm surprisingly still interested in the sequels, if only because I have no idea how this one could carry on. If you can soldier through the first half this one gets a hesitant recommendation.
February 2, 2016
I'd lead off with 'squids in space' but it's been done. But still, come on, SQUIDS in SPACE! :)
I've never needed Wikipedia as my constant companion as much as while reading this book. Unlike others, however, for me this is a positive attribute of Manifold: Time, not a liability. I love learning (why else do people read, seriously?); all this new-to-me vocabulary, science, people, and ideas (Fermi Paradox, Carter Catastrophe, probabilistic statistics, tori, quark nuggets, Bekenstein bound, waldoes, Freeman Dyson, Oort cloud, self-replicating spacecraft, Thomas Malthus, meatware, Kleinian model, Giordano Bruno, hyperbolic space, Leibniz' Law, heuristics, Thomas Carlyle...you should see my Google history) - it's fascinating! Think of all those new neuronal connections I created with Baxter's help. My brain is feeling pretty damn pleased with itself, smug even. But if you don't like your space opera packaged in a course on quantum physics, this probably isn't the book for you.
Baxter crams eschatology, metaphysics, cosmology, and ontology in a story of political intrigue, human foible, interstellar time travel, and post-apocalyptic enviro disaster (even a little love) - with a hero (anti-hero? nah, hero) named Badboy (Reid Malenfant, Read: Badboy, right?). And a serious page-turner (I flew the almost-500 pages in about 2.5 days). What's not to love??? Up next: companion Manifold: Space.
I've never needed Wikipedia as my constant companion as much as while reading this book. Unlike others, however, for me this is a positive attribute of Manifold: Time, not a liability. I love learning (why else do people read, seriously?); all this new-to-me vocabulary, science, people, and ideas (Fermi Paradox, Carter Catastrophe, probabilistic statistics, tori, quark nuggets, Bekenstein bound, waldoes, Freeman Dyson, Oort cloud, self-replicating spacecraft, Thomas Malthus, meatware, Kleinian model, Giordano Bruno, hyperbolic space, Leibniz' Law, heuristics, Thomas Carlyle...you should see my Google history) - it's fascinating! Think of all those new neuronal connections I created with Baxter's help. My brain is feeling pretty damn pleased with itself, smug even. But if you don't like your space opera packaged in a course on quantum physics, this probably isn't the book for you.
Baxter crams eschatology, metaphysics, cosmology, and ontology in a story of political intrigue, human foible, interstellar time travel, and post-apocalyptic enviro disaster (even a little love) - with a hero (anti-hero? nah, hero) named Badboy (Reid Malenfant, Read: Badboy, right?). And a serious page-turner (I flew the almost-500 pages in about 2.5 days). What's not to love??? Up next: companion Manifold: Space.
August 20, 2012
I seem to have had a similar experience to many who have struggled doggedly through Stephen Baxter's novels: the ideas he presents (generally hard science in the form of current theoretical physics, mathematics, bioengineering, etc.) are FASCINATING, and if you can get your mind around them at all, said mind will emerge bent and possibly a little shattered. However, the writing itself is totally unengaging (with a few sparkling moments of exception), and all of the characters fall pretty flat. It's a bit like a doctoral student was assigned a "creative final" and chose to write his thesis on apocalyptic astrophysical models as a novel. Actually, it's a LOT like that.
I will, of course, be reading the remainder of the trilogy... if only because Baxter's style and subject matter make it feel like an assignment. This one took me a couple of years to finish, though, in stops and starts, so... it may be a while.
Coda: Another reader has posted a review to the effect that this is a "fast-paced summer read". To that man I would humbly inquire, "HOW BLISTERINGLY HIGH IS YOUR IQ?!" Impressed.
I will, of course, be reading the remainder of the trilogy... if only because Baxter's style and subject matter make it feel like an assignment. This one took me a couple of years to finish, though, in stops and starts, so... it may be a while.
Coda: Another reader has posted a review to the effect that this is a "fast-paced summer read". To that man I would humbly inquire, "HOW BLISTERINGLY HIGH IS YOUR IQ?!" Impressed.
October 31, 2022
The illimitable, silent, never resting thing called Time, rolling, rushing on, swift, silent, like an all embracing ocean-tide, on which we and all the Universe swim like exhalations...
Absolutely insane! This is more than a Sci-Fi story
The story intensifies relentlessly into a crescendo of revelations that is sure to stun and satisfy any science fiction lover
It’s so imaginitive, and I love the way the athour envisions technologies of the future
I loved this hard, how many people are down for hours of reading about Multiverse Paradox-cosmic-level? Cheers to you. brave readers, my friends 🙏🏻
In one word this is Hyperintelligent
Absolutely insane! This is more than a Sci-Fi story
The story intensifies relentlessly into a crescendo of revelations that is sure to stun and satisfy any science fiction lover
It’s so imaginitive, and I love the way the athour envisions technologies of the future
I loved this hard, how many people are down for hours of reading about Multiverse Paradox-cosmic-level? Cheers to you. brave readers, my friends 🙏🏻
In one word this is Hyperintelligent
February 8, 2018
I read this about a decade ago and it is still a good read. Baxter struts forth a wide range of big ideas regarding time that make this mildly mind-blowing, but the characters are thin, which over all makes this for me just a good read. I like Baxter a lot, but this was not one of his best (3.5 stars).
December 29, 2009
*whew!* done. Exhausting, depressing, silliness. And I'm confused, how is it Emma survived to see the end of it all in the year 2208?! The story begins 2010... and yet there she is. And the congresswoman, too. Oops! big error here. Uh oh, would this be considered a spoiler? Well, I don't care .. I don't recommend this to anyone. The open desires for a socialist world order together with the atheist and humanist movements are too in-your-face nowadays and only spawns hopelessness and despair hence the violent world reaction and breakdown of society in the story. I'll say it is "ok" only for the relationship of Melanfant and Emma. I hung in there just to see if they'd make it.
Now on page 100 I'm feeling pretty inadequate when compared to Sheena the squid. Not only can she repair space equipment using sea silk spun from sea weed she gathers but she can recognize star positions well enough to determine her position in space even more accurately than Dan at command center on Earth. I don't blame her for looking at mankind as inferior. *geez* Scary hint that Dan may end up with one peeved-off mollusc.
fyi don't know who Art Morris is - wierd pop up view into miscellaneous, unknown character today - but no, once a Marine, always a Marine, esp when "disabled out" there is no "used-to-be" Marine!
Another thing I can not understand about this crazy writing ... if a squid understands it has responsibility to this mission, why does the beyond genius child not figure he's gifted for a purpose beyond living in a grass hut? and does he really think the village herbalist is the most powerful?
And, um, if Cornelius knows the "Carter catastrophe" is coming "no matter what",then would he really care whether the U.S., Russia, China or Sesame Street is first to fund an off-Earth program? *for Pete's sake*
lmao I don't know who made me laugh more ... the congresswoman's "Carter? Who the hell is Carter?" or Sheena's remembering the male she had known, "the male with the bright, mindless eyes." Mindless? lmao. Even a squid gives you guys no break.
======================================
I am only on page 55 of this soap-opera science fiction ... should I bother to finish? It's crazy stupid. And hilarious! I'll have to pick it back up tomorrow to find answers to these questions:
Will the jaded accountant be able to convince her eccentric ex-husband/boss to start the family they chose not to when married because they once believed the world was overpopulated now that they're given a graph showing the world will indeed end in 200 years because of overpopulation?
Who is this mysterious and creepy benefactor Cornelius? Is he a prophet? An alien? Or more likely, could he be from the future? If so, how many more times will he say "I don't know"? Thus far, I've counted 6.
And, most importantly, has Sheena the squid ruined the mission before it gets off the ground by getting herself knocked up? Will Dan the marine biologist forgive her? Has the congresswoman risked her career by getting involved at all? Did she ever get to pee? rflmao - what lunacy.
Now on page 100 I'm feeling pretty inadequate when compared to Sheena the squid. Not only can she repair space equipment using sea silk spun from sea weed she gathers but she can recognize star positions well enough to determine her position in space even more accurately than Dan at command center on Earth. I don't blame her for looking at mankind as inferior. *geez* Scary hint that Dan may end up with one peeved-off mollusc.
fyi don't know who Art Morris is - wierd pop up view into miscellaneous, unknown character today - but no, once a Marine, always a Marine, esp when "disabled out" there is no "used-to-be" Marine!
Another thing I can not understand about this crazy writing ... if a squid understands it has responsibility to this mission, why does the beyond genius child not figure he's gifted for a purpose beyond living in a grass hut? and does he really think the village herbalist is the most powerful?
And, um, if Cornelius knows the "Carter catastrophe" is coming "no matter what",then would he really care whether the U.S., Russia, China or Sesame Street is first to fund an off-Earth program? *for Pete's sake*
lmao I don't know who made me laugh more ... the congresswoman's "Carter? Who the hell is Carter?" or Sheena's remembering the male she had known, "the male with the bright, mindless eyes." Mindless? lmao. Even a squid gives you guys no break.
======================================
I am only on page 55 of this soap-opera science fiction ... should I bother to finish? It's crazy stupid. And hilarious! I'll have to pick it back up tomorrow to find answers to these questions:
Will the jaded accountant be able to convince her eccentric ex-husband/boss to start the family they chose not to when married because they once believed the world was overpopulated now that they're given a graph showing the world will indeed end in 200 years because of overpopulation?
Who is this mysterious and creepy benefactor Cornelius? Is he a prophet? An alien? Or more likely, could he be from the future? If so, how many more times will he say "I don't know"? Thus far, I've counted 6.
And, most importantly, has Sheena the squid ruined the mission before it gets off the ground by getting herself knocked up? Will Dan the marine biologist forgive her? Has the congresswoman risked her career by getting involved at all? Did she ever get to pee? rflmao - what lunacy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2018
The movie 'Interstellar' came out in 2014, and I told my then-coworker Jim that I liked it, and I thought some scenes reminded me of '2001: A Space Odyssey' down to the bad ending. I may have mentioned about the notion of humanity's survival and the universe, some such. In any case, Jim told me that he thought the people who made the film must have read this book 'Manifold: Time' as some of the theme overlapped, and if I'm interested in this topic, I'd like it. I lost my book in Ireland halfway through reading it, but recently picked it up again on Kindle, so it took me a while finish.
The first half the book is lead character Reid Malenfant setting up space travel in Mojave dessert on the cheap. It's amazing that this book was published in 1999. Three years into the X Prize, and thee were no public knowledge about Scaled Composite Tier One, and SpaceX hadn't existed yet. Another thing introduced early on is a culty group called Eschatology, a group of scientists studying the end of things. The details around this less realistic, but it does become a vehicle to introduce us to terms like Carter catastrophe (probabilistic prediction for human extinction), downstreamers, etc.
This is a great book that makes you think about the scale of universe, time, and our purpose as sentient being that is humankind.
The first half the book is lead character Reid Malenfant setting up space travel in Mojave dessert on the cheap. It's amazing that this book was published in 1999. Three years into the X Prize, and thee were no public knowledge about Scaled Composite Tier One, and SpaceX hadn't existed yet. Another thing introduced early on is a culty group called Eschatology, a group of scientists studying the end of things. The details around this less realistic, but it does become a vehicle to introduce us to terms like Carter catastrophe (probabilistic prediction for human extinction), downstreamers, etc.
This is a great book that makes you think about the scale of universe, time, and our purpose as sentient being that is humankind.
June 4, 2021
This was my first Baxter and really enjoyed it, despite being slightly dated. I really liked the format- multiple POVs ; some interstitial media POVs. The squid stuff was right for me and I would have liked more of that and from the cephalopod POV. I would recommend Children of Ruin and vice versa to fans of either, although Tchiavoksky's books are equally as dense, but quicker, fresher reads. To be clear: this is hard sf and the science dumps are sensibly plotted. Exciting space stuff: rockets, astronomy, ect. There was some heavy time theory stuff I did not exactly understand, but didn't get in the way of the plot. Would I have given it 5 stars had I read it 20 years ago when it came out? Maybe, if I wanted this and wasn't so fascinated with Mieville and Stross. There is something very one-sided and dated to this. I can't put my finger on it...From someone who keeps up with contemporary 21st century SF from around the globe these days, you can still smell the white guy, Western-voice of Manifold Time. But I knew what I was getting into. The inclusion of world-wide cultures' voices in the narrative was a plus. This was well written for what it is. For me who was in the mood for: Earth-centered, “far-out weird” but also science-based, space exploration hard SF stuff, this hit the mark. (Recommendations always accepted.)
August 9, 2017
I have always been a fan of the more space opera kind of science fiction like Star Wars, Star Trek or Dune. This book which is apparently the first in a series is very well written and is more hard scifi than anything else.
The story bends around the idea that within 200 years the earth and humanity would cease to exist and the result of this idea on society. There is one person responsible for changing the face of space exploration and space flight and he gets hindered by those in power who have a larger responsibility to the human society and do not see anything happening. In a sense this book is about humanity with his mind set to the smallest sense as possible and about the human adventure in exploration even if another animal of the planet Earth seems to fare much better in spaceflight than humans and their internal politics ever would manage.
An exciting read that offers new ideas about limitations and the importance of spaceflight and our own humanity. This book does not carry the positivism of Gene Roddenberry's vision. But is a heck of a read and the pages were like miles in race-car, the finish came way too quickly and perhaps fast enough.
Anybody can read this book and does not have to have any special knowledge, the story explains all.
Well worth your time.
The story bends around the idea that within 200 years the earth and humanity would cease to exist and the result of this idea on society. There is one person responsible for changing the face of space exploration and space flight and he gets hindered by those in power who have a larger responsibility to the human society and do not see anything happening. In a sense this book is about humanity with his mind set to the smallest sense as possible and about the human adventure in exploration even if another animal of the planet Earth seems to fare much better in spaceflight than humans and their internal politics ever would manage.
An exciting read that offers new ideas about limitations and the importance of spaceflight and our own humanity. This book does not carry the positivism of Gene Roddenberry's vision. But is a heck of a read and the pages were like miles in race-car, the finish came way too quickly and perhaps fast enough.
Anybody can read this book and does not have to have any special knowledge, the story explains all.
Well worth your time.
April 14, 2011
I had already read several of Baxter's books when I read Manifold:Time. Before Manifold, I enjoyed his work After Manifold- I was completely sucked in and hooked. After reading this one, I began to search out and order all of his other books. I really loved how Baxter took on the subject of quantum physics. He takes the space and time, woven into the story to explain many very complex concepts, and he also illustrates and demonstrates them within the context of the story. this combination is a huge asset in understanding, or at least comprehending ideas that lie beyond the current scope of the human mind:) Baxter helps us to step beyond the intensity we currently feel in amidst all of Earth's crucial problems. He both shows us our potential futures- based on very real science, and puts the trivial aspects of our moment in history into perspective. He does this by creating races and histories and stories that span time that we can barely conceive of, in comparison to western human history!
Many of the passages that explain science, I had to read several times. But rather than feeling like a distraction from the story, I felt like it enhanced the stories.
Many of the passages that explain science, I had to read several times. But rather than feeling like a distraction from the story, I felt like it enhanced the stories.
November 14, 2022
3.5 stars
November 28, 2017
It's always fun when you read a Sci-Fi novel and it starts off in the year 2010, where mankind is on the edge of extinction due to overpopulation and environmental damage. It does make you wonder if any politicians have ever read any Sci-fi, doesn't it?!
Anyway...a lot of my friends have been recommending Stephen Baxter to me for as long as I can remember and one suggested that I start with Manifold: Time. This fast-paced, space adventure centres around Reid Malenfant, a man who realises that time has run out for the human race on Earth and the only way to survive is by colonizing somewhere in space. Cue lots of stats, crazy complicated mathematical theories, time travel, black hole energy theories, and you're taken on a serious physics trip to the depths of outer space with Malenfant and his team. I had to re-read a lot of paragraphs to try and make sense of it all, but ultimately, I felt like I did need a Stephen Hawkins level of knowledge to fully appreciate the concepts presented here. If you like science and read/study a lot of non-fiction science, you'll probably enjoy this more than I did, but overall, it wasn't bad, if a little dated now.
Anyway...a lot of my friends have been recommending Stephen Baxter to me for as long as I can remember and one suggested that I start with Manifold: Time. This fast-paced, space adventure centres around Reid Malenfant, a man who realises that time has run out for the human race on Earth and the only way to survive is by colonizing somewhere in space. Cue lots of stats, crazy complicated mathematical theories, time travel, black hole energy theories, and you're taken on a serious physics trip to the depths of outer space with Malenfant and his team. I had to re-read a lot of paragraphs to try and make sense of it all, but ultimately, I felt like I did need a Stephen Hawkins level of knowledge to fully appreciate the concepts presented here. If you like science and read/study a lot of non-fiction science, you'll probably enjoy this more than I did, but overall, it wasn't bad, if a little dated now.
May 25, 2014
As an ardent sci-fi fan since my early reading days, I have a collection dating back from the birth of the genre in the 30’s up to it’s heyday in the 70’s and early 80’s. I lost touch a bit and wandered off in the realms of the fantasy genre but I still get an urge for some proper sci-fi and frequently revisit Azimov, Pohl, Harrison and other cosy old favourites.
Apart from Iain M. Banks’ superb ‘Culture’ series, I hadn’t read any offerings from the new generation of authors so I though it was time I dipped a toe in the water. I had a post-Christmas Amazon research frenzy and decided to get ‘Time’ along with a number of others from a variety of authors.
It certainly lives up to the ‘hard sci-fi’ label with loads of mind-boggling cosmology and quantum mechanics but I personally found that the frequent, and detailed, meanderings into these areas detracted from the narrative flow of an otherwise excellently written book. The short, choppy chapters, each based around an individual character maintained the pace and, once you got used to it, didn’t interfere with the story.
I must confess, though, that I got to the end and thought ‘Hmmm, did I enjoy that?’ Well written and encompassing a truly vast subject area, I however felt that it was a treatise on the author’s understanding of the more obscure theories of space/time and that he threw in some one-dimensional characters as a bit of an afterthought; it felt like a much bigger book by a very capable author had been ruthlessly edited by a mathematician.
Apart from Iain M. Banks’ superb ‘Culture’ series, I hadn’t read any offerings from the new generation of authors so I though it was time I dipped a toe in the water. I had a post-Christmas Amazon research frenzy and decided to get ‘Time’ along with a number of others from a variety of authors.
It certainly lives up to the ‘hard sci-fi’ label with loads of mind-boggling cosmology and quantum mechanics but I personally found that the frequent, and detailed, meanderings into these areas detracted from the narrative flow of an otherwise excellently written book. The short, choppy chapters, each based around an individual character maintained the pace and, once you got used to it, didn’t interfere with the story.
I must confess, though, that I got to the end and thought ‘Hmmm, did I enjoy that?’ Well written and encompassing a truly vast subject area, I however felt that it was a treatise on the author’s understanding of the more obscure theories of space/time and that he threw in some one-dimensional characters as a bit of an afterthought; it felt like a much bigger book by a very capable author had been ruthlessly edited by a mathematician.
June 14, 2017
This review covers the entire 4-book Manifold series:
Your garden variety 4-book trilogies usually start the plot off in the first book, then leave you with 2 or 3 cliff-hangers before maybe resolving everything in the 4th book.
Even SB had previously subscribed to this concept.
Today, let's try something new: why don't we make books 2 and 3 be not sequels or prequels to book 1, but rather sidels, if you wish. A sort of rewrites featuring the same characters, only the premises completely different (alternate or side worlds). For example instead of a universe teeming with life, why don't we make life scarce in the universe in the next book?
So the idea is very original here. How about the plots?
There are 3 different plots obviously, among the 3 books, and while not on stellar levels, they don't disappoint in any fashion.
How about the characters? Well, the interesting device with the setting being re-written applies to the characters as well. Some are identical between books, some are slightly different, some completely different. At the end you can even choose your favorite type of each.
The weakest chain in the link here is the 4th book, the collection Phase Space. Not that the stories were necessarily weak in themselves, but some are not related to the Manifold universe. The ones who do follow the same recipe from the first three books.
Your garden variety 4-book trilogies usually start the plot off in the first book, then leave you with 2 or 3 cliff-hangers before maybe resolving everything in the 4th book.
Even SB had previously subscribed to this concept.
Today, let's try something new: why don't we make books 2 and 3 be not sequels or prequels to book 1, but rather sidels, if you wish. A sort of rewrites featuring the same characters, only the premises completely different (alternate or side worlds). For example instead of a universe teeming with life, why don't we make life scarce in the universe in the next book?
So the idea is very original here. How about the plots?
There are 3 different plots obviously, among the 3 books, and while not on stellar levels, they don't disappoint in any fashion.
How about the characters? Well, the interesting device with the setting being re-written applies to the characters as well. Some are identical between books, some are slightly different, some completely different. At the end you can even choose your favorite type of each.
The weakest chain in the link here is the 4th book, the collection Phase Space. Not that the stories were necessarily weak in themselves, but some are not related to the Manifold universe. The ones who do follow the same recipe from the first three books.
November 15, 2017
Deep, hypnotizing, grand.
Reminiscent of Clarke's 2001: The Space Odyssey and The Time Machine by Wells, and gives you as huge of an existential crisis as they do. I have not come across an interpretation of the creation of the universe, the multiverse, and the purpose of Man as ambitious as Baxter's, though. He had grand ideas. What if black holes, by their nature, were portals to universes close to ours? What if we could find out if these universes were similar to, or vastly different from ours?
I loved the exploration of humanity's response to knowing that the world that they know it might be coming to an end in a few hundred years. It was a nice apocalyptic aspect to the story. The predictability of human nature is a noticeable juxtaposition to the unknown and scary cosmic events that were happening around them.
Reading and then finishing the book felt like being plunged into a deep sea of water and then surfacing - everything is slow in the water and you can't see because it is murky, and then you burst into the bright light with some confusion, but mostly relief.
Reminiscent of Clarke's 2001: The Space Odyssey and The Time Machine by Wells, and gives you as huge of an existential crisis as they do. I have not come across an interpretation of the creation of the universe, the multiverse, and the purpose of Man as ambitious as Baxter's, though. He had grand ideas. What if black holes, by their nature, were portals to universes close to ours? What if we could find out if these universes were similar to, or vastly different from ours?
I loved the exploration of humanity's response to knowing that the world that they know it might be coming to an end in a few hundred years. It was a nice apocalyptic aspect to the story. The predictability of human nature is a noticeable juxtaposition to the unknown and scary cosmic events that were happening around them.
Reading and then finishing the book felt like being plunged into a deep sea of water and then surfacing - everything is slow in the water and you can't see because it is murky, and then you burst into the bright light with some confusion, but mostly relief.
March 27, 2011
Manifold is not a series per se, but rather different explorations of the theme “Are we alone in the universe?”. In “Time”, a portal is discovered in the solar system, and some fascinating stuff happens related to preserving life and intelligence in the long term. In “Space”, The Fermi Paradox is suddenly reversed, with aliens appearing everywhere and the whole universe is just one big fight for resources, to the point of utter barbarism.
I had some nasty nightmares after these, which is why I will probably never read the third book, “Manifold: Origin”. On a certain level, this is very stuff, but not like a horror movie. It scares me on a very deep level that I can’t rationalize away. The same level that knows that the goody two-shoes future of Star Trek simply is not a realistic vision. Still, I would rather watch Star Trek since I don’t want to wake up screaming in the middle of the night, however good Baxter is. Read the books if you feel you can take it. They are very good and the themes and subjects are both engrossing and fascinating.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=433
I had some nasty nightmares after these, which is why I will probably never read the third book, “Manifold: Origin”. On a certain level, this is very stuff, but not like a horror movie. It scares me on a very deep level that I can’t rationalize away. The same level that knows that the goody two-shoes future of Star Trek simply is not a realistic vision. Still, I would rather watch Star Trek since I don’t want to wake up screaming in the middle of the night, however good Baxter is. Read the books if you feel you can take it. They are very good and the themes and subjects are both engrossing and fascinating.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=433
January 9, 2018
While I could never pretend to have understood Time entirely, or even mostly, its vision and scope are as mesmerising as they are ambitious. All of time can be found here, mixed with the lives of a small group of people seeking to understand it as well as each other. The second half of the novel, which takes the protagonists to a nearby asteroid with an artificial artefact hidden on its dark side, is sublime. And then there's the blue children - and the squid...
Time is the fourth Baxter novel I've read and it most certainly won't be the last.
Time is the fourth Baxter novel I've read and it most certainly won't be the last.
January 16, 2016
Great mind bending sci-fi, very smart. While some sci-fi lacks a human element, what was good about this book was that all the human elements felt very real and drew me in - I really cared about the characters. The prose was also very evocative at times, poetic even. The book touched on so many subjects, as if the writer just couldn't stop accessing all the spidery recesses of his mind, and then finding a way to add them to the story... In some ways this bloated the story quite a bit, and distracted somewhat from the central narrative - but it was entertaining all the same.
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