Cradle of Saturn [Hardcover]

On the other hand, I finally discovered that this book has two things going for it. First, is Hogan's attitude toward scientific evidence, which shines through many of the scenes. It can be summed up in the phrase "evidence outweighs theory," and Hogan's characters make their case without theatrics. The second thing is the *scale* of the story. It is uncommon for an author to show you in your guts how having six billion voices screaming "INCOMING!" simultaneously feels.

Once this story really got rolling in Part Three, I was hooked. It was like stepping on a skateboard at the top of Mount Everest with no brakes. At midnight, I found myself turning "just one more page" and forcibly reminding myself I had to get up early. I had to know "what comes next, what comes next,...", and I was relating seriously to the hero, who tries desperately to do the right thing even if it means giving up what might be his only shot at survival. That sort of involvement is something only solid writing can create. To be sure, this book has its flaws and it's not Hogan's best work, but it was worth the time and effort I put into it, and I don't recommend starting it if you don't have the time to finish it. Like all the rest of James Hogan's writings, it is good, solid reading. I may not read this one a second time, but I'm glad I read it a first.

In recent years Hogan seems to have fixated on the idea that a conspiracy of scientists is attempting to conceal the Truth about a variety of topics, including AIDS, the stratospheric ozone layer, dinosaurs, evolution, and so forth. Most of the reasoning he uses to support these claims is neither original nor credible. As someone who has some familiarity with atmospheric chemistry, I can say with confidence that most of his allegations about stratospheric ozone are worthless.

Yet in COS, Hogan carries his anti-scientific revisionist nonsense far, far beyond most of his earlier writings. The central theme of this book based on the work of Velikovsky, a crackpot whose ideas about the history and dynamics of the solar system were unsupportable when first published in the early 1950s, and have only become more so in the past half century. To justify his use of Velikovskian ideas, Hogan has to bend, break, or ignore most of modern geology and physics.

Some might argue that the science doesn't matter, as long as the literary side of COS is well done. Unfortunately, it's not. Hogan's characters are cardboard cutouts, with no depth or personality. His prose is uninteresting, and the story frequently is pushed aside to make room for thinly-veiled rants relating to Hogan's bizarre anti-scientific obsessions. It IS possible for a persevering reader to make his or her way through to the end of this book, but the question is -- why would one want to? There are far more worthwhile books out there than could possibly be read in anyone's lifetime; plowing your way through "Cradle of Saturn" will only prevent you from reading something else that would probably be infinitely better.

If you really want to read something interesting by Hogan, I'd recommend "Inherit the Stars" and "The Proteus Operation" over "Cradle of Saturn" any day.