- Hardcover: 303 pages
- Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition First Printing edition (Nov 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0765313316
- ISBN-13: 978-0765313317
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,791,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Learning The World: A novel of first contact
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Product Description
Review
Mind-expanding science fiction at its best; it is no surprise that it has been shortlisted for all the main science fiction awards. (THE TIMES )
A charismatic, inventive story of space travel and discovery (SFX )
A beautiful piece of stylish writing. . . Gripping and convincing (STARBURST )
Ken MacLeod outdoes himself with Learning the World. . . don't miss this one (ANALOG ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
A charismatic, inventive story of space travel and discovery (SFX )
A beautiful piece of stylish writing. . . Gripping and convincing (STARBURST )
Ken MacLeod outdoes himself with Learning the World. . . don't miss this one (ANALOG ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Book Description
Reminding us that the universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we CAN imagine, LEARNING THE WORLD is a stunning novel of exploration, discovery and Mankind's destiny amongst the stars.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
61 of 63 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As a sci-fi fan, I'm often asked what books someone who wasn't a sci-fi fan but wanted to check it out might read. Usually these are books by Anne Macaffery, Kevin J Anderson or David Eddings, mainly because these give you a relatively low-key read. After all, you have aliens and spaceships to deal with - isn't that enough?
For myself, however, I like Alistair Reynolds, Stephen Erikson, or Iain M Banks. These authors are anything but a low-key read. I rarely find a book that can cover both bases at once. Learning The World, however, does just that.
This is a book about meeting an alien species for the first time, and how an unprepared civilisation would deal with that. Humanity has spread to other star systems and met with absoultely no alien species at all. Zip. The Fermi paradox remains intact.
So when a ship names But The Sky, My Lady! The Sky! (yes, someone's been reading their Iain M Banks books, haven't they?) reaches its destination, it discovers an alien species. Meanwhile, the aliens notice a strange object in the sky. This story follows both sides as they observe each other, speculate on each other's motives, values, morals, and, ultimately, interact, as well as how each society deals with the presence of aliens in the same system.
It doesn't really concentrate on the technical or scientific side - descriptions of the ship are deliberatly vague, and the system is simplistic (one planet of each class?). This is all deliberate, because this story isn't about the technology that allows you to travel from system to system, nor is about the planets you find once you get there. It's about two cultures which thought they were alone in the universe meeting each other for the first time.
In places it gets political, especially in the sections covering the ship, but never overly so. It remains humourous, engaging, and thoughtful, and the characters are characters you could imagine actually existing.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who has even a passing interest in sci-fi.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
You've all read them. Seem the TV shows. Watched the movies. Heck, you've probably played the games too. Alien invasion stories are hardly a new thing in sci-fi - it's one of the oldest and most-used cliches in the genre. But then just when you think it's been done to death, Ken MacLeod does something like this. Learning The World takes a bunch of humans off on a trip across the stars. In this book, this is nothing new - countless groups have made similar trips and turned uninhabited worlds into, well, inhabited ones. Oh, there was life out there, but nothing you could have a conversation with.
But then this particular group - crew of the generation ship But The Sky My Lady! The Sky! (overtones of IM Banks there, perhaps?) - reach their destination to discover radio signals. Not the random static that gets thrown out by any star, but regular, actual radio broadcasts. There's a civilisation already there. Meanwhile, an astronomer on the destination planet looks up to see that the strange comet he's been tracking is doing things that average self-respecting comets should not be doing. It begins to dawn on him that the thing in the sky is artificial.
This story is about how the two societies cope with this first contact. How does a society of humans who've been travelling all their lives come to terms with the fact that their destination planet is already spoken for? How does the primitive society on the planet deal with the concept that there are other worlds out there in the universe, and they're about to come knocking?
To this end, the book largely ignores technical and scientific details and concentrates wholly on the social and political aspects of first contact. And it does that with extraordinary skill, presenting a balanced view of the mistakes that both sides might make. If you're used to the plucky humans fighting off the evil alien invaders and fancy slightly different take on the subject, or you are interested in first contact, or you just want to read an unusual and effective sci-fi novel, then this book is for you.
But then this particular group - crew of the generation ship But The Sky My Lady! The Sky! (overtones of IM Banks there, perhaps?) - reach their destination to discover radio signals. Not the random static that gets thrown out by any star, but regular, actual radio broadcasts. There's a civilisation already there. Meanwhile, an astronomer on the destination planet looks up to see that the strange comet he's been tracking is doing things that average self-respecting comets should not be doing. It begins to dawn on him that the thing in the sky is artificial.
This story is about how the two societies cope with this first contact. How does a society of humans who've been travelling all their lives come to terms with the fact that their destination planet is already spoken for? How does the primitive society on the planet deal with the concept that there are other worlds out there in the universe, and they're about to come knocking?
To this end, the book largely ignores technical and scientific details and concentrates wholly on the social and political aspects of first contact. And it does that with extraordinary skill, presenting a balanced view of the mistakes that both sides might make. If you're used to the plucky humans fighting off the evil alien invaders and fancy slightly different take on the subject, or you are interested in first contact, or you just want to read an unusual and effective sci-fi novel, then this book is for you.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A great easy read: well-imagined, and nicely planned, with a unique twist in that much of it is told from the point of view of an alien civilisation.
However, the alien civilisation might be bats (literally!) but they're really like quaint middle-class pseudo-Victorians, polite and well-meaning. There's a hint of menace in the possibility of war, but if humans truly do meet another species, this sounds like the best possible scenario.
On the other hand, it's good to see an SF author not resting on the easy plot device of the "wormhole". The humans in this story travel between the stars the hard way: the trip took four hundred years.
A great story, and one I'd recommend to younger readers, too.
However, the alien civilisation might be bats (literally!) but they're really like quaint middle-class pseudo-Victorians, polite and well-meaning. There's a hint of menace in the possibility of war, but if humans truly do meet another species, this sounds like the best possible scenario.
On the other hand, it's good to see an SF author not resting on the easy plot device of the "wormhole". The humans in this story travel between the stars the hard way: the trip took four hundred years.
A great story, and one I'd recommend to younger readers, too.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Unfocused with weakly linked parallel stories
I've read a load of British sci-fi from the likes of Stross, Asher, Hamilton, Banks and Reynolds. Each and every time I've picked up one of those novels, I was impressed with the... Read more
Published 7 months ago by M-I-K-E 2theD
The Yellow Wall is full of angry voices and quiet weeping
I can't pretend to understand the physics let alone the metaphysics that underlie this intriguing and entertaining novel set aeons in the future and therefore with little or no... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Eileen Shaw
A compulsive page-turner
While the setting is really rather implausible, having two species with such similar social structures, this does make it easier for the author to create sympathetic, believable... Read more
Published 23 months ago by D. R. Cantrell
Tedious
Sorry about this, but I found this book boring and gave up about a quarter in. Why? well the story seemed to switch between three story formats, one kind was on the Arc ship and... Read more
Published on 24 July 2009 by Jonathan
Brilliant idea, well formed and visualized
A favourite inter-species contact novel.
Well thought out and well told
the end all happens a bit too fast and simpl for such a convoluted tale. Read more
Well thought out and well told
the end all happens a bit too fast and simpl for such a convoluted tale. Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2009 by CjW
Good read - for Sci-fi nubies and old hacks alike
MacLeod foregoes the Eureka moment of the short story and does not trouble with the creation of a grand theme. Read more
Published on 27 Dec 2007 by Alan Urdaibay
A return to form for Macleod
Three stars is a bit mean - make it three and a half. I have found some of his recent work to be rather turgid; however Ken Macleod it at his best when his tongue is in his cheek... Read more
Published on 8 July 2007 by P. G. Harris
Hard work, persevere and still no eureka moment at the end
I found this title very hard work to finish. I found this title very hard work to begin. I persevered to the end and feel that there was little to no character development through... Read more
Published on 14 May 2007 by monch
Solid if not too imaginative
A rather engaging novel, if not too visionary, this is a interesting exploration of the tensions and troubles brought on by impending first contact. Read more
Published on 24 Mar 2007 by drifter
Turning RAH on his head
I adore this book - my favourite novel by a favourite author. It is a fine novel of first contact. What bothers me is that none of the other reviews seemed to have noted that it... Read more
Published on 9 Jan 2007 by Lil Shepherd
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