- Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
- Publisher: Baen Books (Nov 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0671319485
- ISBN-13: 978-0671319489
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.7 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,193,336 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is an entertaining and enjoyable time travel novel with good characterisation. It deals with "what if" in a similar sort of way to the movie "Frequency" (the one with Dennis Quaid), although it pre-dates the movie by several years. The science bits are well thought out.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This excellent 1980 hard science fiction novel is somewhat like a much more positive and upbeat version of "The butterfly effect" except that the characters are trying to quite literally save the world from imminent destruction instead of making alterations in individual lives.
Of all the dozens of novels I have read which include either time travel or other speculations about the nature of time, "Thrice apon a time" includes far and away the most imaginative and brilliantly explained picture of how a universe in which you actually can change the past might work.
Every single other novel I have read or film I have seen in which the possibility of changing the past comes up is a variation of one of the following views
1) you can't do it at all because the past has already happened and may not be altered
2) you absolutely must not attempt to do it because it will destroy your universe or cause a huge catastrophe such as a split in the timestream
3) you should not attempt to do it because there are likely to be unpredictable side effects which may be very harmful.
The scientists who are the central characters of "Thrice apon a time" discover an unusual side effect of certain reactions - a small amount of evergy is sent backwards in time. They build a machine to measure the effects when that energy arrives in the past - and then find that it can be used like a receiver for messages which can be sent backwards in time. E.g. they can use the effects which their machine measures to send messages back to their earlier selves at any time after the machine was built.
Being very aware of the potential threats described in 2) and 3) above, our heroes initially have no intention of using the machine for any significant communication. Until it turns out that a new experimental reactor which was used for the first time a few days after they built the machine has produced catastrophic effects.
So catastrophic, in fact, that trying to change the past may be their least bad option, even though it means that their present selves and things which are very valuable to them will be erased ...
Of all the dozens of novels I have read which include either time travel or other speculations about the nature of time, "Thrice apon a time" includes far and away the most imaginative and brilliantly explained picture of how a universe in which you actually can change the past might work.
Every single other novel I have read or film I have seen in which the possibility of changing the past comes up is a variation of one of the following views
1) you can't do it at all because the past has already happened and may not be altered
2) you absolutely must not attempt to do it because it will destroy your universe or cause a huge catastrophe such as a split in the timestream
3) you should not attempt to do it because there are likely to be unpredictable side effects which may be very harmful.
The scientists who are the central characters of "Thrice apon a time" discover an unusual side effect of certain reactions - a small amount of evergy is sent backwards in time. They build a machine to measure the effects when that energy arrives in the past - and then find that it can be used like a receiver for messages which can be sent backwards in time. E.g. they can use the effects which their machine measures to send messages back to their earlier selves at any time after the machine was built.
Being very aware of the potential threats described in 2) and 3) above, our heroes initially have no intention of using the machine for any significant communication. Until it turns out that a new experimental reactor which was used for the first time a few days after they built the machine has produced catastrophic effects.
So catastrophic, in fact, that trying to change the past may be their least bad option, even though it means that their present selves and things which are very valuable to them will be erased ...
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
14 reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Idea-driven SF
15 Aug 2002
Format:Mass Market Paperback
One of the things I like about James P. Hogan's fiction is that it's so largely idea-driven. He makes plausible projections from present-day science and uses them as the basis for a story (which generally includes the story of the discovery of the scientific principles at issue).
This is one of my favorites. In it, Hogan explores a mind-blowingly cool scientific concept: what if it were possible for information to travel from the future to the past?
"Classic" SF treatments of time-travel themes leave something to be desired -- even Robert A. Heinlein's fine short story "By His Bootstraps," which depends for its success on several narrative tricks that work in the story but aren't very realistic elsewhere. (The protagonist has to relive the same series of events several times, from different points of view, without really being able to _make decisions_ as this happens.) Others allow the possibility of changing the past but allege that _actually_ changing it would somehow make the universe go blooey. A few allow the past actually to be changed but don't explain how it's possible (in particular ducking the obvious paradoxes).
So Hogan started from scratch and tried to provide a plausible scientific basis for his own tale. And what he came up with was a way that information from the future _can_ change the past -- with, let's say, _very_ interesting consequences for his characters, including a host of brand new moral problems and hard choices. As I suggested above, the story is (like most "hard" SF) fundamentally idea-driven rather than character-driven, but Hogan's characters are believable and interesting all the same.
If you enjoy this sort of thing, you'll also want to read his later novel _Paths To Otherwhere_ for exploration of the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics. And check out _The Proteus Operation_ for yet another fascinating twist on the time-travel/changing-the-past theme.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Makes a wild idea plausible
31 May 2004
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Thrice Upon a Time is my first Hogan book, but I have followed up by ordering more. Time travel is a favorite topic of mine. I've read so many I've lost count. This one stands out in that it is very heavy on science and theory. If you like to ponder the possibilities and ramifications of communication across time, this book will appeal to you as it did to me. It has an excellent treatment of the paradox dilemma. One guage I use to measure a time travel novel is believability...Hogan has managed to be creative while at the same time presenting a plausible scenario. The consequences of altering the future are explored in a satisfying (and believable) manner. Those reviewers who found the book dull are not people who have spent a great deal of time pondering the theories. The book involves the reader in trying to figure out the theory, because once the ability to send communication back in time is discovered, the next step is figuring out how it's done and how the paradox situations fit into the equation. The true nature of time is explored thoroughly. It is not a book of rip-roaring action, but definitely a book for those who are enthralled by the idea of communication through time. I found it immensely satisfying.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Good Read, worth visiting
3 Sep 2001
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I've read this book twice. Once when I was younger, and again recently. It was what I would consider a Good book. Hogan always seems to turn out an entertaining book, a book worth reading, but not a Snow Crash. I could read this book again when its turn comes up. Worth buying and reading.
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