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Titan
 
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Titan (Hardcover)

by Stephen Baxter (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 500 pages
  • Publisher: Voyager (18 Aug 1997)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0002254247
  • ISBN-13: 978-0002254243
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 824,245 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #96 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > B > Baxter, Stephen

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Take some archetypal sci-fi characters (ageing moonwalker, several bright young astronauts and a dedicated but reclusive scientist), throw in the near future scenario of a declining space programme following a catastrophic fatal accident, mix well with some unusual plot twists and you have the foundations for Baxter's eighth novel.

Baxter novices may be wary of such a clichéd plot, but don't despair--his reputation as one of the UK's best sci-fi writers is well founded. Titan is an enjoyable novel, well-written, with just the right mixture of hard science fiction, strong characters and a believable, if undesirable, vision of the future. Reminiscent of 2001 and its sequel 2010, the plot unfolds against the backdrop of a declining world civilization. America is sinking into the mire of Christian fundamentalism and turning against technology, whilst a desperate NASA expends all it's remaining energy and resources on a manned mission to Titan--one- way--with the faint hope of reigniting the public's interest in space exploration. The mission is a technical success, but is ignored by the masses, leaving the astronauts stranded on the outskirts of the solar system with no hope of rescue.

But of course, that's not the end of the story… --Dave Mutton --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Synopsis
The Cassini probe reaches Saturn early in the new millennium: data sent back to Earth reveals, to the amazement of scientists, that Titan is the most terraformable world in the Solar System. A suicidal one-way trip is planned - a last opportunity for the US manned space programme.

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Customer Reviews

20 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (7)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Prescient, 10 Oct 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Titan (Paperback)
A shuttle crash, disquiet about spending money on space exploration, a right-wing fundamentalist president, China set to launch its first manned mission ....

Sound familiar? All in here - and a great story tacked on too. Baxter on top form - how did he guess it all?

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars an amazing future history...., 13 May 2002
By slidinjac@yahoo.co.uk (sussex, england) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Titan (Paperback)
This book is truely amazing. It provides an extraordinary view of a future.

Like in all his other books, Baxter covers a huge array of subjects all of great importance in the modern world; from distrust of science, the economic and foreign policy of the United States, the danger presented by a conservative domination of politics, the decline of the family, the destruction of the enviroment, the power of the military, the rise of China in the 21st century and most importantly the possiblities and necessities of space travel.

Overall Baxter presents his reader with a bleak and hugely detailed vision of the future, and the chnallenges and movements human beings will meet in the coming century. He is not optimistic for us, but right down in the core of the book there is a ray of hope, a vision reminding us that as long as we are still breathing, as long as the spark of life present on this planet still glows, there is still hope.

You could criticise the final chapters as sentimental and out of tone with the rest of the book, I would be inclined to disagree. I think instead that they reflect the hope present throughout the book, they show us the posibility of rebirth and a chance to start again. They also highlight the idea that Steven Baxter seems to hold most dearest, that all that is important is life, the continued existance of living things through colonisation of the stars.

Thus this book provides a lengthy, deep narative, with believeable well written characters. It discusses issues important to the modern world, but deep down it is a thesis, a guide, a set of instructions suggesting what must shorely be the right course for the future of the species.

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A true SF classic, 25 Mar 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Titan (Paperback)
Stephen Baxter is undoubtedly one of the finest living SF writers, and Titan is perhaps his finest work. Set in the near future, with the USA rapidly losing interest in space travel, NASA embarks on a last-gasp attempt to create a classic space mission, with a manned one-way trip to Titan. The spaceship is cobbled together from a space shuttle and older Apollo hardware, and with the election of an extreme-right-wing US President, who is heavily opposed to any form of space travel, it is doubtful whether the mission can ever make it to Titan.

But make it they do, most of them...Baxter's description of the bitterly-cold, murky and poisonous conditions on the far-flung moon of Saturn are depressing and brilliant in equal measure.

Meanwhile, war has broken out on Earth, with China about to unleash the ultimate weapon against the militarist might of the USA... Back on Titan, with no way home and no resupply ships arriving, the few remaining colonists face a lingering death. But one of them has an idea which could reach across time itself...

A gem of a book.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking
The first time I read Titan it took me 3 days pretty solid effort, which is a long time for me. It could be hard work: sometimes the technical detail is overwhelming and can... Read more
Published 10 months ago by ChezzyD

3.0 out of 5 stars There's something missing
I love Baxter's writing when I want to immerse myself in a technical-type novel like Voyage. The combination of the messiness of politics and vested interests, the technological... Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2007 by A. Gordon

3.0 out of 5 stars Dull, but gets better
A group of five humans are sent on a one way trip to Titan, a moon of Saturn. Their ship is patched together from remnants of fifty years of space flight, and they leave Earth in... Read more
Published on 29 Jul 2006 by P. van Midden

1.0 out of 5 stars Doom and Gloom
Titan is well written and certainly the first half of the book was gripping, however, I had to really battle to pick up this novel and finish it as the content slipped inexorably... Read more
Published on 14 Jul 2006 by Mr. N. Cartwright

5.0 out of 5 stars So you want to go to Titan ?
Well I've read a fair bit of SF in the last 30 years and seriously rate this one as truly excellent. Read more
Published on 10 April 2006 by Chris

3.0 out of 5 stars Seeding the universe
‘Titan’ shares a lot of similar ground with Baxter’s previous novel ‘Voyage’, in fact in many ways it can be seen as a variation on a theme, being... Read more
Published on 9 Feb 2006 by dogbarkssome

3.0 out of 5 stars contra mundum
"Titan" is really a depressing near-future novel about a desparate attempt by NASA to stop a disillusioned USA vanishing up its own back-side. Read more
Published on 5 Jul 2004 by Mr A. Crowl

3.0 out of 5 stars Dark scary and boring
Except from being a textbook which must be an obligatory read for every NASA employee, it offers a very scary and freighting future for mankind. Read more
Published on 11 May 2004 by Christoph Strizik

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful
The process of reading this book is far more painful than the characters' journey to Titan, and that is saying something !

Stay away !

Published on 21 Jan 2004 by toby02

5.0 out of 5 stars Who else can give you a genuine ticket to Titan ?
One of Baxters top 5, Titan is orange and I almost really cared about the characters! In my view Stephen lacks only a touch of the characterisation and atmosphere that permeated... Read more
Published on 7 Nov 2003 by Chris

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