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Tau Zero (S.F. Masterworks) (Paperback)

by Poul Anderson (Author) "Look - there - rising over the Hand of God ..." (more)
4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz; New Ed edition (9 Feb 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0575077328
  • ISBN-13: 978-0575077324
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 1.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 45,940 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #2 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > A > Anderson, Poul

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Product Description

Product Description
Fifty men and women set out in the twenty-third century from Earth aboard an interstellar craft to travel to a planet some thirty light-years away. The ship will approach the speed of light and so (as Einstein predicted) subjective time on board will slow and so the journey of several decades will be of much shorter duration for the crew. But the ship's deceleration system is irreparably damaged when it hits a cloud of interstellar dust and acceleration continues toward light speed, tau zero. Soon the ship is speeding through galaxies and eons are passing on board the ship in the blink of an eye . . .

About the Author
Poul Anderson (1926-2001) was born in Pennsylvania of Scandinavian stock. He started publishing science fiction in 1947 and became one the great figures in the genre, serving as President of the Science Fiction Writers of America, winning many Hugo and Nebula awards, and also winning the Gandalf (Grand Master) Award.
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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Quite terrifying, 19 Nov 2001
By Mark Grindell "Mark Grindell" (Shipley,West Yorkshire) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Tau Zero (Gollancz SF collector's edition) (Paperback)
The book moves quite slowly, and the only flaw is that it could be quite a bit longer.

Now then, I have to say this, with as much care as I can. This is THE only ScFi book I have ever read where it is certain, quite certain, that everything could actually happen. This is quite a remarkable claim, and I have to be very cautious! Perhaps some of the real terror in the book is becasue of this extreme realism. The ship could be built. The navigational difficulties would indeed be related to the spacial distortions of the star field. And the red shift and blue shifts are just like that... What we know about relativity points to the bizarre flight of the ship really holding up.

Poul makes a real attempt to convey the awful separation and exile of the inhabitants. To lose not only the earth... but anything which could remotely be called human, or even his descendants... This is the basis for the worst sort of nightmare for many of us. The claustrophobic nature of the ship and the equalling unsatisfactory nature of the relationships... And yet, there is an ending which satisfies in some sense.

This is novel in which there is a overwhelming, quite overbearing sense of grandeur. You will probably read certain sections quite frequently - I have literally worn out previous editions. But beware, you will feel a strong empathy for these lost souls, and my goodness, it would be nice to make sure that you don't sleep alone, Pascal was right when he spoke of the terror of the great spaces.

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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book; helps you understand physics as well.., 23 Feb 2006
By A. Morley (Ripley, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Tau Zero has been called the greatest hard science fiction novel of all time and I think there are few people that would disagree with that. As I am not a massive fan of this kind of SF I was pleasantly surprised when the novel managed to sweep me in into its simple yet descriptive narrative, well-thought out theoretical physics and interesting personal relationships.

The story is of a space ship with a crew of 50 (25 men, 25 women) who set off on a long voyage to possibly colonize another planet when mid-way through their journey their engine is damaged and they keep accelerating forever. This in itself is a great premise as the author can explore ideas like inertia, time-dilation and a theoretical type of near-light speed engine all so well-explained that even somebody with just a cursory knowledge of physics would understand. What gives it life though, is the 60’s-influence through the whole book. As in keeping with other novels of the time seemingly everyone is sleeping with everyone else. I didn’t mind this until a particular passage where a woman offers herself to a needed scientist who hasn’t got any in a while. It just seemed a little too optimistic to me. I’d like to believe that a pretty woman would offer herself to me if I was feeling depressed and I was a vital team member but it just doesn’t seem realistic. Maybe in 1970 it was. I was also strangely disturbed by the future presented where Sweden is the near-fascist world ruler. Quite chilling because the author wasn’t being sarcastic.

The book is quite short at 190 pages and it does go by pretty quickly but because the subject is about one ship and its voyage there are no annoying sub-plots or out of place scenes thrown in to shore it up. Neat little book!!

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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Full-Speed SF, 13 Sep 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Tau Zero (Gollancz SF collector's edition) (Paperback)
A space-ship designed to travel at speed, carrying explorers intending to colonise a distant star, gets into a bit of trouble and has its deceleration mechanism knocked out. Result - ship goes faster and faster and cannot stop. But this is no precursor of Speed for the space adventure generation. Despite the somewhat two-dimensional aspect of most of the characters, Anderson's novel quickly develops into a meditation on life and it's meaning within the universe. As the ship reaches almost unimaginable speeds, the universe outside the ship begins to observably age, leading to an inevitable conclusion with perhaps unexpected consequences. A well-handled science fiction meditation on the meaning of existence
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING!
WOW!

This book was just awesome - dont i wish they made kids read something like this in school? Read more
Published 13 days ago by M. Bruce -. Roberts

4.0 out of 5 stars Short Classic
It might be short, it might be compact but if theres one thing that you have to say about Anderson is that its always well written. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Gareth Wilson

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful, thrilling, perfectly paced adventure.
'Tau Zero' achieves a very difficult task. This is a 'Hard' sci-fi book that bases a story upon what could be some confusing scientific ideas. Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars Hard novel with a soft heart
As the blurb on the front cover suggests this really is hard sci-fi at its finest.

The novel opens with a rendevous between a man who turns out to be the mission... Read more
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2.0 out of 5 stars Dull prose, flat characters, with tiny gems here and there.
Having read several Sci-Fi Masterworks like the beautiful "The Stars My Destination and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Read more
Published on 25 May 2007 by C. E. Magos

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard sf with a soul
The fifty-strong crew of a colonisation starship hit a technical problem - they can't shut the drive off, so the ship will keep accelerating towards lightspeed, where the... Read more
Published on 27 Jan 2007 by Nicholas Whyte

5.0 out of 5 stars Grand in scale... almost visionary.
This story is quite large - not in pages - but in idea. At first I wasn't sure I could get past the first few pages, it was a bit dry and I was finding it a bit difficult to get... Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2006 by D. Martin

4.0 out of 5 stars The neo lost-at-sea novel
This is one stunning story, in concept and execution, detailing how a small crew of an interstellar starship react when they realise due to an incident during their voyage that... Read more
Published on 2 May 2006 by D. M. York

4.0 out of 5 stars Hard science, soft on characterisation
For those into the ultra hard science genre of SF as typified by Stephen Baxter, "Tau Zero" is the founding text. Read more
Published on 10 Dec 2003 by gigidunnit

4.0 out of 5 stars Tau very much!
This is an entertaining and highly-readable SF novel, original and imaginative.
Although the scenario of spaceflight-gets-into-trouble is a well-worn one in SF, this novel... Read more
Published on 26 Oct 2001

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