Customer Reviews

Timescape (S.F. Masterworks)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Timescape's plot centres around an ecological disaster in the late 1990's. Scientists and a British government official, Peterson, are working with tachyons (particles which move faster than the speed of light) in an attempt to send a morse code message to another scientist, Gordon Bernstein, who is working on a similar project in 1963.

The structure of the book is pleasing: chapters flit between past and present, emphasising Benford's move away from a Newtonian concept of time as a "flux" .

These ideas are developed further within the plot and to Benford's credit his use of physics is very clearly explained. I am not a scientist, and I found his ideas clear cut and thought provoking.

Timescape's faults lie in its length: it should have been edited by 50 pages to make it tighter. Although Benford spends ample time developing his characters they are from government or academic backgrounds. To his credit Benford places the character of Renfrew in the 1998 chapters and Bernstein in the 1963 sections. Amidst the world of the self-centered Peterson and the academic jealousy of Lakin, Renfrew and Bernstein emerge as credible heroes: the very subtlety of their characters (the understated theme in the book of both being outsiders,both having had to earn their places at their universities rather than gain them through favouritism) lends them realism.

Benford's book is good but slightly overlong: an excellent example of the diversity of style inherent in intelligent science fiction. It is also a good advertisement for the excellent Millenium Masterworks SF series. I wonder if the publishers would consider the long out of print "A for Andromeda" as a companion piece to Benford's book?

I'm a big fan of Arthur C. Clarke, mainly because I prefer realistic sci-fi to the kinds of major imaginative flights seen in much of the genre: and this is why I enjoyed Timescape. The story is completely believable - the idea of using the tachyon particles to signal back in time is wonderfully original and grounded in credibility, and there is (for once) an intelligent discussion about the normal problems associated with time travel - the creation of a paradox. The characters are also refreshingly well-developed for a sci-fi novel, and the ecological disasters that threaten the earth of the future (actually the past now - the book was written in 1980) is also totally believable. This doesn't have the obvious excitement of travelling to meet Attila the Hun, or of a cyborg trying to assassinate a man whilst still a child - but the moment when one of the investigators discovers for certain that the message has been received in the past is totally thrilling. Only word of warning - the physics can be hard to follow at times (I got lost more then once) although the gist of what he is saying is always clear. Well worth a read - and may well appeal to those who aren't big sci-fi fans. If you like Clarke, or Contact, you'll enjoy this one.

Perhaps if it had been half as long, the book would have been twice as good.

For anybody who complains that Science Fiction struggles to gain respect because of poor development of characters, I offer this book. The characters are uninteresting and actually take away from some of the Physics ideas and concepts of this book. I suppose we were supposed to relate to the human side of this story, but that could have been done quite as well and with about 100 pages or so less.

Perhaps the inside dealings of the characters' every day lives was done purposely. For the science in this sci-fi book was wonderful and the idea was great. So much so that the inclusion of the meanderings of the characters every day lives served as filler which in turn acted as a form of building suspense.

My recommendation...read the book, but skip over certain sections. They don't add to the book, but on the other hand they don't take away from it either. Otherwise its a good sci-fi offering.

Let the tachyons flow.

I'd read a lot of negative reviews of "Timescape" beforehand, but I went ahead with it anyway and I have to say it was pretty damn good.

OK, a lot of the sidetracking (dinner parties and long walks ad infinitum) was unnecessary, but it wasn't unentertaining. The science was solid and well-explained, though nothing truly mindblowing.

All in all, the sort of book you'd take home to meet your parents.

Cult film director Roger Corman once said, "There isn't a film in existence that wouldn't benefit from twenty minutes' worth of cuts". Okay, so we are talking about books and not movies, but this neat aphorism would seem to be remarkably relevant when referencing Greg Benford's technically accomplished yet painfully overwrought Timescape.

A quick synopsis of the story before we proceed:

It's the springtime of 1998 and trouble is afoot. Yes, those damnable scientists have been playing God yet again with their bioengineering tomfoolery, thus conveniently condemning the entire planet to thoroughly depressing ecological oblivion (will these eggheads ever learn?).

Deep within the sleepy halls of Cambridge University, John Renfrew is attempting to send a faster-than-light message, via the use of tachyons, back to 1962, where Californian postgraduate Gordon Bernstein is tinkering around with advanced particle physics.

Renfrew's goal is a simple one: to prevent the ecological catastrophe by telling the people of the past about the plight of the people in their future.

A worthy pursuit to be sure and one that, in my opinion, really shouldn't take much more than two hundred pages to document. Unfortunately for the reader, Mr. Benford is one of these contemporary SF writers who are totally oblivious to the word 'pacing' and the phrase: less is more.

At 400+ pages, this text is far too long; and any genuinely interesting plot developments have the life choked out of them by seemingly endless bouts of mind-numbing characterization.

Not that I have a problem with the creation of three-dimensional protagonists of course, it's just that Benford's attempts appear to go above and beyond the boundaries of overkill, and truth be known, much of it isn't all that good anyway.

To begin with, many of his characters appear to be hopeless stereotypes: Renfrew the typically idiosyncratic, and reserved Englishman; Marjorie his twittering horticulturist wife; Greg Markham the ultra-confident Yank smoothie (no doubt packing some nylons and a couple of Hershey bars); and Peterson, the string-pulling Machiavellian lothario.

The latter deserves special attention for his (preposterous) 007esque ability to take horizontal advantage of any woman who walks within earshot of his predatory charms, irrespective of whether they are happily partnered or not. Wasn't it Nietzche who said that when faced with death, human beings rush to procreate? Well, it seems that the author is in agreement with his assessment.

Quite frankly, Peterson appears to be the compensatory fantasy for every science boffin that ever struggled to get the girl, in fact, the entire book reads as a scientist's compensatory fantasy. Gone are those pesky thick-brained politicians with their deceitful antics and inane 'governments'; no the future (invoking the tropes of 50's pulp SF) will be run by scientific oligarchy, making scientific decisions - messing just about everything up in the most scientific manner possible

Now, my apologies if it appears as if I am totally dissatisfied with this novel because this is not the case. Indeed there are several positives to be gleaned here, and it would be unfair not to give mention to the book's intriguing insight into the unglamorous realities of scientific discovery and university politics. Not to mention Benford's ability to evoke fairly convincing imagery of humanity's whimpering descent into oblivion.

Peterson's departure from the story is particularly haunting, and this is arguably the book's strongest and most memorable chapter.

Unfortunately, the 'juicy bits' just don't arrive fast enough, and for much of the book you are left wondering just how these braniacs can spend so much time painfully missing what would be patently obvious to a carpet-hugging toddler.

Final verdict: an interesting premise heavily diluted by languid tedium.

This book was recommended to me, but, as I began to read the first chapter, I began to wonder why. The story starts with an unconvincing British family breakfast scene straight out of a 1950's BBC drama. I kept expecting Mr Chumley-Warner to walk in! Luckily, towards the end of the chapter, the scientist left the breakfast table and went to work where the plot got going.

The plot is that scientists are trying to contact the past to change an environmental catastrophe in the present, but they themselves are unsure whether that is actually possible.

I reallly enjoyed the plot, but, as other reviewers have pointed out, there are a lot of unnecessary scenes - many of them involving the irritatingly unrealistic family that I've already mentioned. These domestic scenes aren't relevant to the plot and can be skipped (I wish someone had told me that!). On the other hand, the drawn out storyline could be seen as an accurate picture of the timescales and frustrations involved in scientific discovery.

Some reviewers have criticised this book for allowing inconsistencies and paradoxes in the timeline. I think the reason people are disappointed is that most sci-fi that tries to be at all scientific sticks to one particular theory of time travel, but there are in fact a number of genuine scientific theories and some do allow situations that on first reflection appear paradoxical. Benford is a professor of physics and, as an astonomy graduate myself, I can state that the physics is sound. The final chapter explains the apparent inconsistencies using genuine scientific theory and, earlier in the book one of the scientists begins to realise what is happening when he reads a scientific paper by Gott. This is a genuine paper and Gott is a physics professor at Princeton.

If you want a more in depth explanation of the theory there are a number of books available. I would recommend Gott's 'Time Travel In Einstein's Universe' which is suitable for the layperson.

For me, it was a delight to read a time travel novel that followed my preferred theory whereas most sci-fi sticks to the self-consistent universe theory. I thought the scene with the Kennedy assassination was particularly clever.

This is no fast & easy read. It's also one where it is very easy to miss the point. And the point lies in the human element and the very human part of the plot.
There's continual contrast here between the characters on a dying earth and those in an earlier era. The science-fictional theme is, obviously, time-travel or rather the communication through time.

This is a book to be patient with. It's necessary to accept the characters, not dismiss them as dull and uninteresting. The characters are people like you and me who are facing their challenges in the best way they can, same as you and me. These challenges placed against a cosmic type of fate therefore become significant.

This book gives a deep look at life itself through the depiction and contrast of the working life where the characters in two different time periods are dealing with mind-boggling events on the one level and on the living of their personal lives on another.

This book isn't for an action and adventure fan. It's one which presents concepts that will stretch your mind, and at the same time show how everyday life complexities are part of the picture.

If you allow yourself to become absorbed in this book, you'll find much to think about, both on intellectual and on personal levels.

I did have one fault with the book. It begins in 1998, and I would have liked to see it end in 1998 showing the changes in the primary characters as well as the development of those who we meet in the 60's.

I prefer realistic SF to the kinds of major imaginative flights of fancy seen in much of the genre: and this is why I enjoyed Timescape. The story is compelling - the idea of using the tachyon particles to signal back in time is wonderfully original and grounded in credibility, and there is an intelligent discussion about the normal problem associated with time travel - the creation of a paradox. The characters are also refreshingly well-developed for a SF novel, and the ecological disaster that threatens the earth of the future (actually the past, now - the book was written in 1980) is largely believable. My one criticism is its length - a tighter edit (losing 50 or so pages) would have helped the pacing - and that loses it one star. Still highly recommended, though.

This book was written in 1980 and despite the fact that half the novel is set in the late 1990's, the novel has held up well over time.
The concept of the novel is that the future of the Earth is one of environmental catastrophe due to the unforeseen effects of pollution, in which a scientific group based in Cambridge try to send warning messages into the past using tachyons, subatomic particles that travel faster than light. A second research group based in La Jolla in 1962 begin receiving what they initially perceive as interference in their resonance experiments. Gradually the truth dawns on them that this is some type of encoded message. They struggle to understand where the signal is coming from, what the relevance of it is, and above all to be taken seriously by the scientific community.
The novel has the feel of a SF book written by a scientist, exploring some heavy concepts in physics around particle physics, the nature of time and paradoxes based upon time manipulation. The science is interesting but difficult to follow in places. The book is really very prescient concerning environmental issues, and has a reasonably credible plot for the genre. The author writes quite well and develops the characters involved in the various research groups. He particularly well captures the environment of competition and rivalry in academia, which gives the novel a realistic feel.
On the critical side though, the novel does sag a little in the middle sections and in my view would benefit from a bit of shortening. I couldn't really believe in the character of Ian Peterson. I wonder if the author, whom I assume is a scientist, was letting off a bit of steam over civil servants who often control the purse strings. Also, it does rather fizzle out at then end, almost as if the author couldn't really deliver a creative conclusion.
A thought provoking novel which despite its faults is well worth reading for the scientific SF enthusiast.

There was a Japanese gameshow I remember watching when I was young, 'Endurance' I think it was called. Well this book felt like the text equivalent of this. Pages and pages of talking about Tachyons and Distillation units and paradoxes, nothing actually happening, just talking, talking, talking. The relationship stuff is the only thing which is mildly interesting, but I don't want Mills & Boon, I want some Sci-fi to read...!!!
This was yet another book from the so-called 'SciFi Masterworks' which has been hit and miss as I stumble trough them all. I'd recommend ditching this, and get yourself 'The Star's my Destination' or 'The Forever war'....!!!!