Dr Ian Stewart, professor of mathematics at Warwick University, is a recipient of the Royal Society's Michael Faraday Medal for furthering public understanding of science. A columnist for SCIENTIFIC AMERICA and frequent television commentator, Dr Stewart is the author of more than 130 papers of mathematical research and 60 books of popular science. Dr Jack Cohen currently teaches at Warwick University. He has participated in the production of numerous television science specials, notably 'The Natural History of an Alien' for BBC2.
As a world-killer-class comet plummets toward Earth, scientists discover that the moons of Jupiter have changed their courseDapparently guided by an alien intelligence. The planet's only hope for survival lies in a cooperative effort involving a renegade archaeologist, the man who ruined her career, and a strange youth with an uncanny ability to communicate with alien life forms. Stewart and Cohen have created a complex tale that combines hair-raising suspense with philosophical speculation to produce a topnotch story of first contact and personal redemption. This first novel by the coauthors of several nonfiction science titles, including The Collapse of Chaos and Figments of Reality belongs in most sf collections. Highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/00.] Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Though Stewart, a mathematician, and Cohen, a reproductive biologist, have each written popular science books (they coauthored The Collapse of Chaos), this is the first SF novel either has attempted, with generally positive results. In the 23rd century, after a period of antitechnological sentiment on Earth, a small sect of Tibetan Buddhists gains a singular foothold in space, colonizing the moon and building a high-tech habitat and ore-processing facility called Cuckoo's Nest in the midst of the asteroid belt. Interplanetary travel and commerce thrive for those willing to take the risk, like discredited archeologist Prudence Odingo. No one believes her claim of recovering 100,000-year-old wheeled artifacts from the ice of Jupiter's moon CallistoÄuntil one of the "wheelers" comes to "life." While the official research team is stymied by traditional scientific approaches, Odingo and her multitalented companions open communications with the intelligent, blimplike aliens they discover in great cities floating in Jupiter's dense atmosphere. Human contact leads to possibly catastrophic consequences for Earth. Although their characters and world-building lack believability, the authors wield scientific speculation with cheerful abandon, providing some real old-fashioned sense of wonder. Fans of hard SF authors Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle will get a kick out of Stewart and Cohen's SF debut. (Nov.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
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