Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Baen (2003), 338 pages
Description
In an America becoming repressive in the face of world tensions, Brad Clifford, a young mathematical physicist, had been virtually drafted from academia to work on defense projects. But Brad's true dedication was to bring about the unification of all fields and forces, and his theory was too wild for his superiors to take seriously. So he defied the political authorities and went AWOL to work with a fellow maverick scientist. They built the machine that his theory made possible - but the machine made all weapons impotent, and could either wreck the world or save it. And the Powers That Be wanted to control it for their own benefit......
Media reviews
Insgesamt gesehen handelt es sich bei Die Schöpfungsmaschine aber um einen spannenden Roman, der besonders in seinen physikalischen Spekulationen zu beeindrucken vermag.
User reviews
LibraryThing member bragan
An SF novel from 1978 set in a future -- well, a version of the mid-2000s -- in which the Cold War never ended and the world is threatened by a perpetual conflict between multiple superpowers. Scientific research is pretty tightly controlled and is supposed to be focused purely on practical
This is one of those hard SF novels where science is practically the main character, and scientific discovery is half the plot. In this case, the other half involves attempts to harness that discovery for fighting war or enforcing peace. That part manages to be both predictable and far-fetched at the same time, but there is a certain wish-fulfillment appeal in the way it all comes out.
As these things go, it's not too bad. Not if you're really interested in physics and can deal with paper-thin characters and entire chapters that consist of nothing but info-dumping, anyway. In general, I don't have much patience with that sort of thing these days, so I was a little surprised by the fact that this book, while not the world's most gripping read, didn't actually bore me to death. In fact, it was more interesting when it was all about the science and less so when it was about global conflict. Hogan clearly has a good grasp of the field, and the speculative new physics he proposes here is really quite clever, well-thought-out, and plausible-sounding. He also does a pretty good job of depicting the way science really works, as opposed to the laughably inaccurate Hollywood version. There's a bit of the thrill of scientific discovery here, too; there were moments when I found myself catching the implications of something and going, "Ooh, that's kind of cool!" Unfortunately, Hogan's careful research doesn't change the fact that, well, this was written in the 1970s. There's no getting around the fact that his nifty imaginary physics is missing out on 35 years worth of significant scientific developments, something that will be difficult for even the geekiest readers -- or perhaps especially the geekiest readers -- to ignore.
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military ends, but one scientist, working on the side, comes up with some ground-breaking new basic physics. While he regards it as purely theoretical at first, it turns out to have some powerful and astonishing applications.This is one of those hard SF novels where science is practically the main character, and scientific discovery is half the plot. In this case, the other half involves attempts to harness that discovery for fighting war or enforcing peace. That part manages to be both predictable and far-fetched at the same time, but there is a certain wish-fulfillment appeal in the way it all comes out.
As these things go, it's not too bad. Not if you're really interested in physics and can deal with paper-thin characters and entire chapters that consist of nothing but info-dumping, anyway. In general, I don't have much patience with that sort of thing these days, so I was a little surprised by the fact that this book, while not the world's most gripping read, didn't actually bore me to death. In fact, it was more interesting when it was all about the science and less so when it was about global conflict. Hogan clearly has a good grasp of the field, and the speculative new physics he proposes here is really quite clever, well-thought-out, and plausible-sounding. He also does a pretty good job of depicting the way science really works, as opposed to the laughably inaccurate Hollywood version. There's a bit of the thrill of scientific discovery here, too; there were moments when I found myself catching the implications of something and going, "Ooh, that's kind of cool!" Unfortunately, Hogan's careful research doesn't change the fact that, well, this was written in the 1970s. There's no getting around the fact that his nifty imaginary physics is missing out on 35 years worth of significant scientific developments, something that will be difficult for even the geekiest readers -- or perhaps especially the geekiest readers -- to ignore.
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Subjects
Awards
Seiun Award (Nominee — 1982)
Prometheus Award (Nominee — Novel — 1979)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1978-04
Physical description
338 p.; 4 inches
ISBN
0743435974 / 9780743435970