Asimov foresees the climate change debate29 May 2012tThe title of this book is a part of a longer title, which is used to split up the three sections of the book: Against Stupidity the Gods Themselves Contend in Vain'. I believe that that is actually an Ancient Greek saying, which is not surprising at all. Nope, as it turns out I am incorrect (thankyou Internet), it was in fact a saying of a German Poet named Friedrich von Schiller, but it is not the saying or the meaning of the saying that I really want to write about here, though I must admit that it is something that I can relate to because, in a way, it is true: even the gods themselves cannot deal with stupid people.tThis is the first Asimov book that I have read that deals with aliens, but then again Asimov never really wrote about aliens, and I suspect it is because he never really saw a need. His science-fiction explores ideas and concepts, ones that could be theoretically possible (such as the positronic brain, which is a device that allows robots to think, learn, and to grow) and it is quite possible that he saw aliens as being a little too speculative for his tastes. However, in this book we do have a taste of a non-human culture, and one cannot get more non-human than these aliens because they exist as three parts which at maturity come together to form a new entity. It is interesting because the middle section of the book, which deals with the aliens, has us follow one particular trinity to the point where they metamoph into the new form. tThe other interesting aspect of this book is about energy. Earth has discovered an infinite source of energy from a device known as an electron pump and it appears to be cheap, clean, and unlimited. However a scientist has discovered a flaw in the pump, in that quite subtly it is destroying the sun. However people either do not care, or simply write him off as a quack. The middle section is important though because it also deals with the electron pump and suggests that not only is the pump subtly destroying our universe, but it is destroying this second universe as well, and there is no way for them to be able to communicate with us to tell us what is happening.tAs I look back at this book I notice that the timing is quite impeccable simply because it was published at the beginning of the 70s, which was seen as the end of the twenty year bull market that began at the end of World War II, and the main reason for the end of this bull market was an event known as the oil shock. Up until this time, the United States believed that they had enough oil to last them for a very long time, when suddenly the tap was turned off by the Arabs (and that was namely due to the Israel problem). Suddenly they discovered that their almost unlimited supply was not as unlimited as they expected, and this sent shockwaves across the world.tYet in another was it is very prescient. Oil is our electron pump: it allows our society to function and without it we are in a lot of trouble. However, there are concerns being raised as to the effect of our dependence on oil and there are debates in the scientific community as to whether our over use of oil is destroying the planet (and I fall on the side of the argument saying that it is). In a way we are seeing the events in this novel being played out on the world stage as we speak. We are so dependant on oil that to suddenly stop using it would destroy our society however we cannot help but use it because we want our luxuries and there is no viable alternative (though since I wrote this there has been a significant increase in the use of renewable energy). Further, we consider that the problem is not ours and leave it for our children and our grandchildren to solve. One thing we should remember: we have only one Earth and if we don't look after it, then it does not matter how rich we are we are all in the same boat.
I just reread this book for the umptieth time over many years, and was struck once again by what a fine piece of work it is. This is one of the best pieces of pure science fiction every written. It isn't the best STORY, of course -- Asimov himself has better ones, as do many other science fiction authors from the post WWII era. But only a handful of other stories such as Forward's Dragon's Egg come to mind as being such excellent science fiction.I am a physicist, mind you. The amazing thing about this book is that it was written decades ago and yet STILL I find the underlying physical premise plausible. This is one of the earliest, and best, multiple universe theory books out there, and actually implicitly postulates physics that explains e.g. the big bang by means of a directed coupling across those Universes. They are differentiated, for example, by the strength of the strong nuclear interaction. Places where it is weak do not experience a big bang, but as they couple to universes with a stronger one, the strong interaction "bleeds through" and eventually tips a pre-bang state over to where it explodes.The story itself isn't bad. Some of the characters are overdrawn -- the bad-guy physicist is a bit too petty, the rest of the world's scientists a bit too pusillanimous to be strictly believable, and yet we all know at least SOME people who are actually like the caricatures. The inhabitants of the second universe who make up the middle third of the book are almost as spectacular as the underlying physical theory -- very, very different and yet not entirely implausible. Again, just as much fun as the cheela in Dragon's Egg.At this point, some of it is period piece. Nudity on Luna, the Heinleinian, slightly repressed sexual tension that is taken to an entirely romantic conclusion, the politics. At the time, perhaps, daring -- now merely quaint. Still, this is a book I'd definitely recommend to people wanting to explore the roots of science fiction as portrayed by one of its Grand Masters.rgb
Do You like book The Gods Themselves (2000)?
Who knew that a novel written in 1972 could touch on global warming, woman empowerment, lax views on different sexual orientations, and foreign policy...all with very pristine and at times technically beautiful scientific writing.Some of my favorite quotes from this year come from this book:"Now then, young man, don't ask me to stop the Pumping. The economy and comfort of the entire planet depend on it. Tell me, instead, how to keep the Pumping from exploding the Sun.""There are no happy endings in history, only crisis points that pass"This book should be turned into a play.
—Spiro
What’s a man supposed to do? Here is a novel that is greatly revered by critics and fans alike. It received both the Nebula and Hugo awards for best novel (1972 and 1973 respectively). Asimov himself identified this as his favourite. And yet…I normally really enjoy Asimov’s works. Foundation, especially, is one of my favourite SF novels. I am going to go against what appears to be the norm by not giving this novel four or five stars. It’s a novel I respected rather than enjoyed.I can certainly recognise The Gods Themselves as a good Science Fiction novel. It’s no surprise it won awards. The science is hard enough to break rocks, even in one sixth of gravity. No doubt using this book to teach some of the fundamentals surrounding atoms and isotopes would be a good ploy for a science teacher. This is Asimov in full-lecture mode. There is also a lot of dialogue as characters use one another as sounding boards to drive the science home. To borrow from the comment below: it’s a bit wordy.And perhaps most importantly. The novel opens with an apocalyptic notion of epic proportions. The universe is going to explode! Or, more specifically, our “arm of the galaxy is going to be turned into a quasar”. You’d think this garnered some sense of urgency. You’d be dead wrong. The story plods along at its own pace, focusing on relationships and theories to a mind-numbing extent. But what about the imminent end of all things? Oh, well, I suppose we’ll get to that later. In the end it would have been more satisfying if the universe did explode, just to shut up all these people.Now before I get crucified. I liked the novel (hence the three stars), I just didn’t like it quite enough. In fact I feel that it is far inferior to Foundation. That is just my two cents’ worth, and looking at the current rate of exchange it probably isn’t much at all.
—Dirk Grobbelaar
I read Issac Asimov's The Gods Themselves a few years ago while lying in the sun on a beach so I'm not sure if any positive feelings I have are linked to the quality of the novel or my tan. The novel is divided into three parts. The overall story revolves around aliens from a parallel universe (the para-Universe) who exploit a difference between the physical laws in their para-Universe and our Universe: in our Universe plutonium 186 decays into tungsten 186 and in the para-Universe tungsten 186 turns into plutonium 186. The exchange leads to a clean, apparently never-ending nuclear reaction. However, let's just say this exploitation will not have a negligeable impact on our Universe. Part 1 takes place on Earth where Frederick Hallam discovers the exchange to the para-Universe and is thrust into fame and power. I enjoyed the beginning of the novel which had a lot of mystery, cool science and promise. Part 2 takes place in the para-Universe. The two levers for this novel are the energy exchange idea and the exploration of a truly alien universe, both in physical laws, and weird beings. Part 2 is clearly where Asimov wanted this novel to make its mark. Most people seem to enjoy it so I don't want to rain on any parades, but I was dissapointed and my interest really dipped here. I just wanted to get to the end to figure out the mystery aspect but I had little interest in the sexual and social norms of the Rationals, Emotionals, and Parentals. This very well might be a realistic look at what such creatures might be composed of in such a parallel universe, but it's not one I would choose to visit. I was bored frankly. Part 3 wraps it up. On a re-read I might enjoy this as others on this site have but I have little motivation to pick it up again.
—Kane
