Calculating God

by Robert J. Sawyer

Book Overview

Calculating God is the new near-future SF thriller from the popular and award-winning Robert J. Sawyer. An alien shuttle craft lands outside the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. A six-legged, two-armed alien emerges, who says, in perfect English, "Take me to a paleontologist." It seems that Earth, and the alien's home planet, and the home planet of another alien species traveling on the alien mother ship, all experienced the same five cataclysmic...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812580354
• ISBN13: 9780812580358
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.4" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

I could not put it down.

The start of this book made me smile. An alien arrives in Earth's not-too-distant future, and says, "Take me to your paleontologist." It's as if the alien doesn't know its line...But it does. This alien has arrived to tell humanity that on similar timeframes all of the major civilizations it has encountered so far have had the major evolutionary disasters (ie: when the Dinosaurs were wiped out, similar evolutionary extinctions happened on other planets in parallel). Therefore, the alien points out, a higher intelligence - God - must exist.The main character of this book, a paleontologist, begs to differ.This book is science fiction at its best. There is a scientific tone to the tale itself, but the story is more an extrapolation of philosophies and diverse viewpoints. As the plot with the paleontologist becomes more heart-wrenching (and let me tell you, folks, when Robert Sawyer decides to jerk your heart-strings, he does it with great aplomb), and as the alien characters become just that: incredible characters, you'll find yourself slipping, as I did, into the book.I didn't put it down. I picked it up, began to read, and didn't stop until I was finished, losing an entire evening to this fabulous blend of science fiction and philosophy. This is a style Sawyer does well: in "Flashforward," we debated free will, and in "Calculating God," we debate a higher order of intelligence. Get this, read it, and you too will fall into fandom of Canada's best SF Author.'Nathan

Difficult themes explored sensitively

So you're a scientist, a rationalist and an atheist. And fate deals you a cruel hand: you're only 54, but you've got terminal lung cancer. Just 1 year to live. Can you stay rational, and can you stay an atheist, while you face your own mortality? That's the human story in Robert Sawyer's CALCULATING GOD, and it works wonderfully. I hope Sawyer himself has never battled cancer but his story of someone doing so seems absolutely accurate to me. Of course there is also an SF story here, about aliens visiting Toronto and the search for scientific verificiation of the existence of God. It is a theme I have seen Sawyer touch lightly on before (in ILLEGAL ALIEN) but here he expands on it and it is captivating. What WOULD humans do if aliens showed up who thought they had proof for the existence of an intelligent designer? Sawyer explores that in depth, and he explores it well. A great book.

Fascinating speculations, very sympathetic main character

CALCULATING GOD is a terrific book. Sawyer's research is wonderful and far reaching. He has clearly gone beyond just popular science sources. The main character's struggle with cancer is the perfect subplot, for one does wonder how such injustice can exist. All Sawyer's characters come off well, alien or otherwise. I thought at first that the two fundamentalists were going to be given an unfair treatment, but they were seen being very competent at what they set out to do. And, as a Sikh, I must applaud Sawyer's use of a Sikh character in a nonstereotypical role. Very well done! I enjoyed the aliens very much, from the affable Hollus to the almost incomprehensible Wreeds. I do not know the Royal Ontario Museum, where Sawyer sets his book, but I do know the politics of other museums and what he writes has the ring of real truth about it. A fresh and welcome contrast to the ridiculous portrayal of how a museum really works in for instance THE RELIC by Preston Child. CALCULATING GOD should be enjoyed by science fiction readers (I loved it) and by those who don't read sf (my wife loved it as well).

No longer God vs Evolution, now God is evolution!

I have been debating this subject in my head and others for quite a while and I'm so glad I got to read such a novel as this to shed more light on both science and religion. Don't be afraid of the title if you believe this book creates a crusade in making the reader believe in God or to create a belief system, it doesn't (so you won't become Scientologist by reading it). It in all forms Science Fiction, but believable science fiction indeed. Two alien races come to Earth in search of a paleontologist. As it turns out every planets history in biology and evolution are extremely similar, almost identical. This fact, as the 2 foreign races believe, is the undeniable proof or "smoking gun" that the Universe was intelligently designed.A completely understandable (if you took High School biology) look through science, God and fiction. The book also focuses on the life of a dying Paleontologist, his friend a large arachnoid alien and a furry blue little 4 armed 1 eyed giant purple.... oh wait hehe. Well, you'll see if you read this book.Creationists and Evolutionists or Creative Evolutionists alike will adore this book because it is sensitive and explicative view into the existance of God and Evolution and how the two are interelated. I was so entranced by this book thatI finished it in a night. GET IT! Its a classic likely to fit into the realm of Arthur C. Clark's "Childhoods End" and "2001." It answers questions, doesn't lack ridiculously funny moments that "3rd Rock from the Sun" couldn't contend with. Its Religion, its Evolution; its a Revolution! (No Scientologists were harmed in the making of this review)

Excellent book tackles tough themes

I am always leery when I see the word "God" in the title of a science fiction book .... but I like Sawyer, so I bought this .... and like it too! The theme of evolution vs. creationism is a very touchy one .... but Sawyer handles it very very well. I liked the characters a lot too. The alien Hallus, the human being Jericho .... both were very believable and very sympathetic. And Sawyer knows his evolutionary science and palaeontology .... any book with the Burgess Shale fossils in it is fine by me! You won't be disappointed by this one.