We Read Science Fiction

Earth by David Brin was nominated for a Hugo in 1991 and chronicles a large cast of characters through a number of ecological issues and crises. It’s a 50-year forward prediction (now only 30 years away) of the consequences of technology and commerce on the environment as he saw them in 1988. I enjoyed the book and am glad I read it. My eco-sense has been sharpened somewhat, as has my love for mother Earth. However, the story itself is (understandably) preachy, heavy and complicated, and for the first two hundred pages I was worried the novel was really a collection of dozens of different short stories set in the same future. In the end though the threads do eventually come together and are woven into a single cohesive story…. barely.

Summary: An interesting read, especially in light of the recent events at the Large Hadron Collider and the rising green awareness that pervades modern daily life. The interesting characters and settings saved this heavy and preachy novel from being simply another eco-manifesto. A 3/5 in 2008, but should have been a must read in 1988.

The Wikipedia page for Earth outlines a number of predictions that Brin made that have come true. Some of the links/proofs are tenuous at best, but the overall accuracy is still impressive. If 30 years from now the world really is in the sorry state that this book predicts, maybe I don’t really want to save for retirement.. or maybe I should retire now and enjoy it while I can.

The main plot of the book is only a lose skeleton upon which to hang Brin’s predictions of ecological disaster. Basically, a group of scientists have created a micro black hole that they allowed to escape and while looking for it, they discover a larger one that has been eating away at the inside of the Earth and growing for years and is on the verge of reaching the tipping point. They put all their brains together and search for ways to “push” the second black hole out of the Earth’s core before it’s too late. However, the number of pages relating directly to this plot are few, maybe a third of the book total. The rest is stories are about ocean cities, glass ark pyramid zoos, privacy invading technology, food wars, water shortages and scientific research.

SPOILER ———
Lastly, my biggest beef with this book is that Brin envokes the “Aliens did it” argument for no good reason. He spends endless pages setting up the fact that humans can make black holes — deliberately — then tells the reader that we’re not to blame for our biggest ecological challenge yet?! If all the other woes of the Earth are hung on humanity’s ill-advised, short-term raping of the world, why are we magically exempt from this one?
END SPOILER ——

In the end, you will probably enjoy the book if you have enjoyed Brin’s other works, but please don’t start with this one, it’s not his best work. Alternatively, if you’re still questioning the parasitical, destructive impact we’re having on our home world and need to read about it one more time, this is as good a place as any for your daily dose of doom and gloom… Since it’s still pretty accurate 20 years after it was written. For everyone else, pick up Brin’s Uplift double trillogy instead. You’ll have more fun and it’ll let you escape for a few minutes from the fact that we’re all going to die when the seas rise, the sun bakes and the smog chokes us all.