2006 Book #38 - Eon by Greg Bear
I haven't been reading science fiction as much as I used to when I was growing up. I think part of it is that I used to rely on my brother to parse the best books for me and I just picked up what he had lying around. So in an attempt to get in more scifi into my reading I picked up this book. I've recently read his "Darwin" series and I've read some other writings of his and I always liked the way he wrote. The premise to this story sounded intriguing, so I picked this up. Here's the summary from the back cover:

The 21st century was on the brink of nuclear confrontation when the 300 kilometer-long stone flashed out of nothingness and into Earth's orbit. NASA, NATO, and the UN sent explorers to the asteroid's surface...and discovered marvels and mysteries to drive researchers mad.

For the Stone was from space - but perhaps not our space; it came from the future - but perhaps not our future; and within the hollowed asteroid was Thistledown. The remains of a vanished civilization. A human - English, Russian, and Chinese-speaking civilization. Seven vast chambers containing forests, lakes, rivers, hanging cities...

And museums describing the Death; the catastrophic war that was about to occur; the horror and the long winter that would follow. But while scientists and politicians bickered about how to use the information to stop the Death, the Stone yielded a secret that made even Earth's survival pale into insignificance...

This was a pretty thick book and between that and the amount of science in it, it took me a while to get through it. To be honest I was having some problems picturing some of the inside of the Stone that Bear went to much trouble to construct and describe. Part of it is that I actually don't usually spend a lot of time trying to imagine a location, but rather worry more about what's being said or what's taking place.Some of the science I was zipping past, mostly because it was astronomy and physics and especially the latter was never my interest.

One thing I had to keep in mind about this book was that it has a copyright of 1985. That means that it was written while still in the middle of the Cold War. There are bits in there such as the fact that the lost civilization is of English, Russian, and Chinese speakers which makes it very obvious. Of course there's also the Death which at the time was what every person in civilization most feared. What if the Superpowers ignored the idea of M.A.D. and just went for it?

That's one of the best things of this novel, I think. It brings to mind a lot of questions about what is civilization and what is humanity. Plenty of writers have done it, but scifi being one of my first genre loves, I always most appreciate those types of social ponderings when in that type of setting. Not that it's a real plot spoiler, but a large part of the story includes people in the Thistledown who consider themselves human, but have existed in a time so far removed from us that it brings into question how we, modern man, would label these beings. Would we still consider them to be human? What characteristics make only us human if they're not?

I like that Greg Bear didn't pull any punches and threw in something like the Death in there. Most books or movies always have some heroe(s) jump in at the 11th hour and save the world. What if there's no one like that to do it for us? How will we save ourselves (from ourselves)?

A very recommended read especially if you like scifi.