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(More customer reviews)One of the most daring authors in the field, Greg Egan may have just published his most ambitious and accomplished work yet. "Clockwork Rocket" brings readers a new kind of science fiction in which the laws of physics themselves are fictionalized.
Set in another universe where light does not travel at a constant speed but instead has a velocity that depends on its wavelength, Clockwork Rocket recounts the personal life journey of an inhabitant in this fictional universe. Born into a simple but loving rural family, Yalda eventually has an opportunity to go to school (not something that everyone gets to do in her society). The reader shares Yalda's experiences as she asks deeper and deeper questions about her world and how it all fits together. Along the way she becomes one of the eminent scholars of her generation. Egan skillfully describes some of the subtleties of scientific discovery and manages to impart a sense of wonder whenever Yalda finds and fits a new piece of the puzzle that is her universe.
The parallels between Yalda's society and western society are plentiful enough that we don't feel lost. (There's even an ancient philosopher, Meconio, to serve the role that our own ancient Aristotle serves in our world.) However enough differences exist to allow Egan some avenues for thoughtful social commentary. What makes this book unique is that it manages to accomplish the same thing with physical laws to provide a kind of "physical commentary"!
Egan has a gift for distilling mathematical ideas down to their essence and that gift shines brightly in this book. He manages to cover many of the essential parts of how our world works and (I think) does it better than any physics text book I've read. He then goes further by using these physical laws, true in our world and Yalda's, to build from them a physics that is not ours. The resulting physical system is simpler than "real" physics allowing the reader to experience the rushing sensation of going from high school to advanced graduate level physics in the space of only some 300 pages. It's like a "skydive for the intellect" and is immensely satisfying and thrilling. By the end of the story we haven't just been told a story but we've been guided through a new system of physics that, for all its weirdness, is simple and seemingly consistent!
If you've ever wanted to know what it might be like to discover something like Einstein's Theory of Relativity yourself then you'll definitely enjoy this book. If you're familiar with the history of science in our world then you'll appreciate when similar issues unfold in Yalda's. If you're just wondering what a universe with a different set of physical laws might look like then this book is for you.
And if this isn't enough for you there's also a host of interesting characters along the way; a world threatened by extinction; a massive emergency space travel effort to save the world; sabotage; intrigue; and a trip into the fourth dimension. Oh yeah, and there really is a clockwork rocket!
If all you are looking for is some easy prose that you can skim through and then forget in a couple of weeks then this book is not for you. (Might I suggest something in the "fantasy" genre?) "Clockwork Rocket" is a book to read, ponder, and reread. You will never forget it. You will use its lessons every time you look around our own world and wonder "Why do things happen *this* way?"
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In Yalda's universe, light has no universal speed and its creation generates energy. On Yalda's world, plants make food by emitting their own light into the dark night sky. As a child, Yalda witnesses one of a series of strange meteors, the Hurtlers, that are entering the planetary system at an immense, unprecedented speed. It becomes apparent that her world is in imminent danger - and the task of dealing with the Hurtlers will require knowledge and technology far beyond anything her civilization has yet achieved! Only one solution seems tenable: if a spacecraft can be sent on a journey at sufficiently high speed, its trip will last many generations for those on board, but it will return after just a few years have passed at home. The travelers will have a chance to discover the science their planet urgently needs, and bring it back in time to avert disaster.
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