Book Review: Rollback
Written by Mark Mortimer
The departures screen illuminates the stark, disillusioning truth. My connecting flight's 3 hours delayed. Ahh, what is life but for living in the confines of a great, enclosed artificial space where I can watch countless others scurry from one portal to another. Letting luck rule, I meander to the nearest news stand. Fingers slowly trace along the spines, trying to sense the faintest presence of interest. They stop, almost automatically wrapping themselves about the sole piece with promise, the science fiction novel Rollback by Robert Sawyer. This time, fortune did add a nice silver lining to what might have been a very dull wait.
Sawyer's novel has most elements that intrigue philosophers and scientists alike. Mainly, it's got a success to the SETI search and the aliens show themselves to be quite bright. But this is no first contact. Rather, Sawyer has the two worlds communicate across a very long time span. Certainly tricky but not impossible. A light bound message can complete a two way trip in about 40 years. Hence, it's possible and providential that one person can discern the alien language, compose a reply and be around to read the alien's response. Yet, Sawyer doesn't stop there. He adds life-lengthening techniques to enable some of his characters to have the potential for much longer lives. With this, the messages become both personal and representative of all Earth. In all, by dropping aliens and the fountain of youth into the lap of an astronomy professor from the University of Toronto, he really connects the science to the fiction for this story.
And, I must admit, I quite enjoy reading a story where I can place most of the locations. Having spent a number of years in Toronto, I know of the university, the subways, many of the mentioned streets and the wonderful weather! With Sawyer placing his action in this locale, I felt right at home. But as comfortable as that made me feel, Sawyer's story did just the opposite in raising the hairs on the back of my neck. From it, I was wondering how and even if we should communicate with aliens. Or, how would we accommodate rejuvenation where parents become physically younger than their grandchildren? These questions get woven into a busy but pleasant fictional story of the family whose one member is the communications wizard and the remainder hang on for all they're worth.
Perhaps you too might have a few hours at hand. Or maybe you're curious about how science can really make a normal life, extraordinary. In either case, I recommend Robert Sawyer's book Rollback. From it, the reader will readily see that science can combine with fiction to make a compelling and interesting story.
Read more reviews or purchase a copy online from Amazon.com.
Filed under: Book Reviews
Related stories on Universe Today
Comment policy: Be nice and brief. Don't advertise your stuff, or promote your personal theories. We'll delete any comments that break these policies. Click here for more details.
March 27th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I thought Rollback was dreadful, an old man's sex fantasy pretending to be a science fiction novel.
March 27th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
…Perhaps, but that doesn't make it any less reasonable or likely.
We can't know at this time if, where or how many ET civilizations may exist. But it's becoming increasingly certain that human aging will come under control (including reversibility) later in this century.
In that case, there are men out there already who will have become old men by the time such technologies become avaulable. If they are wiling and able to use them (and if nothing else, the self-preservation insticnt says they will), they will become physiologically young men again.
And yes, most of them will proceed to ACT like young men again.
What a shock.
(Oh, ant al the above pretty much applies to women, too.)
March 27th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Sounds like Sawyer was heavily "influenced" by the old Twilight Zone episode where an elderly couple want to undergo a procedure to place their minds in young, healthy bodies.
But only one of them could afford the very
expensive procedure, so the husband did it
and it was a success. However, he quickly
realized that his wife could never share in
his happiness and extended life, so he had
his mind put back in his old body.
Sawyer's not a bad writer, but he is no giant,
and frankly I wish sometimes he would just write an essay on his philosophical musing than stick them in a novel where most of the characters just talk and talk and talk.
March 28th, 2008 at 4:33 am
Ive read the book last year. I just picked it up because I thought the plot was pretty interesting. Was hooked till the very last page. IMO its a really good book.
March 28th, 2008 at 7:47 am
How depressing. A published author that mangles
the english language with:
"My connecting flight's 3 hours delayed."
as if "flight's" is a contraction for "flight is".
Yikes.
March 28th, 2008 at 9:15 am
In all fairness, a lot of people would say it that way, instead of speaking out the word is.
Y'all come back now, y'hear?
March 29th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
"I thought Rollback was dreadful, an old man's sex fantasy pretending to be a science fiction novel"
…Perhaps, but that doesn't make it any less reasonable or likely.
We can't know at this time if, where or how many ET civilizations may exist. But it IS becoming increasingly certain that human aging will come under control (including reversibility) at some time in this century. Possibly in time for some of us.
In that case, there are men out there already, who will have become old men by the time such technologies become avaulable. If they are wiling and able to use them (and if nothing else, the self-preservation instinct says they will), they will become physiologically young men again.
And yes, most of them will proceed to ACT like young men again.
What a shock.
Sales of the various erectile dysfunction medications tends to show that guys will go a long way to regain that particular function, so just what would you expect to happen when it becomes possible to halt and reverse all the other physiological declines that generally come with age?
(Oh, and all the above pretty much applies to women, too.)
Besides…
(spoiler warning)
The main character is such a man, who is in the massively unenveiable position of having a wife (wihtout whom he would not have even had a chance at restored youth) for whom the 'Rollback' treatements aren't working, and is continuing to decline. Other fiction has shown that immortality (or even an approxamation thereof) can be a lonely thing when you (or a small group of others) are the only ones that have it.* More than once you will observe friends and loved ones age and die. The man in 'Rollback' is clearly emotionally conflicted regarding his needs, and his faithfulness and loyalty to his wife. (And there's the small matter of what to do with himself in other ways. Most of his skills have become obsolete and he barely relates to those of the age he now appears to be.
That kind of angst is not MY idea of an 'old man's sex fantasy.' But it CAN make for good drama. I believe Rob (and in the interests of full disclosure, I should note that I am slightly aquainted with Mr. Sawyar) acheived that.
* Some of the best examples are:
"The Boat of a Million Years" by Poul Anderson
"Requeium for Metheseulah" an original Star Trek episode
The entire 'Highlander' series