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Voyage to Alpha Centauri: A Novel
| Title | Voyage to Alpha Centauri: A Novel |
| Writer | |
| Date | 2024-11-25 06:28:51 |
| Type | |
| Link | Listen Read |
Desciption
Set eighty years in the future, this novel is about an expedition sent from Earth to Alpha Centauri, the star closest to our solar system. The Kosmos, a great ship that the central character Neil de Hoyos describes as a "flying city", is immense in size and capable of more than half light-speed. Hoyos is a Nobel Prize winning physicist who has played a major role in designing the ship.Hoyos has signed on as a passenger because he desires to escape the seemingly benign totalitarian government that controls everything on his home planet. He is a skeptical and quirky misanthropic humanist with old tragedies, loves, and hatreds that are secreted in his memory. The surprises that await him on the voyage—and at its destination—will shatter all of his assumptions and point him to a true new horizon.Our fascination with the near-angelic powers of new technology, its benefits and dangers, its potential for obsession and catastrophe, raises vital questions that this work explores about human nature and the cosmos, about man's image of himself and where he is going —and why he seeks to go there. Read more
Review
I pre-ordered this book in anticipation of another outstanding philosophical thriller. I was NOT disappointed. It is written in the form of a journal which, like a letter novel, can be more difficult to read than most books. However, it's narrative was surprisingly cohesive and I was pulled into the story which is entwined with philosophy. As with Michael D. O'Brien's other novels, action is tied so closely with philosophy that it requires some thinking. It is well worth the effort, and I hope the author is at home writing another one. I gave it five stars, because it was deep and, considering the form and subject matter (which is serious, even scary), it is fairly easy to read. Read it to the very end! Every part is important, including the epilogue and the author's not. They will lift you up and give you hope. Read it!Update: I read it again! This time read it on my Kindle after reading his biography. I plan to reread Island of the World next, because I miss things the first time around. Also,I didn’t know that he went there because he had a strong readership for his other books and was inspired to write about Croatia.
