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Rollback Sci Fi Essential Books Robert J Sawyer Books

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Rollback Sci Fi Essential Books Robert J Sawyer Books

This is the first time I've given a Robert Sawyer story less than five stars, so I suppose I should explain. This is still a better read than most of what's out there. It's just that Sawyer has set the standards so very high.

The term "rollback" refers to a complex and outrageously expensive medical procedure to reverse aging. Dr. Sarah Halifax and her husband Don are offered the procedure by Cody McGavin, a multi-billionaire robot manufacturer because he's passionately interested in SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Sarah was the one who had decoded the first ever radio message from Sigma Draconis II, 18.5 light years away. Now she's 87 years old, and a reply has just been received. McGavin is convinced she is necessary to the interpretation of this new message, and Sarah will not agree to undergo the rejuvination procedure unless her husband has it too.

Fair enough, but unfortunately, it works on Don and does not work on Sarah. When doctors work out the likely reason, they realize there is nothing to be done about it. So there are Sarah and Don, looking more like grandmother and grandson than husband and wife. Much of the story relates to this aspect of their lives, and the translation of the message takes rather more of a back seat than I would have liked.

Still, the whole social implications package of rejuvination is fascinating read, and does not proceed quite the way I might have written it. But then Sawyer is a way, way better writer than I am.

Still, I'm hereby begging for a sequel: the epilogue is a tiny taste of what should be quite a good next book.


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Rollback Sci Fi Essential Books Robert J Sawyer Books Reviews

Great book great seller
I've loved every book Robert J Sawyer has ever written, including this one. I won't add any spoilers, but this particular book kept hitting me in the gut and making me think of hypothetical futures. Amazing craftsmanship.
The first book of his I read was Hominid. It was very good and enjoyable, how unfortunate for me. 2-3 times a year, have books shipped to me overseas, and my last one had three of his. The Humans was a cheap, "Quick, write a sequel to cash in" book. The Golden Fleece left me feeling I'm the one who was fleeced.

Now I've read Rollback. All Sawyer did was take a very superficial view at a bunch of social issues while dropping as many product names and cultural tags as possible. It looks like the book was written with only one thing in mind movie option.

The only reason I didn't give this only one star is Sawyer has a good sense of humor.

I usually think books are much better than movies. However, this is one you should wait for on DVD...
I bought two books after reading online reviews and this was the really good one. (I won't name the disappointing one here.) The contrast was an education. Rollback engaged me immediately. It presented intriguing characters, an important sets of problems, and it revealed the travails and solutions in a page-turning fashion. I finished it in about two and a half hours and was happy enough to peg the author, Robert Sawyer, as one I should start collecting. So my Sawyer collection started here.
In their late 80's and in the year 2048, Don and Sarah Halifax undergo a "rejuvenation," intended to restore them to a youthful state of 25 years old. This involves a relengthening and stabilization of their telomeres, restoration of their DNA to its original pristine state, and a few touch up procedures. Unfortunately, it only works for one of them. Over a period of weeks, one partner moves toward youthful vim, vigor, and hormonal excess, while the other continues the relentless decline of old age. As one resumes the past, taking the stairs three steps at a time, the other seeks the help of grunts just to exit the easy chair. The incredibly expensive rejuvenation was undertaken for the sake of continuity of contact with another lifeform 18 light years away.

What could the aliens possibly want? One of the Halifaxes had become famous for deciphering the aliens' coded message in 2009, had become a "pen-pal," and knew that they were interested in moral issues. When a society becomes technologically advanced enough to use radio contact, the ability to destroy itself is not far away. They had faced and surpassed this issue. Now they are curious about what other worlds have done to solve ethical dilemmas and they have a research plan that involves earth.

Meanwhile, the Halifaxes have their own ethical dilemmas and there is food for thought on many levels. Anyone interested in aging will like this book, as will those interested in Sawyer's guess as to what technology holds for the future. Universities are a little passe for several reasons - among them, that chips with instant information access makes memorizing facts unnecessary. Computers are refined enough to have these chips implanted in the brain, relegating much of the hardware to the trash bin. As usual for Sawyer, governments are kept out of the equation. Character development is unusually good and the book becomes harder to put down with each chapter. An even better than average Sawyer book!
I am a big Robert Sawyer fan, and have read most of his novels. This one is OK but not one of his best. Usually his books are thoughtful, often with a wry humor. This one is certainly thoughtful, raising some interesting issues about aging, values, morality, and what other intelligent species in the universe might have on their minds. These issues are typically raised in conversations among his characters, kind of a classic SciFi writers' device (Heinlein and Asimov used it extensively, for instance). In this book, it seems over-used; every couple of chapters there is a flashback scene involving such a conversation. It really slows down the plot development. Even so, much of the speculative "SciFi" rings plausible, and the ideas discussed make you think, as you are carried along on a too-slow but still engaging plot. Anyway if you like Sawyer, it's worth reading. To me, his "so-so" is still orders of magnitude beyond the average SciFi writer's best.
This is the first time I've given a Robert Sawyer story less than five stars, so I suppose I should explain. This is still a better read than most of what's out there. It's just that Sawyer has set the standards so very high.

The term "rollback" refers to a complex and outrageously expensive medical procedure to reverse aging. Dr. Sarah Halifax and her husband Don are offered the procedure by Cody McGavin, a multi-billionaire robot manufacturer because he's passionately interested in SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Sarah was the one who had decoded the first ever radio message from Sigma Draconis II, 18.5 light years away. Now she's 87 years old, and a reply has just been received. McGavin is convinced she is necessary to the interpretation of this new message, and Sarah will not agree to undergo the rejuvination procedure unless her husband has it too.

Fair enough, but unfortunately, it works on Don and does not work on Sarah. When doctors work out the likely reason, they realize there is nothing to be done about it. So there are Sarah and Don, looking more like grandmother and grandson than husband and wife. Much of the story relates to this aspect of their lives, and the translation of the message takes rather more of a back seat than I would have liked.

Still, the whole social implications package of rejuvination is fascinating read, and does not proceed quite the way I might have written it. But then Sawyer is a way, way better writer than I am.

Still, I'm hereby begging for a sequel the epilogue is a tiny taste of what should be quite a good next book.