Robert J. Sawyer is a good writer, though not one of my favorites, and when MVPL didn’t have as many books that caught my fancy I grabbed Calculating God, released in 2000. Essentially an examination of the clash between religion and science, a subject Sawyer also looks at in the Neanderthal Parallax, I’m not sure where he actually comes down on the matter though I suspect the sort of Deus ex machina ending is a clue.
Plot: Friendly alien scientists (Forhilnors and Wreeds, beings from two different planets) come to Earth to research our geological and biological history. Their worlds are only a few decades beyond us in technology but have uncovered a sixth fundamental force in nature (we only know about five) and this has convinced these rational beings that God, at least in the sense of an intelligent designer, must exist. Finding the commonalities between their worlds and Earth should provide the rationale for why.
I don’t quite understand why but Sawyer, a Canadian, includes a subplot where two American religious nuts–fresh from assasinating a doctor who runs an abortion clinic–plan to blow up a priceless exhibition of Burgess Shale fossils at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto where our protagonist, Dr. Thomas Jericho, runs the Paleontology department. Anyway, it doesn’t take up more than a dozen pages and isn’t more than a distraction even when the plan executes.
The other unfortunate aspect, much more frequently present, is that Jericho has terminal cancer. I guess the illness is intended to put more pressure on the lifelong athiest, making his reaction to the explanations of the undeniably rational Hollus, the Forhilnor he’s assisting, more poignant. Sawyer piles it on a bit much, though, adding a quietly religious wife and late in life adopted son too.
Of course he’s a competent craftsman and where someone less skilled would have me wondering why this wasn’t written as, say, an essay for a philosphy journal but Calculating is pretty readable. Just not exciting or terribly original.
recommended? not sure
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