061222 - Friday - Book reviews…
I’ve just finished the last book in Peter Watts’ Rifters Trilogy. To say I like them would be an understatement. But, saying why I liked them is probably more relevant.
The trilogy consists of the following books:
Now, how can a trilogy consist of four books? Well, when Watts wrote the third book of the trilogy, Behemoth, if ended up too long and the publishers forced him to divide it into two parts - strange but true.
If you can tolerate Science Fiction, then I highly recommend these books because they provide and excellent view into what our world’s future might look like. The story line, itself, is fictional and imaginative but the world he paints behind the story line is an excellent extrapolation of where today’s trends may well take us.
Like the better SciFi writers I’ve read in recent years, he has a background in science and the attitude of a generalist and these things deeply inform his work. He switches easily from biology to computer science to psychology and back again as he weaves.
I especially like the Notes and References section he includes at the end of these books. Many of the ideas he paints into his plot have a basis in the things science is revealing today.
Enjoy!
