false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172527986m/185826.jpg 185826 4 Humanity has spread to every star within 500 light-years of its half-forgotten origin, coloring the sky with a haze of habitats. Societies rise and fall. Incautious experiments burn fast and fade. On the fringes, less modified humans get on with the job of settling a universe that has, so far, been empty of intelligent life.The ancient starship But the Sky, My Lady! The Sky! is entering orbit around a promising new system after a four hundred year journey. For its long-lived inhabitants, the centuries have been busy. Now a younger generation is eager to settle the system. The ship is a seed-pod ready to burst.Then they detect curious electromagnetic emissions from the system's Earth-like world. As the nature of the signals becomes clear, the choices facing the humans become stark.On Ground, second world from the sun, a young astronomer searches for his system's outermost planet. A moving point of light thrills, then disappoints him. It's only a comet. His physicist colleague Orro takes time off from trying to invent a flying-machine to calculate the comet's trajectory. Something is very odd about that comet's path.They are not the only ones for whom the world has changed."We are not living in the universe we thought we lived in yesterday. We have to start learning the world all over again." 1105036 2005 Learning the World: a Scientific Romance total:118|5:17|4:49|3:42|2:9|1:1| 118 426 200 19 4 0 false false Sun Aug 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 10 08:04:27 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 10 08:15:54 -0700 2009
It turned out to be much more. The science stuff was done well, but even better was the social stuff. MacLeod's characterisation is great, whether of a 16-year-old human girl...more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Aug 09 20:45:33 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 09 20:53:04 -0700 2007
This is golden age science fiction – people in a spaceship, a new world, and a previously unsuspected a...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Dec 26 02:18:40 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 23 22:38:52 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 26 02:02:18 -0800 2007 Fall Revolution or Engines of Light series. It lacked the humor of Newton's Wake. While it did try to depict a political conflict between the interests of three different factions. as well as having humanity with the "great white burden" of civilizing the n...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 12 22:56:01 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 12 22:58:40 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Feb 14 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Dec 29 22:48:39 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 16 19:11:52 -0800 2009
At 300 pages it's short for modern SF novel. It's a little disappointing to get to the last 25 pages and realize a lot of interest...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jun 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 15:46:03 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 15:48:32 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Fri May 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 16:08:18 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 16:08:18 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Sep 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 08 11:30:57 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 11 09:56:36 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Aug 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 29 15:23:47 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 29 15:28:29 -0700 2008
it's a first contact novel between the shipfolk of the sunliner "But The Sky, My Lady! The Sky!" and a world called Ground. neither culture expects to meet the other - ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun May 10 13:56:45 -0700 2009 Sun May 10 13:58:01 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Wed May 20 12:33:10 -0700 2009 Wed May 20 12:33:10 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 27 18:10:13 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 27 18:28:09 -0700 2007
There's also a first contact story that doesn't go like you'd expect it to, and there ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 02 07:34:15 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 02 07:39:07 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Mar 16 19:50:20 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 16 19:52:50 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jul 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 27 07:00:36 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 17 12:23:05 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Thu Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Thu Oct 25 21:38:29 -0700 2007 Thu Oct 25 21:38:29 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 28 19:27:59 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 28 19:27:59 -0700 2007 2 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jan 11 19:22:16 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 11 19:22:38 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Mon Feb 18 09:15:27 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 18 09:16:18 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Wed Nov 18 08:32:05 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 08:32:05 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=185826