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The Terminal Experiment

3.68 of 5 stars 3.68 · rating details · 1,438 ratings · 85 reviews

To test his theories of immortality and life after death, Dr. Peter Hobson has created three electronic simulations of his own personality. The first has all knowledge of physical existence edited out, to simulate life after death. The second is without knowledge of aging or death, to simulate immortality. The third is unmodified, a control. Now they are free. One is a kil...more

Paperback, 333 pages

Published May 1st 1995 by Harper Prism (first published 1995)

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The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

Nebula Award for Best Novel

38th out of 50 books — 135 voters

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Mar 17, 2013 Luna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ma quanto � bello questo libro?? di pi� !! Cosa succede quando una persona sensibile assiste, come assistente, all'espianto di organi su una persona data per morta, ma che si scopre che morta non �? e viene comunque "uccisa" per portare a termine l'operazione? Peter diventa esperto in ingegneria biomedica, per costruire una macchina che serva a capire quando una persona muore "davvero", e da li c'� una scoperta sensazione, che non solo rivoluzioner� il mondo (dei furbi e delle coscienze pulite)...more

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Jun 27, 2012 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Terminal Experiment

I have yet to read a bad Robert J. Sawyer tale! True, I have not read a lot of them – the WWW trilogy, Flashforward, Mindscan – yet the flavor of these later stories pretty much began with his first Nebula award-winning novel, The Terminal Experiment.

As the author explained in his preface, he wrote this in the 1990s during the infancy of the Internet and the World Wide Web and did not want to update the story, yet this does not majorly affect the relevancy of the story nor...more The Terminal Experiment

I have yet to read a bad Robert J. Sawyer tale! True, I have not read a lot of them – the WWW trilogy, Flashforward, Mindscan – yet the flavor of these later stories pretty much began with his first Nebula award-winning novel, The Terminal Experiment.

As the author explained in his preface, he wrote this in the 1990s during the infancy of the Internet and the World Wide Web and did not want to update the story, yet this does not majorly affect the relevancy of the story nor the cool entertainment value!

First Impressions: I was impressed with Peter Hobson, a man who had it all – a great wife Cathy, who he dated since school, a great job and a best friend – a Hindu scientist whom he dearly trusted – and whose world comes crashing down!

No spoilers here, but Peter’s scientific mind works to solve a major personal crisis – he first of all discovers through his research what appears to be the human soul – he creates a device called the Soul Wave Monitor that can spot it near the moment of death.

What’s cool about this is Sawyer’s involvement in seeing how a world would respond to a scientific proof of the human soul, the religious and personal implications are amazing.

What’s disappointing is that the author did not play this up very much. It fell to a subplot! His focus was on the personalities of Peter Hobson – who has his brain copied and downloaded! These personalities escape into the World Wide Web with disastrous consequences!

Also the story is very “Canadian-centric.” I spent some little time looking up the places and events of Toronto during the story!

Bottom Line: You can see remnants of this kind of Web tale in his later WWW trilogy. Here, we see a peak of “our” future through the eyes of 1990s science (I like the idea of printing out your newspaper at a newsstand and his prediction of electronic readers), the moral implications of his soul detector and wraps up the story nicely in the never-ending saga of affairs of the heart, jealousies and tragedies as he searches for an answer to his life as it crashes around him!

Not Sawyer’s best novel, but an easy read that will get you thinking. Recommended.

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May 09, 2011 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

“But you know, Peter, this wouldn’t necessarily simulate true life-after-death. It’s life outside the physical body—but who knows if the soulwave carries with it any of our memories? Of course, if it doesn’t, then it’s not really a meaningful continuation of existence. Without our memories, our pasts, what we were, it wouldn’t be anything we’d recognize as a continuation of the same person.”

“I know,” said Peter. “But if the soul is anything like what people believe it to be like—just the mind, w...more “But you know, Peter, this wouldn’t necessarily simulate true life-after-death. It’s life outside the physical body—but who knows if the soulwave carries with it any of our memories? Of course, if it doesn’t, then it’s not really a meaningful continuation of existence. Without our memories, our pasts, what we were, it wouldn’t be anything we’d recognize as a continuation of the same person.”

“I know,” said Peter. “But if the soul is anything like what people believe it to be like—just the mind, without the body—then this simulation, at least, would give us some idea of what that kind of soul would be like. Then I could have something intelligent to say the next time I get asked that ‘What’s life after death really like?’ question.”

***

Robert J. Sawyer’s The Terminal Experiment attempts to solve the (potentially) unsolvable by using science to determine the existence of the soul. Dr. Peter Hobson has stumbled upon one of history’s great discoveries and, using a device of his own creation, has managed to capture a cohesive electrical field as it leaves a recently deceased human body. This radical proof of concept propels him to the front of the scientific community, and the world’s stage. Not content with his limited understanding of the electrical field that may or may not be the soul of the departed escaping to the afterlife—if there is such a thing—Hobson goes a step further and creates three digital, web-based simulacrums of his self: one to simulate life after death, one to experience immortality, and a control duplicate of his personality, minus the one and only thing that might differentiate a human from a machine—a soul.

It’s not long before the experiment escapes Hobson’s control and one of the simulacrums dabbles in murder most self-serving. From this point forward, the book carries on with the steady pace of a thriller, each chapter bleeding seamlessly into the next.

As a thriller, The Terminal Experiment is exciting, easy to follow, and at times offers a genuinely unique approach to the somewhat heavy theological topics at its centre. Where the book doesn’t succeed to the same degree, however, is with the depth of examination into these fascinating concepts.

There’s a certain amount of distance at work in the way in which Sawyer has constructed his narrative. The discovery of the soulwave is monumental—world changing, as a matter of fact. As it should be—science and religion have never been the most amicable of bunkmates, despite sharing the sheets more often than either would like. Throughout the book, Sawyer peppers chapter endings with brief interludes—web and multimedia stories offering snippets of information, details on how the existence of the soulwave and the device that detects it have permeated the deepest levels of government, religion, science, and the medical community. That’s without mentioning the re-examination effect it’s had on the population at large—the soulwave helping to determine exactly when a patient has died, so that their organs are not harvested prematurely; the soulwave not appearing in foetuses until nine weeks, changing how some interpret the abortion laws, or seek to change them for the “betterment” of mankind. Through all this, Hobson has become a celebrity and a potential murder suspect, yet his status never feels as if it has reached the heights it should. A discovery of this magnitude would bring so many to his feet, begging for a piece of the pie, while others would devote their lives and careers to proving him wrong; he’d be worshipped by those who want so desperately to believe, and hunted by those that fear what such a discovery could do to the status quo they’ve worked so hard to maintain in order to delegate their power. There would be riots, mass suicides, death threats coming out of the woodwork.

Yet in the wake of what could be one of the greatest discoveries in the history of science and man, the world feels… silent. Sure, the soulwave has changed some lives—given solace and comfort to some, fear of retribution for their crimes to others—but it hasn’t changed the world. Even the experiments, the simulacrums themselves feel oddly confined. Murderous as one of them may be, Hobson has managed to collect potential data on what it might feel like to experience immortality, or to know the existence and purpose of an afterlife, yet no steps are taken to redirect the criminal actions of one of simulacrums by forcing the knowledge of their incredible existence into the public’s cone of sight. It feels, on a philosophical level, as if the existence and collected data within all three simulacrums, given the recent discovery of the soulwave and what it means for humanity, would be invaluable, whatever the cost of acquiring it. Criminal research into a soulless simulacrum, coupled with the soulwave detector, could expand how people with criminal tendencies are treated and understood.

Much as I enjoyed The Terminal Experiment, it does feel like a missed opportunity to dive so much deeper into the way the entire world would shift following such a discovery—especially when it’s considered that it is science, the bare-knuckle opponent of religion since time immemorial, that’s responsible for answering one of the most important theological mysteries of our time. While a terrific thriller, The Terminal Experiment treads frustratingly close to being something that could truly stand on its own. (less)

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Oct 30, 2010 Rob Bradford rated it 2 of 5 stars

I must be missing the reason that this book, as opposed to other books by Sawyer, won a Nebula.

Characterization isn't really what Sawyer does. I can overlook that fault in science fiction if the story and 'what-if' premises are interesting enough.

Positing the existence of a demonstrable soul, well, all right, that's interesting enough, and the beginning fairly flew along. The story, after that, turns into a murder mystery. I liked Illegal Alien, also by Sawyer, and also a murder mystery, very...more

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Jul 13, 2010 R. Michael Litchfield rated it 2 of 5 stars

So I am on a bit of a Robert Sawyer kick. He's won a potluck of awards (Hugo, Nebula, canadian prick, etc) and NBC made a series from from one of his books (Flashforward). I read Golden Fleece (his first) a couple days ago and was ok but not great, 3-4 interesting ideas glued to an acceptable narrative structure but they didn't really seem completely mesh. He returns to several of those ideas and instead of hanging them on a journey scaffold he uses a murder mystery one here.

Essentially a story...more

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Jul 09, 2010 Patricia Rockwell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another wonderful Sawyer thriller that makes you think. There's a killer on the loose, but unfortunately, it's not a real person. It's one of three computer-simulated persons. Which one is it and will our hero Peter Hobson figure it out before the computer version of himself kills again?

Along with this engrossing murder mystery, lies a host of attendant intriguing social, political, religious, and philosophical questions. They stem from the main character's creation of a monitoring device that p...more

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Feb 12, 2012 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, robert-j-sawyer

Kind of what I expected to come from Sawyer; a novel about science with hints of an afterlife. What I like best about his novels is that they extrapolate on what is current in technology in a logical way and explores the consequences.
Life extension seems to be one of the recurring themes in his works and, it played a minor role here too. A lot of the debate around the Soulwave centered around the fact that immortality would prevent the soul from leaving the body.
Also at the heart of this is a sp...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Linda Branham Greenwell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, sci-fi, fiction

Dr. Peter Hobson, a scientist, discovers that there is a violet electrical "something" in the brain that escapes at the moment of death - he interpret this electrical something to be the soul. Of course, this discovery opens all kinds of discussion from the most scientific to the most extreme religious groups.

Then Dr. Hobson wonders what it is like to "be" a soul - a soul minus a body. So, Peter and Dr. Sarkar, a Muslim schoolmate and friend, decide to create simulations of Peter's brain to test...more

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Aug 27, 2011 Geoff rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is my second Robert J. Sawyer book and I have to say he's going to be one of my favorite science fiction writers if all his books are this good. Scientific theories are thrown all around this story and it still has such a human element to the story which makes it a treat. Sawyer really knows how to develop characters so you know them in-and-out and you feel for them.

The story is about two extremely smart people, who are friends, and who each develop an amazing technology that are somehow ge...more

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Nov 27, 2011 Nicholas Barone rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Terminal Experiment won Robert Sawyer the Nebula Award in 1995 (it also won the Prix Aurora award). The book tells the story of Dr Peter Hobson - a successful Canadian biomedical engineer. Peter comes into the public eye when an improved EEG of his invention is able to detect what many people believe is a person's soul leaving the body at death. The ramifications of this discovery and its effects on society provide for some interesting speculation, but they only serve as the background for t...more The Terminal Experiment won Robert Sawyer the Nebula Award in 1995 (it also won the Prix Aurora award). The book tells the story of Dr Peter Hobson - a successful Canadian biomedical engineer. Peter comes into the public eye when an improved EEG of his invention is able to detect what many people believe is a person's soul leaving the body at death. The ramifications of this discovery and its effects on society provide for some interesting speculation, but they only serve as the background for the meat of the story.

Peter's personal life is a shambles. He was devastated by his wife's recent admission that she had been unfaithful. Throughout the book, Peter struggles to come to terms with this information.

Peter's professional life is a whirlwind of activity. Everyone wants an interview with the man who proved the existence of the soul. Inevitably, these interviewers ask Peter what life after death is like - a question that Peter, despite his discovery, is entirely unqualified to answer. Peter is a curious man, however, so he comes up with an experiment that he hopes will answer some aspects of the question. Peter's friend, Sarkar, runs a company that has perfected a process that lets them make an electronic copy a person's mind. Peter and Sarkar make three copies of Peter. They edit one so that it has no memory of mortality. They edit the second so that it has no memory of having a physical existence. The third is left unedited as a control. They hope to interview the copies after they have "lived" for a while to see what insight they have to being immortal and being a non-physical being.

Unfortunately, Peter is still angry over his marital problems, and therefor his copies are, too. despite their electronic existence, at least one of them finds a way to act on his anger.

The book plays out as a mystery/thriller as Peter tries to get control of his creations. Sawyer's prose, story, and characters are very engaging. There isn't a lot of action, but I still found myself having difficulty putting the book down thanks to the many intriguing speculations Sawyer's story raises.(less)

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Mar 11, 2012 Scott Thrift rated it 3 of 5 stars

A really enjoyable read for a lot of reasons:
I gather it was written in the mid 90s. It was set in 2012, so it was immensely interesting to see what 90s Sawyer thought today was going to look like. He anticipated smart houses (though I guess Bradbury had already done that.) Also portable GPS, though his didn't give turn by turn directions, just a MapQuest -like interface on the car dashboard. Also a TiVo like program that searched for programs on TV and records them, though, hilariously, it reco...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Tony Schirtzinger rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

As with Robert J. Sawyer's other books, I found this book very enjoyable. This one had an interesting extra: It was written a number of years earlier but set mostly in 2011, with the final portion being December 2011 which was when I actually read the book. I spent much of my time while reading this noticing whether current events mentioned in the book were correct. I've heard others say how good he was at getting things right (like the name of the Pope in 2011,) but I kept noticing the ones tha...more

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Nov 08, 2012 Bettie marked it as to-read

Blurb - The Terminal Experiment is a science fiction novel by Canadian novelist Robert J Sawyer. The book won the 1995 Nebula Award for Best Novel and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1996.

An experiment has gone terribly wrong. Dr. Peter Hobson has created three electronic simulations of his own personality. One will test life after death; another, immortality. The third one is the control unit. But now all three have escaped from Hobson's computer into the worldwide electronic...more

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Feb 26, 2012 Rae Gee rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads

The Terminal Experiment is one of those books I've had sitting around for a long time. It's one I never thought I'd enjoy.

However, once picked it up wasn't going to touch the shelf! An incredible story, fast paced and extremely likeable. Written in 1995 and set in 2011, it's interesting to see what the author had created for a period 20 years in the future. Some of what he's written is already here. Some might be here. Some might still be the figment of our imaginations, or already here, albeit...more

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Jun 13, 2009 Jamie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

I loved Flashforward by Sawyer. This book was good, but not quite up to the same quality as that one. Still I enjoyed it a lot.

The Terminal Experiment took a little while to set up the story. The beginning wasn't uninteresting, just not specifically about what it proposed to be about. It did weed its way into that about halfway through and I ended up being satisfied.

This book begins with a scientist in Canada who develops technology to assess when a person actually dies (not just when the doctor...more I loved Flashforward by Sawyer. This book was good, but not quite up to the same quality as that one. Still I enjoyed it a lot.

The Terminal Experiment took a little while to set up the story. The beginning wasn't uninteresting, just not specifically about what it proposed to be about. It did weed its way into that about halfway through and I ended up being satisfied.

This book begins with a scientist in Canada who develops technology to assess when a person actually dies (not just when the doctors say they do)to assuage his fears after a traumatic organ harvesting experience. Surprisingly, this new technique captures the soul of his terminal participant leaving her body. The existence of a verifiable soul shakes the world.

In the meantime, the scientist also teams up with a friend of his, an expert in artificial intelligence, to conduct another experiment. Obsessed with immortality and life after death, the scientist copies his own mind into a computer. One copy is removed of all neural connections that have to do with fear of death or aging. This copy simulates what it would be like to be immortal. The second copy is removed of all connections having to do with physical sensations and preoccupations. This simulates life after death. The thrid copy remains an exact copy of the scientist to act as a control.

Pretty soon, things go awry when people start turning up dead. The three simulations have escaped into the vast expanse of the internet and one of them is a killer.

Like Sawyer's other book that I've read, there runs a common theme of how science can dramatically change the world. What things would change if people knew scientifically that a soul was real and that it left your body at death to go somewhere? Abortion issues? Religion? Animal Rights? And what would happen if there was a version of yourself that felt immortal? Or felt detached from the physical world?

Props to Sawyer, he's very good at exploring socially significant scientific issues in an engaging way.
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Mar 12, 2012 Vince rated it 4 of 5 stars

At it's core, The Terminal Experiment tells a human story of a damaged marriage. Around this, Sawyer handles big SF themes: when life becomes human in the womb, the existence and nature of the soul, and the experience of immortality through both prolonged biological existence and uploaded/artificial intelligence.

Sawyer introduces too many themes to deal well with all of them. His protagonist is well-realized, but the other characters do not emerge as complex multi-faceted people. Yet, Sawyer en...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Rugg Ruggedo rated it 4 of 5 stars

The first time in a long time I wasn't reading a book that is part of a series. Robert J Sawyer is one of those writers,if you read science fiction, that you are aware of even if you have never read anything by him. When I picked this book up I was sure I had. A vague memory of a story about Mars read in the 80's? Turns out that was a mismemory. However, reading a book written by multi-award nominated author is never really a bad thing. Seeing that this is also the book that he actually won the...more

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Aug 05, 2010 Aaron (Typographical Era) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1995, nook

Robert J. Sawyer novels are like popcorn, they're light & fluffy and they make a great snack. The yummy movie theater butter and salt on top would be the glorious bits of nerdy science he sprinkles throughout his tales.

The Terminal Experiment is yet another novel about identity (I seem to be reading a lot of these currently). Peter's wife cheats on him, so he does what any man in his position would do. He has his brain fully scanned and uploaded into a computer and then creates three distin...more

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Oct 21, 2007 Nicholas Whyte added it

http://nhw.livejournal.com/722787.html[return][return]This is not quite as bad a book as I had been led to believe. The prose is often leaden - in particular, the cringe-worthy opening passage which I think should be used as a model of how not to write in classes for impressionable young writers, and the numerous info-dumps idicating that the characters have read all the available scientific literature up to 1994 (which is a shame as most of the book is set in 2011). What appears to be the kille...more http://nhw.livejournal.com/722787.html[return][return]This is not quite as bad a book as I had been led to believe. The prose is often leaden - in particular, the cringe-worthy opening passage which I think should be used as a model of how not to write in classes for impressionable young writers, and the numerous info-dumps idicating that the characters have read all the available scientific literature up to 1994 (which is a shame as most of the book is set in 2011). What appears to be the killer idea of the first half of the book - that science can detect the soul leaving the body at death - is simply forgotten for the last third of the narrative, which plays the rogue-AI's in the net cliche as a murder mystery, leading to an unconvincing resolution. The detective character herself violates standard operating procedure by burbling her theories about the crime to one of the key suspects.[return][return]But apart from that, the characters were not too unbelievable and the exploration of the issues of artificial intelligence and the scientific basis of the soul not too undergraduate (with all due respect to my undergraduate readers). And he does predict a future Pope Benedict XVI. (Of course, whether the present Pope will still be there in 2011 is another matter.)[return][return]Still, it is pretty surprising that this won the 1995 Nebula Award for Best Novel. I confess I haven't read any of the other nominees, and if this was voted better than them I don't really intend to. (Actually, I may have read Beggars and Choosers by Nancy Kress - I know I read one of the later books in the series, and was seriously unimpressed.) The Hugo for the equivalent year went to Bujold's Mirror Dance, which is the start of the superb four-book climax to the Vorkosigan saga (as continued in Memory, Komarr, and A Civil Campaign).[return][return]This is not the worst Nebula-winning novel I have read - that title goes to either The Quantum Rose by Catherine Asaro or The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov - but it is certainly in the bottom four. I can't decide if I like it less than Neuromancer, because I can't remember anything about the Gibson book, even though I know I have read it several times.(less)

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May 31, 2013 Devin Partlow rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was so cool. I know a book is getting a full 5 star rating when I can't put it down.

I really love a book that stimulates the mind and this is definitely fits the mold. As crazy but intellectually stimulating as it sounds to write about artificial copying of a person and then modifying it to simulate an immortal and a soul... And then make it believable!! the author did just that.

The only loose end here is that the author still thinks we'd have VCR's in 2011, but the book is still great...more

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Sep 30, 2011 Jon rated it 2 of 5 stars

Reading Robert J. Sawyer's other work helped convince me of problems with the Hugo process. Since I was happier with the Nebulas I was surprised to see one of his novels on that list.

I will give the Nebulas this -- they gave the award to a 2-star book rather than a 1-star one. But, man, this guy can't write as well as he thinks he can.

"Pseudo was about fifty, and as slim as the Leafs' chances in the Stanley Cup."

Not so good stuff.

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Jan 06, 2013 Dominick rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, crime-fiction

This SF thriller is a fairly good read. Peter Hobson discovers the "soul," an electromagnetic field that departs the body at death, which leads to experiments in uploading copies of himself to explore what the afterlife might be like, which leads to murder. . . I wish it hadn't turned into a murder mystery, but the ideas are compelling and it's a hoot for Canadians, given all the Toronto-specific references.

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Dec 01, 2008 Leif rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

I won't give it away, but I'm kind of proud of the fact that I was able to guess the culprit just by reading the back cover of the book. Even if you're able to figure out the ending before starting, it's worth reading. The substance of the book is in WHY the murderer did what he did, and why the innocent copies were innocent. And there was a little bit of an unexpected twist there at the end.

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Mar 06, 2012 Joanne Elder rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked up this book as I was curious what makes a Hugo award winning book. There's no doubt Sawyer has talent. It was clever and imaginative and moved along at a good pace. Not the best sci fi book I've read, but very high on my list. I love the fact that is was set in my home town of Toronto. I'd highly recommended it to sci fi fans.

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Jul 04, 2011 Tina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Excellent early novel by Robert Sawyer. The plot involves a scientist who in his quest for isolating the "soul wave" has 3 copies of his neural net digitized. Of course as expected, the simulations escape onto the www and take on a life of their own. The technology and verbiage was a little bit dated but not in a manner that detracted from the novel.

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Dec 17, 2012 Shakir Bahzad rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction

A very interesting and intriguing science fiction novel I'm reading now. What if science found an unequivocal evidence of a soul leaving the body at the moment of death? What are the ramifications of such an important discovery? If the soul is caught leaving a body, can't it be detected the moment of entry? How does this define abortion? Does it say anything about the afterlife? Well researched novel and great discussions. This is my eighth novel by this Canadian science fiction writer. He is of...more

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Dec 04, 2008 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy

This is a relatively early book in Sawyer's distinguished career. Which version of Peter Hobson has been committing murders?

This is an entirely engrossing, story, a sci-fi murder mystery. As I have come to expect from reading all of Sawyer's later books, the story makes you think about a variety of philosophical and pragmatic issues that lie behind technology. In this case the issues arise when the main character creates a device that can capture a "soulwave", that energy that leaves a body when...more

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Oct 20, 2012 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

Great idea for a story, and very well delivered... for the most part. This was the first Robert J. Sawyer work I've read, and I'll certainly read more. His storytelling is engaging, and characters relatable. Unfortunately, I thought the ending of The Terminal Experiment was rushed and lacked depth.

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Dec 05, 2011 Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: megan-s

This book combines two of my favourite things - science fiction and murder mysteries! What a fantastic story this is. If you're looking for a good mystery this is it. If you're looking for a good science fiction book this is it. This books is certainly not a brain burner but it is a good read.

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Mar 14, 2013 Olexiy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Неймовірно, як автору вдалося поєднати мелодраму, штучний інтелект, пошуки Бога і детектив в одному творі. Особисто мені роман сподобався, він сповнений вдалих передбачень майбутнього (роман опублікований в 1995), які ми спостерігаємо сьогодні на кожному кроці.

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About Robert J. Sawyer

Robert J. Sawyer is one of Canada's best known and most successful science fiction writers. He is the only Canadian (and one of only 7 writers in the world) to have won all three of the top international awards for science fiction: the 1995 Nebula Award for The Terminal Experiment, the 2003 Hugo Award for Hominids, and the 2006 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Mindscan.
Robert Sawyer grew up in...more Robert J. Sawyer is one of Canada's best known and most successful science fiction writers. He is the only Canadian (and one of only 7 writers in the world) to have won all three of the top international awards for science fiction: the 1995 Nebula Award for The Terminal Experiment, the 2003 Hugo Award for Hominids, and the 2006 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Mindscan.
Robert Sawyer grew up in Toronto, the son of two university professors. He credits two of his favourite shows from the late 1960s and early 1970s, Search and Star Trek, with teaching him some of the fundamentals of the science-fiction craft. Sawyer was obsessed with outer space from a young age, and he vividly remembers watching the televised Apollo missions. He claims to have watched the 1968 classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey 25 times. He began writing science fiction in a high school club, which he co-founded, NASFA (Northview Academy Association of Science Fiction Addicts). Sawyer graduated in 1982 from the Radio and Television Arts Program at Ryerson University, where he later worked as an instructor.

Sawyer's first published book, Golden Fleece (1989), is an adaptation of short stories that had previously appeared in the science-fiction magazine Amazing Stories. This book won the Aurora Award for the best Canadian science-fiction novel in English. In the early 1990s Sawyer went on to publish his inventive Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, about a world of intelligent dinosaurs. His 1995 award winning The Terminal Experiment confirmed his place as a major international science-fiction writer.

A prolific writer, Sawyer has published more than 10 novels, plus two trilogies. Reviewers praise Sawyer for his concise prose, which has been compared to that of the science-fiction master Isaac Asimov. Like many science fiction-writers, Sawyer welcomes the opportunities his chosen genre provides for exploring ideas. The first book of his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, Hominids (2002), is set in a near-future society, in which a quantum computing experiment brings a Neanderthal scientist from a parallel Earth to ours. His 2006 Mindscan explores the possibility of transferring human consciousness into a mechanical body, and the ensuing ethical, legal, and societal ramifications.

A passionate advocate for science fiction, Sawyer teaches creative writing and appears frequently in the media to discuss his genre. He prefers the label "philosophical fiction," and in no way sees himself as a predictor of the future. His mission statement for his writing is "To combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic."

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