An alien shuttle craft lands outside the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Out pops a six-legged, two-armed alien, who says, in perfect English, "Ta...
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Dec 16, 2009
amireal
rated it: 
Wow.
No. Seriously. Wow.
This guy? Deep.
Sawyer challenges a lot of assumptions in this book. About god, about evolution, about astronomy and about paleontologists.
"Take me to your paleontologist." Once again, Sawyer does aliens in a way that makes them alien in such perfect ways.
This book goes to the edges of philosophy and beyond and it was a very interesting and challenging ride to be on. Wow.
It does at times read More...
No. Seriously. Wow.
This guy? Deep.
Sawyer challenges a lot of assumptions in this book. About god, about evolution, about astronomy and about paleontologists.
"Take me to your paleontologist." Once again, Sawyer does aliens in a way that makes them alien in such perfect ways.
This book goes to the edges of philosophy and beyond and it was a very interesting and challenging ride to be on. Wow.
It does at times read More...
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May 04, 2011
Stephen
rated it: 
4.5 stars. Most of this book is a solid 5 star effort that I thought was incredibly well done. The central plot involves a representative from a highly advanced alien culture arriving on Earth to review our fossil records and demonstrating to an atheist anthropologist actual proof of the existence of God. It is a well written, deftly plotted and extremely clever spin on the "intelligent design" theory and was a lot of fun to read.
The story loses one star (or at least a hal More...
The story loses one star (or at least a hal More...
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Jan 05, 2009
Zinta
rated it:
Usually, if I sense an alien coming, I run. In movies or books, anyway. Beasties with six legs and eyes on wands, flying saucers and such... not my thing. But good writing, in any genre, is always my thing. There is so much to learn and understand in solid reality that I wish no escapism, the latter wasting precious real time for matters of value and substance ... but when science fiction keeps enough of its six legs firmly planted in issues we face in substantiated reality, even as it waves its
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Sep 26, 2007
Deanna
rated it: 
If you're a fan of Science Fiction, chances are that you'll like this book. I'm not really a Sci-Fi fan, but it was recommended to me by my nephew who IS a Sci-Fi fan and loved this book. Knowing I'll read just about anything, he suggested I give it a go. It took me about 2 months to finally finish this book, reading many other books in between. I learned a few things reading this book (none of which I can remember now lol). I enjoyed the story, it's a good story...but the Sci-Fi mumbo jumbo was
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Nov 28, 2008
Larrirosser
rated it:
I think Robert Sawyer and I have something in common...we tell stories to figure out what we really think. In The Neanderthal Parallax he tells the story of a universe without a god, and in Calculating God, he tells the story of a universe with a god. I guess I'll have to finish this book to decide which one I like better.
So far, the character of Hollus isn't as deep or well drawn as Ponter Boddit, but the premise is intriguing and the voice of palentologist Thomas David Jerchico is More...
So far, the character of Hollus isn't as deep or well drawn as Ponter Boddit, but the premise is intriguing and the voice of palentologist Thomas David Jerchico is More...
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Jan 24, 2011
Brandon
rated it:
I enjoyed reading this book. I always had the urge to read one more chapter before putting it down. Sawyer presents a very intriguing outlook on the different potential roles for a god in our universe and does so with his usual mix of story telling and science.[return][return]My number one complaint about this book is the amount of name dropping. People do not say things such as "I saw an interview on CTV". I get that this book takes place in Canada, but the number of times a Toron
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Jan 06, 2012
Si
rated it:
This is the second book I've read by Robert Sawyer, the first being Factoring Humanity.
Calculating God was almost an aborted read. Sawyer sets a nice tone initially, but then I barely made it through a constant stream of pop culture references and then a brief diatribe on creationists vs. evolutionists and how the former are basically unintelligent people and the latter have it all figured out, though any good scientist will tell you, "No, we haven't figured it all out. We hav More...
Calculating God was almost an aborted read. Sawyer sets a nice tone initially, but then I barely made it through a constant stream of pop culture references and then a brief diatribe on creationists vs. evolutionists and how the former are basically unintelligent people and the latter have it all figured out, though any good scientist will tell you, "No, we haven't figured it all out. We hav More...
Dec 23, 2011
James
rated it:
The science fiction literature includes an immense variety of styles and approaches for ideas. Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer is a science fiction novel that I would categorize as philosophical.
The novel uses the trope of contact with aliens to explore cosmological ideas that intrigue thoughtful persons whether or not they are interested in science fiction. It takes a contemporary setting (in Canada) and describes the arrival on Earth of sentient aliens. The bulk of the novel cove More...
The novel uses the trope of contact with aliens to explore cosmological ideas that intrigue thoughtful persons whether or not they are interested in science fiction. It takes a contemporary setting (in Canada) and describes the arrival on Earth of sentient aliens. The bulk of the novel cove More...
Nov 13, 2011
Tim
rated it:
A really enjoyable read. I was uncertain at first, the premise of an alien dropping down to earth especially to visit the Royal Ontario Museum seemed a little stretched, but Sawyer carried it off with aplomb. He holds a tight line between serious science and entertaining reading, covering some hard moral quandaries, without ever entering into the realm of the saccharine sweet.
It's quite a grounded tale. It delves deeply into family tragedy, risking melodrama but sidestepping it easily. More...
It's quite a grounded tale. It delves deeply into family tragedy, risking melodrama but sidestepping it easily. More...
Oct 14, 2011
Bruce
rated it: 
Two and a half stars. 2 = I read it and wished I hadn't, 3=fine if you've got nothing better to do. So yeah, I feel mildly like I wasted my time.
Sawyer as an author takes the big idea and then sets up his characters to be affected by it. In this case the idea is really big: god.
Frankly, I find the whole god/not god argument rather tedious. It's mostly about just pushing people's buttons on one side or the other, and shooting stereotyped fish in a barrel with the obligator More...
Sawyer as an author takes the big idea and then sets up his characters to be affected by it. In this case the idea is really big: god.
Frankly, I find the whole god/not god argument rather tedious. It's mostly about just pushing people's buttons on one side or the other, and shooting stereotyped fish in a barrel with the obligator More...
Oct 10, 2011
Andreas
rated it:
An alien lands outside the Royal Ontario Museum in Ontario and asks to see a paleontologist. This is the first alien contact. The alien says that on his world, and on the world of another alien race, the fossil record shows that five mass extinctions have occurred at the same time as they did on earth. The alien races see this as evidence that God exists, and is tampering with the development of intelligent beings. The human paleontologist, Tom Jericho, is skeptical at first, but the evidence is
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Aug 09, 2011
Christine
rated it:
I think this is a great book for discussion. For instance, I appreciated that Sawyer gave himself a set of rules for creating life throughout the universe using the rules we know now with only a few additions. While, on one hand, I did not feel that Sawyer was stretching his creativity by imagining what could be possible with infinite possibilities and different rules; on the other hand, I feel Sawyer is using the rules to wring all the possibility out of life.
On a somewhat unrelated More...
On a somewhat unrelated More...
Dec 23, 2010
Sarah
rated it: 
I decided to venture into reading a few other books written by Robert J Sawyer, based on the recent trilogy I read. I picked up Calculating God, which is based on the idea that aliens arrive on Earth, bringing with them a firm belief in a universe creator.
I haven't finished the book yet, but I am definitely not enjoying it so far. I am about three quarters of the way through, but I have to finish, I can't bring myself to just stop. The idea of the book sounded interesting, but it is More...
I haven't finished the book yet, but I am definitely not enjoying it so far. I am about three quarters of the way through, but I have to finish, I can't bring myself to just stop. The idea of the book sounded interesting, but it is More...
Aug 14, 2010
Elizabeth
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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May 31, 2010
Sujal
rated it:
This is the second Sawyer book I've read, after picking up Flash Forward because of the TV show. I found both books to be more about deep philosophical questions over action or drama or whatever. Flash Forward tackled some interesting questions about fate and choice. Calculating God takes on the proposition of a intelligent design that's compatible with science.
The thing with Sawyer's books is that they aren't page turners because of drama or suspense or action. Instead, I keep comi More...
The thing with Sawyer's books is that they aren't page turners because of drama or suspense or action. Instead, I keep comi More...
Apr 27, 2010
Matt
rated it:
Not what I expected out a science fiction book. I gathered from the title that there would be some philosophical debate over the existence of a God and that isn't what turned me off from this book. Maybe having read newer Sawyer works before this earlier release was my mistake, but this novel seemed to lack something that I have come to expect from Sawyer. He depicts Canada well enough and that is something that I enjoy, being a Canadian myself I get a kick out of some of his Canadian stereotype
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Apr 16, 2010
Laura
rated it:
Will they come as an invasion force with enough firepower to obliterate the planet?
Will they land in Washington, demanding to speak with American political leaders?
Will they hover over the Nevada desert, stealing into our bedrooms at night and abducting our partners and children as subjects for their gruesome medical experiments?
Are they already walking amongst us, undetected, disguised as our own kind for reconnaissance and infiltration purposes?
A More...
Will they land in Washington, demanding to speak with American political leaders?
Will they hover over the Nevada desert, stealing into our bedrooms at night and abducting our partners and children as subjects for their gruesome medical experiments?
Are they already walking amongst us, undetected, disguised as our own kind for reconnaissance and infiltration purposes?
A More...
Apr 13, 2010
Debs
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jul 27, 2011
Graham
rated it:
Before reading this book, Robert Sawyer had been a borderline author for me. His SciFis are generally well researched, but his characters are too Middle-class-married-WASP-with-children for my taste. They obsess over themselves and their trite conceptions of "morality"- a theme Sawyer cannot leave alone, or do justice to. In "Calculating GOD", Sawyer finally shows his hand. And for me, he's no longer a borderline author - he's a card carrying foot soldier of the Christian Cre
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Apr 02, 2011
Christian
rated it:
I quite looked forward to this book due to the intriguing concept. It didnt live up to its potential. The book's premise as I understood it was an theistic alien and an athiestic palentologist debating the existence of God. The problem was that all the arguments he used for the existence of God were made up (examples being that every planet in the Galaxy has had 5 extinctions, and every race has the same DNA). The discussions become boring since they are entirely fictional in all the details and
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Mar 11, 2011
MB
rated it:
I finished reading Calculating God this morning on the bus on the bus to work this morning. This is an amazing book; SF like I haven’t read for years. It’s a book about an idea.
The two main characters, Thomas Jericho, a human paleontologist with the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto & Hollus deten stak Jaton, a Forhilnor paleontologist in search of life on other planets in the galaxy, spend most of the book talking.
The subject: Was the universe created by an Intelligent Designe More...
The two main characters, Thomas Jericho, a human paleontologist with the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto & Hollus deten stak Jaton, a Forhilnor paleontologist in search of life on other planets in the galaxy, spend most of the book talking.
The subject: Was the universe created by an Intelligent Designe More...
Dec 06, 2008
Noah
rated it:
I loved this book.
What if aliens came to Earth and said, "Hey, did you know there's a God? Oh, we also have scientific evidence of it."
That would be sort of troubling.
And so it was.
You should read this book if you like books about aliens believing in God.
The "god" that Sawyer's book presents is very different from the god of any religion we've managed to develop on this planet. This book is about a scientific expla More...
What if aliens came to Earth and said, "Hey, did you know there's a God? Oh, we also have scientific evidence of it."
That would be sort of troubling.
And so it was.
You should read this book if you like books about aliens believing in God.
The "god" that Sawyer's book presents is very different from the god of any religion we've managed to develop on this planet. This book is about a scientific expla More...
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Jun 15, 2011
Mark
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Apr 08, 2010
Amandala
rated it:
I do not usually read science fiction but this book came highly recommended. Once I gave it a shot, it quickly became a page-turner. Hollus, an alien life-form, lands a ship in front of ROM, a historical museum in Canada and asks to be taken to a paleontologist. Once he finds him (the main character of the book, Tom Jericho) they eventually get to the point of comparing fossils, and evolutionary and extinction patterns between their worlds, and the similarities are shocking. The mission Hollus i
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Sep 06, 2011
Eric
rated it:
I must have enjoyed this book, since I finished it in just over three days.
A spaceship lands in front of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. An alien emerges and walks into the museum, wanting to meet with a paleontologist. This alien (and others not only of her race but of another) have been travelling around the Universe trying to scientifically prove that God exists. The paleontologist that she meets up with, Tom Jericho, is dying of lung cancer and is an atheist. The two have More...
A spaceship lands in front of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. An alien emerges and walks into the museum, wanting to meet with a paleontologist. This alien (and others not only of her race but of another) have been travelling around the Universe trying to scientifically prove that God exists. The paleontologist that she meets up with, Tom Jericho, is dying of lung cancer and is an atheist. The two have More...
Apr 16, 2011
Matthew
rated it:
Listening to this book currently... interesting ... if a bit slow at the front end here but the premise is so different I think it really is required...
Very interesting book, I completely enjoyed reading it. The discussion of the different ways to approach moral issues based on how one perceives the world around them is really well thought out and presented throughout the story without feeling overly preachy.
The "theology" of the book is not preachy (and trust m More...
Very interesting book, I completely enjoyed reading it. The discussion of the different ways to approach moral issues based on how one perceives the world around them is really well thought out and presented throughout the story without feeling overly preachy.
The "theology" of the book is not preachy (and trust m More...
Nov 29, 2011
Mike
rated it:
**Spoilers in below review**
I am not a big fan of this book. The premise seems interesting enough: a theistic set of aliens drop by a Canadian museum and desire an exchange of knowledge with an atheistic paleontologist. There is lots of potential to provide a dialogue discussing the merits of God's existence within a scientific framework. But many of the "proofs" the aliens gave for God's existence are tenuous to question begging within our current scientific More...
I am not a big fan of this book. The premise seems interesting enough: a theistic set of aliens drop by a Canadian museum and desire an exchange of knowledge with an atheistic paleontologist. There is lots of potential to provide a dialogue discussing the merits of God's existence within a scientific framework. But many of the "proofs" the aliens gave for God's existence are tenuous to question begging within our current scientific More...
May 18, 2011
Alina
rated it:
Cerebral science fiction at its... um, not best, but not worst either. The core of this novel is a philosophical exploration of the relationship between scientific discoveries in physics and biology and the proposition that there is a God or intelligent designer. This is framed within an encounter between an atheist Canadian paleontologist who's dying of cancer and aliens who believe in God based on scientific evidence. It touches on an idea which has occurred to me and, I’m sure, other thoug
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Nov 16, 2009
Dana
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Aug 25, 2009
Bria
rated it:
The narrator of this book is an idiot, and a terrible scientist. Can it honestly never occur to him that when an *alien*, with a completely different history unrelated to humanity, comes to us, and starts speaking about the creator of the universe, that perhaps, just perhaps, that concept does not carry with it all the associations and baggage and assumptions that he has learned about God from a Judeo-Christian perspective? Is Sawyer trying to illustrate the scientist as the creationists assume
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