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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41821.The_Gods_Themselves?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Gods Themselves" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1169758013m/41821.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41821.The_Gods_Themselves?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Gods Themselves</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16667.Isaac_Asimov">Isaac Asimov</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7718718?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 5 of 5 stars I just reread this book for the umptieth time over many years, and was struck once again by what a fine piece of work it is. This is one of the best pieces of pure science fiction every written. It isn't the best STORY, of course -- Asimov himself has better ones, as do many other science fiction authors from the post WWII era. But only a handful of other stories such as Forward's Dragon's Egg come to mind as being such excellent science fiction.
 
 I am a physicist, mind you. The amazing thing about this book is that it was written decades ago and yet STILL I find the underlying physical premise plausible. This is one of the earliest, and best, multiple universe theory books out there, and actually implicitly postulates physics that explains e.g. the big bang by means of a directed coupling across those Universes. They are differentiated, for example, by the strength of the strong nuclear interaction. Places where it is weak do not experience a big bang, but as they couple to universes with a stronger one, the strong interaction "bleeds through" and eventually tips a pre-bang state over to where it explodes.
 
 The story itself isn't bad. Some of the characters are overdrawn -- the bad-guy physicist is a bit too petty, the rest of the world's scientists a bit too pusillanimous to be strictly believable, and yet we all know at least SOME people who are actually like the caricatures. The inhabitants of the second universe who make up the middle third of the book are almost as spectacular as the underlying physical theory -- very, very different and yet not entirely implausible. Again, just as much fun as the cheela in Dragon's Egg.
 
 At this point, some of it is period piece. Nudity on Luna, the Heinleinian, slightly repressed sexual tension that is taken to an entirely romantic conclusion, the politics. At the time, perhaps, daring -- now merely quaint. Still, this is a book I'd definitely recommend to people wanting to explore the roots of science fiction as portrayed by one of its Grand Masters.
 
 rgb
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/538288?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

rgb's review
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status: Read in January, 2008

I just reread this book for the umptieth time over many years, and was struck once again by what a fine piece of work it is. This is one of the best pieces of pure science fiction every written. It isn't the best STORY, of course -- Asimov himself has better ones, as do many other science fiction authors from the post WWII era. But only a handful of other stories such as Forward's Dragon's Egg come to mind as being such excellent science fiction.

I am a physicist, mind you. The amazing thing about this book is that it was written decades ago and yet STILL I find the underlying physical premise plausible. This is one of the earliest, and best, multiple universe theory books out there, and actually implicitly postulates physics that explains e.g. the big bang by means of a directed coupling across those Universes. They are differentiated, for example, by the strength of the strong nuclear interaction. Places where it is weak do not experience a big bang, but as they couple to ...more I just reread this book for the umptieth time over many years, and was struck once again by what a fine piece of work it is. This is one of the best pieces of pure science fiction every written. It isn't the best STORY, of course -- Asimov himself has better ones, as do many other science fiction authors from the post WWII era. But only a handful of other stories such as Forward's Dragon's Egg come to mind as being such excellent science fiction.

I am a physicist, mind you. The amazing thing about this book is that it was written decades ago and yet STILL I find the underlying physical premise plausible. This is one of the earliest, and best, multiple universe theory books out there, and actually implicitly postulates physics that explains e.g. the big bang by means of a directed coupling across those Universes. They are differentiated, for example, by the strength of the strong nuclear interaction. Places where it is weak do not experience a big bang, but as they couple to universes with a stronger one, the strong interaction "bleeds through" and eventually tips a pre-bang state over to where it explodes.

The story itself isn't bad. Some of the characters are overdrawn -- the bad-guy physicist is a bit too petty, the rest of the world's scientists a bit too pusillanimous to be strictly believable, and yet we all know at least SOME people who are actually like the caricatures. The inhabitants of the second universe who make up the middle third of the book are almost as spectacular as the underlying physical theory -- very, very different and yet not entirely implausible. Again, just as much fun as the cheela in Dragon's Egg.

At this point, some of it is period piece. Nudity on Luna, the Heinleinian, slightly repressed sexual tension that is taken to an entirely romantic conclusion, the politics. At the time, perhaps, daring -- now merely quaint. Still, this is a book I'd definitely recommend to people wanting to explore the roots of science fiction as portrayed by one of its Grand Masters.

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