7 ratings | 1 review | avg rating:5.00

Robert J. Sawyer’s Followers (2,539)

Robert’s Bookshelves

to-read (0)
currently-reading (1)
read (6)
did-not-finish (0)

Robert’s Friends (75)

Michael

1,924 books | 40 friends

D. Rebbitt

87 books | 30 friends

The Void Reader

554 books | 458 friends

Flockhart

1,213 books | 19 friends

Rock

3,541 books | 48 friends

James

381 books | 52 friends

Brian Salyards

2,622 books | 82 friends

Jeremy

1,204 books | 98 friends

More friends…

Robert J. Sawyer

Goodreads Author

Born

in Ottawa, Canada

Website

http://www.sfwriter.com/index.htm

Twitter

RobertJSawyer

Genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Mystery & Thrillers

Member Since

March 2013

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/robertjsawyer

edit data

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 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."

http://us.macmillan.com/author/robert... ...more

966 posts
Robert J. Sawyer's Blog

Sawyer on Science Fiction

Coming Tuesday, August 4, 2026, in print and ebook formats: Sawyer on Science Fiction.

“Robert J. Sawyer is one of the most prolific and celebrated modern authors of science fiction.” —John Scalzi

Drawing on a lifetime of insight, passion, and exploration, this 225,000-word collection brings together Robert J. Sawyer’s most compelling articles, reviews, and speeches about science fiction.

Fro

Combine Editions
Robert J. Sawyer’s books

Average rating: 3.88 · 144,948 ratings · 11,846 reviews · 220 distinct works • Similar authors

	Flashforward 3.66 avg rating — 17,145 ratings — published 1999 — 51 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hominids (Neanderthal Parallax, #1) 3.81 avg rating — 14,148 ratings — published 2002 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Calculating God 3.87 avg rating — 10,495 ratings — published 2000 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wake (WWW, #1) 3.83 avg rating — 8,605 ratings — published 2009 — 49 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Humans (Neanderthal Parallax, #2) 3.83 avg rating — 6,233 ratings — published 2003 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Watch (WWW, #2) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 5,082 ratings — published 2010	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hybrids (Neanderthal Parallax, #3) 3.80 avg rating — 5,277 ratings — published 2003 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Downloaded 3.59 avg rating — 5,588 ratings — published 2024 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wonder (WWW, #3) 3.99 avg rating — 4,326 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Terminal Experiment 3.74 avg rating — 4,568 ratings — published 1995 — 49 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Robert J. Sawyer…

Series by Robert J. Sawyer

Neanderthal Parallax (3 books)
by

Robert J. Sawyer (Goodreads Author)

3.81 avg rating — 25,657 ratings

WWW (3 books)
by

Robert J. Sawyer (Goodreads Author)

3.92 avg rating — 18,038 ratings

The Downloaded (2 books)
by

Robert J. Sawyer (Goodreads Author),

Brendan Fraser (Narrator),

Vanessa Sears (Narrator),

Lior Maharjan (Narrator),

Cerise Handspiker (Narrator)

3.56 avg rating — 6,606 ratings

Quintaglio Ascension (3 books)
by

Robert J. Sawyer (Goodreads Author)

4.06 avg rating — 3,722 ratings

Robert is Currently Reading

Robert J. Sawyer is currently reading

The Oppenheimer Alternative

by Robert J. Sawyer (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

May 10, 2020 11:01PM

rss
Robert’s Recent Updates

Robert J. Sawyer wrote a new blog post Sawyer on Science Fiction Coming Tuesday, August 4, 2026, in print and ebook formats: Sawyer on Science Fiction. “Robert J. Sawyer is one of the most prolific and celebrated m Read more of this blog post »
16 hours, 12 min ago · like
Robert J. Sawyer and 4 other people liked Rachel Ashera Rosen's review of The Downloaded: "This was a fun, clever read that I imagine works even better in audiobook format. Two groups of people have their bodies frozen and their consciousnesses uploaded: a group of astronauts preparing to colonize a distant planet, and a group of convicts " Read more of this review »
Feb 11, 2025 02:02PM · see review
Robert J. Sawyer rated a book it was amazing The Downloaded by Robert J. Sawyer (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 11, 2025 02:02PM · 21 likes · like
Robert J. Sawyer is now following John E. Stith Author of Manhattan Transfer
Aug 05, 2024 06:23AM · like
Robert J. Sawyer and 4 other people liked Robert J. Sawyer's blog post: WordStar for DOS 7.0 Archive " As you all know, I continue to use WordStar for DOS 7.0 as my word-processing program. It was last updated in December 1992, and the company that made it has been defunct for decades; the program is abandonware.There was no proper archive of W..." Read more of this blog post »
Aug 05, 2024 06:23AM

More of Robert's books…

Quotes by Robert J. Sawyer (?)

“Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace.”
― Robert J. Sawyer, Calculating God

2274 likes

“There is no indisputable proof for the big bang," said Hollus. "And there is none for evolution. And yet you accept those. Why hold the question of whether there is a creator to a higher standard?”
― Robert J. Sawyer, Calculating God

tags: atheism, big-bang, darwinism, double-standards, id, intelligent-design, macro-evolution, macroevolution, materialism, naturalism, religious-science-fiction, science, theism, theistic-science-fiction

47 likes

“Naturally, one does not normally discuss plans to commit murder with the intended victim.”
― Robert J. Sawyer, Flashforward

tags: future, killers, murder

31 likes

See all Robert J. Sawyer's quotes »

Polls

May 2024 Book of the Month: Space Opera Theme

The Dark Between the Stars by Kevin J. Anderson

16 votes, 32.0%

The Weapon Makers by A.E. van Vogt

14 votes, 28.0%

Starplex by Robert J. Sawyer

11 votes, 22.0%

The Last Hawk by Catherine Asaro

9 votes, 18.0%

50 total votes

4 comments

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Beyond Reality: What are you reading right now?	175	520	Jul 01, 2009 01:34AM
Beyond Reality: Nominations for January 2010!	24	70	Oct 20, 2009 09:25AM
Beyond Reality: Nominations for February!	23	76	Nov 20, 2009 07:26AM
The Seasonal Read...: 10.8 (OH CANADA!)	36	241	Dec 21, 2009 02:06PM
Challenge: 50 Books: Leighann's 50 books in 09	89	318	Dec 30, 2009 01:22PM
Challenge: 50 Books: Barb's 50 books for 2009	80	817	Dec 31, 2009 06:37AM
Glens Falls (NY) ...: Have you seen any good movies lately? (Part TWO - begun 1/23/09)	1139	347	Jan 01, 2010 06:31PM

More…

Robert’s Friend Comments

Comments (showing 1-1) post a comment »

date

newest »

message 1: by Gerald

Mar 17, 2021 03:45PM

Hey Robert. If it's possible, and you are willing, why don't you add what you are currently reading. I'm sure your fans will take a keen interest in what you're reading..

reply | flag

Robert J. Sawyer’s Followers (2,539)

Robert J. Sawyer

Goodreads Author

rssRobert’s Recent Updates

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

rss
Robert’s Recent Updates