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The Light of Other Days

Arthur C. Clarke,

Stephen Baxter

3.99 · Rating details · 6,243 ratings · 311 reviews

When a brilliant, driven industrialist harnesses the cutting edge of quantum physics to enable people everywhere, at trivial cost, to see one another at all times: around every corner, through every wall, into everyone's most private, hidden, and even intimate moments. It amounts to the sudden and complete abolition of human privacy--forever.

Then, as society reels, the sa

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Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages

Published January 15th 2001 by Tor Science Fiction (first published April 16th 2000)

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Apr 09, 2017 Apatt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi

“I grew up with enough bad pop-science shows. A wormhole is a shortcut through a fourth dimension. You have to cut a chunk out of our three-dimensional space and join it onto another such chunk.”

You don’t normally get this kind of “pop-science” from Clarke or Baxter. It makes a nice change. This bit of expository dialogue is also of “pop-science” level:

“A wormhole mouth is a sphere, floating freely in space. A three-dimensional excision. If we succeed with the expansion, for the first time we’ll be able to see oulevel:
“A ...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Tim rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, fantasy-favorites

Absolutely love this fantastic story! 10 of 10 stars!

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Jul 03, 2011 Scot McAtee rated it it was amazing

This is what sci-fi is all about. Highly recommend it.

When the world discovers how and when it will end, the decline of humanity begins immediately. Most people become nothing more than animals seeking hedonistic pleasures, as if they believed they were going to die that day. But one fellow keeps his wits about him and continues to invent. His greatest invention, the worm cam, alters the trajectory of humanity as much as the impending natural disaster.

One can't help but l ...more

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Jul 09, 2013 CJ Bowen rated it did not like it

An interesting concept that quickly descends into dreck. I expected better from a couple of genre masters. The writing style wanders, a common thing when more than one author is involved. Rather than a coherent science fiction story, this book lurches between sections of story, science, and case studies that with work, could have been turned into a novel.

The authors use wormholes as a device that enables universal surveillance, including reaching into the past. This could have been t ...more

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Jun 30, 2013 erforscherin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, speculative-fiction, highly-recommended, rating-10-stars, old-favorites, format-ebook, reviewed, read-in-2013, reread, read-before-2013

I first read this book in summer 2008, and probably not a month has gone by since then that this book hasn't popped into my mind, for one reason or another. The technology and social issues discussed here (particularly regarding the ever-evolving definition of privacy in a society where technology allows everyone to observe everyone at all times) were was a good 25+ years ahead of their time, and are still enormously relevant today.

Yes, the characters are pretty flat, but as with mos ...more

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Jun 17, 2010 Aimee rated it liked it

Well, it was an interesting idea for a book: quantum physics allow instantaneous transmissions of data across space - cool enough. Then, because of distance-time equivalence in a quantum universe, scientists are able to start beaming transmissions from anywhere in time as well as space. The technology turns almost everyone in the world into a paparazzo of everyone else, and many people also retreat into historical voyeurism. A few people cope with the total loss of privacy by seeking newer, bett Well, it was an interesting idea for a book: quantum physics allow instantaneous transmissions of data across space - cool enough. Then, because of distance-time equivalence in a quantum universe, scientists are able to start beaming transmissions from anywhere in time as well as space. The technology turns almost everyone in the world into a paparazzo of everyone else, and many people also retreat into historical voyeurism. A few people cope with the total loss of privacy by seeking newer, better ways to hide from the eyes of the rest of the world, while others use the new technology to link minds to create the Joined, a hypercollective of men and women who submerge their personalities into a greater pool of knowledge and experiences.

Sounds cool, right? Well, sort of. I certainly think it could have been cool. I wanted to read more about the collapse of world religions, the battle against the profound loss of civil liberties, the beginnings and development of the Joined. Instead (except for an in-depth sojourn into the life of Jesus) these issues are merely glanced at in favor of the honestly pretty dull personal lives of the main characters: Kate Manzoni, the tough-as-nails Girl Reporter with a heart, and Bobby Patterson, the emotionally stunted and child-like son of the business genius whose company developed all this tech in the first place. Bobby has a couple of dark secret that even he doesn't know about himself (both of which I figured out within approximately eight seconds). Kate and Bobby could have gone and died in a fire for as much as I care about their part in the story. I would have vastly preferred the events to revolve more around Mary, Bobby's half-sister (sort of) and his half-brother (sort of) David, both of whom I felt were under-utilized except as plot devices. The ending also felt super-tacked-on, but that could have been avoided with more development of the Joined during the latter half of the novel.

I was also surprised by how amateurish the writing sounded sometimes, because, hello, Arthur C. Clarke? But maybe I'll blame that on Stephen Baxter instead. ...more

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Jul 02, 2010 John rated it liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This was a curious experience. The text reads like an Arthur C. Clarke novel (with all the failings and virtues this implies) as written by Steve Baxter (with all the failings and virtues that this implies). Since that's presumably exactly what it is, I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised by the effect, but somehow I'd expected something more of a stylistic amalgamation.

The underlying premise is that wormholes can be stabilized sufficiently that enough information can be transmitted thr

This was a curious experience. The text reads like an Arthur C. Clarke novel (with all the failings and virtues this implies) as written by Steve Baxter (with all the failings and virtues that this implies). Since that's presumably exactly what it is, I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised by the effect, but somehow I'd expected something more of a stylistic amalgamation.

The underlying premise is that wormholes can be stabilized sufficiently that enough information can be transmitted through them to convey pictures of distant events. Society is revolutionized as, thanks to invisible, omnipresent Wormcams, privacy becomes a thing of the past -- and even more so when the next logical step is taken: the opening up of the entirety of earth's past to the Wormcam, which enables a sort of VR time travel. History is rewritten, crime plummets as clearup rates approach 100%, politicians resign or suicide in droves, millions become hi-tech peeping toms . . . There is a sort of soap-opera plot involving the communications entrepreneur behind these technological breakthroughs, his sons and other family members. All this is played out against a backdrop of humankind's fatalistic knowledge that in just a few hundred years a cometary object called the Wormwood (confusingly, bearing in mind the novel's about Wormcams) will smite our planet, sterilizing it to a depth of many miles. As you might expect given the authorship, there's a long visionary chapter at the end during which our evolutionary ancestry is traced back by Wormcam "travelers" all the way back to the first algal cell -- and even beyond.

But this indicates what for me is a problem with the book. Yes, I can buy it that for a lot of people the big initial appeal of the Wormcam might be that you could watch the neighbours screwing, just as the novel indicates; but one of the uses to which you can put the technology is to "visit" distant parts of the universe, including the planets of other stars, and then of course the time-travel aspect of the device allows you to explore anywhere in history that interests you. Surely, after the novelty of Reality Porn had worn off, at least a sizable chunk of the population would be visiting the original Jurassic park or the rings of Saturn, or discovering what it was like to be bathed in the light of Andromedan suns? By the time our heroes are undertaking their journey back to the origin of life on earth, wouldn't millions of other people have already had the idea to take this same excursion? Likewise, there's a public project described earlier in the book to follow the life of Christ; but wouldn't all kinds of people, atheist and Xtian alike even if with differing motives, have thought of this almost immediately after the introduction of the technology? Why would there be the need for a project? (The chapter on this is called "Behold the Man", a perhaps unwise reminder of Mike Moorcock's significantly more ambitious time-travel treatment of the Passion.)

I raced through the first eighty or so pages of The Light of Other Days, finding in it a refreshing energy of ideas -- the kind of lure that used to make pulp sf so entrancing. Then, though, the other aspects of pulp sf began to get to me, in particular the pulpish plot and characterization (the tyrannical entrepreneur is like something out of a Batman comic), and thereafter I found myself labouring, rather. I still did like the gee-whiz ideas, and new ones kept appearing, so it wasn't an unrewarded slog; and I found the novel's resolution satisfying, however predictable it had by then become. Especially good was the introduction of the paranoia-inducing concept that, if anyone in our future ever invents the Wormcam or its equivalent, there's a reasonable chance that one of them is watching you right now -- or even lots of them.

All in all, then, the book's a curate's egg.

...more

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May 02, 2011 Greg Kennedy rated it really liked it

First the bad: It felt at times like a bizarre collision of cyberpunk and classic golden-age sci fi. The characters sucked big time. The pacing and focus sometimes drifted too much. I am maybe too squeamish about sex scenes, but this felt over the top. The backdrop and "near future" was nearly too far-fetched, before even reaching the heart of the story.

Yet this is a book that lives and dies by its central idea, and it's a damn good one - so good that after slogging through the first ...more

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Jun 15, 2017 Mike rated it it was amazing

First Baxter/Clarke collaboration,a match made in heaven for hard sf and Clarke and Baxter fans .It got some mixed reviews upon publication.But then again, who takes critics seriously?It's about wormohle technology and its impact upon society.Writing is elegant and expertly paced,while scientific speculations are like strong red vine for any toughtful person.

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Mar 19, 2014 James rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: No one

Shelves: fiction, sf

This might be the worst novel I read this year, I certainly hope I don't read anything worse without being paid for it. First of this book is billed as a hard SF golden age, or as I like to say, bronze age, book and it lives up to its billing. First, it has the paper thin characters that characterized early SF. Even within these, there are horrible inconsistencies, why does Hiram, a paranoid control freak, hire Kate, a known enemy, to run a super-sensitive project? Why does Kate even go along wi This might be the worst novel I read this year, I certainly hope I don't read anything worse without being paid for it. First of this book is billed as a hard SF golden age, or as I like to say, bronze age, book and it lives up to its billing. First, it has the paper thin characters that characterized early SF. Even within these, there are horrible inconsistencies, why does Hiram, a paranoid control freak, hire Kate, a known enemy, to run a super-sensitive project? Why does Kate even go along with it? Because her character has no backbone? Why does Bobby fall in love with Kate? Can a thirty five year marriage based one night of great sex work? Because nothing else in the text furthers this romance.

Next, plot, such as it is, jumps around in a random fashion with highly improbable activities, we have a widget than can track anybody, anywhere, any time, but we must of forgot how it works because Kate is kidnapped by Hiram for weeks. Hiram even brags about, they know Hiram has her! After being found by the magic widget she is rescued by the boyfriend, followed up by the FBI. It is standard police policy after all to let civilians lead hostage rescue missions.

As for the hard science, while it may be theoretically possible for it to work, it's hard to believe that random teenagers are making better, much smaller, watch-sized WormCams in less than a year after the big giant room filling versions are created. Also the later WormCam attachments become too much like magical plot devices, invented when need to drive what little plot there is. Last but not least there are some Electric Chicken Plucker err.. WormCam science explanations that are just plain lame, John Campbell warned against these in the late 30's, shades of Hugo Gernsbeck!

Finally there are the bizarre, historical digressions that occur in the story that don't support the plot and barely touch most of the characters in any form. In addition there is a long homage to Olaf Stapledon's "First and Last Man" which when I read it over forty years ago was fairly dated, which once again has no bearing on plot, the invention, or characters.

Collaborations between authors are tough, I can only think of Niven and Pournelle along with Nordhoff and Hall that wrote better books together rather than individually. I'm not sure how much of this book's flaws can be chalked up to this. However I'm not planning on reading any of the other collaborations that they did together.

I was expecting much more from this book, I've read better fanzine stuff. ...more

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Dec 11, 2013 Dustin Sullivan rated it did not like it

This was an interesting idea that was horribly executed. The characters are very flat. The story is not compelling. The story"telling" is the worst. Major plot points are basically skimmed over.

I also think the authors tried to address too many issues in one story. Not only are there WormCams, which allow anyone to view any point in spacetime, there's an asteroid on course to destroy the world in 500 years. Oh yeah, and people adapt the WormCam technology to link their minds and create some sor This was an interesting idea that was horribly executed. The characters are very flat. The story is not compelling. The story"telling" is the worst. Major plot points are basically skimmed over.

I also think the authors tried to address too many issues in one story. Not only are there WormCams, which allow anyone to view any point in spacetime, there's an asteroid on course to destroy the world in 500 years. Oh yeah, and people adapt the WormCam technology to link their minds and create some sort of superconsciousness. Later, babies are born with wormholes already in their heads. Whatever.

One big hurdle that I would think WormCam technology would need to overcome is that of a moving universe. To find a point in spacetime to view, you would have to account for the rotation of the Earth, the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, the trajectory of our galaxy, and the expansion of the universe. Not to mention getting a continuous stable view of the subject while all of those things are in motion. It bugs me that this was never addressed.

There are huge plot holes that don't make any sense. For example, a character is falsely charged with a crime and they can't prove she didn't do it. Even though they have this all-seeing WormCam technology that can even look into the past. They talk about looking over her shoulder when she supposedly committed the crime, but somehow they can't get close enough to see what she was actually doing? It doesn't make any sense. Years later, she is cleared of the charge because they've developed technology to read hard drives through the WormCam. That's rather complex. What's so hard about reading a computer screen?

About 5% of the end of the book is spent describing what some characters see as they rewind through time 4 billion years. Not only is it mostly inconsequential and not told in an interesting or believable manner, but it happens 40 years after they have the technology to do so. As if it never occurred to anyone to look that far back in time before.

There's so much more that bugs me about this book, but I've already wasted enough time on it. ...more

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Sep 24, 2014 Brad Tull rated it it was amazing

This was a really good read!I got into reading Stephen Baxter's other two books, "Flood" & "Ark" recently and loved them. When I saw that he wrote a book with Arthur C. Clarke, and the subject, I knew I would be in for a fun ride. They did not disappoint. What made this even more fun to read, was knowing that the book was written back in 2000. A lot of the ideas and technologies they wrote about are happening today, just with a different technology...the internet, web cams, streaming video e ...more

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Nov 05, 2009 Thomas rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction

Just as great as I remember it! Once you get through the first couple of chapters, this book is impossible to put down. The uses of micro wormholes and their effects on society really got me thinking. If time and space were yours to control, what would you do!

spoiler alert!

The only part of the story that ground my gears was the look into the past to find the true history of Jesus. I could care less to hear ...more

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Jan 17, 2018 Timothy Dymond rated it really liked it · review of another edition

At the heart of ‘hard SF’ is a deep preoccupation with spirituality and meaning in the universe. ‘The Light Of Other Days’ demonstrates this by starting with what seems to be a story about the technological elimination of privacy, and finishes by contemplating a new version of humanity, and a new conception of human origins and ultimate purpose.

Such territory is nothing new for Arthur C Clarke or Stephen Baxter. They both exemplify the ‘science’ half of science fiction by writing cha At the heart of ‘hard SF’ is a deep preoccupation with spirituality and meaning in the universe. ‘The Light Of Other Days’ demonstrates this by starting with what seems to be a story about the technological elimination of privacy, and finishes by contemplating a new version of humanity, and a new conception of human origins and ultimate purpose.

Such territory is nothing new for Arthur C Clarke or Stephen Baxter. They both exemplify the ‘science’ half of science fiction by writing characters that function as walking ‘info-dump’ machines throughout the narrative. Of course there is a lot of information to dump, especially in the early parts of this book - which make it hard going for the first third. Clarke has always been a talented science educator, which means he has always been uncomfortable with ambiguity in his stories. Baxter is more comfortable with murky motivations. In this book it takes them a while to jointly smooth out their ‘tone’ for the characters, however some of that is down to the central conceit of the story - the use of ‘wormholes’ to view everything in both space and time - not really emerging until well into the book.

A notable aspect of ‘Light Of Other Days’ is its relative pessimism about that traditional trope of hard SF - space travel. Throughout the book the Earth is under a looming threat of long term destruction by a huge interstellar object called ‘Wormwood’. In earlier hard SF stories this would be an invitation for humanity to get to work on an ambitious deflection, or interplanetary evacuation plan (particularly as they have five hundred years before the Wormwood collision). However in this story humanity reacts by having an existential crisis. The ‘wormhole’ devices that allow people see anything, about anyone, at anytime, leads people to become chronically self-absorbed. Indeed the theme of the story is people contemplating their own mortality - and trying to transcend it. The conclusion of the book offers a solution of sorts (not available to everyone) by humanity adopting a common, ‘joined’, consciousness in space, and exploring its origins in ‘deep’ time. Indeed the best part of the book is a journey via wormhole to the deep time origins of life itself, by travelling along the DNA of a single family. That section alone makes the book worth reading - but takes a while to get there. ...more

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Sep 17, 2019 Elar rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks

Very vivid pictures of possible scenario with masterful writing style.
If you liked this book then I suggest to read "Long Earth" which is quite similar and also written in cooperation by Baxter.

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Jun 17, 2017 Paulien rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This book is filled to the brim with awesome concepts, but hardly any of them is worked out satisfyingly. I didn't really feel for any of the characters because everytime something happened, the narrative skipped a couple of years and the reader is told instead of shown what happened to them.

And the last chapter really lasted way to long. I skipped parts of it, and I hardly ever do that.

Shame, I really wanted to like this book but it just didn't do it for me.

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Oct 25, 2018 JulianL rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A very enjoyable read, and one that doesn't conform the the usual time travel stereo type. The areas that you would have expected to be glossed over or hidden with techno babble were explained enough for you to understand and grounded in science.

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Nov 23, 2012 Peter rated it liked it

A revolution in wormhole technology for data transfer leads to another revolution... with a few modifications, a wormhole, invisible to the naked eye, can be opened anywhere in the world, and film what's going on at the other side. As privacy starts to erode, it soon becomes obvious that the wormholes can also look back to any point in the past, and the world must cope with the new technology and all the dangers and benefits it brings... like it has to do with any technology.

Some science fictio A revolution in wormhole technology for data transfer leads to another revolution... with a few modifications, a wormhole, invisible to the naked eye, can be opened anywhere in the world, and film what's going on at the other side. As privacy starts to erode, it soon becomes obvious that the wormholes can also look back to any point in the past, and the world must cope with the new technology and all the dangers and benefits it brings... like it has to do with any technology.

Some science fiction stories are adventure tales with a science fiction setting, some are character stories using a fictional world and technology to tell very human stories, others use the technological advancement as a metaphor. And then there's the type where the authors imagine one development and attempt to ruthlessly project the impact it would have. This is a great example of one of those stories... the characters aren't bad, but they're also largely irrelevant, because really, the book is about how the technology changes the world.

And while it makes a compelling case for many of the changes, it also serves as one of the other types, perhaps even by accident, because it's not JUST a fanciful 'what if this technology was real' but it also comments on our own world and feels remarkably prescient in some areas, particularly how ubiquitous smart phones and such shape society... many of the points about privacy can (with some modification and moderation) apply just as well to a world where everyone potentially carries a camera.

There are some occasional big fumbles in believability... like, for example, somehow even after everyone has the ability to spy on everyone else, there are secrets maintained an unbelievably long time with nobody even seeming to go to extraordinary measures to conceal them... like for example the revelation that the wormholes can look back in time, seems to be known to a large number of people but the public doesn't find out until the author wants them to. Likewise, there's an instance with a person being accused of a crime and... they try to suggest that the now-present ability to look into the past somehow didn't resolve the issue, but it was never convincing to me, it seemed like any decent lawyer would examine certain key people's lives in great detail. Likewise, there are a few annoying dodges... like, I can totally understand why, in a section where great historical mysteries are answered using the technology, that the authors might not want to come down on certain religious issues, but it felt cheap to come up with an explanation that allowed that one event to somehow become impossible to view.

And aside from that, there are a few other off notes... moments illustrating changes in sexual mores due to loss of privacy that I'm not entirely sure how I feel about for a variety of reasons, and there are parts where it just plain drags, like a backwards look at life on Earth that just goes on an on... I get a sense of wonder from the concept, but the actually telling of it was remarkably boring.

Largely, though, and those bumps aside, the book just works. I'd read it many years ago (around when it first came out), and reading again I'm perhaps more impressed. I still find some of the character stuff a little on the weak side, and that might be a huge drawback to someone who isn't into the particular type of SF story this is meant to be, but it gave me what I wanted out of the premise. I'd probably rate it about 3.5 stars, were that option available, but it isn't, and I have to make a choice. And because it's a book that, in my heart, I'd rate as 'liked' rather than 'loved', and I doubt I'm going to read again anytime soon, I'm going to put it at 3 stars. ...more

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Aug 01, 2010 Raj rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

When I was a couple of chapters into this book, I felt that I was going to struggle with it, since I was finding the characters unmemorable (and, when I did remember them, irritating), the plot thin and none of the really big ideas that Clarke is famous for. I was wondering if this was just another senile-period damp squib. However, I'd heard good things about it, so I stuck with it and was eventually rewarded.

A driven media entrepreneur, Hiram Patterson, creates a way to use artific When I was a couple of chapters into this book, I felt that I was going to struggle with it, since I was finding the characters unmemorable (and, when I did remember them, irritating), the plot thin and none of the really big ideas that Clarke is famous for. I was wondering if this was just another senile-period damp squib. However, I'd heard good things about it, so I stuck with it and was eventually rewarded.

A driven media entrepreneur, Hiram Patterson, creates a way to use artificial wormholes to view any point on earth, and he uses this to scoop his media rivals. The book starts getting interesting once a) the 'wormcams' are able to look backward in time (due to the nature of spacetime equivalence at the quantum level, Patterson's genius son David realises that as well as moving in space, the wormholes can move in time) and b) the technology becomes democratised and available to the mass populous.

It's at this point that the book starts tackling issues like the complete lack of privacy that becomes just about inevitable, and how now that everyone can become a peeping tom, society starts changing. We see extremes from a group called Refugees who use extreme technology to try and hide from the wormcam observers to the ones who go to the other extreme, eschewing any form of privacy, up to and including clothing (there's one scene that depicts a pair of teenagers having sex on a park bench in public, uncaring of the watchers).

The book suggests that people eventually beyond this and start using the technology in large "wiki" projects to eradicate corruption and crime, and stripping the mythology of the past to see what historical figures were really like, rather than the myths that have built up around them. However, call me cynical, but I'm not sure that if we had access to such technology we'd ever get beyond the peeping tom phase, extrapolating from similar high hopes for the Internet.

I continued to not find the human characters hugely interesting throughout the book, but couldn't ignore them for the ideas entirely. I suspect this may be Baxter's work, since Clarke's characters are often just narrative vehicles and entirely ignorable, but trying to force them to have their own story dragged the book down for me. The end, seeing Hiram's two sons, David and Bobby, 'travelling' far into earth's past as they followed their ancestors into geological time was a breathtaking journey showing me that Clarke still had what it takes to evoke my sense of wonder as effortlessly as he did forty years earlier.

So, hard work in places, but definitely worth reading. ...more

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Dec 14, 2011 Lolly's Library rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: did-not-finish

See, this is the problem with books written by "visionaries" who try to predict near-future events: When they get stuff wrong, it affects the entire reading experience. When you read a book published in 1950 and set in, say, 2000, it's easy to laugh at what the author thought the future would be (flying cars and regular trips to moon resorts, perhaps) and marvel at the things the author came close to getting right (perhaps a computer set-up very close to the internet or artificial bionic limbs). See, this is the problem with books written by "visionaries" who try to predict near-future events: When they get stuff wrong, it affects the entire reading experience. When you read a book published in 1950 and set in, say, 2000, it's easy to laugh at what the author thought the future would be (flying cars and regular trips to moon resorts, perhaps) and marvel at the things the author came close to getting right (perhaps a computer set-up very close to the internet or artificial bionic limbs). However, when a book is written in 2000, as The Light of Other Days was, and is set only thirty or so years in the future, it's a lot harder to laugh off the mistakes. TLoOD was written at time when the U.S. was riding high on its superiority: Everyone was rich and happy, the market was good, Dubya hadn't yet depleted all the budget surplus left to us by Clinton, and 9/11 wasn't even a plausible nightmare (except to those who worked in various alphabet-named agencies, who'd read the memos and seen the warning signs). Basically, America was still a great place to be. So of course, in that context, it makes sense that we would annex a faltering and weak United Kingdom and make it just another state in the union. Yet looking at that statement in our current climate of doubt, depression and fear, it's not only implausible, it's laughable. And that's the problem with the entire book: You get so caught up in the wrongness of the many predictions, it's hard to get past them to the actual plot. Then again, even from what little I read, there were other reasons making the book difficult to read. Mainly a lack of likable or compelling characters; everyone seemed to be venal, self-absorbed, irritating or just plain uninteresting. I've never read Clarke--he's one of those authors who I know I need to read, but I haven't yet gotten around to--so I really don't want to judge him based on this experience. I've never read Baxter either, in which case, it's hard to tell which author went wrong with this novel. ...more

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Jan 26, 2012 Prashanth rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I have a fond rememberance of Rama series by the author duo, which made me naturally gravitate towards this book when I saw it in JustBooks. One thing different from other SF is - this is NOT humans in space, and it has little role to play other than an asteroid due to collide with earth within 500 years.

There is a new invention in town - humans can watch any point in present or past through a worm-hole. You an imagine what happens - everyone watching everyone else, voyeurism at its peak, sexua ...more

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Jul 03, 2010 Bryan rated it it was amazing

Pedaphilic pornographic garbage: I had to stop reading because I could not tolerate this novel any longer! I read 280 pages, and just couldn't finish it. Explicit sexual scenes seem to be the norm with Baxter these days. In this pornographic novel, Baxter describes two naked teenage children having sex in public, with adults watching them while pleasuring themselves. He goes into graphic detail. It's disgusting and shameful. Oh...it's all part of the story, and their behavior is just a result of ...more

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Dec 29, 2013 Cindy Matthews rated it it was ok

This is a book that I really wanted to like--tried to like throughout the long slog of reading it. I've always been a big fan of Clarke since his Rendezvous with Rama and 2001 days, but alas I can't say I enjoyed reading The Light of Other Days quite as much. I realize Clarke wasn't the best with developing three-dimensional characters as he is with explaining esoteric science theories, but is it too much to expect at least one character in a novel of this scope be someone you can cheer on? The premise of t ...more

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May 20, 2008 Stefan rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

This is a well written, readable, and highly interesting science fiction read that speculates how humanity deals with the complete and total lose of privacy. Sadly, this book only gets 4 stars because its plot was not as good as Trigger. Overall, this book gave me some new ideas and concepts to explore. Some of the speculation by the authors became a bit painful at points because of the extended speculation (then again, science fiction is about speculation.) Overall, a shocking, thought provokin ...more

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Nov 30, 2008 Michael rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

After sixty pages I still felt no need to continue reading. I didn't feel like I knew or cared about the characters, knew or cared about the plot, or knew or cared about the technical jargon that litters so many of this book's pages. I got this book for free and thought that since it was co-authored by Arthur C. Clarke that it had to be at least decent. I mean, if there were a Mount Rushmore of science fiction, his face would be carved up there. But this book just didn't do it for me. I think I' ...more

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Sep 13, 2016 Martin Haynes rated it liked it

Two main problems with this one. The political background to the early part of the book had been outstripped by developments of the last decade or so and the book is reminiscent of a previous Stephen Baxter book that I read. Having said that, the central idea behind the book is quite interesting. How would we cope in a world when you could be watched by anyone at any time and how would we cope when your past could be viewed by anyone? Scary propositions!

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Mar 27, 2011 Andreas rated it it was amazing

This novel explores a really fascinating concept. What if technology could be developed that let us see any place in space and time, including past, present and future? Society would be transformed. Lying would be impossible.

But Clarke and Baxter take it much much further than that, and the ending is just plain incredible as, without spoiling it too much, humans can finally seek redeption for the crimes of ages past. Read this book.

http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=134 ...more

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May 04, 2012 Julien rated it really liked it

Quick read, but the science in the book stands the test of time.

The story is a bit disjointed at points, but I enjoyed the way Clarke used, for example, a speech given to Congress about the technology of Wormcams (the crux of the books narrative) to further the plot.

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Jul 12, 2017 Chak rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, sci-fi-and-fantasy, ymca-share-a-book, time-travel

Yet again, Clarke gave me what I have come to expect from him -- a huge concept regarding the human condition (privacy, ownership, control, evolution), a glimpse into a near-incomprehensible time-span (view spoiler), and a gripping, thrilling story.

The concepts in this book will continue to stay with me for a very long time, if not forever. (view spoiler) ...more

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Aug 13, 2018 Malcolm Little rated it liked it · review of another edition

I admit, I’m biased towards both authors of Light of Other Days. Clarke needs no explanation, and Baxter is one of those ideas men that rise above the crowd, as he can deliver the goods in both a sweeping scope and an intimate flair. Coming in, I was expecting to be blown away by this collaboration between two of space opera’s most seminal artists.

It didn’t happen.

Now, the wormcam concept – essentially time-travel-like viewing through quantum tunneling – is a very interesting scient I admit, I’m biased towards both authors of Light of Other Days. Clarke needs no explanation, and Baxter is one of those ideas men that rise above the crowd, as he can deliver the goods in both a sweeping scope and an intimate flair. Coming in, I was expecting to be blown away by this collaboration between two of space opera’s most seminal artists.

It didn’t happen.

Now, the wormcam concept – essentially time-travel-like viewing through quantum tunneling – is a very interesting scientific thought experiment of the possible uses of wormholes. The social manifestations of these developments are described in aplomb, as are the immense revisions of history that undoubtedly would occur. The basic hard sci-fi foundations are, of course, sound and fascinating, supported by plausible snippets of technical explanations and executions. The early chapters, where the wormcam's potential is gradually being realized, are satisfying and hint at greater things to come. Sometimes those greater things materialize with the aforementioned flair both authors possess.

Nevertheless, as a work of fiction, which necessarily involves depth of character, themes on the human condition, and a progression of plot affecting those characters and the settings they find themselves in, the book utterly fails. The gaggle of protagonists & antagonists are hardly more than clichés, with the depth of a Tucson puddle. The occasional excessive chapters, devoted to the political intrigue and human-interest stories revolving around wormcam development, utterly failed to impress. I simply couldn't get worked up at all about what happened to the stereotypical fatcat capitalist, his religiously monotone son, the wormcam addicts, or even the woman investigator with a heart of gold. There was no empathy, sympathy, or intrigue to be had among the collection of biodegradable mats representing the cast of Light.

So what can be salvaged from Light of Other Days. As one might expect, the exposition on the possibilities of future technologies. Clarke is a lighthouse when it comes to writing about such phenomenon; he’s practically Nostradamus in his prognostications. What is discussed in this book, published in the year 2000, might strike some as prescient, especially in these halcyon social media days – days where polls of those who’ve formative years lack any old semblance of privacy.

Habituation to something like the wormcam is startlingly possible. Clarke and Baxter had this feeling, and hash out the consequences of such an approach. That is where the strength in Light lies, and when the utilization of the wormcam gets rolling, it becomes an avalanche that sparks the imagination. Light is an ideas book, powered by the science aspect of science fiction, dumping the fiction on the side of the road. A non-fiction novelette might have been a better fit for what the duo wanted to talk about. ...more

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Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Goodreads Librari...: The Light Of Other Days by Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter	3	14	Aug 13, 2018 09:41AM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Sci fi/brothers invent a device that can spy on anyone. Spoilers ahead. [s]	8	42	Jul 22, 2018 04:47PM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Portals that can be used to view the past. [s]	4	22	Oct 17, 2014 08:55AM
What's the Name o...: Sci-Fi quantum camera - a great read! [s]	3	35	Dec 06, 2011 01:38PM

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About Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke

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Arthur Charles Clarke was one of the most important and influential figures in 20th century science fiction. He spent the first half of his life in England, where he served in World War Two as a radar operator, before emigrating to Ceylon in 1956. He is best known for the novel and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, which he co-created with the assistance of Stanley Kubrick.

Clarke was a graduate of ...more