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Bezig met laden... The Boolean Gatedoor Walter Jon Williams
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 Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. 1   Kat_Hooper | Apr 6, 2014 |  geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
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Mark Twain versus the Singularity!Mark Twain may be the most celebrated man in the world, but his alter ego Sam Clemens is tottering through life, disillusioned by the massacres and madness of the human race and stalked by guilt over the deaths of his children, his brother, and his wife. Sam's friend, the brilliant scientist Nikola Tesla, creates dazzling new technologies that may transform the world--- but as Sam discovers, Tesla's inventions may not belong to him, but might instead be the calculating creations of an malevolent intelligence from beyond the Earth.Mark Twain might be able to save the world, but first Sam Clemens must make up his mind whether the "damned human race" is worth saving.In "The Boolean Gate," Walter Jon Williams continues his brilliant series of stories about writers, and brings to life the milieu and the towering personalities of America's Gilded Age."This one is 99% historical fact, although readers unfamiliar with the career of Tesla may think it's the stuff of science fiction. Tesla was a science fiction writer's dream made flesh, with also a bit of the mad scientist in the mix . . . but the story really belongs to Sam Clemens, who was in fact Tesla's friend." Lois Tilton, Locus''Despite the Ragtime-like sense of a slice of Gilded Age life among the historically prominent, this really is SF... Once again, Williams demonstrates the range of his writerly chops.'' Russell Letson, Locus Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Walter Jon Williams' The Boolean Gate is a story about the famous friendship between Sam Clemens / Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla. Clemens was fascinated with Tesla's scientific experiments and spent a lot of time in Tesla's lab. Williams' version of this relationship suggests that Clemens discovered that Tesla's genius had some supernatural help. When Clemens realizes what's going on, he has to make a decision that may affect the future of the human race.
The Boolean Gate is a fast-moving novella (I read it in just a couple of hours) filled with lots of interesting facts about Sam Clemens, Nikola Tesla, and New York City at the end of the 19th, and beginning of the 20th, century. We learn all about the guilt Clemens feels about the death of his son, daughter, and wife. We see him offering his humorous quotes to waiting reporters each morning. He tells us about his financial difficulties and how he got into and out of bankruptcy. We learn about Tesla's wardrobe, celibacy, dining and exercise habits, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, relationships with investors, and some of his projects including his Teleautomaton and the tower at Wardenclyffe. We spend some time with other famous people of the era, too -- J.P. Morgan, Robert and Katharine Johnson, Andrew and Lucy Carnegie, Charles Schwab.
Williams brings the high society of turn-of-the-century New York City to life. I enjoyed visiting Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel where Oscar the ma??tre d' is responsible for such well-known treats as Waldorf Salad, Eggs Benedict, and Thousand Island dressing.
As you can tell, there's a lot of name dropping in The Boolean Gate. Much of it is basic information I already knew about these famous figures and, though there are many personal and historical facts presented, few if any aren't easily found within a few minutes at Wikipedia. In other words, Williams' research is rather shallow. But that's okay for this little novella.
What Williams does best in The Boolean Gate is to play with Telsa's belief that he could use his scientific discoveries to communicate with aliens. In fact (according to Wikipedia), Tesla really did believe he had intercepted messages from outer space. Walters puts a fun science fiction spin on this and asks Mark Twain to make some ethical decisions and to, perhaps, save the world. Or, maybe he didn't save the world. Maybe he set us back instead. I guess we'll never know....
The Boolean Gate is a fast and amusing alternate history with exciting characters set in an elegant New York City venue. Recommended for a couple of hours of pleasant entertainment. (