Against Infinity [Import] [Paperback]

Gregory Benford (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: New English Library; paperback / softback edition (1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0450057194
• ISBN-13: 978-0450057199
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Gregory Benford, author of top-selling novels, including Jupiter Project, Artifact, Against Infinity, Eater, and Timescape, is that unusual creative combination of scientist scholar and talented artist; his stories capture readers - hearts and minds - with imaginative leaps into the future of science and of us.

A University of California faculty member since 1971, Benford has conducted research in plasma turbulence theory and experiment, and in astrophysics. His published scientific articles include well over a hundred papers in fields of physics from condensed matter, particle physics, plasmas and mathematical physics, and several in biological conservation.

Often called hard science fiction, Benford's stories take physics into inspired realms. What would happen if cryonics worked and people, frozen, were awoken 50 years in the future? What might we encounter in other dimensions? How about sending messages across time? And finding aliens in our midst? The questions that physics and scientists ask, Benford's imagination explores.
With the re-release of some of his earlier works and the new release of current stories and novels, Benford takes the lead in creating science fiction that intrigues and amuses us while also pushing us to think.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Men pursue the mysterious aleph across Ganymede., February 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Against Infinity (Mass Market Paperback)

Very convincing, descriptive environment and entertaining story. A young boy grows up among a group of men assigned to terraform Ganymede's surface. Myths and stories abide concerning the mysterious alien artifact that roams the planet, with no apparent purpose. The object is completely neutral towards men when encountered, not acknowledging their presence in any way. Nothing is known of the object's nature, origin or purpose. A young boy and his father figure set off in pursuit of the elusive artifact, hoping to understand it. Once uncovered, its purpose is surprising and refreshing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Deserves a more perceptive look, January 30, 2003

By 

Neal C. Reynolds (Indianapolis, Indiana) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Against Infinity (Mass Market Paperback)

This certainly isn't Gregory Benford's best book, nor is it one which I can recommend, at least not without qualification.

The concept is good, and the basic setting is interesting. The combination of a coming-of-age plot in a science-fictional setting is interesting and workable. The issues brought forth here are befitting both genres, those having to do with feeling and respect towards life, even life as remote from our experience as Aleph is shown. And Aleph alone is a worthy concept, the idea of life that exists for no apparant reason than to survive, that has no interest in anything that doesn't sustain that life and being.

And of course, there is Benford's familiar theme, that of man attempting to bend all he encounters to his purposes.

There's some real meat here, but somehow, it just isn't clothed in a sustainedly entertaining mode.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sci-Fi boomtown., May 15, 2006

By 

Colt Seiver (East Coast, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Against Infinity (Mass Market Paperback)

It's a good layover book, and a decent attempt to transcend sci-fi by addressing crusty themes with new raw material. The aleph is a Macguffin on par with the spice worms, but there's nothing epic about this coming of age novel.

If you read it, try to spot the scene 'borrowed' from Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast."

Interesting political commentary and explanation of capitalism; that is, if you feel socialism is the ultimate human state of equilibrium.