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Against Infinity [Hardcover]

Gregory Benford (Author)
2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)


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Book Description

March 1983

A gripping, masterfully written adventure set against the violent beauty of a planet in the throes of cataclymic transformation, Against Infinity is Gregory Benford's timeless portrait of a young man's comming of age.

On the poisonous, icy surface of Ganymede, a man and a boy are on a deadly hunt.Their prey is the Aleph--an unknowable alien artifact that roamed and ruled Ganymede for countless millennia. Indescribable, infinitely dangerous, the Aleph haunts men's dreams and destroys all efforts to terraform Ganymede into a habitable planet. Now in a modern world ancient struggle is joined, as a boy seeks manhood, a man seeks enlightenment, and a society seeks the power to rule the universe.

On the poisonous, icy surface of Ganymede, a man and a boy are on a hunt for the Aleph--an alien artifact that ruled Ganymede for countless millenia, Infinitely dangerous, the Aleph haunts men's dreams and destroys all efforts to terraform Ganymede into an habitable planet. Now an ancient struggle is joined, as a boy seeks manhood, a man seeks enlightenment, and a society seeks the power to rule the universe.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A must for the SF collection." -- Booklist --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Gregory Benford is a professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine. He is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, and was Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University. and in 1995 received the Lord Prize for contributions to sciences. His research encompasses both theory and experiments in the fields of astrophysics and plasma physics. His fiction has won many awards, including the Nebula Award for his novel Timescape. Dr. Benford makes his home in Laguna Beach, California. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Product Details

  • Hardcover
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First. edition (March 1983)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0671464914
  • ISBN-13: 978-0671464912
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,651,451 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

9 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.9 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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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
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.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Deserves a more perceptive look, January 30, 2003
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.

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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
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.
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