Artifact [Mass Market Paperback]

Gregory Benford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1998

Artifact

A small cube of black rock has been unearthed in a 3500-year-old Mycenaean tomb.

An incomprehensible object in an impossible place; its age, its purpose, and its origins are unknown.

Its discovery has unleashed a global storm of intrigue, theft andespionage, and is pushing nations to the brink of war.

Its substance has scientists baffled. And the miracle it contains does not belong on this Earth.

It is mystery and madness -- an enigma with no equal in recordedhistory. It is mankind's greatest discovery ... and worst nightmare.

It may have already obliterated a world. Ours is next.A small cube of black rock has been unearthed in a 3500-year-old Mycenaen tomb.

An incomprehensible object in an impossible place; its age, its purpose, and its origins are unknown.

Its discovery has unleashed a global storm of intrigue, theft and espionage, and is pushing nations to the brink of war.

Its substance has scientist baffled. And the miracle it contains does not belong on this Earth.

It is mystery and madness-an enigma with no equal in recorded history. It is mankind's greatest discovery. . .and worst nightmare.

It may have already obliterated a world. Ours is next.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A major book by a major author and highly recommended." -- -- Booklist

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.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Harper Voyager (July 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380791951
• ISBN-13: 978-0380791958
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,449,598 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indiana Jones meets Particle Physics, June 13, 2004

By 

E. Nichols (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Artifact (Mass Market Paperback)

Perhaps I'm biased because I like Benford's style: I couldn't put the book down. I read it straight through, just stopping once for lunch. It's not Benford's best book because his others are all so great, but it was much better than I expected after reading the other reviews here. Benford mixes in plenty of realistic science, archaeology, and university politics with the action of the plot. At the end of the book, an interesting "Technical Afterword" puts the sci-fi in context with "real" physics.

My favorite line from the book is typical Benford: "He had noted that the noise in a room rose as the square of the number of people in it..."

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, thought provoking, plausable, August 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Artifact (Mass Market Paperback)

I was completely enthralled and captivated by Benford's scientific knowledge and writing skills. He has the unique ability to blend insightful scientific speculation with real-life adventure and human interaction.

Artifact is one of those rare science fiction stories that is believable because of the real science it contains. Benford has been critisized for including too much scientific explanation. However, without it, I may not have found the story line as plausible, or enjoyable.

I further enjoyed Benford's writing style. His characters come to life and it is apparent that Benford enjoys writing about adventure and human interactions as much as he does about the science.

All-in-all, I found Artifact very entertaining and would recommend it to anyone remotely interested in science fiction or adventure.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful premises let down by poor scripting, November 16, 2001

By 

OoOoOoO "OoOoOoO" (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Artifact (Hardcover)

An ancient artefact containing ... what (I won't spoil the joy for readers)? The story began with a tantalising pre-historic sequence of how the artefact was buried with an ancient king but then left the readers with no further 'retrospective' of how the artefact was used (or otherwise ravaged) the ancient world. Cut to the present, the reader is then confronted with huge chunks of irrelevant rivalry amongst academic-types, including a Greek archaeologist unfortunately miscast in an MCP role. All very well but handled badly and detracting seriously from the implications of the Artefact on human history. A wonderful premise by a brilliant author, but needs to be reworked drastically.