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Carbon Dreams [Paperback]

Susan M. Gaines (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Book Description

January 2001
At an oceanography institute in northern California, geochemist Tina Arenas studies climates of the distant geologic past. Heedless of life beyond her circle of scientists, Tina is immersed in a world of dinosaurs and shifting continents, where time is measured in ten-million-year spans—but when both her research and an extracurricular love affair take off in directions she has not anticipated, she is catapulted into the late twentieth century world of people and politics.

Set in the early 1980s, when the problem of global warming had yet to garner much public concern, Carbon Dreams tells the story of one scientist's struggle to come to terms with her conflicting responsibilities to science and to society.


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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In tracing the adventures of her unusual heroine, the tiny, young geochemist Dr. Tina Arenas, Gaines takes complex scientific hypotheses and translates them into a believable and riveting saga of one woman's quest for scientific truth. Focusing exclusively on her work at a Northern California oceanic research facility, Tina is surprised to find that she has new landlords, and even more unsettled to discover that they've hired cuddly bear-like farmer Chip to landscape the property. Tina and Chip become friends then lovers, but science remains Tina's reason for being, and Gaines convincingly peoples her world with vividly depicted characters, including her friend, her mentor, and her nemesis. But Chip is a force to be reckoned with. An organic farmer and an activist worried about global warming, he convinces Tina that nothing exists in a vacuum, and that she has responsibilities for the consequences of her research. Skillfully written and deftly plotted, this novel of science set in the early 1980s is unexpectedly compelling. Diana Tixier Herald
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"No contemporary novelist I know of makes science sexier." -- Jonah Raskin, The Press Democrat, December 10, 2000

A remarkable job of conveying what it's really like to be a scientist, and to make scientific discoveries... -- Elizabeth K. Wilson, Chemical & Engineering News, June 4, 2001

Gaines has boldly built the novel around challenging scientific theories... Her use of complex concepts and true practice is inspired. -- Thomas Christensen, San Francisco Chronicle, March 4, 2001

It's all here: fight for grants, intellectual ownership, triumph... inevitable heartbreak as work edges out the lover... Gripping stuff. -- Maggie McDonald, New Scientist, June 9, 2001

Product Details

  • Paperback: 351 pages
  • Publisher: Creative Arts Book Company; First Edition edition (January 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0887393063
  • ISBN-13: 978-0887393068
  • Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,113,345 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Pleasures of Science, March 6, 2001
By 
This review is from: Carbon Dreams (Paperback)
Carbon Dreams is a book about the compelling pleasures of scientific creativity. Set in the early 1980s, it addresses the intense experience of having data that a scientist is curious about and can't let go of become an important part of a major scientific debate. I'll leave the debate unnamed. It's great fun to see the connection reveal itself as the book progresses. The science is interesting and well presented-a history major like me had no trouble understanding it. Gaines does not ignore the politics in the scientific world. The plot includes feminist and environmental issues and pressures from competing theorists. Nor does she ignore the personal cost of having one's primary dedication be to science rather than relationships. This is a book for people interested in how science works on a human level. It's also an excellent choice for a book club-lots of meaty ideas to talk about. I look forward to reading Gaines's next book.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A tantalizing blend of literary fiction and science..., November 28, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Carbon Dreams (Paperback)
I've been thoroughly addicted to Ms. Gaines' short stories for years, so when this novel appeared, I bought it and settled in for a good read. I was NOT disappointed!

As I entered Tina's world, I experienced her passion for the beauty in the smallest forms of life. What has been the subject of dry lectures by countless high school science teachers, become a matter of faith and joy. The search for the very beginnings of life unimaginable years ago, become in this novel, tantalizing close and personal, a mystery to be solved.

Tina's character is well drawn and developed, and while she might have been unattainable by virtue of her years of education, she is heart-achingly human. Her struggles in the heady upper echelons of a male-dominated field, her determination in maintaining her innocence and idealism in a world fraught with messy ambiguities, and her search for love while stubbornly refusing to admit that she needs it, all make her a person I feel I know and love.

The novel has an edge of intrigue and the exotic, with entrée into the world of lab coats and core samples and research ships, as well as glimpses into Tina's South American heritage - a world of fine social graces and passion. The exotic is offset with a familiar, homey feel of the Northern California coast seen through the eyes of a native who came to age in a time of pure idealism and social unrest.

I highly recommend this novel to connoisseurs of literary fiction - don't be scared off by SCIENCE; you'll miss out on a wonderful book! Lovers of science, particularly young women who might be considering a career in research, will appreciate having a heroine and a role model. And for those who, like me are completely torn, never quite happy in either a world of pure science or pure art, will realize that magical blend of both in this work.

P.S. I can't wait for Susan M. Gaines' second novel!

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars good story, wonderful portrayal of science in action, January 18, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Carbon Dreams (Paperback)
As a woman receiving her doctorate in geochemistry this year, I
have to say this is the absolute best portrayal of how science works in the real world that I've read. Ms. Gaines is wonderful
at communicating the passion, enthusiasm and obsession that come
with stretching the limits of the known. She also accurately presents how funding can subtlely shape what science gets done
and some of the difficult choices women face in higher academia.
I'd like to believe the possibilities for women are not as
limited as are presented here, but I think in the early '80s
it's an accurate portrayal. She also presents how self-centered
and emotionally stunted scientists can be. A difficult book, but
I liked this book so well I bought two copies (on my very
limited student stipend) for fellow female graduate student
friends of mine.

This would also be wonderful discussion book for book clubs.

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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
There was the cool nip of an offshore breeze, and the air was fresh, deliciously fresh, after ten hours in the lab. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
picoplankton productivity, surface forams, strontium data, chiral hydrocarbon, hydrocarbon project, hydrocarbon kinetics, deep sea circulation, organic geochemist, instrument lab, belgian fence, marine primary productivity, scientific crew, other phytoplankton, hydrothermal activity, drill ship, main lab
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sylvia Orloff, Harper Gibson, Conroy Decker, San Francisco, Garrett Thomas, Cristina Arenas, John Carr, Brian Maitland, Max Lindquist, North Brayton, New York Times, Roy Shimohata, William Cox, San Diego, Mark Jenner, New Zealand, Santa Barbara, Woods Hole, Katharine Cline, Los Angeles, Wood's Hole, Central Valley, Deep Sea Drilling Project, Nobel Prize, Petron Corporation
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