Core [Paperback]

Paul Preuss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1994

Falling prey to a deadly magnetic pole shift and the evil intentions of those who would use technology for power, the entire world looks to Leidy Hudder, whose plan to explore the earth's center provides their only hope. Reprint. NYT.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This flawed and uneven futuristic techno-thriller by the author of the Arthur C. Clarke Venus Prime series turns on an apocalyptic crisis. The Earth's magnetic field is collapsing, creating chaos with navigation and telecommunications systems and leaving segments of the population unprotected from lethal solar radiation. Maverick geologist Leiden Hudder, working with a brilliant but abrasive scientist, Marta Cellini-Sanchez McDougal, has a plan to confront this calamity, making use of a superhard substance discovered by his father. He and Marta propose to manipulate the magnetic field at its source by drilling all the way to the Earth's core. But first Hudder must contend with bureaucrats, politicians, his own rocky family relationships and the awesome destructive potential of the Earth's fiery depths. Despite the tantalizing premise and some brisk, exciting passages, the narrative falls flat, defeated by tediously detailed scientific and technical explanations, the protagonist's cliche-ridden family history, digressive character development and a ludicrous, melodramatic climax that diverges from the book's central premise.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Maybe-here-and-now yarn about a project to drill a hole down to the Earth's core in order to study the source of the planet's magnetic field, which is breaking down and wobbling about and threatening to cause all sorts of disasters. From the author of Starfire, Human Error, etc. In the embers of the first atomic explosion at White Sands during WW II, Cyrus Hudder discovers an extraordinary new crystal, harder than diamond, impossible to melt. Cyrus has long dreamed of drilling down to the Earth's core; now, if he lines the hole with ``hudderite,'' the idea seems feasible. Eventually, however, having screwed up his life, Cyrus disappears, an apparent suicide. Fortunately, Leidy, Cyrus's estranged son, shares his dream; so Leidy teams up with researcher Marta McDougal for years of experiments and fund-raising in order to get the project underway. Cyrus, meanwhile, has been recruited by a mysterious oil company to engineer a deep hole in great secrecy somewhere in the Middle East. Just as Leidy's hole reaches the core, Cyrus discovers that he's been working for Arabs whose real purpose is to wipe Israel off the map by triggering monster earthquakes. Notwithstanding the inherent improbability of any such material as hudderite: a fascinating scientific-technical spectacle, and never mind the tepid romancing, humdrum father-son clashes, and generally creaky plot. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Avon Books (Mm) (August 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380711826
• ISBN-13: 978-0380711826
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,520,414 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This was a pretty good book, September 27, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Core (Paperback)

Core was fairly good sc-fi reading. If you aren't into novels that can get fairly heavy on technical details then you might want to think twice about reading this book. The plot is sometimes a little slow moving, but picks up at the end for a great finish. I understand Preuss has a few other novels in print, and if they are anything like Core then I would love to read them.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Okay, if you're interested in technology, June 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Core (Paperback)

I am not much for SF books that are set in the present. It pretty much defeats the basic idea of SF (that is to see how future developments in science and technology affect human society), and to me such books seem alternate reality rather than SF. So this is not my cup of tea. That said this is certainly a well crafted book that moves along reasonably fast, and sketches well the development of a new technology after a scientific breakthrough, although the new technology itself is unbelievable (a material harder than diamond that is stable under high pressure and temperatures? Please!)

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hmmmmm...., February 5, 2003

By 

"nct119" (Lawrence, KS United NotStates) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Core: A Novel (Hardcover)

Is the new Hollywood movie THE CORE based on this book at all?