Customer Reviews

Einstein's Bridge

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Believe it or not, it was the Acknowledgements that made me buy Einstein's Bridge. John Cramer wrote that when the Superconducting Super Collider project was scrapped in 1993, it was a year before he could bear to look at his unfinished manuscript. I "felt his pain." Those who have an interest in particle physics will especially enjoy this book, although I think any fan of hard sci-fi will be delighted with it. The characters are great--likable and believable. The real beauty of this book is its highly original plot. The backdrop is Waxahatchie, TX, (yes, that was to be the SSC site) in the first decade of the 21st Century--in other words, 'bout now. Our high-energy physics experiments have attracted notice of two different groups of aliens. We have the bad guys, who invade and take over other worlds, and the good guys, who empower other civilizations to defeat the bad guys before the invasion can be completed. They do this by contacting us and teaching us to "read" and "write." (These words will never have the same mundane meaning to you again after this book!) There is plenty of good science mixed in with the fiction, and enough twists to keep you wondering how on earth it will resolve itself. Much to my delight, time travel was even introduced. I don't want to say more, as it would spoil the plot. This book takes you along on a great ride--enjoy it!

After having enjoyed TWISTOR some years ago, I have been waiting for a possible sequel to that novel. The tantalising glimpse of an alien world accessible through a "gateway" bore the promise of much adventure. EINSTEIN'S BRIDGE is certainly no sequel to that book, though the concept of parallel universes also forms its basis. It is an exceptionally good "hard science" story. The physics is credible and presented with such clarity that very few readers will be discouraged. They will indeed learn quite a lot about high energy physics along the way, and gain much insight concerning the way scientific research is done and how the related "politics" works. The characterisation of the protagonists is good, the plot is excellent for its rigour and unpredictability. There are some some truly terrifying moments (when the "hive" is found and breaks loose) that have the same kind of impact as the claustrophobic anguish of being embedded inside a tree in TWISTOR. Like in that novel, the ending is also open, though more ominous... An exciting adventure that no reader will ever forget. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and encourage the author to continue practicing his considerable talent for SF. He can at least count on one unconditional reader of his next novel: me!

This book mixes hard science with an alternate universe. It is a mix that might have fallen flat in other hands, but it works well here. I was particularly interested to see how he handled the workings of the SSC (the superconducting supercollider, which was built in the alternate universe). Cramer's speculation of a hive mind that savages universes they contact was a scary one. The science was believable, and the characters behaved like other physicists I have known. This is the best science fiction I have read this year. I recommend it to anyone interested in speculation that is science-based, not "science fantasy". Also interesting is Cramer's description of what happened to the SSC in our universe. He is passionate and witty here too. He definitely had a lot of inside knowledge, which served him well in the book.

Reading through these reviews, one thing becomes clear: People have varying opinions. I suppose that's why we have chocolate and vanilla.

In general, I do not like SF, so "I'm driving in the wrong neighborhood" writting a review amongst the serious SF readers. I could probably count all the SF books I like on one hand. I tend to like science/medical thriller writers, like Michael Crichton, Robin Cook, Richard Preston and Dan Brown. If you like those writers, you will probably also like this book.

John Cramer is a excellent writer and, as I've discovered, quite an intellectual. His characters are well developed. The plot concept is mind blowing and very cool. This is a new genre of fiction, called "hard science fiction". Hard SF should appeal to engineers and scientists. Anyone who needs somewhat plausible scientific explainations, before allowing their "willing suspension of disbelief", should enjoy this story.

Apart from the physics, there are many lessons and gems of opinions about humanity, society, politics, government and even psychology. This is what sets this book apart from many of the other SF I've encountered.

I hope that Prof. Cramer is writing a sequel. If he is, I suspect there is already a long line formed.

All right, so if you were ever involved with high energy physics [I was], and especially if you're American [I'm not], this is going to remind you of lot of things, even if you've missed the latest developments (basic string theory all right? QCD is now obsolete, in case you hadn't noticed. Bubbles, bubbles, anybody remembers bubble chambers?).
Dr Cramer's gift is to be able to paint skillfully the inside of a modern physics lab ten years ago, the hierarchical pecking order therein, going down from top dog -the head of a facility- to the electrician servicing some parts of an experiment, and shows them as people, with the complex pattern of their relations, not as empty formula-spouting cardboard characters, which is unfortunately so often the doom of the not-too-crafty hard science fiction writer, even when the author is a scientist.
Dr Cramer shows also a more-than-basic knowledge of the legislative arm of the US federal government, and effectively describes some of its failings, as well as the mystique in "science research financing" which actually is pork in disguise, in a fairly interesting way.
Also, his physics is good and it takes a reasonably good experimental physicist (alas, I no longer am) to understand when he deviates from real science to fairy tale (though at least partially credible).
I am sure this will appeal to all scientists who read SF (I admit being one), but its ease of writing, its 3D characters and the plot twists should reach beyond this specialised audience.
Excellent book, entertaining and as good or even better than "Twistor".
A must for the hard SF fan.

At least Cramer, in spite of his scientific background, doesn't fall into these traps. His characters are interesting, decent morally, and are justifiably motivated to do what they have to do. Cramer also manages not to bog the reader down in inordinately long ramblings filled with technical jargon, or at least he made me feel not to be ignorant of what he was talking about by graciously filling me in on the numerous acronyms. Which is unlike what several current wordmeisters of modern hard scifi are actually doing. My only complaint with this exciting, easily readable and enjoyable book, was that Cramer seems to have truncated the tale too early, and left a bit of unresolved issues (maybe a sequel intended in that). Still, EB is clearly a heart-stopping mixture of Lovecraftian mythos and Borg mania. (Made me almost feel as if I was reading another great novel by William Browning Spencer [Resume With Monsters].) This book is a steal. Grab it!

The political jargon becomes a little thick at the end but overall it makes up for this in ideas and plot twists. Here are some examples; the parallels of Susan's insect fiction and her demise in the first SSC world, Susan's justification for writing science insect horror fiction as opposed to writing nonfiction, the dumb vice present who ends up saving the world by default, the manipulation of a greedy congressman, taking a drug that makes you smarter and the idea that the limiting factor of brain power is not brain size but our ability to come up with a balancing mechanism to prevent insanity and other mental illnesses, and the whole idea of universes meeting through bubbles.
Cramer raises the question of how much should a government put toward scientific research. Was the 11 billion dollar SSC supercollider project a significant proposal that would advance society or is it a piece of macro pork-barrel legislation inteaded to please a small number of constituents (scientists and science enthusiasts. In these times we here about space exploration, satellites, sending people into space are these current programs more necessary than particle physic or are they programs that are developed to "wow" the public. Are some advances in science opening a pandara's box?
This book is very difficult to put down, luckily I had the opportunity to dedicate an entire day to finishing the book. There is an interesting dichotomy between the idea of how science advances are useful and being the "mainspring of the US economy" and the notion that through advanced science (i.e. a supercollider) the world nearly meet it's demise.

Starts with a realistic picture of scientists at work and adds some fantastic ideas for a fun, fast story. The science aspects are interesting and relevant to the story. Shows the politics behind doing big science in both government and academia. Some of the non-scientist character development is a little tedious and shallow hence 4 stars instead of 5.

I just absolutely enjoyed this book! It is rare to find a book with real science but with also a very entertaining story. Some ideas in the book are very original. I also recommend Twistor and I hope that J. Cramer will publish more novels in a near future!

I found this book to be amazingly accurate in physical knowledge of the universe. The book was based on actual possibilites in real-world physics. Although higly objective, these certainly do exist (e.g. the probability of there being an infinite number of parallel universes). If one is interested in physics, specifically quantum and dynamic probabilities, as well as a science fiction theme, read Einstein's Bridge.