Welcome. Welcome, Edward Sedgley, to the Holy Planet! With this greeting, Dr Edward Sedgley, a theoretical physicist, embarks on a journey that begins with his Noviciate to become one of the Guardians, extra-terrestrial beings responsible for the stability of the Universe. He and his study companion Rabyd, metamorphose into a single entity, Tresargus, which is instrumental in preventing the invasion of Earth by the Zetoids, an alien life form bent on universal expansion and domination. His former friends and colleagues are caught up in the conflict and together their experiences take them through and beyond space and time, bringing them face to face with unknown entities whose own equally valid will to exist challenges any inflated notions of human pre-eminence. Like Edward before them, his fellow humans are forced to acknowledge the damage they have wrought on their own planet and their involvement in destabilising the entire Cosmos. Their universe is only one of many that comprise the Multiverse, and it now faces destruction at the hands of renegade entities formed from sub-atomic particles. Survival of the Multiverse and continued Existence can only come at a price - but who will atone and how? This novel is the ultimate fantasy for those who ponder the Cosmos: quantum theory, mathematics, philosophy and religion are woven into a story that is more Scientific Fiction than Science Fiction. Einstein's Question - "Did God have a choice when He created the universe?" is addressed but readers will be left with questions of their own. For further information, please visit www.einsteins-question.com.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Steve & Deja Whitehouse met when they were working together in central London and they now live in Laleham in Middlesex. They share a passion for books and music, although their individual tastes vary considerably. Steve moved into IT consultancy after studying physics at Leicester University, culminating in a PhD in Theoretical Physics. He has been able to combine business consultancy with his part time post-doctoral studies at Royal Holloway College. He has published numerous papers on a variety of subjects including a ground breaking paper on Dark Energy that resulted in a featured article in the New Scientist in 1999. Deja's parents and older brother were avid readers and her father wrote prodigious amounts of poetry as well as several novels. Unlike Steve, Deja dropped science at the earliest possible opportunity, concentrating on history and the arts. She graduated from Hull University with a respectable degree in Classical Studies and progressed from administration to IT support and training. She now works as a consultant, developing high quality business documentation. Although Deja had tried her hand at women's short fiction and started a novel, it was only when Steve invited her to work with him on his book that she really focused her efforts. This was an opportunity to combine their individual fields of interest and develop their shared enthusiasm for history and philosophy. Completing the book and preparing for publication has been an incredible experience for them both - definitely hard work, but worth every minute.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Edward felt his power grow, absorbing strength from the light around him. He felt somewhat constrained in his movements - limited by the physical effort of placing one foot in front of another in the direction he wanted to travel.
He was conscious of all the physical limitations of his species, analysing himself with Rabyd's insight. He had evolved mentally and spiritually but was imprisoned in human form. Only by complete connection with Rabyd would he truly be free of these constraints.
But before this release there was a final act - a parting - and new beginnings.
His heightened awareness alerted him to Mary's presence in his doorway. She had come to fulfil the final part of her duties.
Her demeanour had changed since their last meeting. Where once there was respect and friendship between equals, now there was deference. As she entered, she bowed her head, and then knelt before him, head down, not daring to look at him directly.
He gazed at her - his heart bursting.
"We have come a long way, you and I," he said quietly.
"You must feel that I deceived you," she said, still not looking at him.
His former self considered the kneeling figure before him - the epitome of his earthly life, her deception representing the greater deception of mankind. Their relationship was the last vestige of his previous insignificant existence.
He took her hands to raise her to her feet. His new self saw before him a weak carbon life form, frail, blemished and weak. Her mind was open to him: he could read her thoughts, her worries -and not only her mind, her body: the breakdown of her chemical pathways, pre-curser cancer, physical cerebral abnormalities. He could read her very soul.
He knew now as never before - he had become truly powerful.
He looked her full in the eyes. She quailed - she was scared.
Mixed emotions filled him: he revelled in his power even as he regretted its impact.
"Please make yourself comfortable. It's so good to see you after all this time."
He was aware of the banality of his statement and the concept of time used as a figure of speech without considering its significance.
"I have come to honour you and do my duty." Mary stood before him, her head still lowered.
Great sorrow engulfed him as Edward considered the chasm that now lay between them. Within his own Duality, he encouraged his humanity to reassure her.
"Please Mary, don't be afraid. Our friendship and all we have shared is important. I have great ..." he paused, struggling for an appropriate word "...affection for you - even now."
"I am not worthy," she said.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A NEW BOOK ABOUT EVERYTHING,
By
This review is from: Einstein's Question (Paperback)
The back cover of IZ 224 has an advert for Einstein's Question, by Steve and Deja Whitehouse. I read this fascinating novel several weeks ago and would like to discuss some of its deep aspects here.
The book concerns the role of living entities in our universe, the possibility that our universe is part of a unified collection of universes called a multiverse, that every entity (even each elementary particle) in each of these universes can be said to be living, how all this relates to theology, how mathematics can describe all this, and how the acts of living entities can hold the multiverse together. Much physics and social science can be learned by reading it with care. The main idea is stability, in physics and social science. All entities in each universe must be somehow stable, this stability is needed to ensure the stability of each universe, and the latter can guarantee the stability of the multiverse itself. In fact, individual entities can act to bring this global stability about, or to keep it in place. We have a new take on the adage 'everything depends on everything else,' without the usual New Age irrationalist connotations. The multiverse is looked over by the Guardians, beings with nearly divine powers. They enlist the Terran physicist Edward to help them intervene in an attack on our planet by a race of fanatical extraterrestrials. Stability of our universe alone demands intervention, as does fixing the ecological mess that we have made of the Earth. They succeed, but at a price that we can technically call genocidal. The moral is that anything at all can and should be sacrificed to ensure stability. For without stability nothing can exist, and preserving the proper existing entities is an overriding, ethically justified goal at any moment. The authors now introduce another problem. This time the stability of the multiverse is threatened by the failure of one universe to enter a state conducive to global stability. This is a nearly Planck-scale Quantum Universe, which is governed by the probabilistic laws of quantum mechanics. With the help of beings even more god-like than the Guardians, humans are reduced to elementary particles, to assist in solving the problem. They do so by entering the Quantum Universe and carrying out acts of observation. These create the desired state of the entire Quantum Universe, just as (it is claimed) observation of the contents of a box determines the state--living or dead--of Schrödinger's cat. The multiverse and the Earth therein are saved. Here I wish to state a criticism of this wonderful, strange book. The couple writes as if observation was an accepted tool in quantum theory. It is not. The notion that 'mind' and its acts of observation are essential to Quantum Mechanics was introduced by J. von Neumann, criticised by Schrödinger by using his cat, and is quite controversal. Indeed, the true interpretation of quantum mechanics is (as a mathematician told me) 'up for grabs.' Steve and Deja Whitehouse should have mentioned this. There is much is this fine book that I am incompetant to discuss. The authors use the notion of stability in the physical and social sciences. I do not fully understand its latter use, although I believe that 'stability' is one idea that unifies the entire text. The discussions of political and social theory are too brief for me, as is the treatment of democracy therein. But this is a merely subjective criticism of this intellectually dazzling work. [...]. IZ, by the way, refers to "Interzone," The UK's (and, I believe, Europe's) best Science Fiction magazine. P.S. I live in Uppsala, Sweden, not in Amsterdam.
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