The Embedding (Gollancz SF Collectors' Edition) [Paperback]

Ian Watson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 2000

Ian Watson's brilliant debut novel was one of the most significant publications in British sf in the 1970s. Intellectually bracing and grippingly written, it is the story of three experiments in linguistics, and is driven by a searching analysis of the nature of communication. Fiercely intelligent, energetic and challenging, it immediately established Watson as a writer of rare power and vision, and is now recognized as a modern classic.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ian Watson was born in 1943 and lectured in Tanzania and Tokyo before teaching Future Studies at Birmingham Polytechnic for six years. He began publishing sf with 'Roof Garden Under Saturn' for New Worlds in 1969. His other books include The Jonah Kit, Alien Embassy, The Very Slow Time Machine and Miracle Visitors.

Product Details

• Paperback: 254 pages
• Publisher: Victor Gollancz (September 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575071338
• ISBN-13: 978-0575071339
• Product Dimensions: 12.5 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,734,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking with original SETI implications., June 27, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Melbourne Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Embedding (Paperback)

Contrary to the other reader review of this book I found it to be one of the most thought provoking SF novels ever (this from a thirty year afficianado of Clarke, Asimov, Bradbury et al). Watson weaves an engrossing tale with tanatlising sub plots and questions the very fundementals of language and communication with massive implications for SETI planners and participants. I heartily reccomend this novel to any reader capable of discerning original SF thought from Star Wars 9. It is dissappointingly currently out of print so get down to your library or nag the publisher!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transcendent otherness, April 10, 2004

By 

Doug Mackey (Fairfield, IA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Embedding (Paperback)

Ian Watson's first novel, published in 1973, was one of his best, and an acknowledged classic of science fiction. Its theme is not a traditional sf topic, but a very intellectually challenging one: language as the means to bridge the gap between human consciousness and the otherness of the objective world. In Watson's fictional "embededed" language of the Xemahoas, a Brazilian Indian tribe, "This-Reality" is converted into the transcendent pattern of "Other-Reality," which is the world of pure being. The Sp'thra (who represent the essential otherness of the objective world, everything about it that we do not understand) bargain for the brains of speakers of this language, which they desire to learn. At the end, the main character experiences a breakdown of reality and a cognizance of a new state of being, reminiscent of such occurrences in the work of Philip K. Dick.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Full of v interesting ideas., January 16, 2005

By 

Suratna (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Embedding (Gollancz SF Collectors' Edition) (Paperback)

In terms of interesting ideas, this book is one of the best in SF I have read. If you are even vaguely interested in language theory, you will like the interesting twists the author gives to the ideas in that field. In terms of developing these ideas to their full potential, the book is not so good. It makes a v fine start but leaves you a little dissatisfied in the end. If you like SF for ideas, this is a good choice. But if you are looking for characterization or action, there are lots of other far better ones.