Customer Reviews

The Hercules Text

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I first read this book in college and enjoyed it at the time as a refreshing break from the traditional sci-fi literature. I've moved seven times in the intervening years, and this book is one of only a dozen or so that have been worth hauling city to city, state to state.

As with other reviewers, I enjoyed the fresh spin on the first contact storyline, and the inclusion of a psychologist and a cosmologist in the group of main characters. But having just re-read the book for the first time so far this decade, I have to say that my favorite part of the book is the idea of a bureacrat as the protaganist.

In most sci-fi stories the hero is a military person, or a brilliant scientist. That's great, and there are many soldiers and scientists that read sci-fi, but I'd guess there are far more sci-fi readers that have paperwork-intensive desk jobs, organizing meetings or creating reports. Carmichael's ordinariness creates a connection with the typical reader that is not found in many books.

McDevitt wrote an outstanding book. This is great stuff, and you should read it if you get a chance.

This is one of the first efforts of Jack McDevitt and surely one of his best. The story of the dull bureaucrat who struggles to balance politics, great minds and personal crises is an old one but here it is given a new twist - he emerges the reluctant hero.

Yes, I loved CONTACT which was a great book and an even better movie in my opinion. But the relationship between cultures, especially the effects on humanity and how we define ourselves was better in HERCULES. Particularly interesting was the inclusion of a psychologist who provided excellent comments and insight.

I am surprised that no one recognized or commented on the almost poetical nature of some of the translations. These are simply beautiful renditions of "alien" thought made understandable to humans. They lifted the novel from the very good to the great. The "group" consciousness idea was yet another good addition and makes sense considering the ant and the honey bee. All in all, a terrific read.

The Hercules Text was Jack McDevitt's first novel and probably his best. It follows the same theme as the better known novel Contact by Carl Sagan--alien transmissions from outer space being received by humans and their subsequent reactions to the knowledge that "we are not alone"--but I believe McDevitt's novel is much better. It also must be noted that McDevitt wrote and published The Hercules Text before Sagan published his book. The thing I liked about McDevitt's book is that he seemed to have a clearer grasp than Sagan of the contrasts between science and religion and how the different disciplines affect people's lives. McDevitt seems to understand that just because someone is a theist doesn't automatically make them a buffoon (I believe this was one of Sagan's shortcomings). The characterizations in both novels, though, are excellent, and I must admit that Sagan did have a better grasp of the science aspect of the theme. I recommend The Hercules Text wholeheartedly. A good read, well worth the time.

This book is definitely worth searching for, even if it is out of print. The plot involves mankind's receipt of the first communication from an alien intelligent species, a common SF topic, but McDevitt's handling of the story is far above the common. The author does an excellent job of portraying the various characters' reactions to the event, e.g, the priest-astronomer's speculations on the implications for religion, the psychologist's theorizing about the aliens' psyches, the scientists' consideration of the implications of the new knowledge for their own specialties, the President's concern for the implications for national defense. However, the central conflict in the book develops from profound disagreements about the degree to which the new knowledge should be shared. What could have deteriorated into a pure "idea" book, however, kept me guessing until the very last chapter as the various factions vie for control. Although the plot is flavored by the attitudes of the Cold War, the questions are timeless, and the conclusion is satisfying.
It is very difficult to believe this was McDevitt's first novel. It deserves to be brought back into print.

"First contact" is a very old trope in science fiction, but this is one of the better recent riffs on it. More realistic, too, in that a signal is picked up by the Goddard Space Center in Maryland from a pulsar a million and a half light years away -- in fact, the pulsar is the signal -- so there's no chance whatever of a two-way conversation, much less a face-to-face meeting. McDevitt astutely explores the problem of a more advanced civilization coming into contact with a less developed one, the human race being the "South Sea Islanders" in this case. Virtually free energy could solve many of the world's most pressing problems -- or destroy the world's economy. After-the-fact gene-tailoring could wipe out disease, genetic defects, even postpone death indefinitely -- but who gets to benefit from immortality? (Just the politicians?) One of the cosmologists involved in the translation team is a Catholic priest, which gives the author the opportunity to examine the shaky interface between religion and the real world. But the main POV character is an administrator, not a scientist, with a much more practical perspective. McDevitt's characters and descriptions are excellent, as always. There are several subplots involving personal relationships, too. In fact, the only problem with this book is that the political background -- which is essential to the plot -- presupposes continued tension between the U.S. and the USSR into the early 21st century. And we know that didn't happen. When I first read this book, back around the end of the Reagan years, I thought it was a fantastic piece of work. In theory, I still think that, but present political realities make it a little strange to read.

An interesting story of radio telescope contact with another civilization, much like Sagan's later "Contact". The central character's dilemma over moral and technological consequences is played against a very turbulent personal life. A very well plotted "bureaucrat as actor" exposition. A worthy precursor to his more colorful "Engines of God".

This is Jack McDevitt's first novel, and it shows, but Hercules Text is still a good read. What is lacking in this book is not story or characters, but just the refined style we read in McDevitt's later novels. The Hercules Text is apparently out-of-print. Perhaps now that McDevitt has become fairly successful, The Hercules Text will be reprinted.

Some reviewers compare The Hercules Text to Sagan's Contact, but I have to disagree: the two books resemble each other only insofar as each explores the ramifications and consequences of an extra-terrestrial communication. Contact explored much larger themes, in keeping with Carl Sagan's genius and vision. McDevitt writes a much more down to earth-and, in truth, more plausible-story that examines what would happen politically if an extra-terrestrial communication were discovered. The characters are not larger than life; they are not infused with Sagan's optimism. McDevitt's characters are scientists, bureaucrats, and politicians whom we can not only imagine, but whom we observe every day. The Hercules Text is, I believe, pretty close to what would actually happen.

And what happens is not grounds for optimism. The story is a little dated-the Soviet Union still exists-but the story would work just as well by substituting any of the other crazy, reactionary societies on the planet. The paranoia and hubris McDevitt writes into the American government is not a stretch either: just look at the behavior of the administration we have now.

If you believe that our species has successfully navigated through the Age of Reason toward some new intellectual enlightenment, then The Hercules Text should change your mind; if anything, we are still living in Sagan's Demon Haunted World.

"Hercules" was published 14 months after "Contact." Not before. However, Sagan told Gunn that Gunn's book "The Listener's" (1972, 13 yrs before Contact was published) influenced Sagan's authoring of Contact. The Listener's is very similar to Contact in both characterization and plot (mainly a scientist and a skeptic on the quest to interpret a layered radio signal that contains audio and video messages from an alien civilization). Having addded all of this, McDevitt is an excellent author, and I appreciate this story. It approaches the Radio Signal First Contact trope from an original angle. "The Engines of God" was also very good.

Nothing is created in a vaccuum - Einstein

This is Jack McDeVitt's first novel, although the cold war theme is outdated, the science fiction of first contact is strong. It is not very comparable to the giants of the theme: Sagan's Contact or Gunn's The Listeners. It's feeling is more compact and contained, that the universal of the other two books. Using a primary character that is a person in charge of human resources seems very odd, and I can't believe an HR person would be so involved in the scientific end of the work. This also goes for having a scientific churchman on the scene. The moral solution as to what to do with the entirely of "The Hercules Text" remains elusive to the characters and reader. The subplot of Harry's dissolving marriage is a nice touch, since most authors would have given you his background in half a page, and left it at that. I believe that McDeVitt has updated parts of the story in later editions, since the Cold War ended. This introduction to McDeVitt already shows a mature writing ability, giving the reader a sense of what is to come.

I view this novel as a remarkably faithful translation of Stanislaw Lem's _His Master's Voice_, except most of the thought-provoking chapters have been left out. The climax/conclusions are identical, however, and I suppose that's a good thing.