The Quiet Pools (Paperback)

by Michael P. Kube-Mcdowell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The diaspora has begun: the spending of Earth's wealth to send STL generation ships to distant stars. Starstruck volunteers queue up hoping to be selected for one of the five ships, but others condemn this dispersal of materials and people needed to help Earth recover from ecological damage. Jeremiah "for the Homeworld" leads the rebels with acts of sabotage calculated to slow the exodus and turn world opinion against it. Meanwhile, Thomas Tidwell, official historian of the Diaspora Project, is tracking down a dark secret that hides the true reason for the migration. Kube-McDowell ( Enigma ) presents the world of 2095 through the two viewpoints of Mikhail Dryke, a security agent trying to track down Jeremiah, and Christopher McCutcheon, a project worker and folk singer who gets caught in the gears. The society is believable, socially and technically, the writing keeps a steady pace, building toward the climax, and the secret proves to be quite imaginative.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

It is humanity's most ambitious endeavor-and its most controversial: the Diaspora Project. A city-sized starship that will carry ten thousand men and women, chosen among Earth's billions, to a new life beyond our solar system. For those who are to go, the cost is their families, their loved ones, and the lives they have known. For those who are left behind, there is disappointment, despair, and anger. And for the Homeworld movement, led by the enigmatic Jeremiah, the Project is an abomination that must be stopped at any cost. The theft of Earth's best and brightest children? Or the ultimate destiny of the human race?

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: I Books (July 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743493044
• ISBN-13: 978-0743493048
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,826,441 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Explores what drives man (and Man) to go into space., July 1, 1999

By	David Walter "[e-mail]" (Grosse Pointe, Michigan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Quiet Pools (Hardcover)

This book is written on many levels, ranging from one man's efforts to understand the source of his own personality to the conflicts on a global basis surrounding the building of a generation starship.

The book is entertaining on the superficial level and rewarding at the deeper, personal level. Within a believable framework, it matches the thrust and parry of Jeremiah - speaking for the Homeworld vs. the head of security of the starship project. In addition, any adult reader will be stimulated to recall memories of their own childhood and the pains of growing up.

I recommend it as both fun and time well spent.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Humanity Goes To Seed, March 29, 2001

By	Curtis L. Wilbur "zencoyote" (San Diego, California USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Quiet Pools (Ace Science Fiction) (Hardcover)

This is a work to be proud of. Just the right combination of action and character development, with a believable setting at the beginning of the 22nd century. Kube-McDowell chronicles the end of the Diaspora project - an ambitious program to send humanity to nearby star systems. The first ship has already left, and a second of five total is about to leave.

But wait! There's more here than meets the eye. Diaspora project geneticists have discovered that there's a genetic sequence in life that actually calls us to the stars. We no more have choice in the matter than the salmon moving upstream to spawn. The web of human activity unfolding in this engrossing tale is overprinted by a genetic pre-destiny, which drives some to the skies, and others to oppose any such venture.

Ultimately the opposers, lead by the shadowy Jeremiah, succeed in halting the project, but not before the second ship leaves. And behind the backdrop of the personal dramas, earth quietly goes to seed, casting its precious packages to the cosmic winds.

An engrossing tale. Compare this to my review of Hogan's "Cradle of Saturn".

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent but Unsatisfying, May 8, 2006

By	Claus Kellermann "GeoPhysicist" - See all my reviews

The Quiet Pools (1990) by Michael Kube-McDowell - 371 pages - rating: 6/10

Kube has crafted a detailed and plausible picture of the future. His characterizations have depth and honesty. Much of this novel is compelling and intriguing. Only occasionally does his writing style come off as overly verbose or inherently awkward.

Unfortunately he forgot to tell a story. The Quiet Pools is little more than the build up to a sequel that was never written and quite probably never intended. One is forever waiting for this glorious Starship to set sail so that the characters Kube has so vividly painted can be challenged by the dangers of the cosmos and an adventurous undertaking.

The entire book however, is just the build up BEFORE the ship launches. Perhaps I've missed the point. Ultimately the feeling one is left with is that the author has tried to do something different at the expense of failing to tell an interesting story.

Claus Kellermann
2006 May 8
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