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The Crucible of Time Kindle Edition

by John Brunner (Author)

10 customer reviews

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An alien race struggles to survive on an uninhabitable planet in this “impeccably detailed and beautifully thought out” novel from a Hugo Award winner (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

On a planet besieged with cosmic dust, where meteors of all sizes frequently hit, wiping out entire civilizations, a strange alien species struggles against extinction over the course of millennia. As their star grows hotter, melting ice caps and causing more earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, higher levels of radiation lead to higher rates of mutation. Plants that had been edible become poisonous or die off altogether. Watching their dire situation only get worse, the planet’s scientists finally acknowledge that to survive long-term, the inhabitants will have to abandon their fraught home world and become a space-faring species.

In a story that spans millennia, Hugo Award–winning author and British science fiction master John Brunner introduces us to an alien race that takes control of their own evolution and builds the technological society that will be their way into space.

“One of the most important science fiction authors. Brunner held a mirror up to reflect our foibles because he wanted to save us from ourselves.” —SF Site

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Length: 304 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
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Product details

File Size: 3654 KB
Print Length: 304 pages
Publisher: Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy (April 1, 2014)
Publication Date: April 1, 2014
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B00J84KT3M
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

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Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Screen Reader: Supported

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,977 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #842 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Hard Science Fiction
- #1293 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Hard Science Fiction
- #3116 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Science Fiction

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ACFlory

but it still packs a terrific punch, 40 years later

December 21, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I first read the Crucible of Time when I was in my early twenties, but it still packs a terrific punch, 40 years later.
The story follows the inhabitants of a planet from their early pre-history through to their attempts to develop the technology for space flight. It's a massively ambitious story, especially as the 'people' of the story are not human at all, yet even the second time around, I could not put the book down. This is sci-fi at its best - ambitious, imaginative, innovative and brave.
I cannot recommend The Crucible of Time highly enough.

4 people found this helpful

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A. Nakashian

very different! original!

November 22, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I was skeptical that a 30 year old novel about space exodus could offer anything that hadn't been retold over and over since it was written, but this was a great story. It's a long read, but totally worth it.

7 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Crucible of Time Review

March 28, 2010

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

The book itself is very well written, however that is not the point of this. The book shipped far faster than expected and arrived in great condition.

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Paula

This is my favorite of John Brunner's many fine novels

October 31, 2015

Format: Kindle Edition

This is my favorite of John Brunner's many fine novels. It is the involving tale of an evolving civilization on a planet in a system that, as the creatures come, with the onset of their scientific revolutions, more and more to realize, will be doomed by an oncoming cloud in dust in the galactic near-center where it exists.
But these aliens do not feel alien to us. They have feelings and hopes and lives, though these senses and organs and ways of life are so different from ours; from the very beginning, we are concerned for them and for the characters Brunner has created.
Each section of the novel takes place in a different period of this civilization; each is told from the viewpoint of an inhabitant of that period. And---in brief--each is an emotional wallop, even as we come to care not only for the characters of the particular chapter but for this civilization and these "people", these caring/feeling/thinking aliens, as a whole.
Definitely, definitely read this one. It is unforgettable.

7 people found this helpful

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Andrew Gibbs

A good Brunner but not his best

May 13, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This was an ambitious novel, 7 novellas across a long space of time featuring a completely alien race. It is full of invented terminology and "technology" based on genetic modification and training of animals and plants. The stories are connected to build a story, with characters from earlier stories often being referred to as historically important figures. There are some interesting ideas throughout, but some of the stories work much better than others and some of the ideas were not really developed that well. Overall the novel was a satisfying experience BUT if you are approaching Brunner fresh I would recommend you read The sheep look up, The jagged orbit, and Stand on Zanzibar first.

6 people found this helpful

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June 2, 2017

Format: Hardcover

This is an astounding work of epic science fiction. Great storytelling, a highly ambitious plot, quirky aliens and by the end you realize he's been trying to tell us something about our own world and the dangers we face as a people, but it is so well written it doesn't hit you over the head with it but rather lets you figure it out for yourself. Way ahead of its time, even more relvant to day than when it was written. Brunner at his very best.

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2theD

ancient history of an alien species, lacks tech...

May 6, 2007

Format: Hardcover

The idea was interesting enough - a species of alien (think bipedal, landlubbing lobsters) and its evolution. The evoulotion spans from ideas of animism , myth & legend to the technologies of optics, sea-faring and metallurgy. From chapters 1 (of 6) the aliens know that their fate is being tried by an approaching stellar dust cloud. Coming into each proceeding chapters, one is confronted by small changes in the species' evolution and their respective technologies.

However, the first 5 of 6 chapters deal with long-dead technologies we're familiar with and this manages to slightly bore me. Nevertheless, the technology the aliens use is in a different fashion from how we discovered our own technologies. The "lobsters" use more of nature for things like water pumps, ships and lighting rather then melting metal for the same use. Only when the book gets to chapter 6 does it become more interesting. Chapter 6 deals with rockets, magnetic accelerators and the like of a possible space-faring species.

Each chapter also presents an impending danger to their fragile civilization. Will they succeed to evolve? Will they succeed in discovering new technologies? Will they escape their planet before the stellar dust comes to consume their planet?

3 people found this helpful

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March 6, 2018

Format: Kindle Edition

Writing interesting aliens is difficult, if they are too alien they're not relatable and if they're not alien enough they're just humans with a mask.

This book hits the mark. Decent plot and such as well.

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