Flash Forward / Robert J Sawyer

Flash Forward
by Robert J Sawyer

Science fiction

Published 1999
Read in January 2013

Rated 7 out of 10: well worth reading

I seem to be reading a lot of books which are "well worth reading". Am I too soft in my rating? Noooo... I'm just a bit selective, and avoid books which I'm fairly certain that I will not like.

Still, I like to be surprised. And my thinking should be open. In the future I will read more books which -- if I were to judge by the cover -- I would expect to not like.

Flash Forward, I expected to like. And I was right... Which, of course, reinforces my preference for reading books which I *expect* to like. In future, I will try harder.

Or, is the future predetermined? Is space-time an immutable Minkowski cube? Will I continue to select books that I expect to like -- because in the immutable future I already select only books that I expect to like?!

Deeeep...

Then there's that cat on the box... Is it dead or is it alive? If we can't tell, does that mean that the cat is both dead and alive?! Will the universe split in two, just because we forgot to put a camera inside that box?

Or will the cat -- when the box is opened -- send a transaction back on time... A transaction which will counter the possibility that the cat had died -- or not died -- inside that box?!

All this and more, in Flash Forward!

What Sawyer has done, is to take the key views of quantum mechanics -- and build a story around them.

The story is satisfactory. The science is interesting and well presented. This is hard science fiction. Not a great book. But well worth reading.

Yes, I did enjoy this book. As I expected. The enjoyment was not predestined... It's just that yes, I can often select -- by its cover -- a book which I will enjoy.

Which raises yet another question for discussion: do I *reject* books which I would enjoy just as much?

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