Sometimes a great scientific idea and realistic scientific explanations of fanciful subjects make for a great story. Sometimes dull stories are made better by cool ideas. Gregory Benford's 1980 novel Timescape takes a fascinating idea, includes lots of plausible scientific discussion of that idea, and attempts to make a story out of it. Unfortunately, I found the story to be a bit of a yawner.
The idea is cool: scientists in 1998 are concerned about a growing bloom in the ocean that threatens the future of all living things. The causes are known to be man-made chemicals. They have discovered tachyon beams and theorize that the beams can be used to send messages back in time. Another group of scientists in 1962 pick up signals that seem too patterned to be natural. They figure out that it's Morse code, but much of the message is unintelligible, chemical names they don't recognize. It's a race to convince the rest of the world that these messages from the future are legit and provide information that can be used to change the course of history.
That sounds a lot more interesting than it is. The story is bogged down in academic politics, scientist's egos, and scientific speculation. Like a good writer of hard sci-fi, Benford blends enough real science with the fantastic elements to make it all seem plausible. But the plot and drama are too understated and, well, dull. I know I'm in the minority. Timescape won the 1981 Nebula award, among other awards. But it just didn't do much for me.
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