Greg Bear
Darwin's RadioAs foot and mouth ravages the animal population of this country, so one naturally takes a renewed interest in all things viral, cellular and communicable, doesn’t one? I set out with the intent of finding a book that would give me the heebie-jeebies in these contaminated times. I found it.
Darwin's Radio is science fiction in the literal sense of the phrase – there is a glossary of scientific terms and a short biological primer at the rear of the text, where it becomes abundantly clear that Bear’s evolutionary vision is not so far fetched as might be expected.
Evolution is the key to this novel as humanity faces a paradigm shift in the way it sees itself, and indeed, in the way nature views the human race. Pregnant women are becoming susceptible to a disease that forces them to miscarriage. The government announces that this new disease cannot be stopped.
But deep within the DNA that makes us what we are, genes that have been unused for years begin to wake up, exerting their inexorable influence: the women who have miscarried become pregnant again, without any sexual activity. The children are born dead, and different. The Herod virus as it becomes known, puts entire generations at risk. The question is asked: whose children are these? The future of the human race is in the balance as throughout the world superstition and violence takes over. Women begin to mistrust men. The sexes drift apart as the governments of the world desperately try to develop an effective vaccine.
As panic sets in across the globe several findings concur with the minority viewpoint that what the human race is experiencing is not a genetic plague designed to terminate human life, but an enhanced evolutionary step for the human race. A chance discovery of mummified remains in the Alps, and an examination of a mass grave in the Caucasus confirm what only a few scientists believe: the babies are showing signs of slightly altered features, and the parents are subtlety changing too. Perhaps a vaccine is not needed, rather an acceptance that we are evolving constantly in many ways, and that it should be only natural that eventually we will begin to physically evolve?
At times the scientific terminology employed on almost every page is overwhelming, and one must pay close attention to the glossary if one is to understand the development of the arguments within the story. Darwin’s Radio is one of those defiantly challenging books that lay down solid scientific foundations, and upon those develops fantastic, yet undeniably realistic scenarios. Look for a sequel later this year.
Darwin's Radio is science fiction in the literal sense of the phrase – there is a glossary of scientific terms and a short biological primer at the rear of the text, where it becomes abundantly clear that Bear’s evolutionary vision is not so far fetched as might be expected.
Evolution is the key to this novel as humanity faces a paradigm shift in the way it sees itself, and indeed, in the way nature views the human race. Pregnant women are becoming susceptible to a disease that forces them to miscarriage. The government announces that this new disease cannot be stopped.
But deep within the DNA that makes us what we are, genes that have been unused for years begin to wake up, exerting their inexorable influence: the women who have miscarried become pregnant again, without any sexual activity. The children are born dead, and different. The Herod virus as it becomes known, puts entire generations at risk. The question is asked: whose children are these? The future of the human race is in the balance as throughout the world superstition and violence takes over. Women begin to mistrust men. The sexes drift apart as the governments of the world desperately try to develop an effective vaccine.
As panic sets in across the globe several findings concur with the minority viewpoint that what the human race is experiencing is not a genetic plague designed to terminate human life, but an enhanced evolutionary step for the human race. A chance discovery of mummified remains in the Alps, and an examination of a mass grave in the Caucasus confirm what only a few scientists believe: the babies are showing signs of slightly altered features, and the parents are subtlety changing too. Perhaps a vaccine is not needed, rather an acceptance that we are evolving constantly in many ways, and that it should be only natural that eventually we will begin to physically evolve?
At times the scientific terminology employed on almost every page is overwhelming, and one must pay close attention to the glossary if one is to understand the development of the arguments within the story. Darwin’s Radio is one of those defiantly challenging books that lay down solid scientific foundations, and upon those develops fantastic, yet undeniably realistic scenarios. Look for a sequel later this year.
