Learning The World

MacLeod, Ken

ISBN 10: 1841493430 / ISBN 13: 9781841493435

Published by Time Warner Book Group / Orbit, 2005

About this Item

© 2005: A stand-alone novel by Ken MacLeod. 1st edition, 1st printing. Previous owner's name to front end-paper:- Synopsis: The Fermi Paradox: If there are billions of planets in the universe that are capable of supporting life, and millions of intelligent species out there, then why haven't we encountered any? The great sunliner 'But the Sky, My Lady! The Sky!' is nearing the end of a four-hundred-year journey. A ship-born generation is tense with expectation for the new system that is to be their home. Expecting to find nothing more complex than bacteria and algae, the detection of electronic signals from one of the planets comes as a shock. In millennia of slow expansion, humanity has never encountered aliens, and yet these new signals cannot be ignored. They suspect a fast robot probe has overtaken them, and send probes of their own to investigate. On a world called Ground, whose inhabitants are struggling into the age of radio, petroleum and powered flight, a young astronomer searching for distant planets detects an anomaly that he presumes must be a comet. His friend, a brilliant foreign physicist, calculates the orbit, only to discover an anomaly of his own. The comet is slowing down. Reminding us that the universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine, 'Learning The World' is Ken MacLeod's stunning new novel of exploration, discovery and Mankind's destiny amongst the stars:- Review(s): Praise for Ken MacLeod: "The modern-day George Orwell" - SFX / "Stunningly assured, inventive and intelligent" - Iain M Banks / "A hectic ride, through slaloms of audacious complexity, irreverent ingenuity and paradox as purposeful as it is playful" - Guardian / "Magnificent" - Starburst / "The wit and thrust are like a needle shower" - Mail On Sunday / "Intelligent, witty and politically challenging" - New Scientist / "MacLeod simply gets better and better. SF writing doesn't come more accomplished than this" - Starlog:- (original cost £17.99).

Seller Inventory # 21.126.00002

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Learning The World
• Publisher: Time Warner Book Group / Orbit
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1841493430
• ISBN 13: 9781841493435
• Binding: Hardback: 9½" x 6¼"
• Illustrator: Cover Art: Lee Gibbons
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Near Fine: Small signs of wear
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Weight: 0.6 kilograms
• Seller catalogs:
  • Science Fiction

About this title

Synopsis

Humanity has spread to every star within 500 light-years of its half-forgotten origin, coloring the sky with a haze of habitats. Societies rise and fall. Incautious experiments burn fast and fade. On the fringes, less modified humans get on with the job of settling a universe that has, so far, been empty of intelligent life.The ancient starship But the Sky, My Lady! The Sky! is entering orbit around a promising new system after a four hundred year journey. For its long-lived inhabitants, the centuries have been busy. Now a younger generation is eager to settle the system. The ship is a seed-pod ready to burst.Then they detect curious electromagnetic emissions from the system's Earth-like world. As the nature of the signals becomes clear, the choices facing the humans become stark.On Ground, second world from the sun, a young astronomer searches for his system's outermost planet. A moving point of light thrills, then disappoints him. It's only a comet. His physicist colleague Orro takes time off from trying to invent a flying-machine to calculate the comet's trajectory. Something is very odd about that comet's path.They are not the only ones for whom the world has changed."We are not living in the universe we thought we lived in yesterday. We have to start learning the world all over again."At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

About the Author

Since graduating from Glasgow University in 1976, Ken MacLeod has worked as a computer analyst in Edinburgh. He now writes full time.