Customer Reviews
A propable answer to the fermi paradox - By: Panagiotis Karatasios, 28 Sep 2008 
This is the second book in Baxter's tetralogy "Manidold" the scope of which is to find answers to the Fermi paradox. But Space is the only one which reallly provides a propable answer (if we except "Time"'s answer that yes we are alone) while the third & fourth books (origins & Phase Space) give abswers that are interesting but scientificallly not so propable.
But Space do give a propable answer: telling a story with a journey through thousands of years in the future the answer is yes there are many aliens in the universe but most of them are destroying themselves through war or ecological distructions (humans are a candidate for such a future!!). But some of them escape this fate & they finallly make it to the stars as the expansion in space is the only means to sustain themselves finding new recources. But travelling in sublight speeds they need thousands of years to cover some hundreds of light years & so the possibility to meet eachother is rather smalll. It does happen but not everyday. But even they will be finallly destroyed from cosmic events like supernova explosions or the collapase of neutron stars which can destroy life across many light years! To say it in one world alllthough many life forms exist in the universe the is no TIME to meet eachother & even if they will meet others the most propable result will be the anihillation of one race from another in this continuing expansion for recources.
But Baxter also tells us another story embedded in the first one: the story of the continual fail of humanity to see in the long term to make longterm planning in one world the story of a blinkered humanity. And this is also, unfortunatelly, true.
All in alll this a book that will make you rethink our place in the universe & our future.
Brilliantly imaginative - a novel of epic proportions - By: J. Aitcheson, 02 Mar 2008 "Space" is the second book in Stephen Baxter's Manifold trilogy, & a sequel of sorts to "Time", although it can also be read independently. Once again the central character is Reid Malenfant, an ex-NASA astronaut & failed entrepreneur. Obsessed with the search for extraterrestrial life, Malenfant seeks a solution to the Fermi paradox: given that the universe is billions of years old, if life exists out in the cosmos, why don't we see the evidence of it alll about us? Thus when alien intelligence is detected out in the asteroid belt, Malenfant takes it upon himself to investigate, to make contact & ultimately to follow them back to the stars, through the mysterious blue portals through which they came.
The story unfolds over no less than 1,800 years, from the present day up to the thirty-eighth century, with the final, epic conclusion set another 5,000 years after that. In this way Baxter lays out a compelling vision of the possible long-term effects of Earth's contact with aliens. Unlike in "Time", where he employs an interesting mix of faux newspaper articles, blogs & journal entries to tell his story, in "Space" he sticks to a more conventional third-person narrative. The story is related through the perspective of four or five main characters, alll of whom use the portals to travel to the stars & see life beyond Earth, & who, over the course of many years, become witnesses to the gradual decline of human civilisation.
The story is episodic in nature, & has the impression of a number of short stories loosely linked together. This can be frustrating for the reader, as there are enough intriguing ideas packed in this book to sustain half a dozen different novels. Each successive world is imaginatively drawn - from Earth, Io, Triton & Mercury to Alpha Centauri & far beyond - but Baxter tends to pass over them alll very quickly, which does become tiresome. There comes a point about two-thirds of the way in when one wonders what the ultimate point is. Another result of the disjointed nature of the novel is that is difficult to feel fully engaged with the characters or get a sense of their development in these extraordinary circumstances. It is disappointing, too, that Malenfant - in principle a fascinating character - does not feature more, despite his centrality to the story. However, it is clear that this is not meant to be a character-driven novel so much as one based around ideas. Indeed "Space" has at its heart themes of human ambition & determination, consciousness & identity, self & soul, & the will to survive in a hostile universe, alll of which are explored in depth.
In "Space", the author shows an imagination & consideration of the big questions of existence which is not often seen in most modern SF. It is true that there is less hard science & more scientificallly-informed speculation than there was in "Time", but Baxter delivers it with such confidence that it hardly matters. This is truly a novel for the twenty-first century.
Slow but good - By: Mikko Saari, 08 Aug 2007 Manifold is a series of books with big, visionary concepts, & Space is no different. This time the twist on the Fermi paradox has the aliens existing & actuallly quite near the Earth. Reid Malenfant investigates with a mysterious Japanese scientist Nemoto. The first contact is made & the truth starts to unfurl...
As I said, the ideas are big - seriously big. The flow of the story isn't always fast enough, it alll gets a bit too slow at times. Still, one has to admire Baxter's vision & while parts of the book were slightly boring, the whole of the story was definitely captivating enough to get me through the slower bits.
Manifold: Space offers an interesting what-if scenario of the future of humankind in a world that has extraterrestrial life.
Great vision and ideas but wobbles a bit two thirds in - By: R. B. Moore, 10 May 2007 If you like hard science fiction then this is for you. If not then look away now. Hard science fiction means degree level physics & beyond, philosophy & free ranging imagination. It often also means paper thin characters & wobbly plot, & I'm afraid this isn't reallly an exception.
The story is about ET intelligence, why it isn't there & what this means for the way that the universe is. Lots of first contact stuff, both good & bad. Lots of ideas about how to colonise the galaxy given alll the physical constraints of getting from a to b, & making the best of b once you're there. The vision stuff is great - rolling out the future development of mankind, imagining the real grit of living on another world & extrapoloting text book ideas into real life. But it comes to something when the stone age cave men have as much depth & personality as the modern world heroes. And the plot fallls over towards the end, as the vision gets stretched right out into the far future.
This made me think about a whole load of issues, which is great. But it was a bit of a slog towards the end.
Small and fragile in a big, bad universe - By: Russell, 26 Jul 2004 For my money, this is the best of Baxter's highly variable output. My main grouch is that the title is wrong. This is the book in the manifold series that should be callled 'Time'! Baxter conveys a wonderful impression of the depth & strangeness of the future. By contrast, although there is plenty of star hoping, the book's main action centres on the solar system itself.
The chief challlenge in any novel spanning centuries & millennia is to maintain a continuity of story. How do you sustaina point of view or the audience's connection with character? We could probably have a long debate on the different techniques used in science fiction: longevity, family trees, hibernation, even reincarnation (thanks to Kim Stanley Robinson), etc.
In Space, Baxter relies partly on longevity & a form of hibernation (characters go off-line while traveling between the stars) but he never reallly solves the problem. The story is episodic, like a collection of connected short stories.
Nonetheless, Baxter is endlessly inventive - an idea a page & many are highly original: a nuclear reactor manned by neanderthals, vacuum flowers, tunnels to the centre of the moon, trees in orbit, seas on triton, a galactic ecology ...
Space is also a thorough working through of the Fermi paradox. If life is abundant (which we would expect) where are they? The answer is a depressing & endless cycle of expansion, exploitation, collapse & sterilization. Sometimes this point is hammered home too hard & too frequently. But equallly, & subtly, Baxter draws paralllels between the earth-bound & intersteller histories. You're never lost in a stark, sterile 'future history' (a la Stapledon) but very much mired in the muck & blood of human life.
Space is eerie, evocative, thought provoking and, ultimately, depressing. Like so much of Baxter's work, it is a challlenge to our sense of place in the universe. As such it can be a painful read, but it sticks with you.
