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Greg Egan Schild's Ladder: A Novel ISBN 13: 9781597805445

Schild's Ladder: A Novel - Softcover

 
9781597805445: Schild's Ladder: A Novel
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When the laws of physics are suddenly called into question, a whole new potential for life and death is brought to the entire universe. For twenty thousand years, every phenomenon that has ever been observed in the universe has been explainable through the means of the Sarumpaet Rules. These rules are the essential laws of quantum graphs that explain the makeup of the geometric structure of space-time. Cass, a humanoid physicist from Earth, discovers that the Sarumpaet Rules may not be the only applicable set of the laws of physics in the universe. Cass travels to a remote experimental facility in hopes to test her theory--that the "novo-vacuum" will begin to decay the moment it is created. Cass's theory proves greater than she'd anticipated, and the "novo-vacuum" begins to expand out from the research facility at half the speed of light. More than six hundred years pass, and at least two thousand inhabited systems have been consumed by the "novo-vacuum." Those fascinated by the phenomenon choose to study it under two differing categories: Preservationists and Yielders. Preservationists are forever hypothesizing on how to destroy the vacuum; Yielders believe it holds a purpose in reinvigorating civilization. Tchicaya is a Yielder and Mariama is a Preservationist. These childhood friends will put their beliefs and their history to the test when violence breaks out among the two groups. Tchicaya must form an alliance with Mariama so that she can help them both escape the violence and confront the fate of the universe before it is too late.

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Review:
Greg Egan's ability to imagine wonders of cosmic scale is shown again in his SF novel Schild's Ladder, with future galactic society confronting a disaster of almost unimaginable vastness--or is it a springboard to new hope?

The fatal experiment was right at the edge of theoretical physics. Could there be an alternative structure for vacuum itself, the void underlying our cosmos? Unfortunately, yes. Once created, this artificial "novo-vacuum" successfully competes with normal space, expanding at half the speed of light in an all-consuming sphere. Inside, physics is radically, incomprehensibly different...

Six centuries later, thousands of inhabited solar systems have been gobbled. Scientists investigating the novo-vacuum from starship Rindler are split between trying to destroy it with tailored spatial viruses ("Planck worms") and hoping to understand the teeming richness beyond that deadly interface.

In a lonely galaxy where only humans are intelligent, whole planets have been evacuated to give microscopic alien organisms their chance to evolve. The novo-vacuum may be bursting with new orders of life, so that killing it would be a monstrous act of genocide. But frightened people dare dreadful things. Violence erupts on the Rindler.

Building up from ideas of human intelligence in disembodied storage or artificial bodies, Egan finally takes his lead characters on a mind-boggling joyride through novo-vacuum, mapping them into a space where a tense eight-hour flight from deadly predators covers just one millimetre. There's a lot of room in there.

Schild's Ladder makes easy reading out of terrifying physics, generating a real sense of wonder even as your jaw drops at the immensity of its implications. --David Langford

Book Description:
A modern masterpiece from 'One of the genre's great ideas men'' (THE TIMES) nelwy packaged for a new audience

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  • PublisherNight Shade Books
  • Publication date2015
  • ISBN 10 1597805440
  • ISBN 13 9781597805445
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages352
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Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780575082069: Schild's Ladder

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ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780575082069
Publisher: Gollancz, 2008
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    Eos, 2002
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  • 9780061073441: Schild's Ladder

    Eos, 2004
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  • 9780575081116: Schild's Ladder (GOLLANCZ S.F.)

    Gollancz, 2007
    Softcover

  • 9780575070684: Schild's Ladder

    Gollancz, 2002
    Hardcover

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