Project Pope

Clifford D. SIMAK

ISBN 10: 0345291387 / ISBN 13: 9780345291387

Published by Ballantine, 1981

Missing dust jacket; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0345291387I3N01

Synopsis:

The return of Simak's favorite themes--including esp, robots & religion--in a thoughtful, gentle, delightfully original treatment. On the remote planet End of Nothing, a colony of advanced robots has established project the building of an infallible computerized pope whose accumulated wisdom will eventually create a truly universal religion. Gathering data for the omnivorous Pope are the Listeners, humans with ESP whose agile minds probe thru time & space. Also hanging about, on the fringes of the utopian settlement, is reclusive, anachronistic Thomas Decker & his invisible companion, Whisperer, a childlike alien of awesome latent powers. Best of all in this cast of charmers are some wonderfully Simakian a beguilingly crusty electronic Pope & his splendidly idiosyncratic robot Cardinals. A lovely place--but then Listener Mary appears to have discovered Heaven (literally); the resulting rancorous dispute (Decker is murdered by a robot, there's a movement to canonize the now-insane Mary) threatens to tear Vatican-17 apart; & the conclusion--involving some secretive, puissant autochthones, trips to weird worlds, a Decker clone & a trio of peevish, megalomaniac aliens--is carried thru with just the right blend of wackiness & humility. Thoroughly one of the best ever from an sf grandmaster whose form has been decidedly variable in recent years.--Kirkus

Bibliographic Details

Title: Project Pope
Publisher: Ballantine
Publication Date: 1981
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket