The Time Ships by stephen baxter

[forester]

ok, i hope i did this right, heres a new thread for the latest book on the list
The Time Ships  by Stephen Baxter ISBN 0-06-105648-0

[old hat]

There really isn't an established procedure or anything.  We are still figuring it all out.  There won't be much discussion for a  bit.  I just saw the title a few minutes ago.  I don't even have it yet. 

[forester]

cool cool, i was just concerned that i was starting a new thread correctly

[ScottM]

I'm 270 pages in an enjoying it thoroughly.  I was afraid that I'd need more to know more about "The Time Machine" than I remembered, but it works in very smoothly.  I'm happy this book didn't need an unofficial prequel to make sense.

[forester]

only a third of the way through here also, though i have read it before.  some thought provoking stuff.  glad it is being enjoyed.

[old hat]

If people want to ready the original HG Wells novel it is in the public domain and available free on-line

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/35

It isn't very long.  I am only about a third through Baxter's book but it doesn't seem neccessary to remember or even have read the HG Wells novel.

It is interesting how Baxter adjusts for out of date speculation like the far too short lifespan of the sun in the original.

[old hat]

I was wondering how he would explain the origin of the 'Plattnerite' mystery metal that makes it all work and where it originally came from.  I wondered if he would dodge the question by closing the loop and having the inventor go back in time and give it to himself without ever referencing its original creation.  I was a bit disappointed that he took that out.

[forester]

its not over yet old hat
on a side note, with the author's use of terminology while describing the phenominon being so seemingly correct witin the given science, i wonder if ,when such a thing becomes a reality (big if there), these terms will be used by the scientists involved.  kind of like the three robot laws of irobot fame.  though on that note, the first robots will probably be developed for war, so the whole not harming a human thing falls off the shelf.
and the second robots developed for pleasure.
and, real quick, on the subject of robots, i think that self check out lanes, self regulted toll booths, and change givers should be made up to look like robots, huminoid like.  then this would feel like the twenty first century, even if the machines themselves did no more then they do now, a huminoid head and voice would be appreciated.  and more things should have space themed names, like moon pies and space pops.  i'd rather be eating a galactic burger with saturn rings then the usual fare.
ok, thats way off the subect of the time ships, sorry

[ScottM]

I recently completed the book and liked it.  Plattnerite creation is kind of described in the discussion with Godel, but yeah, it does look like he was just created with it to hand over in the end.

[old hat]

its not over yet old hat
on a side note, with the author's use of terminology while describing the phenominon being so seemingly correct witin the given science, i wonder if ,when such a thing becomes a reality (big if there), these terms will be used by the scientists involved.  kind of like the three robot laws of irobot fame.  though on that note, the first robots will probably be developed for war, so the whole not harming a human thing falls off the shelf.
and the second robots developed for pleasure.
and, real quick, on the subject of robots, i think that self check out lanes, self regulted toll booths, and change givers should be made up to look like robots, huminoid like.  then this would feel like the twenty first century, even if the machines themselves did no more then they do now, a huminoid head and voice would be appreciated.  and more things should have space themed names, like moon pies and space pops.  i'd rather be eating a galactic burger with saturn rings then the usual fare.
ok, thats way off the subect of the time ships, sorry

I finished reading it a couple of days ago. 

They probably wouldn't use those terms but making swapping terms and then doing exposition to explain it to the reader is cumbersome.

Robots have been with us for a while now.  They have been widely used in manufacturing for a while now.  They just don't look like humanoid sci-fi robots.  Their forms are specifically designed for the tasks they perform.  Building a human like robot, especially one that walks like a human, is very difficult and inefficient.  The first military robot is already here though it is rudimentary: the Tomahawk cruise missile.