If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light

Cho-yeop, Kim. If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light. New York : Saga 2019. Print.

First Sentences:

Ludmilla Markov had memories of a place she had never been to. 

Description:

Thus starts the first short story in Kim Cho-yeop's clever, mind-bending science fiction pieces contained in If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light. It's hard to describe the vast scale of these pieces that are so personal, so introspective, so unusual. But I loved them so will try to give you a taste of the thoughtful adventures contained within this slim book:

• An orphan girl draws clear pictures of a world that no one has ever seen. These landscape paintings when exhibited make people stop, stare, and often begin to cry. Added to this is the recent scientific discovery that human babies' babblings can now be translated and are shown to be intellectual conversations. Are these divergent occurrences related?

• When an astronaut crash lands on a distant planet, she discovers that this world contains the first known alien civilization apart from Earth. She lives among these aliens for ten years but doesn't return to her home planet for thirty years. Curiously she won't tell anyone where she has been for the other twenty years. Nor will she reveal where the alien planet is located;

• A woman and her battered personal rocket sits in an isolated space station waiting for a transport to take her to a distant planet where her family lives. She relates her story to a repair man who, hearing her tale, begins to wonder who she really is, why she is sitting there, and how long she has been waiting;

• The narrator is about to set off on the first long-range space mission to the other side of the galaxy. It's the same mission her aunt had attempted years ago, but that woman's rocket had exploded on take-off, killing all three astronauts...or did it?

• Upon dying, people in this future Earth can preserve their essence (Mind) in a public library. Friends and relatives can contact these spirits and talk or interact with the dead person. But the narrator discovers her mother's Mind no longer appears in searches on the library's indexing system, a situation no one knows how it happened or where her mother's Mind went; 

• A new hand-held devise can bring on any essential emotion desired by its owner. Oddly, the most popular emotions selected by the public for their own use are not "Happiness" or "Calm" but "Depression," "Hate," "Fear" and "Rage." Why?

Yes, it's an odd collection. But each story focuses on the people facing these difficult, challenging situations, forcing themselves to try to understand what has caused their seemingly unknowable world and how they can address it themselves personally. It's not Sci-Fi ray-guns and monstrous alien creatures. These stories are about the inner workings of people, their thoughts, fears, dreams, and actions both internal and external.

Rereading this post, I feel I'm not doing justice to these tales. But suffice to say, they have stayed with me long after finishing the book, which is not a common thing, so I wanted to share this collection with you. I hope you give this book a try and see whether the complexities in each story of the worlds and people they portray don't grab you and hold on tightly as they did me.

   

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Roach, Mary. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

The author interviews experts and often personally tries out Mars-travel questions such as going to the bathroom, sex, zero gravity, isolation, radiation, transportation and more. (Previously reviewed here.)

Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

Aliens

Al-Khalili, Jim, ed. Aliens: The World's Leading Scientists on the Search for Extraterestrial Life. New York: Picador. 2016. Print.

First Sentences:

Extraterrestrial life and alien intelligence have always been fascinating topics on the speculative fringe of science. 

But in the last decade or two, serious advances on several fronts have generated wider interest in these subjects. They have become almost "mainstream" -- vibrant frontiers of science. 

Description:

Who isn't in some way curious about the possibile existence of outer space aliens? From popular movies to government listening devices pointed towards sections of the galaxy, from rumors of alien landings in Roswell, New Mexico, to abductions, there certainly are plenty of sightings, stories, and experiences from all over the world regarding extraterrestrials. A National Geographic Survey in 2012 found that "36% of people surveyed believed UFOs exist and only 17% did not." The rest of were undecided, maybe needing more real proof.

Jim Al-Khalili decided to get to the bottom of all this alien "evidence," but wanted to do so scientifically. In his book, Aliens: The World's Leading Scientists on the Search for Extraterestrial Life, he assembled a stable of reputable scientists from the fields of astrobiology, zoology, physics, psychology, planetary and space sciences, molecular genetics, NASA, and more. Each scientist contributed a chapter on his/her area of expertise regarding a specific alien encounter or idea. They examined the known data and the science behind the possibility for each occurrence, and then made logical if tentative conclusions. Each scientist provided plenty of references to books (fiction and non-fiction), websites (credible and iffy), and movies for additional info on any topic. 

Alien-related topics they explored and explained include:

• Why Aliens Might Visit Us
• Flying Saucers: A Brief History of Sightings and Conspiracies
• Abducted
• Search for Life on Mars
• Aliens in Science Fiction Writing
• The Chemistry of Life
• Aliens in Movies
• Identifying the Signs of Life on Distant Worlds

And what a wealth of information they provide, both for the alien encounters and the questions each incident raises. These scientists ponder: 

• What elements make up life as we know it and how rare/plentiful are these elements throughout the galaxy? 
• What conditions promoted the stages on Earth to create life, then allowed that basic life to evolve into intelligent beings?
• Are those life-promoting conditions and stages possible on other worlds?
• What exactly should we be looking for in the search for life: living creatures or traces of emerging or extinct life (such as on Mars)?
• What are the types of alien movies (first contact; alien invasion; man invades alien worlds; and alien as monster)

And the conclusions and suggestions we get from these scientists? 

• We should practice communication with an intelligence on earth, such as octopuses, that are completely different from us in their brains, thoughts, memories, and lifestyles. Why do we think it will be easier to talk with an alien than an octopus?

• We should look for microscopic signs of developing life, the conditions for life, or evidence of the previous existence of life rather than search for a fully-developed civilization of extraterrestrials with flying spaceships.

• We should consider that we might be alone in the universe. Man must understand that humans have been extremely lucky with conditions that allowed us to develop life, evolve, escape dinosaur domination, etc. Those conditions might never have occurred in other worlds, thus preventing the formation of basic life on other planets, much less evolution, ever having taken hold. 

One interesting comment regarding science fiction stood out for me :

The main role of aliens in well-crafted SF is to provide new and imaginative ways to examine what makes us human. Aliens provide problems for us to overcome, and act as a mirror in which we can examine our own faults and foibles. How we treat aliens, or react to their presence, reveals a lot about ourselves.

Seems an observation highly relevant in today's world. We may be alone in the galaxy. But if we are not, our next steps will be incredibly important and highly revealing, both for us and for our new neighbors. 

Happy reading. 

Fred

(See more recommended books)
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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Bradbury, Ray. The Martian Chronicles

Science fiction stories about humans and their history of exploration, colonization, development, and destruction of Mar and its aliens. (previously reviewed here)