Calculating God

By: Robert J. Sawyer

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Robert J. Sawyer

Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

In this Hugo-nominated novel, an alien walks into a museum and asks if he can see a paleontologist. But the arachnid ET hasn't come aboard a rowboat with the Pope and Stephen Hawking (although His Holiness does request an audience later). Landing at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the spacefarer, Hollus, asks to compare notes on mass extinctions with resident dino-scientist Thomas Jericho. A shocked Jericho finds that not only does life exist on other planets, but that every civilization in the galaxy has experienced extinction events at precisely the same time. Armed with that disconcerting information (and a little help from a grand unifying theory), the alien informs Jericho, almost dismissively, that the primary goal of modern science is to discover why God has behaved as he has and to determine his methods.

BONUS AUDIO: Author Robert J. Sawyer explains how the creationism vs. evolution debate informed the writing of Calculating God.

• 2009 Audie Award Winner, Science Fiction/Fantasy

©2000 by Robert J. Sawyer (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Is Sawyer Canada's answer to Michael Crichton? Very possibly yes." ( Montreal Gazette)
"Jonathan Davis...is one of our very best narrators and this is a fine performance. I was rapt the entire time, and even near tears at one moment in the book." (sffaudio.com; named an SFFaudio Essential)
"Jonathan Davis portrays a thoughtful and quietly introspective Jericho....As the conversation with Hollus continues, Davis keeps a steady pace and reflects the intellectual engagement of both characters. He presents the alien's speech as lightly studied, a fitting style for a non-English speaker who coordinates his speech between two mouths." ( AudioFile)

Highly recommended, particularly for the agnostic.

Would you consider the audio edition of Calculating God to be better than the print version?

Didnt partake in the print. The narrator added alot of personality to the main character. I really appreciated his spin on the character.

What other book might you compare Calculating God to and why?

I havent read anything like it lately.

Have you listened to any of Jonathan Davis and Robert J. Sawyer ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No i have not.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Just the amazement and wonder i had learning and mentally debating with points in the book.

Any additional comments?

Amazing book. I really enjoyed the mystery/problem in the book. I also really enjoyed analyzing God from a scientific standpoint. I highly recommend this if you are agnostic or atheist because it makes the book more relatable and more meaningful to follow. Some parts of the narrative were a little mushy and dramatic for me BUT i understood why they were there. Just for me personally i wanted more science and debate. Very thought provoking and interesting stuff.

One of the most thought provoking books I've read

An amazing and emotional tale, nothing I can say will do it justice. (But I'll try) great voice acting, great characters, and a story that will make you think about our place in the universe. A good read for years to come.

A Confused Mess of Physics, Cosmology and Fiction

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I rate this book a C+. It is science fiction and I so I can overlook the license taken with certain issues in the book, not the least of which is that Betelgeuse going supernova would not in fact do much of anything to earth for a variety of reasons. The author, a Canadian also presents some lazy metaphors in an attempt to generate tension in his protagonist. These are superfluous and like another Canadian, Neal Peart, in his writings makes Canadian authors look like ignorant idiots when they venture into anti-Christian bigotry.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Less stereotyping. Sawyer picks two Southern "Christians", with one named "Cooter" of all things to create an odd situation in which Tom Jericho, the main character, has to deal with Christian fundamentalists. The actual subplot adds nothing to the overall story and in the end makes Sawyer look like, well, an anti-Christian bigot, because the lack of nuance that he conveys to his supposedly educated main character reflects upon the authorship and never does deal with the real issues that people who question dogmatic evolution are curious about.

Did Jonathan Davis and Robert J. Sawyer do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Fairly well, again to the point of stereotyping with laziness and a lack of respect. The voice acting could have been better. Weir's The Martian is an excellent example of this. Tom Jericho is a typical post modern biological determinist and neo-Darwinian and in fact the internal arguments that he has over his belief system are nuanced and actually enjoyable. Unfortunately Sawyer's lack of command of archeology or Christian Cosmology is reflected and actually detracts from the struggle that he tries to create when Jericho realizes that the "Reeds" sp? are not a race that is able to rationalize mathematically but rather spiritually. Had Sawyer done a little more homework, the kind that he has obviously done when discussing physics and the actually deficits in the fossil record he could have introduced the human equivalent of the Reeds in the form of serious theologists and historians who spend their lives studying the ancient Judeo-Christian texts, both secular and non-secular that Jericho's character refuses to consider. Tom Jericho actually comes across as a whiney and self-absorbed individual who apparently has plenty of time to play with rocks but very little to acknowledge and respect or inquire about his wife's faith and her basis for it. I won't spoil the ending but his choice at the end of the book is reflective of this in that he places himself in a position where he cannot possibly lend anything to contemporary Terran science at the expense of his family, thus once again confirming Ernst Rutherford's contention that all science is either physics or stamp collecting. Jericho as a paleobiologist in the end becomes just a self-absorbed stamp collector.

Was Calculating God worth the listening time?

Ahhhh, not so much. It was fine. The recognition that evolutionists are dogmatic babies who fail to actually understand the implications of their neo-Darwinian assertions with regard to the human spirit and their refusal to consider any option other than everything arose from nothing based on what amounts to a railroad car full of bones from all epochs, is well presented in the book and thus for serious thinkers who want an insight into the mindset of such people, Sawyer's treatment is excellent.The plot device of using the Forhillnors sp? and Reeds to illustrate the possibility that serious and advanced societies can in fact reconcile a Creator with what is found in objective observation is welcome, though those with a personal relationship to God will be disappointed because the Forehillnors are Deists in nature though articulate and the Reeds are truly curious about communication with God and lack overt and easy communication. So to this end Sawyer really missed an opportunity to pit the materialist against the personal God believing objectivist. A pity. That is a story that would have been beneficial for all people interested in the topic and cosmology in general.

Finally, I get really tired of listening to authors who fail to show worthy treatment of their facts and characters. It might be that being in Canada prevents people from actually understanding what happens in the United States and my personal pet peeve of the use of the term "assault weapon" and "submachinegun" for anything short and black and vaguely reminiscent of something seen in a movie. It's lazy and lacks nuance and insults readers. Stereotyping Fundamentalist Christians as Southern State doofuses devoid of science and set for violence when they face things in secular society that they oppose and the gross lack of depth in the analysis of others, especially people like Jericho's wife, who one assumes he married because he found her reasonably intelligent but then dismisses her thoughts and faith as quaint or meaningless. This just gets old.

Perhaps Sawyer gets more sophisticated in his other works but in this one, in spite of it being acclaimed as a worthwhile read for some of the reasons I described, well it's not worth more than the price paid during a discount.

Any additional comments?

It is not going into my permanent hardcover collection. It would be worthwhile to read if you have nothing else to do and could find a used paperback for no more than $5.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

I'll admit I had picked up this book without realizing it was a novel at all. It was definitely not what I was expecting, but the performance was very engaging so I gave it a chance and listened to it on a long road trip. I'm very glad I did.

This is a fun story with enjoyable characters, an easy and pleasurable listen, and an excellent performance by Jonathan Davis. I wish all my accidental discoveries were this pleasant.

Speculative sci-fi exploring theism

Any additional comments?

A brainy, yet compassionate novel exploring its philosophical premise about the existence of God. I love it! I particularly enjoyed the dialogue between the two main characters, as they battle theological questions while trying to overcome the human/alien communicative divide.

The alien Hollus lands at the Royal Ontario Museum and asks to speak to a paleontologist. Against expectations, he bonds with Thomas Jericho, the ROM's expert in prehistoric life. But as Hollus and his race soon turn out to be theists, Jericho finds himself defending his atheist default position as a scientist. Events in Jericho's life play into his discussions with Hollus.

It is quite evident that Sawyer enjoys playing with sci-fi tropes, and the book is full of references to Star Trek. He skillfully uses Spock's evident humanness - or the question of similarities or dissimilarities between humans and alien races - as a brick in the theist/atheist debate. Trekkies like myself are bound to love it.

One negative comment on the book concerns its repetitious handling of Jericho's private life. It is understandable and acceptable that the author wants to inject Jericho's views about God with concerns for his private relationships and thoughts about his own death. It is even central that Jericho has a private life to give him a personality beyond his role as an informed atheist and thus avoiding making this another book of mere opinions. But Sawyer himself is fairly uninterested in this part of the story, and so Jericho's relationship to his wife and son is reduced to "I loved her so much", "I did not want to leave her", "I felt tears welling up inside as I heard my son speak those words". When this kind of platitudes are repeated for the n'th time, it get annoying. A bit more tension, some more life in the family life, had been appropriate.

Also, I don't get why the point about the two Christian fundamentalists (that fundamentalism is bad?) should take up so much space/time in the book? Is it really that important to the narrative?

Otherwise a fine, well-thought out book. People who don't like to ponder the meaning of life and related questions, will probably not get the point. All of us who do, should read it.

Amazing Set Up to a story....

This story has a very intriguing set up that captured my attention from the beginning. Love books or stories where you can tell the author spent a lot of time researching or learning the subject before writing about it. The only reason I couldn't quite bring myself to give this book five starts in that the ending seemed a little under-whelming. Although, in this books defense I don't quite know how to create a worthy ending for such an epic topic. In the end I would highly recommend this book to anyone!

Thought provoking

writing style was a little too simple for my taste, some dialogue was unrealistic, however it was still an overall good novel, clear and uncluttered, with a surprisingly satisfying ending, definitely worth a read- listen

Best mix of science and faith I have ever heard

Where does Calculating God rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This might be the second most important book one will ever hear. It isn't the best story - it is a great story, but not "the best ever"; it's value is in making important points about the scarcity of life. I was immediately captivated by it and went out and bought the hardcopy to give to my kids.

What other book might you compare Calculating God to and why?

This would be like updating, then blending, Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with C.S. Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet. Sawyer uses very lighthearted tones to illustrate deep ideas.

What about Jonathan Davis and Robert J. Sawyer ’s performance did you like?

Jonathan Davis nailed the attitude of Hollus.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did more yardwork because I kept listening to this. I also intend to listen to it again in a few months.

Any additional comments?

There were some laugh-out-loud scenes early in this book. That is all I can say about them. My physicist and computer-engineering friends will probably love it, too.

Different viewpoint.

I wondered about buying this book, but was glad I did. As a Science Teacher I have studied a fair bit of this subject and thought that the author did a good job of presenting the various aspects of evolution.

Good plot, well written and some different characters made this an enjoyable book.

Altered perspectives

Aliens convincing scientists that god really exists. Very predictable and very sad, I couldn't imagine telling my son that I was dying. I really didn't care for the book but it did get me thinking about religion and my own personal beliefs from a different perspective.