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)

Great Narration, Wonderful Story

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

Very high. Narration was perfect. The story really made me think about my perspective on God as I shared many of the same thoughts as the protagonist in this story.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

This wouldn't make a very good movie.

Any additional comments?

One of the most thoughtful books I've ever read/listened to in a while. It has given me a new perspective on God and his nature, and the evolution of this Earth.

Interesting Premise

While presented as a story, this book offers to put forth an alternative way of considering ourselves within the universe by using the story characters as tools to deliver counterpoints to the author's philosophical vision.

Ehhhh

The end kind of peters out and loses the in. I loved the conversations, with their academic flairs.

Alien contact story from the year 2000!

A Creationist fantasy of external validation by ET missionaries. A lot of the book is a discussion of 'current topics' of the late 1990s - many of which have been explored exhaustively in the fiction of the last two decades. The author makes many not-so-subtle appeals to wishful thinking, such as a proof of God from a perception of the beauty and order in the universe. There were plenty of related logical missteps, like discounting the machinations of elder races based on a sample size of half-a-dozen in order to correlate guided evolution with the strong anthropic capital-C Creator of our universe. The author is obviously annoyed by concepts like punctuated equilibrium, and the main character second-guesses his "scientific beliefs" about evolution. There's many more weak arguments and a moderately interesting story of alien first contact. My Dad would think of this as SciFi, I think of it more as a period piece, a little slice of the late 90s Zeitgeist. The period feeling is completed with video tapes, video rental stores, zip-disks, and a lot of 'not-so-fresh' concepts, like Technological Ascension as 'the solution' to the Fermi Paradox!

Calculating God

Wow
Not easy to understand very thing but I really liked it . I am a true believer in God and I never questioned my believe. I need to hear it again .

interesting reversal of view point

Though an interesting premise, i found the notion under developed. Also the Audio book was badly produced in the braking up of chapters.

Definitely not theological bickering!

This story hooked me right from the beginning and was one I had a tough time going to sleep on. Great story with a fascinating approach and unique perspective. I definitely got more than I bargained for and expected!

Touching and inspiring

What made the experience of listening to Calculating God the most enjoyable?

The improbable setting and "Alien" stuff had me wondering in the beginning, but the story very masterfully has woven together science and religion in a both touching and inspiring journey.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Calculating God?

The ending.

Which scene was your favorite?

The gun fight.

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

Fascinating to reflect on the reality of travelling at or near the speed of light. in 400 years he outlived his wife and son.

Any additional comments?

Bravo

Everything The Sixth Grade Writer in Me Loves

Would you try another book from Robert J. Sawyer and/or Jonathan Davis and Robert J. Sawyer ?

Not likely

Would you listen to another book narrated by Jonathan Davis and Robert J. Sawyer ?

Not Likely

Could you see Calculating God being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Nope

Any additional comments?

I listened to the whole story, its not terrible, but i continually found myself rolling my eyes. The book immaturely written. The author obviously knows a lot about various different sciences and takes on religion. I got the book because it was on sale and i find the topic interesting-- that's what kept me going. He has some good one liners in there, but overall it sounds like my inner kid writer coming out. Awful pop culture references.

Church camp for nerds

Doesn't work as Sci Fi.
Very dull discourse format for storytelling. But if you lack a scientific background it's an ok intro to several concepts in astrobiology; "Goldilocks zone" and colligative properties of water among many others.