Humans

The Neanderthal Parallax, Book 2

By: Robert J. Sawyer

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Robert J. Sawyer

Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

In this Hugo-nominated novel, Neanderthal physicist Ponter Boddit brings Canadian geneticist Mary Vaughan back to his world to explore the near-utopian civilization of the Neanderthals. Boddit serves as a Candide figure, the naive visitor whose ignorance about our society makes him a perfect tool to analyze human tendencies toward violence, over-population, and environmental degradation. The Neanderthals have developed a highly artistic, ethical, and scientific culture without ever inventing farming - they're still hunters and gatherers - and this allows the author to make some interesting and generally unrecognized points about the downside of the discovery of agriculture.

BONUS AUDIO: Author Robert J. Sawyer explains why one particular chapter of Humans is his very favorite.

Hunt and gather: listen to more in the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy.

©2003 by Robert J. Sawyer (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Sawyer is a writer of boundless confidence and bold scientific extrapolation." ( The New York Times)

Wanted to love it, but...

A lot of people have commented on the politics and religion in this series. My dislike isn't at all due to the inclusion of controversial topics, but rather due to the heavy-handed approach the author took to those issues. Among other problems, he apparently has not learned the show-don't-tell maxim regarding writing, which is what makes his coverage of ethical issues feel so preachy and off-putting (and as a politically-liberal female scientist, born in the US and raised in Canada, and a sexual assault survivor, I'm probably the choir he thinks he's preaching to). Benign example: cop is shouting/yelling at Ponter and then Sawyer writes "two more cops had appeared at the entrance to the interrogation room, presumably coming in the response to the shouts." The bit about presumably coming in response to the shouts is unnecessary. And since Sawyer does that with ethical issues - instead of just describing the responses and actions of the characters and letting the reader think about them, he "explains" them- it gets old fast. His characters are also incredibly stereotyped and one dimensional. He doesn't address the various nonsensical aspects of his characters either (ie. violence supposedly having been bred out of the neanderthals and yet in the only two current-day examples included in the books, they choose violence).

The premise is intriguing, which is what got me to halfway through book 2 before giving up, but that's about all I can say as a positive, aside from the narrator, who is fine.

More Communist Utopian drivel

As I said in my review of the first of the trilogy:
This book is the kind of ultra left wing propaganda that would stretch Stalin's face into that evil Uncle Joe grin like few other modern works. The author claims to have been inspired by the original Planet of the Apes films to create a work that will engage the reader in modern political topics while entertaining them. Obviously he is either insincere in his claim or is incapable of seeing validity except in the most absurd and deformed views of the socialists super Liberal intellectual elitist. Though he tries hard it is destined to be a weak case from a totalitarian, fundamentally Marxist, socially non-redemptive perspective which may explain why he barely ever offers an inkling that there may be a counter argument to his ridiculous vision.

The writing and story line are not too bad so if your into this type of tripe you will certainly enjoy it.

So disappointed!

I really enjoyed book one of this series for the unique scifi concept, so I was excited to start book two. But in book two, somehow the scifi genre morphs into a cheesy romance novel. It was ridiculous and I was bored. I'd like to get my time and money back.

Uses the Story To Promote Homosexual Lifestyle

Sets the Neanderthal in a parallel universe in a modern lifestyle where homosexuality is the norm and males & females have a mingling day to breed. Otherwise, males and females live separately geographically. Meanwhile, in the human universe the author describes one of the key characters getting raped, very graphically and probably violates Amazon's restrictions on pornographic content. Read half the book and gave up because the book seemed to be more a platform extolling the 'virtues' of homosexuality. Not a good example of the Sci-fi genre.

Naive Preaching - Virtues of Atheism and Communism

What would have made Humans better?

If Robert Sawyer didn't pretty much start out the book preaching Americans on the Vietnam war and why they should be atheists ... might have been a little more insightful to discuss the history of the neanderthals and how they decided to have a police state where their every move is watched by the government. I am reminded of the ideological struggle between Isaac Asimov, who believed a strong central all knowing government was necessary vs. Ayn Rand who believed the individual spark of liberty was a necessary precondition to a functioning society.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I have a bad taste, need something to cleanse it.

Following the trend of most modern Sci-fi books

Like a lot of recent Sci-fi books, the theme of the Earth being ruined by Humans is a big one. The first book of the series was really good, Sawyer painted a very interesting society. This one lived up in uniqueness of ideas, but it was superficial, rather than the source of the stories conflict. The Global Warming theme is over done, its very cliche. I have read quite a few books dedicated to the subject, i don't need a fiction book to address the matter for me. I probably won't get the 3rd book of the series unless it's on sale sometime. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

Sex and social justice...

The story concept is intriguing, the narrator is pretty decent, and the first book was mostly good, but let any sci-fi writer go long enough and the books will start to manifest their sexual fantasies in their writing.

The graphic description of a Neanderthal and a human woman getting it on was completely unnecessary to advance the plot and kinda ruined the rest of the book for me.

The author also chose to cherry pick and misrepresented many historical ideas in order to advance his own social agenda.

Humans: The Neanderthal Parallax, Book 2

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No! The 1st book of this series was a solid good book for this genre This one is an ape human romance novel.

Would you recommend Humans to your friends? Why or why not?

No!

Which scene was your favorite?

The obligatory cliche' human vs Ape sex scene.

Was Humans worth the listening time?

NO No! The 1st book of this series was a solid good book for this genres This one is an ape human teenage romance novel.

Should have stopped after book 1

Any additional comments?

Although I highly recommend book 1, this follow on becomes boring very quickly and fails to inspire imagination like the first book did.
Basically, book 1 felt adventurous and it was exciting to visualize the fantastic ideas the author brought to the story, but in this book there are no new ideas and it goes from being adventurous to a boring love story with barely any excitement.Such a shame, as I was excited after the first book to know there were 2 more to follow.
Having read the reviews for book 3, it appears it doesn't get any better so I'm now searching for a new series to read.

A romance novel?

Reads more like a bad romance novel than science fiction. Robert Sawyer is usually absolutely excellent but this second book is terrible!