Quantum Night

By: Robert. J. Sawyer

Narrated by: Scott Aiello

Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

With such compelling and provocative novels as Red Planet Blues, FlashForward, and The WWW Trilogy, Robert J. Sawyer has proven himself to be "a writer of boundless confidence and bold scientific extrapolation" (The New York Times). Now, the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author explores the thin line between good and evil that every human being is capable of crossing....

Experimental psychologist Jim Marchuk has developed a flawless technique for identifying the previously undetected psychopaths lurking everywhere in society. But while being cross-examined about his breakthrough in court, Jim is shocked to discover that he has lost his memories of six months of his life from 20 years previously - a dark time during which he himself committed heinous acts.

Jim is reunited with Kayla Huron, his forgotten girlfriend from his lost period and now a quantum physicist who has made a stunning discovery about the nature of human consciousness. As a rising tide of violence and hate sweeps across the globe, the psychologist and the physicist combine forces in a race against time to see if they can do the impossible - change human nature - before the entire world descends into darkness.

©2016 Robert J. Sawyer (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Sawyer's latest work is a fast-moving, mind-stretching exploration of the nature of personality and consciousness; it balances esoteric speculation with action and character." ( Publishers Weekly)

As always, challenging ideas

Robert J. Sawyer is the king of taking a cutting edge theory and taking it to new levels, even if these take him to areas that some sci-fi readers find discomforting as he did in Calculating God. 

This book focuses on two interesting areas and he manages to link them well. The key character in the book, set ahead only a few years into 2020, is Jim Marchuk who works as an experimental psychologist. He also lives as a utilitarian and spends a lot of time in his classes teaching through thought experiments like those developed by Australian philosopher Peter Singer. Marchuk has also developed a foolproof method for identifying psychopaths and occasionally works as an expert witness in trials.

During one of these trials Marchuk is cross-examined and realizes that there is a half-year period in his life for which he has no memories. When he returns to the university where he works, he asks an old friend and former professor about the time. The professor encourages him to let sleeping dogs lie. 

While trying to recover his past he runs into Kayla Huron, who he learns he had a romantic relationship with during the missing time. He also learns that he did something awful to her that caused her to end the relationship. It's now 20 years later and she's willing to communicate with him again. Kayla is now a quantum physicist and is working with some new theories in quantum mind in which various states of mind are caused by the superpositions of electrons in the brain. She's also sure that a considerable number of humans are what have been called philosophical zombies, or people with no actual inner life. Her work intersects with his studies of psychopathic behavior.
As the book evolves the two theories begin to come together as Marchuk realizes just how horrible his behavior was and the original cause. It has also become a time of increasing conflict, apparently caused by world leaders who are psychopaths themselves. With his utilitarian mindset (one should work for the benefit of the greatest number of people) he develops a plan that could alter the conscious state of billions of people at a time. Who will change and how becomes a major part of the story. Will people who are now psychopathic become saintly? Will some people become psychopathic? 

Sawyer tackles all this and also includes excellent action sequences, as well as his now traditional rooting for his native Canada and some ideas that may send you to other books. If you like a sci-fi book with some challenging concepts this is a great read.

Main character had some very annoying traits

Without giving away the plot, the main character Jim has some cringe worthy traits and they are not what you might think they would be. This book is not a bad listen but Jim's excessive altruism makes me queasy. His overly devoted sense of guilt for the rest of the world is too much to bear. His morals are skewed and inconsistent. Esentially I didn't really like him. Best to have a listen and decide for yourself.

good premise

Not my favorite Robert J Sawyer book, but engaging enough. keep up the good work.

Theoretical Philosophy AND an Good Story...Mostly

I've read many of Sawyer's books and generally enjoy them. This one falls near the top of my rating of Sawyer novels. Sawyer is obviously concerned with the nature of consciousness; it's a theme he has dealt with repeatedly. I found the exploration of levels of consciousness driving people’s behavior fascinating. I even looked up the term philosophical zombie. It’s a real thing—not like Sawyer presents it: In Quantum Night P-Zeds actually exist; whereas in reality, they’re just a philosophical construct. (I hope. But it would explain Donald Trump.)

Quantum Night had the potential to end up more an essay on consciousness, rather than a novel based around a story, but Sawyer never lets this happen. He reveals his ideas through conversations, flashbacks, and actions, rather than intrusive commentary. This is a book about ideas, but plenty happens, and the characters are well-developed.

I have to say, however, that I have some pretty serious issues with the plot in the second half. First, there was the “Well, duh, who didn’t see that coming?” moment. I could forgive that, though. More egregious was a clearly manipulated, eye-roll-inducing plot twist added just for the drama. I wanted to be able to call up Sawyer and say, “You’re better than this!”

Still, even if you only listen to the first half or so and bail when it gets silly, I still recommend Quantum Night just for the interesting ideas. Half of this book is still worth a credit.

With Donald Trump & Ted Cruze this is very timely. Well crafted story and excellent narration.

Great author and story. Hauntingly appropriate timing with republican primaries! Excellent analysis and character development.

Really enjoyed

I really enjoyed this book. the storyline kept me thinking about it when I wasn't listening to it and the narrator was great.

Great Story

I loved it, it was an easy listen. An interesting take on personality and responsibilty for ones actions. I appreciated the morality without the religious bend.

Another great thought experiment

What made the experience of listening to Quantum Night the most enjoyable?

I like how Sawyer thinks and enjoy his books even when I disagree with the way he is turning and flipping ideas - maybe I like it more because I've been arguing with the ideas since the book started.

I think this book really turns a mirror on who we think we are and how we treat others because we assume they are not like us - the idea of tribes and 'the others' that are not like us and how we treat them because we think less of them.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

While I think Scott Aiello was a good voice for the main character Jim, he really needed some guidance on pronunciation - Regina, Assiniboia, Saskatchewan...maybe ask someone who has actually been there because being a native of Saskatchewan the mispronunciations started to grate...a lot!

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

My only negative reaction to this book was some of the simplistic reactions that characters have to major events - a foreign power annexing Canada would illicit a stronger response, and a quantum shift would not simply solve the major world problems - see Brave New World - CWC's cannot be counted on to be morally superior or smarter than the rest of humanity....see I'm still arguing with the book.

Any additional comments?

Oh, and Robert...why in hell would you drive through Regina to get to Saskatoon from Winnipeg??

Interesting concept, poor execution, a bit preachy

Robert J. Sawyer's Quantum Night has the kernel of an intriguing concept, but suffers from poor execution. The plot revolves around a psychologist, who studies psychopaths, on a quest to uncover memories of events during a 6 month time span 15 years earlier. At the same time, he reconnects with an old girlfriend from that lost time span who just happens to be a physicist connecting quantum spin states of the nervous system to the psychopathic condition, as well as mindless drones, and fully conscious humans. They go on to discover that the quantum state can be altered by anesthetizing someone and then zapping them a bit. This leads to a truly Canadian solution (the whole story transpires in Canada) of fixing the world by simultaneously turning all the world's psychopaths into mindless drones.

The sci-fi elements are a smattering of physics where few details are offered, to quite a bit of psychology extrapolation. There's an extensive amount of psychology theories bandied about as well as philosophical posturing that results in the combination of the Canadian loss of the Stanley cup and American right wing politics leading to WW III that requires the drastic intervention of resetting the whole planet to save the day. At the same time, there's simply too much convenience of events: the same (top secret US defense sponsored) research that is responsible for the memory loss also puts the brother of the physicist into a coma; while the physicist helps clean up the memory loss murder and doesn't remember that. At the same time, the hero is so utilitarian in his approach to life that he presents a casual disregard for human life (he would kill a person to harvest organs if more than one life could be saved), while supposedly an example of a fully conscious human being.

The narration is well done with a good range of voices and gender distinction.

PHILOSOPHICAL ZOMBIE

AURORA AWARD
Hassan is totally right, when he says the plot is stupid and for him that ruined the whole story. That is saying a lot as Hassan loves the majority of what he listens to. I too had much problems with the plot, especially as it escalated in the last couple of hours. I give the book an overall four stars, mostly because of the whole Philosophical Zombie theory.

PHILOSOPHICAL ZOMBIES
In this story 60% of the population is these zombies. This explains why the majority of the population does some of the most stupid things. I believe Sawyer wrote this before Trump was elected, for I can't see how this unashamed Liberal, would not jump on that. He does mention Hitler and explains how he could take over a country. I thought Sawyer made this term up, but it is actually a real theory.

A Lot To Think About
These zombies, don't know they are zombies. They are the people who always follow the crowd, who are predictable in their reactions, who don't seem to have an original thought in their heads. I know of at least two people who come instantly to mind in my life. I know this one guy who I have referred to my wife as cliché man. Every thing this guy says is something you have heard before, every story, every thought and he is always with the popular majority. I have heard him repeat the same story back to me, that I told him months before, as if he was telling me something new. I have seem him in an argument more than once, hear something on tv and he repeats it as if it is his idea. I have also heard him say that he believes he is above the average in intelligence, something that made me laugh inside. Plus isn't that what everyone thinks and isn't that impossible. I also know of a woman who is a teacher in high school, who is much the same. When my wife and I first met her, she seemed very smart, as that is what she kept telling us, but as we got to know her, outside of her subject matter she was totally ignorant. Matter of fact in her own subject matter if it was not something she learned by rote she was clueless. Back to the guy, he has an uncanny ability for knowing all the musical groups and songs from his teenage years. Name any song and he can tell you who wrote it or sang it.

My Own Life
I hope I don't sound like I think I am superior. To be honest I think part of my life, I might have been a Zombie. I think of some of the mindless things I did as a very young youth and I wonder why I did them. Recently I have been remembering my sister getting me up in the morning, feeding me breakfast and me walking to school. For a couple of years I would walk to school and get there hours before anyone else did. I did this day after day and never thought it weird. There is some other stuff I did, that I now think back on as pretty boring stupid stuff that I did over and over, without thinking I was doing anything out of the ordinary. What brought out of this I don't know and maybe you think I still am a zombie. To this day, I believe I suffer, due to my lack of drive and ambition as a child. Now I am ambitious and usually end up being the leader in any group, but have been known to lack empathy. I feel that it is due to a lack of experience as a human. At 59 I am still learning how to be human.

This book made me think more than any book in a long time.