Inherit The Stars - James P. Hogan

1977; 216 pages. Book #1 in the "Giants" series. Genre : Science Fiction. New Author? : Yes. Overall Rating : 8*/10.

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Inherit The Stars is set 50 years in the future. We have space stations on the moon and Mars, and are just beginning to establish outposts on the moons of Jupiter.

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Imagine our surprise then, when the skeletal remains of an astronaut are found in a small cave on the moon. (See the cover to the left.) Imagine our further surprise when carbon-dating reveals the remains, nicknamed Charlie, are 50,000 years old.

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What's To Like...

ITS was James Hogan's debut novel, and is a fine example of his "hard" science fiction. That is - although he invents a few technological innovations such as (slightly) faster space travel and nucleonic weapons - you'll find neither Death Stars and Wookies, nor Transporters and Vulcan Mind Melds here.

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Instead, Hogan asks : What if we actually found a 50,000 year-old astronaut (albeit, dead) on the moon today? In our real world, how would it challenge our historical assumptions? How would we go about investigating the discovery? How would we develop a new anthropological theory to accommodate the find?

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There's an interesting relationship between the protagonist, Dr. Victor Hunt, and one Dr. Christian Danchekker, who comes up with a very different explanation for Charlie. The potential intellectual rivalry is swallowed up by the scientific discussions the two have, which causes both of them to modify their hypotheses. The result is a constantly-evolving "best fit" theory, spurred both by their dialogues and the always-growing scientific test results.

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Kewl New Words...

Graunch : to make a crunching or grinding sound. In this case, a door "graunched open".

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Excerpts...

Hunt had been born in New Cross, the shabby end of East London, south of the river. His father had spent most of his life on strike or in the pub on the corner of the street debating grievances worth going on strike for. When he ran out of money and grievances, he worked on the docks at Deptford. Victor's mother worked in a bottle factory all day to make the money she lost playing bingo all evening. (pg. 24)

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"There has to be some way of reconstructing what the surface used to look like."

"Did you ever try reconstructing a cow from a truckload of hamburger?" (pg. 100)

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"The Lunarians were the last word in progmatism - they had no time for romanticism, religion, matters of the spirit, or anything like that. In the situation they were in, the only people who could help them were themselves, and they knew it. They couldn't afford the luxury and the delusion of inventing gods, heroes, and Father Christmases to work their problems out for them." (pg. 171)

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And so, gentlemen, we inherit the stars. Let us go out, then, and claim our inheritance." (pg. 212).

James P. Hogan paints a convincing picture of our world 50 years in the future. In a way, Inherit The Stars reminds me of the movie 2001 - A Space Odyssey. There's not a lot of action, but you get a lot of things to think about and a realistic storyline.

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If science and technology aren't your cup of tea, you may find some slow spots in ITS. But I'm a chemist, and I found it to be fascinating from start to finish. 8 Stars.