After reading Quantum Night back in 2016, I was very disappointed to hear that this would be Mr. Sawyer's last novel. At some point after that, I learned that, of course, he was writing a new novel. After that, I was anxiously awaiting his next effort. Mr. Sawyer's books are among the best novels I've read, and each book seems to get better than the last. Quantum Night was so good, and so thought provoking, I felt it was his best work to date, and that is saying something. I've had this feeling with many of his novels. And now, the wait is over - The Oppenheimer Alternative is here!
The end of the world - either the destruction of the Earth or the end of human life on Earth - is a familiar movie theme, but science fiction authors have been writing about this for many, many decades. A few examples of such disasters that I've come across over the years include (I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to identify the sources):
- Self-replicating machines (many different stories/authors here)
- A nano-virus, part life-form and part machine, which literally devours the Earth
- A comet/asteroid hitting the Earth or the moon, causing an extinction level event
- A microscopic black hole falls into the Earth's core
- Alien invasions
- Deadly viruses/diseases
- Zombie apocalypse (practically a sub-genre these days)
The Oppenheimer Alternative has an end of the world scenario I haven't seen before. I'm familiar with the theory that scientists believe that our sun, as it beings to run low on its hydrogen fuel, will eventually expand and envelop the orbits of the inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and even Mars) - but this is projected to be millions of years away (I mean, the sun has a TON of hydrogen to burn). In this story, it is speculated that the sun will eject its outer layer in less than 100 years (around the year 2030), destroying all the inner planets except for Mars.
Imagine being faced with such a threat at the end of World War II? Humanity barely has the technology to create an atomic bomb (and this was a multi-year effort costing millions or billions). High fidelity radio doesn't yet exist, television isn't in public use, a human hasn't been launched into
space, and most people would continue to have analog rotary dial phones in their homes for decades to come (granted, those phones seemed to last for decades) - and the Earth will be destroyed in less than 100 years.
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| Remember dialing? |
What could we possibly do to save ourselves? It's true that the human race has been on a steep curve of technological advancement for the past 100+ years, but evacuating the entire planet (after a war that was a resource drain for more than four years) or attempting to stop a wave of destructive plasma from the sun both seem to be astronomical long shots.
As you can guess from the historical material, the central character in this tale is Robert J. Oppenheimer - the "father" of the atomic bomb. Approximately the first third of the book deals with the Manhattan Project, and the team of men who work under Oppenheimer at Los Alamos, New Mexico. The main focus is around Oppenheimer's life, and his interactions with those around him (which is a large cast of historical figures, from Albert Einstein to Wernher von Braun), with the creation of the bomb mostly occurring in the background - but things keep popping up with ultimately contribute to this alternate history. Part of the story also focuses on Oppenheimer's perceived connection to Communism, and his publicized hearing in 1954 which lost him his security clearance, and any access to nuclear information.
Once the war is over, and the scientists begin to agree that the Earth is doomed, the real problem starts to get tackled. As in most disaster scenarios, there is the question of whether to inform the public - there are lots of examples of panic and hysteria from historical events. And, of course, initial brainstorming produces the only obvious avenues of pursuit - I won't list them here, you can probably determine a few for yourself. Given the Earth's level of technology at the end of the war, this task is likely akin to a colony of ants trying to stop the foot of a human from crushing their ant hill.
Overall, this novel is a work of alternate history, so the remainder of the story, except for the last couple chapters, follows suit in focusing on the ups and downs of Oppenheimer's life, and his relationships, both good and bad, with those around him, with the search for the way to save Earth in the background.
I have to say that this story was not what I expected. It is very different from Mr. Sawyer's previous works. While many previous novels involve a variety of different technologies and first contact elements, the common element in most, if not all, of his other stories is the Human Condition. That is to say, how the relationships and attitudes of people may change through the course of the story. In the case of The Oppenheimer Alternative, at least for me, this was the main focus of the story, with the technology mostly in the background.
Given the title, my expectation was that somewhere around the halfway point, Oppenheimer would realize that none of the ideas being explored to save the Earth would actually work, and he would come up with an "alternative" solution, which would then be implemented - but, that's not what the title means. With the end of the book fast approaching, and with no real tangible solution realized, I was very surprised with how things actually turned out. It was a real curve ball for me, and in hindsight, I feel like I should have been able to determine what was going to happen, if I gave it enough thought.
This was a very different kind of read for me. I'm not a huge fan of alternate history. I tried reading the first book of Harry Turtledove's Worldwar series, In the Balance, but it fell flat for me within 150 pages (this is the series where aliens decide to invade the Earth, and by the time they arrive, World War II is under way and they are shocked at the level of progress humanity has made in such a short time). The Oppenheimer Alternative was a much more successful story for me - it kept me interested all the way through. I certainly learned more tidbits about the Manhattan Project than I knew before, and it was nice to see Albert Einstein participating in events after the war. I couldn't help thinking of Walter Matthau playing Einstein in the film I.Q. from 1994.
As always, I'm interested in hearing from my readers. If you've read this book, what was/is your interpretation of the title before/after reading it?
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