Calculating God

Here is an excerpt from the first chapter, lifted from Mr. Sawyer's very fine web site http://www.sfwriter.com (Which is ok, by the terms of fair use as this is by way of a review). An alien ship has just landed outside the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and an alien has emerged and walked inside

Anyway, the creature moved quickly to the far side of the Rotunda, in between the admissions desk and the membership-services counter. Now, I didn't see this part firsthand, either, but the whole thing was recorded by a security camera, which is good because no one would have believed it otherwise. The alien sidled up to the blue-blazered security officer -- Raghubir, a grizzled but genial Sikh who'd been with the ROM forever -- and said, in perfect English, "Excuse me. I would like to see a paleontologist."

Raghubir's brown eyes went wide, but he quickly relaxed. He later said he figured it was a joke. Lots of movies are made in Toronto, and, for some reason, an enormous number of science-fiction TV series, including over the years such fare as Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict, Ray Bradbury Theater, and the revived Twilight Zone. He assumed this was some guy in costume or an animatronic prop. "What kind of paleontologist?" he said, deadpan, going along with the bit.

The alien's spherical torso bobbed once. "A pleasant one, I suppose."

On the video, you can see old Raghubir trying without complete success to suppress a grin. "I mean, do you want an invertebrate or a vertebrate?"

"Are not all your paleontologists humans?" asked the alien. He had a strange way of talking, but I'll get to that. "Would they not therefore all be vertebrates?"

I swear to God, this is all on tape.

Plot Summary
Aliens from two distinct planets have come to Earth for a visit. Rather than looking to meet world leaders, the aliens greet a Canadian paleontologist, who is the central character of the novel. It is revealed that the evolutionary history of the three planets is nearly identical, bringing on the nearly inevitable question of a higher power.

Why Is This Book Great?
The appeal of Calculating God is that the story is deceptively designed to be as simple as possible, creating a nice coating around the many deep questions embedded in the novel. It is exactly the type of novel that you might have your grandmother read, then talk about it with her.

Another great appeal of this novel is the believability of the hero. Rather than to create an unbelievably strong hero, or to take the opposite approach and create a Thomas Covenant-esque hero within an antihero, Robert Sawyer instead creates a harrowingly real person, with a life and real problems. It is the reality of the central character that adds a great deal of general appeal to this novel.

The real care with which religion is handled in this book also stands for a lot. Sawyer, with a very delicate touch, writes a novel that won't offend atheists and religious people alike. Yet, even with this care, he asks the inevitable "Is there a higher power?" question in a thought provoking way.

Similar Readings
Many of Robert Sawyer's other novels tackle issues with a similar touch. Highly recommended are The Terminal Experiment, Golden Fleece, Starplex, Factoring Humanity, and Illegal Alien.