“The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov

Asimov is a giant of sci-fi , for good reason; his novels always incorporate some unique science concept mixed with some sort of ethical dilemma.

In this book, humans stumble onto this magic technology which gives us unlimited, clean energy. Of course it’s not quite that simple and the energy is actually coming from another universe which is inhabited by aliens who are also in need of energy/food. Due to the inherent design of the tech, it will destroy one of the universe’s in time. There are scientists scrambling for the glory of the discovery of the tech, while others are trying to prove how dangerous this tech is and try to stop it. The other universe aliens have their own reasons for wanting this tech, and they have their own different kind of triad society. For the final part of the book, the perspective shifts back to the moon colony, and some scientists try to ‘save’ the day by fixing the tech.

This book was written in the 70s but could easily have been written just a few years ago. The magic tech with limitless energy is so convenient to use that nobody wants to switch. This is like the Earth’s dependence on oil. In the final part of the book, a character quips that nobody will listen to the problem with the magic tech unless they present a solution at the same time. I enjoy novels like this that explore ethical quandaries that society finds itself in due to new technology because lasers and spaceships exploding for no reason just gets boring without a purpose.

Rating: ★★★★★ Book #42 in My 2019 Reading Challenge #Books #BookReview #Scifi”,