His Master's Voice
Ratings6
Average rating4.2
15
Ratings6
Average rating4.2
From the critically acclaimed author of Solaris comes a classic sci-fi tale about scientists who must decode a message from intelligent beings in outer space—for fans of Arrival By pure chance, scientists detect a signal from space that may be communication from rational beings. How can people of Earth understand this message, knowing nothing about the senders—including whether or not they even exist? Written as the memoir of a mathematician who participates in the government project (code name: His Master’s Voice) attempting to decode what seems to be a message from outer space, this classic novel shows scientists grappling with fundamental questions about the nature of reality, the confines of knowledge, the limitations of the human mind, and the ethics of military-sponsored scientific research.
Reviews with the most likes.
As philosophical as sci-fi gets, and as cynical. A fascinating exploration of the question of interspecies communication, with all the game-theoretical analysis that facing a clearly superior civilization entails. Generally a challenging read, though, I suspect, not because of bad translation, but rather one that authentically captures the author's writing style.
Memorable quotes:
“A civilization as “spread out” techno-economically as ours, with front lines swimming in wealth and the rear guard dying of hunger, had by that very spread already been given a direction of future development. First, the troops behind would attempt to catch up with the leaders in material wealth, which, only because it had not yet been attained, would justify the effort of that pursuit; and, in turn, the prosperous vanguard, being an object of envy and competition, would thereby be confirmed in its own value... when the first emissaries of Earth went walking among the planets, Earth's other sons would be dreaming not about such expeditions but about a piece of bread.”
“...a fetus, quite handsome at birth, but strangling on its own umbilical cord, the cord being that arm of culture which draws the vital fluids of knowledge up from the placenta of the natural world.”
