Humans

Robert J. Sawyer

2003 • 352 pages

Ratings14

Average rating3.6

Robert J. Sawyer, the award-winning and bestselling writer, hits the peak of his powers in Humans, the second book of The Neanderthal Parallax, his trilogy about our world and parallel one in which it was the Homo sapiens who died out and the Neanderthals who became the dominant intelligent species. This powerful idea allows Sawyer to examine some of the deeply rooted assumptions of contemporary human civilization dramatically, by confronting us with another civilization, just as morally valid, that has made other choices. In Humans, Neanderthal physicist Ponter Boddit, a character you will never forget, returns to our world and to his relationship with geneticist Mary Vaughan, as cultural exchanges between the two Earths begin. As we see daily life in another present-day world, radically different from ours, in the course of Sawyer's fast-moving story, we experience the bursts of wonder and enlightenment that are the finest pleasures of science fiction. Humans is one of the best SF novels of the year, and The Neanderthal Parallax is an SF classic in the making. Humans is a 2004 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel.

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Series

Featured Series

3 primary books

#2 in Neanderthal Parallax

Neanderthal Parallax is a 3-book series with 3 released primary works first released in 2002 with contributions by Robert J. Sawyer.

Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

Edgar Sánchez Grajeda

3.5 stars

February 5, 2013

Scott Jann

The Neanderthal Parallax consists of three books which take us through the story of Mary Vaughn and the Neanderthal Ponter Boddit. If I had to pick a favorite book, it would be the first of the series, but it made me want to read the complete trilogy so I wouldn't recommend reading only one of the books.

The story was great science fiction, in that it gave great insight into our present-day world. The author showed many contrasting points about the Neanderthal which made commentary on religion, our environment, over-population, feminism, violence and crime and punishment. The contrast of the worlds was especially poignent in the first book, Hominids, when every chapter conveyed simultaneous events in each of the parallel worlds.

This, like a lot of Sawyer's books, left me wondering just how much of the research he presented was true (especially the parietal lobe and religion), but left me with no reason to doubt it, it fit into the story perfectly.

Some specific names, however immortalized they may be, felt dated today: Kofi Annan, Dick Clark.

I like the fact that the author said the Neanderthals couldn't produce the /i/ (“ee” as in bee) phoneme, due to the structure of their mouth. Because of this, they couldn't say Mary's name, only the first part “Mar”, which in the Neanderthal language meant “beloved” and also sounds the same as the French word “mère” (mother – see book #3). It may have been the narrator of the audiobook, but it seemed the Neanderthals could say /j/ (“y” as in you) in some of the examples, which is a glide that requires the /i/ to commence. I wouldn't think this would be possible.

August 1, 2016

Michel VuijlstekeSupporter

Oh zucht. Ik herinnerde me tijdens dit boek waar ik de auteur van kende. Robert J. Sawyer was ook al verantwoordelijk voor het afgrijselijke [b:Calculating God 264950 Calculating God Robert J. Sawyer https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1423491114s/264950.jpg 2207588].Dit boek werd genomineerd voor een Hugo. On-ge-loof-lijk. Ergens in het begin, na een paar verbijsterend slechte hoofdstukken, heb ik besloten het derde boek ook te lezen. Niet omdat ik wil weten waar het naartoe gaat (dat kan ik wel vermoeden, het derde boek heeft Hybrids, wohohohow), maar omdat dit leest als een soort slow-motion treinongeval.Slecht. Maar echt slecht. En echt twijfelachtig van gedachtengoed. Een verkrachter letterlijk castreren? Niet alleen een goed idee, de persoon zelf wordt er ook gelukkiger van. Privacy? Voor mensen die iets te verbergen hebben. Mensen zijn slecht, neanderthalers zijn goed.En slechte sexscènes.Op naar het derde boek!

October 14, 2016