Manifold: Time

Manifold: Time
Manifold: Time  
cover to the first edition
Author(s) Stephen Baxter
Cover artist Tony and Daphine Hallas/Science Photo Library
Country Great Britain
Language English
Series Manifold
Genre(s) Science fiction
Publisher Voyager (UK) & Del Rey Books (USA)
Publication date 1999
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 456 p. (UK hardback edition) & 456 p. (UK paperback edition)
ISBN ISBN 0-00-225768-8 (UK paperback edition) & ISBN 0-00-651182-1 (UK paperback edition)
OCLC Number 41258602
Followed by Manifold: Space

Manifold: Time is a 1999 science fiction novel by Stephen Baxter. It is the first of Baxter's Manifold trilogy (the others being Manifold: Space and Manifold: Origin), although the books can be read in any order because the series takes place in a multiverse.

The book was nominated for the 2000 Arthur C. Clarke Award.[1]

Contents

Plot summary

Time is set on Earth, the inner part of the Solar System and various other universes onwards from the 21st century. The novel covers a wide range of topics, including the Doomsday argument, Fermi paradox, genetic engineering, and humanity's extinction.

cover to the first edition

The book begins at the end of space and time, when the last descendants of humanity face an infinite but pointless existence. Due to proton decay the physical universe has collapsed, but some form of intelligence has survived by embedding itself into a lossless computing substrate where it can theoretically survive indefinitely. However, since there will never be new input, eventually all possible thoughts will be exhausted. Some portion of this intelligence decides that this should not have been the ultimate fate of the universe, and takes action to change the past, centering around the early 21st century. The changes come in several forms, including a message to Reid Malenfant, the appearance of super-intelligent children around the world, and the discovery of a mysterious gateway on asteroid 3753 Cruithne.

Characters

  • Reid Malenfant – main protagonist
  • Emma Stoney – Malenfant's ex-wife and employee
  • Cornelius Taine – brilliant eschatologist mathematician
  • Sheena – a genetically engineered squid
  • Maura Della – concerned politician
  • Michael – a "Blue" child savant and guide to Reid
  • Dan Ystebo – marine scientist
  • Anna – oldest of the "Blue" savant children

Style

Time is split into four parts and then into smaller sections that each focus on a different character.

Release details

References

  1. ^ "2000 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2000. Retrieved 2009-08-03. 

External links

v · d · eWorks by Stephen Baxter
Xeelee Sequence
Destiny's Children
Manifold Trilogy
Time · Space · Origin · Phase Space
Mammoth Trilogy
A Time Odyssey
The Web Series
Gulliverzone · Webcrash
Time's Tapestry
Emperor · Conqueror · Navigator · Weaver
NASA Trilogy
Flood/Ark
Flood · Ark
Northland Trilogy
Stone Spring · Bronze Summer · Iron Winter
Others
Unrelated collections
Traces · The Hunters of Pangaea
Non-fiction
Deep Future · Omegatropic · Ages in Chaos

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