Re: Latest News from the Astrobiology Magazine

[Michael Turner]

I'm afraid I'm going to have to revise my opinion of Dan Brown - and in both directions.  It turns out I have a copy of Deception Point.  I didn't even realize it until this discussion had already been milked dry.  I'm now on p.49.   He is a good enough writer that I started to think in terms of some dark, sinister publishing conspiracy.  I now believe that there are certain bestselling authors who write 250-page novels that wouldn't insult your intelligence (or not by much), but then the manuscript gets turned over to an editor/ghostwriter who pads it out to another 250 pages, so that the spine of the book will be wide enough for an eye-catching point-size for the author and title.  (In the case of this novel, the point size for "Dan Brown" on the spine is at least half again larger than for the title.  He has become a brand.)   As long as they are adding pages, they provide mental wheelchair ramps as well.  Like dumbed-down explanations of characters' motives that seem to have been amply illustrated by earlier dialogue and action.  Like a purple cast to much of the prose - with a few minor grammatical errors along the way, of course.  Like gratuitous sex and violence.  (In this novel, there's a campaign strategist who is very beautiful, and very smart, who has been seduced ONCE by the candidate she's working for, who has ended that brief affair, but who continues working for him.  Incredible?  Well, it's a stretch.  But what's really incredible is that she continues working for him FOR FREE.  Y'know, to get job experience?)   It's hard to explain Dan Brown otherwise.  He's great.  Then he sucks.  Then he's great again.  It doesn't make sense.  Dan Brown wrote ALL of Deception Point?  Hah!  That's what they WANT you to think. ;-)   So he's a good writer - or can be, anyway.  Unfortunately, the technology picture is even worse than I thought.  The novel starts fictionally with "Author's Note", which says,      "All technologies described in this novel exist."   Not very far into the novel, you're treated to the description - supported by a breathlessly defensive citation to a 1997 article in Discovery - of a mosquito-size MEMS flyer.  It's an RPV that can be controlled deep inside a building from a kilometer away, that can resolve acceptable images of its environment and transmit them wirelessly to the operator, and that can recharge itself by parking near a magnetic field, such as that of a generator.  Um, yeah.  Right.  There used to be this crazy Russian around Tokyo who was convinced that the government of the CIS was out to get him - with mosquitoes.  He was terrified of mosquitoes.  Now I know what kind.   I'll probably wolf down the rest of it, and enjoy it.  Hey, sometimes I go to Macdonald's for lunch.  Their fries ain't half bad, and the burgers are exactly what I've come to expect since childhood, and that's a comfort sometimes.  Deception Point is Macdonalds-class writing, with some high-end espresso and biscotti from the upscale cafe next door.  And that kind of thing has its place.   However, I don't expect to learn much about astrobiology.  I now understand why the review that brought this subject up said that fact-checking the entire novel would be a big task.  If it's as densely technological as the first 50 pages, and as off-base technologically as the first 50 pages, there's a small book's worth to be written about how Dan Brown gets it wrong.  And what would be the point?   -michael turner [EMAIL PROTECTED]   ----- Original Message ----- From: LARRY KLAES To: setipublic Cc: BioAstro ; europa Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2004 8:54 AM Subject: Fw: Latest News from the Astrobiology Magazine   ----- Original Message ----- From: Astrobiology Magazine To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, September 06, 2004 5:34 AM Subject: Latest News from the Astrobiology Magazine Deception Point http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1177.html Bestselling author, Dan Brown, has concocted a tale for astrobiologists called "Deception Point". But how can one separate facts from fiction? Consider the scientific possibilities of dissecting a meteorite full of insect-like fossils. Astronaut's View of Mars http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1176.html Looking at Mars as if viewed outside an airplane window offers a remarkably clear picture of what other planets might offer for future landers. The high resolution images from Mars Express continue to survey the largest canyon in our solar system. How Life First Bubbled Up http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1175.html If evolution is viewed as a battle of the fittest, it becomes possible to imagine a battle even at the chemical level for what might ultimately act as a single cell. In what biochemists might term, the battle of the bubbles, competition for encapsulating a protocell has some new contestants. Eye Through the Hurricane http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1174.html Planet-scale storms are best seen from far away, preferably from orbit. Hurricane Frances is no exception, but terrestrial storms are nothing compared to what shapes Saturn, the windiest place in our solar system. Monday, September 06 ------------------------ For more astrobiology news, visit http://www.astrobio.net To unsubscribe, send subject UNSUBSCRIBE to [EMAIL PROTECTED]