{5\/5} “A common error in etiquette, among people who had only recently arrived at Izzy, was to talk about Earth as a place that it was possible to go back to. As if this were a temporary mission like all of the previous ones. Dinah said nothing. Markus would realize his mistake, if he hadn’t already.”<\/p>\n
Seveneves<\/strong> by Neal Stephenson, published in 2015<\/p>\n The moon has been broken into 7 pieces. At first it seems like there’s no danger to humanity, but then scientists realize that the crashing of the pieces into each other is exponential. Eventually there will be a ring around the Earth, and Earth will be bombarded with trillions of meteorites. The people on the International Space Station are told to expect new arrivals in orbit — the world is banding together to send up as many arks as they can.<\/p>\n This has the feel of a Kim Stanley Robinson novel.<\/p>\n It shows humans reacting to situations they haven’t encountered before — on the other hand, humans always act like humans. It’s about survival in difficult situations, and the long game of genetic engineering.<\/p>\n It’s another Stephenson masterpiece, and utterly gripping. When I was getting close to the end I was mildly concerned about how it was going to be wrapped up, but it was done so beautifully.<\/p>\n