{4.5\/5} “I was pretty certain I wouldn’t be coming back. Part of that might be my connection with, obsession with, Old Twentieth, when everybody’s life was a rainbow of accomplishments and failures, grounded in the peace of darkness at either end. Another part was simply practical. The trip was a quixotic leap into the unknown…”<\/p>\n
Old Twentieth<\/strong> by Joe Haldeman, published in 2005<\/p>\n The population of the Earth has been decimated, and the people who are left are basically immortal. An expedition is sent to an Earth-like planet — it will take a thousand years to get there. On that voyage Jacob is a virtual reality engineer. Many people on the ships like to take a trip back to the good old twentieth century — until one of them dies.<\/p>\n It’s about artificial intelligence, the nature of reality, and what happens on a long journey when\u00a0 you’re immortal. In addition to describing the future, several chapters describe realistic visits to the past — including World War II and the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n If that sounds interesting to you, you’ll like this book.<\/p>\n