List Containing Books Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (Pastwatch #1)
| Title | : | Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (Pastwatch #1) |
| Author | : | Orson Scott Card |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 402 pages |
| Published | : | March 1st 2016 by Tor Books (first published February 1996) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction. Time Travel. Historical. Historical Fiction. Fantasy. Alternate History. Science Fiction Fantasy |
Orson Scott Card
Paperback | Pages: 402 pages Rating: 3.97 | 13682 Users | 957 Reviews
Commentary Toward Books Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (Pastwatch #1)
Orson Scott Card’s very entertaining 1996 novel Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus is a time travel book and so much more.Many great science fiction / fantasy writers have had fun and great success with time travel as an extension of their speculative vision. Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Bradbury, de Camp, H.G. Wells, Vonnegut, Twain, and Piers Anthony to name just a few. There seems to be as many approaches to the time travel conundrum as there are writers, but generally falling into one of two camps. There is the classic paradox scenario where a time traveller actually goes back in time and is a part of the action and so perhaps changes his own destiny. There is also the time traveller as voyeur, where the agent can only view and report.
This is a little of both.
Setting up a time travel process whereby scientists can “see” into the past, the sightseers make an astonishing discovery that perhaps they can be seen and influence those in the past. From here comes the next step of travel, and so Card is off.
The subject is good ole Christopher Columbus and his world-changing voyage. Should he have gone east instead of west to influence the Crusades? What would that be like? Could travellers making influential changes create a worse result? Card asks and answers many of these questions and creates a fecundity of time travel paradoxical theorizing.
Columbus is more than just a time traveller’s target, Card spends plenty of time getting to know the Genoese and this history seems well researched and deftly produced.
The reader is thus entranced and entertained, spell bound by Card’s exceptional storytelling and invited to consider a myriad of time travel what ifs.
Point Books Conducive To Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (Pastwatch #1)
| Original Title: | Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus |
| ISBN: | 0812508645 (ISBN13: 9780812508642) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Pastwatch #1 |
| Literary Awards: | Sidewise Award Nominee for Best Long Form (1996) |
Rating Containing Books Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (Pastwatch #1)
Ratings: 3.97 From 13682 Users | 957 ReviewsAssessment Containing Books Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (Pastwatch #1)
Pastwatch is a really interesting alternate history by Orson Scott Card.It is really hard to give a summary of this book without giving away any spoilers. Normally I'd give a short summary and then go into my opinions, but I don't feel comfortable giving a summary here because one of the most important plot points isn't something you discover until half way through the book, and I'm not going to ruin that for you guys.One of the most interesting parts of this book is that it takes place duringThis was recommended to me by a friend. It is an alternative history book rather than what I'd call a sci-fi book and I'm not really an alternative history fan. Pastwatch is an organization that does what it says. Via special machines Pastwatch personnel are able to tap into the past and watch history. One day one of the workers discovers that it may be possible to interact with the past and thus change the past (and everything in the future that follows from that change). It is later discovered
"I LOVE the art of storytelling with an immense passion and I suffer from legitimate anxiety that I will not read all the books I hope to read before I die. And they just keep writing new ones!" ~ Deborah Marani (reader)I've said this before. It's my personal quote :)I tried. And tried. I got almost halfway through. Parts of the book were engaging. I began to really care about a few of the characters but the book just seemed to keep getting in it's own way. You know? The long tedious parts
This is only the second Orson Scott Card book Ive read. When it comes to sci-fi, Im an Arthur C. Clarke fan all the way, and dont dabble in much else. As with Enders Game I came to Pastwatch via a friends recommendation. She had others of Cards books she liked more, but I opted to try this one because of the subject material. I was curious to see how Card would depict Columbus, a prominent figure in Cards (and my) native culture of Mormonism. In short, I didnt find the book especially
Such a headtrip for history buffs, this story invovles time travel, social culpability for genocide, archaeology, and more!
This is an idea book, not a character book. In this book, Card is exploring the idea that a group of people would deliberately go back in time to alter events in such a way that human history would work out "better." The height of hubris, definitely, for any group of mortals to think they could predict future events accurately enough to know what to "improve." I think that Card is right that humanity would have to be in the brink of extinction before they would permit such an experiment.There
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