Subject: REVIEW: "Einstein's Bridge", John Cramer

From: "Rob Slade, doting grandpa of Ryan and Trevor" <[email-masked]>
Date: 15 Nov 1999 15:55:42 -0500

"Einstein's Bridge" by John Cramer
	Copyright 1999 Robert M. Slade

The book jacket presents this as a novel of hard science fiction, and the
field doesn't get much harder than quantum physics.

The bridge of the title is a bridge between universes: a passage between
the bubbles that one field of cosmology postulates we might inhabit.  The
physics involved is fairly theoretical, and not necessarily explained in a
lot of detail, but reasonable as far as it goes.

Nanotechnology plays a significant part in the story as well.  In the same
vein, we aren't given many specifics.

Interestingly, probably the most powerful technology presented in the book
is that of biotechnology.  The protagonists are given the ability to
analyze, almost instantly, anyone they meet, in addition to being able to
make genetic, biochemical, and microbiological changes to themselves and
casual contacts, almost on demand.  This faculty also extends to the
production of nanotechnological devices as needed.  Once again, details
are rather scarce.

It is this last, biological technology, that is possibly most problematic.
As one of the characters objects, biological options are simply too wide
ranging in possibility for genetic information to be meaningfully
extrapolated between completely different universes within a few days or
even weeks.  When the abilities are impressed upon our heroes, the sheer
volume of data that would need to be transferred is staggering -- much
larger than the encyclopedia of other technologies that has to be
transferred by computer, and seems to smack of magic.  On the other hand,
maybe I am limiting the magical possibilities of biotechnology.

Cramer does not deal solely with technology and science itself, but with
the politics and a number of social ramifications of technical matters.
The argument of big science versus small science, and particularly the
public funding of science, is a major thread.  Again, the arguments are
not presented in depth, but do cover a lot of ground.

When analyzed in this manner, the book has many failings.  The plot, for
example, is seriously disjointed in the middle, and the book ends very
abruptly.  These shortcomings, though, do not detract from the book as
much as might be thought.  The work maintains a very even level and a
rapid pace throughout.  Ideas are presented in quick succession, and in a
surprisingly natural manner.  There is a complex and multilayered irony in
the fact that one character is writing a fictional work, and using the
science as presented in this novel to weave threads into hers.

Finally, if the science isn't given in great detail, at least there is
little with which to find fault.

%A   John Cramer
%C   1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019
%D   1997
%G   0-380-78831-4
%I   Avon Books/The Hearst Corporation
%O   +1-800-238-0658 http://www.AvonBooks.com/Eos
%P   310 p.
%T   "Einstein's Bridge"

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