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| View Larger Image | Jupiter: A Novel (The Grand Tour) | Mass Market Paperbackby Ben Bova (Author)
| List Price: | $7.99 | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Mass Market Paperback | | Publisher: | Tor Science Fiction | | Page Count: | 416 Pages | | Publication Date: | February 18, 2002 | | Sales Rank: | 571,279st |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Grant Archer only wanted to study astrophysics. But the forces of the "New Morality," the coalition of censorious do-gooders who run 21st-century America, have other plans for him. To his distress, Grant is torn from his young bride and sent to a research station in orbit around Jupiter, to spy on the scientists who work there. Their work may lead to the discovery of higher life forms in the Jovian system-with implications the New Morality doesn't like at all.What Grant's would-be controllers don't know is that his loyalty to science may be greater than his desire for a quiet life. But that loyalty will be tested in a mission as dangerous as any ever undertaken-a mission to the middle reaches of Jupiter's endless atmosphere, a place where hydrogen flows as a liquid, and cyclones larger than planets rage for centuries at a time.What lurks there is more than anyone has counted on...and stranger than anyone could possibly have imagined. |
Amazon.com Review
He made planetfall on Venus and all but colonized Mars, so it's not surprising that SF don Ben Bova finally set his sights on our solar system's swirling, red-eyed sovereign. As with his previous planetary exploration books, Jupiter plants you right in the heart of the action, witness to the speculative science and political intrigue--and in this case, religious machination--that surround a fast-paced, dangerous, and technically fleshed-out mission. Our unlikely hero on this touchdown is an earnest, likeable, hard-working grad student named Grant Archer, a frustrated astrophysicist who's been shanghaied aboard Jupiter's Gold space station to fulfill a ROTC-style public-service commitment. What's worse, this devout young man has been ordered by the New Morality--the American flavor of the conservative religious order that runs Earth nowadays--to spy on some suspicious research involving alleged Jovian life forms. Bova begins his book with an A.C. Clarke quote: "The rash assertion that 'God made man in His own image' is ticking like a time bomb at the foundation of many faiths." This tells you pretty much everything you need to know about where this book's going, and who, respectively, will be wearing the white and the black hats (unfortunately, some of the characterizations don't get much deeper). That the central protagonist is both a Christian and a scientist makes for some fertile character development, but Bova's not exactly gunning for God here--he's happy just to blast away at narrow-minded ideologues and other assorted religious fanatics. (But that, of course, is about as easy as making teenagers depressed.) --Paul Hughes |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 51 reviews)
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Could have been good if he'd spent more time on it by Adrian E. Fields (Hood River, Oregon)  3 Stars
September 16, 2009
Too many science and logic flaws. He talks about the hydrogen/helium atmosphere getting denser until it's liquid, but then talks about a "water" ocean. He mentions a space suit having a small rupture on Io, and gasses from Io go IN to the spacesuit. The lack of pressure on Io would make a rupture vent gas - no way for it to come in. Reactions of some characters are unrealistic - and it's obvious they were unnaturally forced to be that way to make the plot go the way the author wanted. There are several more of these type of flaws which dropped it from "good" to merely "ok".
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Excellent book by Andre L. Wilson (Bettendorf, Iowa USA)  5 Stars
August 01, 2009
Excellent book.
What I liked:
1. Interesting and 3-dimensional characters that change through adversity. Bova makes the adversity of a young man being away from his young wife compelling.
2. Shows that humans in space, even without aliens, is compelling literature.
3. I did not know much about Jupiter other than: 1) Gas giant, 2) the red-eye is a huge storm. So I learned a lot. The fact that it's a huge ocean underneath the atmosphere heated by a core is fascinating.
4. Lots of themes and sub-themes in the book.
5. The book is a page turner as usual. I read it in one week, which is pretty good for me.
6. Nice telling of the story from the point of view of Leviathan. That's a very nice touch.
What I did not like:
1. The main theme in Bova's books seem to be the tension between Science and Religion. He seems all too predisposed to smash religion into smithreens and he quotes Arthur C. Clarke to suggest that the very idea that man is made in the image of God is ludicrous. That's a shame, but that's his perogative.
I for one am a scientist (Metallurgist) and a Believer, just like the protagonist in the book. I do not fear Bova's, Clarke's or anyone's veiled threats that life on another planet disproves the existence of God. Trust me, God does not feel threatened either. I say spend and research as much as possible to discover the wonders of the universe. Unlike the cardboard cut-out, straw-man, known as the New Morality, I'm for as much exploration as possible in all fields of study.
At the same time Bova seems to exert a certain "faith" himself that there is life on these other planets. It is fine to have that "belief", as long as the believer realizes that he is baseing this belief on "faith" rather than fact. It seems plausible that universe will have variety and diversity enought to have planets that supported life. But so far there is no proof to justify it. And again, I am for exploration to find the truth.
2. Bova does show that even the antagonistic scientists in the book have "faith". In our time we see the great "faith" of the Global Warmers out there. These folks can't predict the weather, but they can somehow predict when New York will be under water? Please. Keep up the faith Global Warmers. Also 30 years ago, I thought we were heading into an ice age. I guess the faith has changed.
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Plumbing Jupiter's Depths by themarsman (Georgetown, TX) 3 Stars
October 12, 2007
Grant Archer is sent to Research Station Gold orbiting the largest planet in our solar system...Jupiter. He is sent under the auspices of conducting espionage for the New Morality, a pseudo-religious organization that has gained power over the US national government in the late 21st, early 22nd century. His mission for the New Morality is to determine why those on the station are conducting mysterious manned missions into the heart of the planet. But Grant Archer quickly begins to realize that the New Morality's agenda may not be his own, and disobeying the group may have serious consequences.
I'm going to start with the disappointing facets of this novel first. While this book presents and interesting, and indeed plausible, view of our planetary neighbor, I couldn't get over the fact that the plot just seemed formulaic from the start. I may not have known how, precisely it was going to end, but it was easy enough to predict how the book was going to progress from point to point. I have read quite a bit of Bova's previous stuff, and this is one of the few books that felt forced, almost as if he was struggling with the plot at times and decided on following the path of least resistence just to finish out the story.
Another big issue I had with this book was that the ending was seriously lacking. While the primary plotline was resolved in a reasonably satisfying manner...everything else was not. Grant Archer's wife seemed to be merely a device to make Archer's leaving Earth at the beginning of the book all the more painful. Her character and her issues were never satisfactorily resolved...nor were any of the other characters' issues.
Lastly, in the negative column, the entire concept the New Morality seemed pretty shallow. While the idea of a pseudo-religious entity gaining primary control of a national government is relatively believable, Bova only used the group as the "big bad guy", issuing veiled threats at the beginning of the story, and easily thwarted at the end of the story. Seeing some of the "depth of their evilness" would have been nice.
Onto to the good stuff. Bova does well in this book what he always does well on...developing and executing a plotline that presents the wonders of our solar system (and behind) in the best possible light. This book should be read, if only on this basis. No one but Bova elicits the need to turn to the next page for the main reason of, "What's behind the next corner?" or in this case, "What's just beyond that next cloud?"
Ben Bova will always be one of my favorite authors. I simply wish he would reclaim the trophy for not only wonderfully imagined, alien vistas, but also, wonderfully built plotlines as well. I await reading Bova's next work with this in mind.
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More Solar System Adventures from Ben Bova by Jeffrey T. Munson (Dixon, IL) 5 Stars
August 22, 2007
Action and adventure are rampant in this "grand tour" novel of the largest planet in the solar system.
The main character in the book is Grant Archer. Recently graduated from college with a degree in astrophysics, Grant longs for the opportunity to study black holes and other celestial matter. However, the powers-that-be have different ideas for him. Required to perform four years of "public service", Grant is sent by Ellis Beech, head of the New Morality, to Jupiter. According to Beech, those people working on Space Station Gold have apparently been searching for signs of life on Jupiter's satellites as well as Jupiter itself. This does not sit well with Beech and the New Morality, for they believe that any form of life outside of earth is "godless". Beech is sending Grant to spy on the members of Space Station Gold and report his findings to the New Morality. To make matters worse for him, Grant is newly-married, and will now be without his wife for six years. Dejected, Grant accepts and begins the long journey to Jupiter.
After traveling for a year, Grant finally arrives at Jupiter, where he immediately meets Egon, who is the personnel director (at least for this week). Besides meeting Egon, Grant is also introduced to Lane O'Hara, a stunningly beautiful woman who is one of the scientists studying the possibilities of life existing on the planet. But Zhang Wo, the director of Space Station Gold, is the one who really gets Grant's attention. Their relationship is icy at best, but as the story goes along, the two bond and become friends. Meanwhile, Grant is introduced to the rest of the Jupiter team: Zeb, Irene, Quintero, Buono, Uhara, and Krebs. Earlier, a probe was launched to penetrate the clouds of Jupiter and plunge into Jupiter's ocean to see if any life existed there. The mission was a failure. Now, a new mission is being planned, and Grant is to be one of the crew. Will this mission succeed, or will it fail like the previous one? Will life be discovered in Jupiter's ocean?
In keeping with the tradition of his other novels, Ben Bova has created an exciting story containing action and intrigue. Perhaps the strongest point of Bova's writing is his character development. Each character in this book is well-developed, and the reader can bond immediately with them. From the chilly Wo to the somewhat apprehensive Archer, Bova has developed characters that the reader can truly relate to. The story itself is very well-conceived, and the action is non-stop.
I recommend this book very highly. I've read others from Bova's "grand tour" series, and this book is as good as any I've read so far. If you're a fan of good science fiction, then don't miss Bova's "Jupiter. Highly recommended.
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One of Bova's Best - A Science Fiction Masterpiece by Paul Cook (Tempe, Arizona USA) 5 Stars
June 25, 2007
Ben Bova is the last writer of the John W. Campbell Jr. mode. That is to say, a writer who takes plausible scientific principles and applies them to characters who must take action to resolve a clear conflict. He thus writes best about engineers, astronauts, explorers. He also writes well about politics and commerce (businesses operating in outer space, for example). But JUPITER (like VENUS) is an extraordinary achievement and has all the "sense of wonder" that's oftentimes missing in current science fiction. Lately, most sf is overladen with one trope after another, one sci-fi conceit or gimmick after another with no care to the evolution of characters in a scientific environment. JUPITER places several characters in believable circumstances with a few discoveries along the way. I've read this book three times now and it still works its wonders on me. Most writers, when they're dead and gone, will be remembered for one or two books or stories. I think JUPITER and VENUS will be among those books by Bova that will remain classics. Highly recommended!
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SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| Saturn: A Novel of the Ringed Planet- And the Humans Who Explore It (The Grand Tour)
by Ben Bova (Author)
Second in size only to Jupiter, bigger than a thousand Earths but light enough to float in water, home of crushing gravity and delicate, seemingly impossible rings, it dazzles and attracts us:
SATURN
Earth groans under the thumb of fundamentalist political regimes. Crisis after crisis has given authoritarians the upper hand. Freedom and opportunity exist in space, for those with the nerve and skill to run the risks.
Now the governments of Earth are encouraging many of...
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| Mercury (The Grand Tour)
by Ben Bova (Author)
The planet closest to our Sun, Mercury is a rocky, barren, heat-scorched world. But there are those who hope to find wealth in its desolation.
Saito Yamagata thinks Mercury’s position makes it an ideal place to generate power to propel starships into deep space. Astrobiologist Victor Molina thinks the water at Mercury’s poles may harbor evidence of life. Bishop Elliot Danvers has been sent by the Earth-based “New Morality” to keep close tabs on Molina.
But all three of...
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| Return to Mars
by Ben Bova (Author)
Six years after the first manned Martian expedition, a second has been announced -- one motivated purely by its profitable potential -- and half-Navajo, half-Anglo geologist Jamie Waterman's conflicted soul is beckoning him back to the eerie, unforgiving planet.As commander of the new exploratory team, he will have to contend with a bitter and destructive rivalry, a disturbing new emotional attraction, and deadly, incomprehensible "accidents" that appear to be sabotage, all of which could...
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| Venus (The Grand Tour)
by Ben Bova (Author)
The surface of Venus is the most hellish place in the solar system. The ground is hot enough to melt aluminum. The air pressure is so high it has crushed spacecraft landers as though they were tin cans. The sky is perpetually covered with clouds of sulfuric acid. The atmosphere is a choking mixture of carbon dioxide and poisonous gases.
This is where Van Humphries must go. Or die trying.
His older brother perished in the first attempt to land a man on Venus, years before, and his...
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| Titan (The Grand Tour)
by Ben Bova (Author)
Hugo Award-winning editor, author, scientist, and journalist, Ben Bova is a modern master of near-future science fiction and a passionate advocate of manned space exploration. For more than a decade, Bova has been chronicling humanity’s struggles to colonize our solar system in a series of interconnected novels known as “The Grand Tour.”
Now, with Titan, Ben Bova takes readers to one of the most intriguing destinations in near space: the extraordinary moon of Saturn which made...
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