Larry Niven & Jerry PournelleLucifer's HammerMonika says:
Comets in the nightly sky were always seen as a messenger of evil. Only in recent times their appearance is regarded as an opportunity to unravel the secrets of the universe. Most of the time they pass Earth in a safe distance, but sometimes in the past our planet did not get off lightly. The extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, for example, is believed to have been caused by the impact of a comet or asteroid in the Gulf of Mexico. The story starts harmlessly enough. A new comet is spotted and named after its discoverers Hamner and Brown. The first calculations of its course indicate that it will pass the Earth in a safe distance, yet closely enough to offer science the unique opportunity to observe it from a space station. Both the USA and the Soviet Union (the novel was written before the fall of the Iron Curtain) dispatch teams into space to collect data on Hamner-Brown. As the day of the encounter approaches NASA begins to doubt their original calculations. The comet, called "Hammer" in a sort of Freudian slip, seems to become just that: Lucifer’s Hammer crushing down on mankind. The population is waiting for the end of the world, everybody preparing in his or her own fashion for the Last Judgement. NASA refuses to believe that this is actually going to happen. Before impact the comet breaks into smaller parts that go down in various regions of the world, one of them ironically in the Gulf of Mexico. The scientists in the space station watch the celestial fireworks in horror. Will they ever be able to return to Earth and what will expect them there? This eschatological novel hardly leaves anything to be desired. Considering the fact that it was written before Luis and Walter Alvarez published their theory postulating that some of the great disasters in the history of life may have been caused by the impact of a large celestial body, the consequences of such an event are described with amazing accuracy. But not only the environmental disasters caused by the event are depicted, but also its effects on human society. More than anything else the novel casts a look at the depths of human soul, because rather than furthering a feeling of solidarity the psychological pressure brings us to manifest the negative sides of our character. As was to be expected part of the population jumps at the chance to do as they please after the breakdown of law and order. The depiction of the events after the disaster is probably the most fascinating part of LUCIFER’S HAMMER. The end of the world as we know it, described impressively in a long but not lengthy novel. Fawcett Crest, New York, 1978
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Last changes: 02-09-03 Copyright 2000 Christina Gross & Monika Hübner |
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