Flashforward

Amazingly, the television series created from this book is infinitely better. The idea of a flashforward is intriguing, but the long winded technical explainations from Sawyer and the persistent whinging from his characters suck the life out of the book.

On the other hand, the TV Series shortened the timeline to six months jump forward (much more interesting than 20 years), added mystery and suspense with a nefarious group behind the event, and abandoned the whinging characters for more likeable folk.

This is the "dean of Canadian science fiction writers"? Poor characterization, poor plot development, and ludicrous dialogue lead me to believe otherwise. I can see why the TV series, which is not stellar either, borrowed the title and basic plot and little else. Could not even finish it.

As time marches on, predictions of the future made in the past are tested against reality. In 1984, we didn't have George Orwell's dystopian government. In 2001, we didn't have Arthur C. Clarke's interplanetary travel. Sure, these authors did have a few interesting ideas that did come true, eventually. Still, they were writing well before the events in their books would come to pass. Robert J. Sawyer's Flashforward did not have that luxury. Written in 1999, Sawyer only imagines a future set a decade in the future. For those keeping track at home, Flashforward takes place in 2009, with a vision of a future 21 years ahead of that. Since 2009 has come and gone, there were a few things Sawyer got right, but many he could not have predicted.

The crux of this story is similar to that explored by Machine of Death : everyone in the world gets a glimpse of their future in 2030, thus causing everyone to react based on what they saw. Some were encouraged by what they saw, others despondent and suicidal. The people who had negative visions hoped the future could change, especially if their lives were on the line. Many of the "effects" of the look into the future were logical conclusions, which added an amount of interest to the story but with a cheap cop-out to keep from killing off all the characters. With all the different characters and POVs, it was somewhat difficult to follow along each time the focus changed, since there was nothing to indicate a change of view.

I also appreciated the conversation this book had in regards to science and the many existing theories about the future. While this exploration of science also included the discovery of the Higgs Boson (which didn't happen until 2012), I was continually distracted by the narrator's pronunciation of "CERN," which sounded more like "sairn" instead of how I thought it was pronounced ("sirn"). I did appreciate the narrator's ability to mimic multiple accents, but that one pronunciation threw me.

A recent book about the "future" that gets a few things correct, I give Flashforward 3.5 stars out of 5.

Title: Flashforward
Author: Robert J. Sawyer
Rating: 3/5 stars

I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
This is a spoiler-free review.

Warning: Suicide

Summary:
At once, every single person on earth loses consciousness. For two minutes and seventeen seconds, everyone is knocked out. There is mass destruction around the world. People driving cars, swimming, or walking down staircases are hurt or killed. During this time, people have visions of twenty-one years in the future. Some were expected, while some show a future that should be avoided.

Review:
I think the premise of this story is really unique and I was interested to see where the author was going to take it. I liked reading what the author thought life would be like in the future (better learn how to drive a flying car). I also like learning about the different theories about time, which I have always been interested in. I think the story did a good job of showing how the flashforward impacted so many aspects of life, like education, insurance, religion, and relationships.

This was one of my first “textbook” science-fiction novels. The author does a good job with the detailed descriptions of the science. The setting is described well and the experiments were explained in detail. I also enjoyed reading the various theories about why the visions occurred. It brought up a lot of cool science theories that I didn’t know about. However, I found that it became a little too much description. When the story turned to science, it felt like the author wanted to get as much of their research into the novel and it didn’t flow with the story. It wasn’t only the descriptions of science. There was a point when multiple paragraphs were dedicated to how two characters got from one location to another and I found it unnecessary.

There was also not a lot of characterization throughout the story. I didn’t feel like I got to know any of the characters and I wasn’t invested in their lives.

The end actually surprised me. I thought nothing was going to happen and then, all of the sudden, so much happened all at once. It was a bizarre ending that0 I don’t completely understand if I am being honest, but I definitely like how the end picked up and become more interesting.

This book is perfect for hard-core science-fiction fans. I enjoyed the premise and wanted to continue reading to find out why the visions happened and how they would impact people’s lives. But, I felt that some of the situations were unrealistic and the characters were unremarkable. Reading this book also made me really interested in watching the TV show.

I must be oblivious, because unlike many reviewers I had no idea that "Flashforward" had been a TV mini-series until I came here to leave a review on the book. Perhaps that's for the best, as apparently the book and the series have little in common aside from the core concept. Said concept is an intriguing one, and I had previously enjoyed another book by the author, "Red Planet Blues," and was curious to see what else he had to offer. The concept felt a bit like an episode of "The Twilight Zone," but in the hands of the right author it could have been something genuinely fascinating and fun.

Unfortunately, "Flashforward" is a classic case of "great concept, not-so-great execution." While entertaining enough, it feels like it doesn't utilize its concept very well, and suffers from bland writing and unsympathetic characters.

In the year 2009, physicists Lloyd Simcoe and Theo Procopides, along with Lloyd's fiancé Michiko, conduct an experiment in order to find a particular particle that will help explain the origins of the universe. Something goes catastrophically wrong with the experiment, however, causing the entire population of the world to black out for the space of two minutes... resulting in mass fatalities as planes and cars crash, surgeries are botched, and other terrible accidents occur. The survivors of the mass blackout, however, report something extraordinary -- for two minutes they were granted a vision of a particular date twenty years in the future. This shakes the foundations of the world as we know it... but the novel focuses instead on the three main characters and their visions. For Lloyd, who saw himself married to an entirely different woman in the future, this means questioning whether he and Michiko have any hope for their relationship; for Michiko, this means coping with the loss of her daughter (who was killed in the blackout) and trying to hang onto Lloyd despite his doubts; and for Theo, who saw nothing during his own blackout, it means discovering he is destined to be murdered, and struggling to find his killer...

The concept of this novel was fascinating. What would the average person do if given a glimpse of the future, and how would they react if it showed a future that was completely contrary to their hopes and dreams? And if you get a glimpse of the future, is there any possibility of changing it? For me, the novel worked best when it was dealing with these issues and possibilities, and showing how certain people reacted to it. Some strive to work for their futures, others struggle to change them, and still others lose hope and give up on life entirely. And there are intriguing snippets of news broadcasts at the beginning of many chapters that show how the world at large is coping with the flashforward -- laws change, lawsuits are filed, the entertainment industry leaps to take advantage of the glimpse of the future, etc. I found these stories fascinating, and there are any number of minor characters that I wish we could have focused on.

Sadly, the characters that are the focus of the novel -- Lloyd and Theo -- are not very interesting or sympathetic. Lloyd comes across as a smug jerk, and is obstinate in his belief that the future is fixed and unchangeable. He has motivation and reason for wanting this to be so, but said motivation only makes him come across as even more selfish, and doesn't exactly make him sympathetic. Theo, meanwhile, is obsessed with finding his future killer, and this could have made him an interesting character... but there's little to his character aside from "he's Greek and a scientist," and his obsession with solving his own murder makes him almost entirely oblivious to anything else, even a family tragedy. Michiko, meanwhile, is a flat character, and while she could have offered something interesting to the mix -- the death of her daughter makes her the closest thing to a sympathetic character among the three mains -- she's relegated to "love interest" for both main characters, making the book an uncomfortable love triangle at points.

As other reviewers have pointed out, the writing isn't anything to write home about -- not terrible, but pretty pedestrian. Sawyer also likes to wedge description and exposition in at awkward times, resulting in blocks of text that don't feel like they fit into the story proper very well. He's great with the technical details, but they don't flow well with the rest of the story. After reading and enjoying his "Red Planet Blues," this book feels like a step backwards when it comes to writing skill... but then, "Red Planet Blues" is a more recent release, so perhaps he's gotten better as he goes.

Given that I read this book in 2015, it's also rather amusing to see certain aspects of the glimpsed future of this book that have been rendered inaccurate or have surprisingly come true. "Flashforward" might be right in that George Lucas isn't going to finish his "Star Wars" series, but Disney's certainly going to do it for him... And flat computers are now a thing, though we tend to call them "tablets" or "iPads" instead of "flatsies..."

The ending of this book... I won't spoil. But suffice it to say that it feels incredibly out there, and your mileage may vary regarding it. I personally found it rather trippy, and am not sure how well I liked it.

The premise of this book is fascinating, and kept me reading to the very end. But the writing style was unmemorable, the characters didn't resonate with me, and all in all I feel like the concept could have been handled better. It makes me wonder if the TV series did any better, even cut short as it was... If you want to read a superior work by this author, try the aforementioned Red Planet Blues. This book isn't the best example of his work.

Techy books interest me to a certain extent, but my attraction to this book was to see how the author resolved the important questions raised.

Almost immediately “Flashforward” opens with an unexplained disaster. Everyone in the world has blacked out and most people have had a realistic “dream.” Unfortunately, cars crashed, doctors blacked out in the middle of surgery, landing planes crashed, etc., and as a result many people died. After comparing “dreams,” it was discovered that everyone had a vision of their own life 21 years in the future. The visions are consistent in content, and life on earth two decades into the future are pieced together from the various accounts. These episodes are called flash forwards, and websites are created to help people share their flash forwards with others. Some people experienced nothing for the two minutes of the blackout and it is assumed that these people will die in the next 20 years.

The people in “Flashforward” had mixed feelings about knowing their futures. The question they face is whether they can change the future they saw.

I found the end of “Flashforward” disappointing from a Hollywood viewpoint. The book raises many philosophical and scientific questions, and if you are interested in considering those questions, then this is a great book. On the other hand, if you are looking for strong character development and plot resolution, the book lacks that. I don’t understand physics beyond simple mechanics and electricity, so I don’t know if the science discussed, and there is a lot of physics in this book, was well presented or not. So, I could see this book being used in a course that analyzes science in literature. The philosophical questions of knowing and changing the future would be interesting to discuss in a class also, maybe for first-year college students.

I like to say something about the narration of books I listen to, and my first thought was that I had no thoughts about this reader. The reading by Mark Deakins was so natural that I was able to concentrate on the story with no distraction. I look forward to other books read by Mark Deakins.

I picked this up after having watched the series, and wanted to find out more after the show was cancelled.

I knew that the book was different from the TV show, and that the series was really based on the idea. In truth, the book follows the events from the scientists perspective, whereas the show follows it from the lay-person's view.

Whilst I loved the show, I was at best ambivalent towards this book for two reasons.
1) There is no antagonist. There is no villain of the piece, on the struggle of human rationale. In many ways it's a little like Rendezvous With Rama in that regard, but there is very little tension, and the rise of a secret cabal at the end could have been the whole focus of the novel, and I would have been much happier.

2) Personally, I found the writing style insipid. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad and it has been well proofed... but it never engages me. I was never on the edge of my seat, and I never really felt anything for the characters.

Is this a bad book? No - far from it. Is this a great book? Absolutely not.

If there were a sequel, I would probably read it, but it would have to be pretty amazing.

Conceptually loaded with potential, Fast Forward only partly delivers. I only watched a few episodes of the TV show back when it aired, and decided that I'd rather read the book, as the quality of the show didn't seem up to the task. Oddly, the novel felt similarly. Without giving anything away, there is an event that sparks several sub plots, each of which pretty much takes the primary focus away from the event itself. The subplots are interesting enough to carry the book some of the way, but does ultimately run thin. Much of the primary characters' internal exposition is unnecessary and repetitive and not only bogs down the pace but makes them come across as somewhat socially inept. Lloyd, perhaps the main character, is a genius physicist, but at the same time is unable to grasp simple concepts like the scientific method, which at one point is even a topic. Yet he blazes on and states with certainty that item a. and b. are causally related, when there is simply no evidence to support it. I'm not sure who's side we are supposed to be on. On the other hand, the idea of ' what would you do with a do-over' is a very interesting thought experiment. I would have loved to see it fleshed out more with one coherent plot running through the center, and perhaps an ending that more closely hinged upon the last 300 pages than this one did.

***POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT***

Overall, Flashforward is a passable read. However, I would like to comment here on an aspect of the plot that illustrates why science fiction writers are seldom good writers. Soon after the flashforward event occurs, our protagonist Lloyd and his Japanese girlfriend Michiko rush to the school that Michiko's 7-year-old daughter, her only child, attends. Sadly, they discover that the child was run over by a car during the flashforward. Her body still lies where she fell.
The mother naturally is heartbroken; she cries for half an hour at what would be for any woman the greatest tragedy of her life. However, ambulances cannot reach the school owing to the chaos caused by the flashforward. So what do Lloyd and Michiko do after half an hour? They leave the daughter in the parking lot and return to their labs at CERN.
Okay, this is preposterous. I don't mind suspending disbelief and all that. But as a parent, I cannot imagine that a mother would simply turn her back, walk away from the body of her slain child, and go on with business. This one minor aspect of the story tells me that Mr. Sawyer has a poor understanding of how to develop the humanity of his characters. He cannot place himself in their shoes and realize how they would behave in response to events. When you lose confidence in the author's ability to develop realistic characters, it is hard to go on reading his story.

This is an odd combination: a great idea, intriguing and suspenseful, which doesn't really seem to go anywhere. I was excited at first, especially by the subplot of a character trying to prevent his own murder at the hands of persons unknown, as well as the philosophical implications of a "glimpse of the future" but it is difficult to capture the reader's attention when the development of the idea is thin gruel.

If you are a fan of particle physics and CERN, you might enjoy this book. If you are looking for character development or real insight to the question of predestination (a big theme of Flashforward) then you may feel as unsatisfied as I did at the end. Given that predestination is an issue which has troubled mankind for millennia, it is unfortunate that the author did not make more of this major theme.

Since the book was turned into a TV series, obviously other people enjoyed the premise and the promise offered by it. I was disappointed, but judging from the other reviews, many people liked the book.

The idea for the book is quite interesting, but the characters and the writing are written in a less than compelling way. People more familiar with other genres who are interested in this book because of the TV show should know that science-fiction novels have a tendency to be written more in service of a new idea than in service of the characters or the writing style. That's why there are authors like Robert Sawyer, Vernor Vinge, or Arthur C. Clarke who win Nebula and Hugo awards but still turn out mediocre pieces of writing. These awards privilege newness over attractiveness. Of course there are also SF writers like Paolo Bacigalupi, Ursula Le Guin, Octavia Butler, Connie Willis, and Lois McMaster Bujold who write masterfully and entertainingly.

Sawyer is Canada's biggest-deal science fiction author and much of his stuff isn't half bad, though his earlier books aren't overwritten the way much of his more recent work seems to be, especially the WWW trilogy. (He's an interminable "explainer.") This one isn't so much "science fiction" as fiction about science. Set in 2009, ten years in the future at the time of publication, it's mostly about Lloyd Simcoe, a middle-aged physicist at CERN, and Theo Procopides, his much younger associate, both of whom are hot on the trail of the Higgs boson. Get temperatures up high enough in the Large Hadron Collider and they should be able to observe it. Another member of the team is engineer Michiko Komura, who is also Lloyd's fiancée, and there are several other supporting players. But when they hit the button in the control room in Geneva to start their big experiment, they -- and everyone else in the world -- passes out and experiences a two-minute vision of their own future life twenty-one years in the future.

That's the set-up, and it's a good one, leading to all sorts of problems and questions. Lloyd seems to be with some woman other than Michiko. Theo has no vision and evidence he gathers from others makes it clear he's going to be murdered. Is the future immutable? What if someone who doesn't like the future they've seen commits suicide? Beyond that, is the vision experience replicatable? Sawyer does a generally good job with his characters and the speculative science is based on the real thing, but then he makes the mistake of offering too much in the way of technological prediction. I read this book when it first appeared and re-reading it now was something of an eyebrow-raiser. Floppy discs are, of course, long out of date, but computer files in 2009 are saved to "optical" devices rather than thumb drives or to "the cloud." (In fact, the author far underestimated just how pervasive the Internet would become in a very short time.) Bookstores have moved from selling published hard-copy books to print-on-demand copies, with no thought of downloadable digital books.

This is the problem with trying to predict for the near future. Of course, any of us trying today to make similar predictions for a decade hence would also, almost certainly, get much of it wrong.

I read this book for two reasons: I thoroughly enjoyed Sawyer's book Calculating God (which I also reviewed), and I was a big fan of the ill-fated ABC show, and I'd love to know where they intended to go with it. Other reviewers are right--the book gives the concept but does not parallel the series; but unlike them, I don't see that as a bad thing. Mosaic was about collecting thousands of stories; so in that regard, Sawyer could've written a series of Flashforward books. I like what he has done with such an original SF idea, and as in Calculating God, this is SF heavy with science. Weighty ideas are raised, such as whether we have free-will, whether all time (past/present/future) is fixed; whether the future is unalterable. Can what has been seen be changed? And what about those people who are unhappy with what they see, and those who had no vision? All this, along with the proposal for a planned flashforward are fascinating. The best SF makes one think, and this book is perfect for small groups to mull over. FF is well-written, with small doses of humor, and much to ponder.

In the future, two researchers manage to show everyone on Earth what their own world will be like in three decades. This prompts some people to try to change things, some to find favor with the results, some to wonder what this all means, and a myraid of other reactions. It also prompts people to look into the matter, trying to see what this all means - and if anything can be done about the worlds they've glimpsed.

If you are a fan of the series, I would have to say that you should skip the book. It isn't that the book is good - it is that the book will tell you things you don't want to know yet. Wanna find out what is going to happen in a few hundred pages? Well, you can. You can have your own personal Flash Foward.

As far as the book goes, there are pros and cons to it. The major con I have is that specific characters just didn't interest me. They were written well, sure, and they had a lot to offer. But their lives were things that took the story and slowed it down for me.

The postitives were that the story had the opposite effect as well, with characters that seemed to kick in the world while looking for answers. I liked the way they were written, their style if you will, and that made me want to keep on keeping on. I learned a ot about the experiment, about what has happened, and about why they saw a show here as well.

I liked the book and would say check it out. That is UNLESS you are watching the show. Now that I have read the book, I know a few things that bother me. I guess we all have to live with our own brands of the future.

Although this isn't among Sawyer's best, the issue he raises is one worthy of further discussion. 'Free will' remains one of the most compelling of human ideas. With geneticists demonstrating the impetus given our behaviour by our DNA, what is inevitable and what is left to chance? What actually drives our behaviour and how far into the future might we be able to predict? If we can garner a glimpse of the future, will that future necessarily be fixed? Sawyer gives us one means of assessing that question, although the technique he uses here is questionable. His resolution is far more mechanistic than anything even the sociobiologists have suggested.
It's fascinating to read critiques of Sawyer's characterizations. Depicting persona is easily Sawyer's finest quality as a writer. His characters may not be charming nor even heroic, but they are certainly real people in every sense of the term. Lloyd Simcoe [how Canadian!!] can be readily condemned for his waffling, but the description of his mental gyrations are portrayed with fidelity. Theo's obsession with avoiding an untimely demise is hardly far- fetched under the circumstances. Even Cheung, a man of vast wealth and power, while not an original figure, is certainly conveyed from genuine models. What person of his status wouldn't undertake the realization of immortality if the chance presented itself?
Those critical of Sawyer's scientific basis are simplistic. His science is sound, but shouldn't be taken as providing any final resolution to the many questions he raises. The issues remain open until we've delved much further into ourselves and the universe around us. The real problem with this story is Sawyer's ultimate acceptance of the Frank Tipler model of the future of humanity. Humans appear wholly incapable of envisioning that along with the rest of the animal kingdom we will go extinct. This is particularly amazing in view of the fact that we seem to be bringing that about ourselves. The Dyson sphere is a human-centred idea overlooking the diversity of life on this planet. A beautiful idea, but one dooming the remaining life on our world. Could we truly become immortal in such an environment?

Remember the tv series based upon this novel and recall thinking it was a great concept but didn't pick up on the source. Discovered Robert J Sawyer late last year via the Neanderthal Parallax. The novel has the flash forward over twenty years in the future rather than the meagre six months in the tv series and is all the better for it. Can the future be changed and what does the future have in plan for mankind. Find out by reading this fine sci-fi book.

Ray Smillie

I watched the television series maybe twice. While I was able to tell the series would be the typical drawn-out, never-ending type of thing peppered with obscure clues, red herrings, and constantly recycled footage, I thought the novel might be somewhat different.

My guess was correct. I was rewarded with a tight, quick tale that worked just fine. In fact, I appreciated that it was a short tale and that it could be consumed in an afternoon. The usual SF fare these days consists of a never-ending story, wrapped into a three-volume (or more) series, and embedded in the jargon of a marketing niche like "military alternate history science fiction" or "techno-babble cyber-punk SF." So, just getting a story that had a beginning, a middle, and an end was as refreshing as a clean sea breeze and almost non-existent in current science fiction publishing.

While I cannot recommend the television series that takes its name--but little else--from this book, I can recommend the book itself.

In 2009 a team of particle physicists pursuing the Higgs Boson, a theoretical subatomic particle, flip the switch at Geneva's huge new particle accelerator. Suddenly Lloyd Simcoe, project leader, finds himself naked in bed with a stranger, an old woman whose body feels like "fruit gone bad".

Horrified, he discovers he too is old, as if 20 years has disappeared. But before he can consummate some repulsive sexual act he is jolted back to his seat at the collider controls. Only to discover the whole world has been thrown into pandemonium - planes fallen from the sky, cars piled up on the highway, trains derailed.

Every human on the planet lost consciousness for two minutes, and most catapulted into a vision of their future.

The facility administrator, whose wife has yet to give birth, finds himself in an ugly confrontation with a surly, hostile son. Theo, Lloyd's young research partner, had no vision at all. He won't be around. His younger brother, an aspiring writer, envisions abject failure.

Lloyd believes these future visions are immutable. Though he loves his fiancée, Michiko (whose daughter was one of the accidental victims of the flash forward), there seems no point in marrying, since he will be married to another in 20 years. Theo, discovering that his death was a murder, becomes obsessed with finding his killer. Theo must believe he can change the future.

Canadian author and Nebula Award-winner Sawyer ("Frameshift," Factoring "Humanity"), is a crisp, incisive writer with a playful and keen imagination. He generates plenty of action from his psychological and paradoxical what-ifing. Excellent sci-fi which proves, whether Sawyer thinks so or not, that a glimpse of the future is a dangerous thing.

A group of scientists conduct a cutting-edge experiment at the CERN facility on the French-Swiss border. At the precise moment the experiment begins, every single human being in the world blacks out. For two minutes they experience a lucid vision of the world as it will be in 2030, twenty-one years from now, before returning to the present. In those two minutes thousands of people were killed as planes crashed on take-off or landing, people fell down stairs and cars crashed.

For the scientists, other questions are raised. One saw himself with a woman other than his fiance, and becomes intrigued by her identity. Another saw only blackness and discovers through others' visions that he was murdered, and becomes obsessed with preventing this event. But can time be altered, and can - or should - the experiment be repeated?

FlashForward is a science fiction novel by the Nebula and Hugo Award-winning Canadian author Robert J. Sawyer, originally published in 1999. It's a high-concept book which the blurb terrifyingly likens to Michael Crichton, although thankfully baselessly. It also serves as the basis for the current new American TV show of the same name, the arrival of which was the catalyst for the book's recent re-release.

This is a very old-school SF novel where the author has come up with an excellent premise and sets about exploring it and setting up an interesting storyline based around the mystery, somewhat at the expense of characterisation, which is where I'm guessing the Crichton comparisons come into play. Luckily, the book actually features some interesting and sympathetic characters rather than just author-insertion heroes and strawmen opponents, but the characters are not developed very far, serving as they do more as a simple POV on the unusual scientific phenomena and its ramifications. This isn't an overt criticism - in-depth character-building is simply not the book's goal - but it does make the book feel a lot older than its ten years would indicate.

Putting that to one side, the book is a pretty good SF story, fast-paced with lots of intriguing ideas. One slight problem is that it was written in 1999 and set ten years in the future, so it's set this very year but a lot of the ideas in it (such as the holographic Windows 2009) haven't come to pass, dating the book before it's out of its first decade. However, some of the ideas discussed in the book, particularly at the end, can actually explain this, so it's not a huge issue.

The exploration of the premise is mostly well-handled, although it takes a while for the author to address some of the questions the reader may be asking immediately after the incident takes place (it takes quite a while before someone thinks about checking CCTV footage taken during the incident, for example), and in some areas actually goes into areas which the reader may not have immediately considered (for example, what happened to animals during the event?). The result is an interesting puzzle which the author provides some possible, but not necessarily definitive, answers for during the unexpectedly epic climax.

FlashForward (***½) is a readable and effective old-school SF novel which comes up with a great idea, explores it intelligently, and doesn't outstay its welcome. Those looking for in-depth characters or themes should probably look elsewhere, but for a decent and easy SF read, this book does its job well. It is available now in the UK and USA.

A lot attempted but with little results. I kept looking for the footnotes and perhaps some math formulas. It seems many Sci-fi writers are creating new genre's these days. The discipline of the old Sci-fi is a thing of the past. But back to the attempts: good arguments of whether mankind has or hasn't free will; a leap into the mythical arena of tachyons (energy moving faster than light); a great metaphor of the Minkowski time cube and thereby to explain the nature of time!; a primer on subatomic particle accelerators and their future obsolescence; a hint at the nature of time travel (although for less than 2 minutes). Not a small helping on Sawyer's platter.
Unfortunately the author does not take his own web site advice in writing "to show instead of tell". Unmotivated characters spouted large helpings of real-life physicist Frank Tipler's Omega Point stuffing and I doubt the author got Tipler's permission to reproduce. Sawyer could have at least dedicated the book to Tipler or added him to the acknowledgements. My biggest problem with the script was too much mixing of real life physicist's theorizing with Sawyer's own fine speculative fiction. Such a technique seems to fling the reader out of the imaginative walls in which the story is supposed to be taking place. One could argue that it shores up the believability of the story but the author should rather rely on the readers "suspension of disbelief."

Unique idea. The author used the idea well to discuss many philosophies and scientific theories I've pondered about myself. The characters are a little flat. The amount of characters and lack of one identifiable lead character lead to my confusion at times; although I did listen to this via audiobook while on an elliptical machine and may have been distracted once in a while. Worth the effort to read this for the unique idea an theory discussions.

Flashforward starts with a whoppingly large temporal anomaly - the entire human race lives 2 minutes in their future selves, that future being roughly 20 years from now. When the anomaly is over, chaos ensues: planes and cars have crashed, security cameras have gone haywire, and no one knows what caused the event. No one, that is, except the heroes of the story, who are a group of scientists performing an experiment to produce the highest-energy conditions ever created by man. Theo Procopides and Lloyd Simcoe are particle physicists working at the particle accelerator in Switzerland. As they initiate their experiment, Lloyd has a vision of his future wife (a woman he'd not yet met), while Theo sees nothing. Theo later learns that he's been murdered by the time of the visions, and so had no future self to jump into. The mystery is on - both the Big Question mystery of what caused the event (and how to interpret the future visions), as well as the smaller mystery of who will kill Theo.

Naturally, the look into the future brings forth the debate about the nature of space-time and whether the multi-universe model or the fixed universe model is more accurate. Sawyer does well in negotiating and explaining the science behind the models, although as a chemist I can see a few holes in his science. No matter, the story is well written and avoids some obvious pitfalls (which plagued his earlier "Terminal Experiment"), such as trying to explain too much and trying to jab too many theories at the reader. Oddly, religion plays little role in the debate, which is a mainstay of other Sawyer works. I find this odd - surely a few billion people would interpret their vision as a divine work, rather than the result of an experiment.

I have to admit to a certain level of scientific frustration, however. It's not so much that Sawyer doesn't understand the science thoroughly (perhaps he does, and decided to gloss over certain points in the interest of the story). Rather, Sawyer makes the mistake of giving his arguments to the wrong characters. Surely Lloyd Simcoe, the particle physicist, would not be so cavalier about dismissing quantum theory. He works in the realm of quantum mechanics, and would surely be biased towards a quantum worldview rather than a relativistic one! Again, this is likely only to bother those of us (chemists and physicists) who are more comfortable with quantum theory.

Overall, on the scale of Sawyer offerings, this one is quite strong. It is not as good as "Calculating God", but certainly better than the second "Hominids" book, and better than "Terminal Experiment" as well.

I have always been partial to Robert Sawyer, as he is Canada's greatest borne and bred and still resident science fiction writer. Perhaps I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt especially when he rejects the staple of most Canadian writers; the government grant. That being said, I liked Flashforward. It is a good, solid, well researched, and well written novel. It's perhaps not his best but it's good.
Flashforward is set at CERN in 2009. Its primary protagonist is a Canadian scientist working at CERN trying to detect the illusive Higgs boson. The new ultra-high energy experiment causes everyone to see through their own eyes what they will be doing some 20 years in the future for two minutes. When the experience is over there have been accidents and deaths as a result. Some people see futures they don't like. Others see nothing indicating that they won't be alive in 20 years. Flashforward is an exploration of the problems caused and philosophical points raised.
Do we have free will? Is the future predetermined? Why do some relationships succeed and others fail? These are but some of the questions that Sawyer raises. Typical Sawyer themes are present including his interest in longevity/immortality. I am impressed that Sawyer can approach so many of his recurring themes from a fresh angle every time.
Sawyer's novels all appear well researched with the science not front and centre but well supported. If one is a techie then there is technical content. If one isn't then the technical content doesn't get in the way of the story.
Flashforward is a good novel but not without some weaknesses, principally in the ideas that it presents. For instance, Sawyer implies that the world of 2030 will have greater sexual freedom than today/2009. How much greater freedom could there be? On the one hand Sawyer implies that greater sexual freedom would be a good thing. On the other his protagonist regrets that someone had his divorced fiancée before he did. Sawyer also skips over the effects of marital breakdown and absentee parents on the development of children. Perhaps Sawyer will tackle these issues in his next novel.
While I like to wave the Canadian flag as often as possible, I think that Sawyer has overdone it. Some of the Canadian references make great in-jokes for Canadian readers and don't detract from the story. However, Sawyer gives some Canadian institutions, particularly the CBC, far more prominence than they receive internationally.
Flashforward is worth reading. One of the subplots has a thrilling climax. It will make the reader think. The ending is a little untidy but so is life.

Well written and interesting ‘Flash Forward’ is heavy on science but light on substance. After seeing the TV series I was really excited to read this book. I wanted to hear more about people’s visions and their views of the future but reader is limited to a very small number of visions and some additional visions which relate to those of the main characters. The mystery surrounding Theo and his murder is interesting but not enough to overcome the constant flow of science to make this a truly great story.

Unique idea. The author used the idea well to discuss many philosophies and scientific theories I've pondered about myself. The characters are a little flat. The amount of characters and lack of one identifiable lead character lead to my confusion at times; although I did listen to this via audiobook while on an elliptical machine and may have been distracted once in a while. Worth the effort to read this for the unique idea an theory discussions.

Flashforward starts with a whoppingly large temporal anomaly - the entire human race lives 2 minutes in their future selves, that future being roughly 20 years from now. When the anomaly is over, chaos ensues: planes and cars have crashed, security cameras have gone haywire, and no one knows what caused the event. No one, that is, except the heroes of the story, who are a group of scientists performing an experiment to produce the highest-energy conditions ever created by man. Theo Procopides and Lloyd Simcoe are particle physicists working at the particle accelerator in Switzerland. As they initiate their experiment, Lloyd has a vision of his future wife (a woman he'd not yet met), while Theo sees nothing. Theo later learns that he's been murdered by the time of the visions, and so had no future self to jump into. The mystery is on - both the Big Question mystery of what caused the event (and how to interpret the future visions), as well as the smaller mystery of who will kill Theo.

Naturally, the look into the future brings forth the debate about the nature of space-time and whether the multi-universe model or the fixed universe model is more accurate. Sawyer does well in negotiating and explaining the science behind the models, although as a chemist I can see a few holes in his science. No matter, the story is well written and avoids some obvious pitfalls (which plagued his earlier "Terminal Experiment"), such as trying to explain too much and trying to jab too many theories at the reader. Oddly, religion plays little role in the debate, which is a mainstay of other Sawyer works. I find this odd - surely a few billion people would interpret their vision as a divine work, rather than the result of an experiment.

I have to admit to a certain level of scientific frustration, however. It's not so much that Sawyer doesn't understand the science thoroughly (perhaps he does, and decided to gloss over certain points in the interest of the story). Rather, Sawyer makes the mistake of giving his arguments to the wrong characters. Surely Lloyd Simcoe, the particle physicist, would not be so cavalier about dismissing quantum theory. He works in the realm of quantum mechanics, and would surely be biased towards a quantum worldview rather than a relativistic one! Again, this is likely only to bother those of us (chemists and physicists) who are more comfortable with quantum theory.

Overall, on the scale of Sawyer offerings, this one is quite strong. It is not as good as "Calculating God", but certainly better than the second "Hominids" book, and better than "Terminal Experiment" as well.

I have always been partial to Robert Sawyer, as he is Canada's greatest borne and bred and still resident science fiction writer. Perhaps I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt especially when he rejects the staple of most Canadian writers; the government grant. That being said, I liked Flashforward. It is a good, solid, well researched, and well written novel. It's perhaps not his best but it's good.
Flashforward is set at CERN in 2009. Its primary protagonist is a Canadian scientist working at CERN trying to detect the illusive Higgs boson. The new ultra-high energy experiment causes everyone to see through their own eyes what they will be doing some 20 years in the future for two minutes. When the experience is over there have been accidents and deaths as a result. Some people see futures they don't like. Others see nothing indicating that they won't be alive in 20 years. Flashforward is an exploration of the problems caused and philosophical points raised.
Do we have free will? Is the future predetermined? Why do some relationships succeed and others fail? These are but some of the questions that Sawyer raises. Typical Sawyer themes are present including his interest in longevity/immortality. I am impressed that Sawyer can approach so many of his recurring themes from a fresh angle every time.
Sawyer's novels all appear well researched with the science not front and centre but well supported. If one is a techie then there is technical content. If one isn't then the technical content doesn't get in the way of the story.
Flashforward is a good novel but not without some weaknesses, principally in the ideas that it presents. For instance, Sawyer implies that the world of 2030 will have greater sexual freedom than today/2009. How much greater freedom could there be? On the one hand Sawyer implies that greater sexual freedom would be a good thing. On the other his protagonist regrets that someone had his divorced fiancée before he did. Sawyer also skips over the effects of marital breakdown and absentee parents on the development of children. Perhaps Sawyer will tackle these issues in his next novel.
While I like to wave the Canadian flag as often as possible, I think that Sawyer has overdone it. Some of the Canadian references make great in-jokes for Canadian readers and don't detract from the story. However, Sawyer gives some Canadian institutions, particularly the CBC, far more prominence than they receive internationally.
Flashforward is worth reading. One of the subplots has a thrilling climax. It will make the reader think. The ending is a little untidy but so is life.

Well written and interesting ‘Flash Forward’ is heavy on science but light on substance. After seeing the TV series I was really excited to read this book. I wanted to hear more about people’s visions and their views of the future but reader is limited to a very small number of visions and some additional visions which relate to those of the main characters. The mystery surrounding Theo and his murder is interesting but not enough to overcome the constant flow of science to make this a truly great story.

Classic science fiction. "What if" one thing were different -- how would that change everything else? A very interesting book, well written. It takes place at CERN (the world's main particle physics lab, in Europe) and uses the Large Hadron Collider (which is being built). For me, it's gratifying that Canada's existence, geography, and scientific contributions are acknowledged. The book starts in 2009; and I particularly liked the throwaway line that Stephen Lewis* was now Secretary General of the U.N.
In this book, an experiment gives everyone in the world a glimpse of their future. They don't know what it means. If it's a moment of nothing, does that mean they're inevitably going to die before the future moment? Is their future written in stone or merely in clay? Would you dare to fall in love? This book explores the psychological effects of that future glimpse -- and of the devastation caused by everyone on Earth losing consciousness for a minute -- on several main characters.
One of the realistic things about Sawyer's writing is that the characters are not superheroes -- they are pretty good people, with weaknesses. So they're not instantly likeable, and we might not identify with their every thought. But they do have thoughts and weight how to do what is right. So-o-o Canadian.
(*Mr. Lewis is former leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party and former ambassador from Canada to the U.N. He has recently been involved in investigating the genocide in Rwanda and looking at ways to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa.)
[This review was copied from my review on the BookCrossing Web site.]

This book has a very unique twist on the 'knowledge from the future' genre.. Imagine, everybody in the world "living" for 2 minutes their lives 20 years from now. This can have a huge effect on people, as can be expected. This is the premise of this book! I think it is overall a good book, however, it is not written in an "exciting" way, I didn't find myself eager to continue every day, and it's sad, because the premise is just *so* good. Also, the author seems to focus on the technology of this occurence, which is kind of silly, since he's "inventing" a future technology and really expanding on it.. this really isn't very interesting, and too much time is being spent on it. Other than that, I guess it's worth it after all, although it should be a priority reading if you know what I mean..

The action in this book starts fast; in fact, the main idea of the story occurs on page 5. The appealing part of the novel is the philosophical consequences of people seeing three minutes of their life 20 years in the future. I thoroughly enjoyed the 'news items' at the beginnings of the chapters.
My problem with the novel is that most of the main characters are either unlikeable or unremarkable. I especially found the Theo character loathesome; I was rooting for the villain to kill him at the end. The main character was harmless enough, but his finance was annoying. The only intriguing character was the 'geeky' scientist who courts the woman who he saw in his vision of the future (making love in their lab, no less).
The dialogue in this book was somewhat stilted, but it didn't bother me as much as the characters.

Although I read quite a bit of science fiction, this book would never have caught my eye if I hadn't recently started watching the television series that it inspired. Anyone else interested in the book because of the TV series should understand up front that there is relatively little connection between the two. The central idea -- that all of humanity's consciousness is unexpectedly shifted into the future for two minutes -- is the same, and both stories share a character named Lloyd Simcoe, a scientist who may or may not have been responsible. But otherwise the plots differ in every detail.

The broad themes are similar, exploring variations on the conflict between free will and destiny. There are characters who are inspired by their visions to seek out and cause the future it reveals; others rebel against or fatalistically resign themselves to their disappointing futures, with varying degrees of success. So the television series and the novel probe the same philosophical questions. But details ranging from the length of the future jump (21 years vs. 9 months) to the characters, setting and storyline are different, giving rise to completely different narratives. Some of these choices were inevitable due to the different formats. The television show must reach the 9-month event horizon by the end of the broadcast season, after all. FBI agents make for more compelling prime-time drama than particle physicists, and mysterious, partially glimpsed bad guys keep us tuning in to find out what happens next.

It is the wider themes, however, rather than the plot details, which make it an intriguing science fiction book. The flash forward in time provides an intriguing and original way to explore questions of consciousness, free will, and even time travel. These are all fascinating questions and make for interesting speculative fiction in Sawyer's hands. I also enjoyed the digressions into the philosophical interpretations of quantum mechanics: the observer paradox, many-worlds theory, and so on. These were generally integrated well, without sounding too much like didactic asides.

The biggest flaw of the novel is the somewhat weak writing and editing. There are typographical errors that should never have made it past a middle-school teacher, let alone a competent editor -- "you're" for "your", "differ" for "defer", etc. If you're the type to notice this sort of thing, it will bother you. And the characters and dialogue, while serving to move the plot along fine, lack the depth and sparkle that characterizes a truly outstanding book.

The flaws are enough that the book is not destined to become a classic. But as some of the Nobel-hungry physicists in the book come to realize, intellectual pursuits need not win awards or immortality for their authors in order to be valuable. It's enough that the book is fun to read. The characters are fleshed out well enough that we do care about what comes next, and the speculative themes of consciousness and free will should provide ample food for thought for most science fiction fans.

The last fiction book I read was probably the hardyboys and that was in the century when tyrannosaurus was walking the earth. Since then fiction book has never been one of my favourite genre until I came across the Flashforward TV series, which then persuaded me to try the novel. I must admit the first few chapters captured my attention and transported me to the Switzerland, experiencing the busy schedule of physicists as if I was really there: the smell, the food, the character, the emotions all became so vivid.
Call me a spoiler but I can't stop but talk about this one, it'll be worth your every minute spent reading. It started to what seemed like a thoroughly planned experiment in a top laboratory and developed into a world chaos... The world went to sleep for few minutes with everyone having a glimpsed of the future. Of course not everyone got the "and they live happily ever after" vision, nonetheless all had to put on a good fight to either prevent or bring to past their vision. Government, economic, scholars, relationship, politics, heath, finance all put to test, with only the strong to survive. But the question stays; can we really prevent the future if we know how the story ends?

The book is well articulated, full of action with suspense from cover to cover. For those who are yet to read the flashforward; Robert Sawyer will capture your imagination forwarding you to the word of detective, science, academic and relationship like you could never imagine. For others like me: this book really deserves our praise.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY gave FLASHFORWARD its highest honour, a starred review (indicating a book of exceptional merit). PUBLISHERS WEEKLY's reviewer called FLASHFORWARD "soul-searching; a creative, exploration of fate, free will, and the nature of the universe. Using a third-person omniscient narrator, Sawyer shifts seamlessly among the perspectives of his many characters, anchoring the story in small details. This first-rate, philosophical journey, a terrific example of idea-driven SF, should have wide appeal." The store I work at received a galley, and I can only say that I agree. This is a marvelous book.

Robert J Sawyer again delivers a great story. The best kind of science fiction, the "What If?" In this novel he raises the question: What if the consciousness of everyone on Earth was suddenly twenty years in the future and everyone glimpsed their future lives for two minutes? The ramifications are staggering from a psychological perspective. Is everything pre-determined or do we have free will?

As in Sawyer's other novels, the characters discuss all the scientific theories and ramifications of this accident in great detail that frankly will go right over the head of some readers. (My friend found these parts mind-numbingly boring) Boring or not, I am really surprised at the extent and length of the griping other reviewers have done over the viability of the science. It's FICTION! This is not a textbook or instruction manual.

Robert J. Sawyer has been tabbed "the Canadien Michael Crichton" and this hefty praise is well-deserved. He has been writing intelligent novels that are unfortunately relegated to the "Science Fiction" sections of most bookstores. "Flashforward" is another example of just how genre-breaking he can be.

This sci-fi/thriller/murder mystery plays out like an extended episode of The Outer Limits. Imagine if a super-conductor being operated at the CERN laboratory in Geneva actually causes the entire human race to experience two minuttes of their consciousness being transported 21 years into the future. A neat idea that, in lesser hands, would have been given pulp treatment. Sawyer deftly shows not only the brilliance of these visions but also the tragic results of all human activity coming to a halt for 2 minutes (countless tradgedies and disasters worldwide). Also, not all governments and individuals are thrilled about the glimpse into the future and what it reveals to them. Throw into the mix the fact that one of the CERN Physicists has no vision because he must not exist 21 years in the future - a fact proven by the hundreds of individuals who have visions that include the revalation that he was murdered a few days prior to the "flash forward".

This book is unputdownable (is there such a word?) and all the characters are well drawn out and interesting. I look forward to the pilot that ABC is going to make on it and hope they do it justice.

Science fiction, SF, Sci-Fi, whatever you want to call it, I confess I've never "gotten it." I'd see those voluminous shelves of colorful paperbacks in the chain bookstore sections - stuff by masters like Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury and schlock by countless others - and wonder what people saw in them. But I was finally lured to read Robert J. Sawyer's `Flashforward' because of its premise: what would you do if you got a glimpse 20-odd years into the future? How would you react? Would you change your life? Make you want to thwart destiny (if it truly was destiny)? I started reading expecting strong characters wresting with this simple yet enticing setup, and hoping for a new insight or two.

I was hugely disappointed. This book was a struggle to get through, and confirmed all my worst fears about reading anything from this genre: bad or downright false science (passed off as real), unexamined philosophical premises, ridiculous plotting, and above all, one-dimensional characters whose dialog rarely rose above platitudes.

The plot shoots off in dozens of unexplained directions; I continually found myself pleading "oh, get ON with it!" Sawyer provides no insights, no twists, not even a smattering of a resolution about the central question of his story: are his characters destined to live out their future "vision," or is it "one of many possibilities?" In the process of muddying this outcome, Sawyer has his characters spend page after page THINKING about their situations and endlessly PONDERING their courses of action. The author seems to have forgotten a principle from Creative Writing 101: reveal characters through their actions. Telling us what's in their heads in unconvincing at best, and tedious at worst.

And oh, the people whose thoughts we read! Scientists at CERN who fret about Nobel prizes and interpret simple relativity as the death of free will. A nerd who knows he'll be having sex with a beautiful woman in the future and obsesses about whether to visit her now. A mysterious Chinese-Canadian magnate who promises eternal life. Relationships explained in terms like "did he love her? She WAS beautiful." Science fiction-or any genre, in fact-deserves much, much better than this.

In short, nobody in this book was even vaguely interesting. If Sawyer wanted to write a story about metaphysics, he chose the wrong format; a crisply written short piece that centers on plot twists would be far more engaging.

So why did I read it? Continue to read it? Of course it was the premise, which is intriguing and continues to be. I'll give Mr. Sawyer credit for attempting to write a novel around it. But he should start over, and consider a short story format; this is far, far too thin for a lengthy work.

When the entire world blacks out, millions die in accidents, and the survivors are left to try and make sense of their "flashforwards". What caused the blackout? Can it be repeated? Should it be repeated? Is the future fixed or fluid? These are just some of the questions the that world as a whole has to grapple with.

I watched a couple of episodes of the TV show while it was on the air, but not enough to judge how similar it is to the book. I enjoyed this book much more then I thought I would. I expected the story to drag, and was warned that it got overly technical with the physics stuff, but I actually did not find that to be a problem. I was able to take in what I understood as far as the science goes, and skim over the rest without impeding the pace or flow of the story.

Having read a number of other reviews here, I cannot lend any weight to any of the criticisms written. I just finished this book a couple of days ago and I found it very satisfying in every way. The story is clever and interesting, the science is top-notch and well delivered, the characters are compelling and reasonably well fleshed-out [its only 300 pages, after all] and it all builds rather nicely to a double-climax [one for Theo and one for Lloyd].
I found it to be a brilliant blend that was easy to read and built nicely throughout. It was hard to put down most nights and I finished it an about half the time it would normally have taken me to read a book this size, which is really about the best thing I can say about any book.

Wonderfully aware of its influences in science, philosophy and literature, Flashforward tells a powerful and compellingly character-driven story centered around the promise of a freak accident permitting everyone (almost) in the world an opportunity to glimpse the future. Ignore the review accusing Sawyer and his book of "arrogant liberalism" - an obstinately insular misunderstanding of futurism and characterization. I will admit that the TV show drew me in. The book is quite different and great on its own merits.

Ever since reading Sawyer's The Terminal Experiment I've been following his career with joy. His latest is my favorite since The Terminal Experiment for all the reasons I love Robert J. Sawyer novels: great characters, great science, sense-of-wonder, and discussion of moral/ethical issues.
If you haven't spent time with this author FastForward is an excellent way to start. I highly recommend this novel and his others, too.

This book has the elements that attract me most to science fiction---interesting speculations about future technology, and a careful examination of the consequences of that technology. The characters are interesting, and their personalities are in line with the way many scientists truly are. Theo's pursuit of Michiko in the end was a little puzzling (if she blamed Lloyd, why not him too?), but this is the only complaint that I had.

It looks like some science fiction fans here are looking for books with straightforward heroes and villains ... I suppose they acquired their taste for SF from TV and movies. Sawyer writes the kind of SF that ADULTS can enjoy, with complex characters who are neither all good nore all bad, who are at war with themselves as much as any external antagonist. FLASHFORWARD (why does the cover say FLASH FORWARD when the title page says FLASHFORWARD?) is a perfect expample. Lloyd Simcoe is warring with his belief that the future is immutable; Theo P. (can't remember how to spell the Greek last name) is warring with his contrasting belief that the future can be changed. Yes there is conflict between the characters, but the real conflict is internal and for my money, it is drawn very convincingly, in mature, adult terms. If you're looking for white hats and black hats, try someone other than Sawyer. If you're looking for SF as serious literature, Sawyer, Russell, Robinson and a few others are the ones to try --- and FLASHFORWARD is an excellent book to start with.

A very interesting novel, set in 2009 about a world wide black out that results in everyone Flashing forward 21 years to see a glimpse of the future. The novel follows scientists at CERN, and is heavy with physics and cosmology explanations. It asks the question "is the future set or do we have free will?"

If you are not up on your physics, the book is still very readable and quick moving. The author will hopefully get many people reading the novel due to interest from the tv show. The novel is much more science-drama then police-drama (as the tv show appears to be).

The ending feels like the author ran out of things to say - and he should have just stopped. It gets preachy and just plain silly. Do yourself a favor and just stop about 30 pages from the end.

It is hard to say much without giving plot away, but reading the book is an enjoyable addition to being hooked on the show (although you may catch yourself telling the tv - "that is not how it happens!")
Happy Reading

In the very near future of 2009, two physicists working on a complicated experiment accidentally thrust the collective consciousness of the entire world ahead twenty-one years. Although the "flash forward," as it's later named, lasts only minutes, the aftermath is catastrophic. Not only are millions of people killed in accidents caused by their sudden and brief departure from the present (i.e. plane and car crashes, falls down stairs, etc.), but those who survived find themselves emotionally rocked by their respective (and sometimes shared) glimpses of the future. The two scientists are left to piece together what happened, while also trying to figure out whether or not the future they all saw was fixed or just one of many possible outcomes.

I enjoyed this book very much: the story itself was fascinating, and thought-provoking, and the author is clearly an intelligent man with an intriguing imagination. However, I had a big problem with the execution of the story; Mr. Sawyer's a great storyteller, to be sure, but an awkward, almost amateurish writer. While the book was an easy, accessible read, I found it to be equally as clunky and frustrating in parts -- especially his shockingly excessive use of the word "doubtless," which was so abundant that it became distracting and, toward the end, grated on my every nerve. (How his editors let it go to press with such a glaring flaw is beyond me.)

Still, I recommend this book to anyone who's interested in time travel and is looking for some light sci-fi reading. And, in spite of my feeling toward the author's technical skill as a writer (or lack thereof), the story itself was compelling enough to make me consider the idea of reading some of his other books.

The concept of seeing two minutes of your own future is just mind-blowing! There are so many great ideas here -- Sawyer could have written several separate books rather than just one. The characters in this book are complex and very human. The science did not overwhelm or confuse me. Sawyer makes everything come together at the end. I will be looking for this book on next year's Hugo ballot!

Sawyer uses all the trappings of the hard SF genre without hewing to the ground rule: get your science right! The science in general is ludicrous, but it's particularly inexcusable when the physicists express disappointment that they did not discover the Higgs boson in the first few minutes of running a new accelerator. Virtually all the description of the world of scienctific research rings false, especially the characters' preoccupation with the Nobel prize. All of this wouldn't be so bad if the characters weren't cardboard cutouts. Why read a didactic novel that hasn't been carefully thought out?

First off, if you liked the Flashforward series, you will hate this book. I read it hoping the book would tie up the loose ends in the TV series that was canceled before its time. The book begins with scientists in Switzerland (ugh, boring) setting off the FF as they conduct an experiment. Then nothing happens except a bunch of scientists complaining and whining until the end the book. The author likes taking digs at the Second Amendment, and even has the bad guy picking up gun in the US then flying it back to Switzerland because it is 'easy to do'. You know you are in trouble when the protagonists in the film are Canadian (boring), Japanese (boring) and Greek (even more boring). Save yourself and afternoon of drudgery and pass on this poorly written and poorly paced book.

Do we have free will? Or is everything preordained? As a rationalist, I thought the former was true, but Sawyer makes a compelling case drawing on modern physics that the latter is really the case. His story is poised right at the edge of our real world. It takes place at CERN (a real particle physics lab in Europe) and involves the Large Hadron Collider (which CERN is really building) and echoes the concerns of a few years ago when we were worried about a plutonium bearing satellite possibly breaking up and polluting the Earth about just who has the right to make decisions that just might affect all of humankind. The characters---Swiss, Canadian, American, Japanese, Chinese---are all well drawn. Sawyer perhaps makes too much of a tangential parallel to the movie THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL but that's a minor quibble. This is a first rate novel.

I have been watching the television series that is based upon this book, so I figured I would check it out. The concept is great and had a lot of potential to become something wonderful, which the television series is. This book is one of the few instances where the on-screen version is much better than the written counterpart. The series is more compelling and suspenseful, with more characters that the audience grows more attached to. The book was quite wordy at the wrong times, mostly with nonsense, and left me painfully trying to finish it. My advice would be to skip this read and just watch the series.

Sawyer's novel deals with one of the biggest questions of all: do we have free will, or are our lives destined to go a certain way regardless of our wishes. A philosophical problem, you say? Appropriate maybe for late-night dorm room arguments? Sawyer shows us that modern physics actually has much to say about this issue. He presents a very interesting plot that explores this question, bringing in block universes, quantum uncertainty, and more. And yet this is not just a theoretical exercise. Sawyer writes about real people (there is one scene in this book involving a little boy who, through the mechanism of Sawyer's plot, has ended up seeing an autopsy that I don't think I will ever forget). Very well written sci-fi, very thoughtful, very entertaining. Five stars.