The Light of Other Days
“It's one of my favorite sci-fi books. I sent it out to all of my investors.”
Why it is worth your time
The Light of Other Days is a 2000 novel by Stephen Baxter, written from a synopsis by Arthur C. Clarke. A media billionaire, Hiram Patterson, funds a wormhole technology that lets a camera see any place on Earth, then any moment in the past. Privacy ends first. History goes next, as people watch what their heroes and religions actually did. The last section follows the viewers back to the origin of life. Friedberg called it 1 of his favorite science fiction books on the Jun 17, 2021 episode and said he had sent it to all his investors. The book turns 1 physics idea into questions about surveillance, truth and the origin of life, which are 3 of his subjects. It suits readers who like idea-driven science fiction. The caveat is that critic Adam Roberts found the characterization monofilament-thin and the prose workmanlike and sometimes clunking.
