Richter 10

Arthur C Clarke collaborated with Mike McQuay to write this science fiction novel about human hubris and insignificance in the face of the awesome forces of nature.

Lewis Crane, the main character, is a child during the devasting 1994 LA earthquake in which his parents are killed when their house collapses and a leaking gas main is ignited. Fastforwarding, he is revealed to have become a rather brilliant, though naturally eccentric scientist, who has dedicated his career to the precise prediction of earthquakes. I won't do a spoiler by revealing his ultimate, hidden agenda.

Since the book is set in the relatively near future, the authors are free to hypothesize on the outcomes of various evolutions in technology, commercial and political spheres. The technology hypothesis is admirably understated, though perhaps an extreme extrapolation of consumerist/entertainment trends of 1995. As an example, imagine the ultimate reality TV, where the traffic accident you have just passed (or caused...) is broadcast live on the sides of buildings and on clouds. Imagine, also, brand names projected upon the Moon. Commercially, the book extrapolates the trend of mega-mergers of multinational corporations, and predicts (in 1995) the ascendency of the Chinese as an economic power. This I found interesting, as the Globe and Mail devoted a large portion of this Saturday's paper to analysis and description of the Chinese growth into a global economic powerhouse. Politically, the book's prognostication is an extension of the commercial/economic influence on the political sphere. The cynic in me finds the political economy of the book unsettling as it is again but an extrapolation of existing trends.

The conflict between groups of people, religions and races also has verisimilitude due to the drawing out of historical trends - although the rise of Africa as a world power, at this point, can be readily debated. I suppose it helped that most of the Middle East was turned into a sea of glass after the detonation of 30 multi-megaton nuclear bombs...

I can't neglect to mention the impacts of environmental degradation that are presented as merely a fact of life for the characters of the future - moonbathing is the last activity left for people to do outside unless they are protected by full clothing, hats, and powerful sunscreen.

This is a delightfully complex and wideranging book. Well worth reading.