Golden Fleece

Golden Fleece Some might say that Golden Fleece (1999) is a simple murder mystery, but, if they'd dig deeper, they'd find it explores the philosophy of a sentient computer, the sociology of a space voyage that lasts over one hundred years. The dictionary defines sentient as an adjective Etymology: Latin sentient-, sentiens, present participle of sentire to perceive, feel 1 : responsive to or conscious of sense impressions Can a computer be sentient? Instead of a "Who-done-It," it is a "Why-did-they-do it" The murderer is revealed in Chapter One. The motive for the murder is the mystery. The rest of the book explores the sentience of the computer, Jason. Highly recommended for Sawyer fans. This was originally copyrighted in 1990, so it is one of his earliest works. Gunner May,2007

Science fiction is supposed to be a genre that uses real science to tell a good story with morals, lessons and ideas. Sawyer does exactly that in The Golden Fleece (no Greek mythology fans, the title is not coincidental). It explores AI, ET and human psychology, the only three forms of consciousness in a very interesting and profound but scientific way. One of those good books that gets you asking yourself certain moral questions for days after having finished it. A great read, my personal favorite of Sawyers after reading almost all his other great books.

I can't believe the (one) negative review below! It cites no facts to back up its case. Sawyer's science is impeccable, and he is clearly the heir to Clarke (more so than to Asimov or Clement, the other two authors the negative guy below cites), in that he writes REAL science fiction, and also deals with shall we say metaphysical issues. This is a remarkable novel, one of the best SF/mysteries ever (perhaps not as good as Asimov's THE CAVES OF STEEL but certainly better than Niven's LONG A.R.M. OF GIL HAMILTON). But don't believe me, or the negative guy below. Believe ORSON SCOTT CARD, who named this book the best SF novel of its year! Five stars.

I thought this was a terrific book, really well done with good characters and good plot, and lots of nifty speculations about A.I. Sawyer has clearly read Minsky and other A.I. theorists, and does a great job creating his thinking computer, JASON.

This is the only Robt. J. Sawyer book I didn't have. It's been Out Of Print for many years, but now it's back--hooray! I read it in one sitting and enjoyed it 100%. On the cover it Charles deLint is quoted as saying, "It's hard to believe this was Sawyer's first effort," and that's true. It reads just as well as his more recent books. A great combo of mystery and sci-fi, and a really good (and not at all dated) book abt artificial intelligence (AI).