Rollback

If you've read Mindscan, then Rollback will open so many fresh doors in the realm of living forever. A definite page turner. Sawyer has done his research and presented it in an interesting way.

Rollback (2007) is a standalone SF novel. It takes place mostly in Toronto, Ontario, about four decades from now. This story was first published as a serial within Analog, starting with the October 2006 issue. In this novel, Sarah Halifax is a retired astronomer in her eighties. Her moment of fame occurred in 2010, when she interpreted the very first interstellar message. After her translation, a response was sent back to the aliens on Sigma Draconis, who had initiated the first message. Now a reply has been received to the human response and, once again, none can interrupt the message. It seems that the message is not only encoded for transmission, but is actually encrypted and no one knows the key. Donald Halifax is Sarah's husband. When Cody McGavin -- a very rich man -- offers to pay for rejuvenation of Sarah to allow her more time (and energy) to work on the current message, Sarah insists that Donald be rejuvenated as well. So Donald becomes younger, but the procedure does not work for Sarah and she remains old. However, Sarah continues working on the translation of the new message. She agrees with other translators that a key must have been incorporated in the first message or its response, but nothing can be found. Sarah searches the original messages to see if the key had been muddled in the copies. In this story, Donald is now a very confused person. Donald and Sarah have been married for sixty years. They are used to doing everything together. They have raised two children and have two grandchildren. Donald hardly remembers his life before Sarah. Suddenly Donald has the energy and libido of a twenty-five year old man, but is married to an eighty-seven year old woman. Donald is still full of energy when Sarah is drooping. When temptation comes his way, he struggles with his conflicting emotions. Then Donald becomes really interested in Lenore Darby, an astronomy graduate student, who reminds him of his Sarah. So he starts hanging out with people of his own apparent age. This story is more about Donald than Sarah, but can anything about him be separated from her? His life has been hugely changed. He now has all the capabilities of the young with the experience of the old. Naturally, Donald wants his wife to also be young again, but is that possible? So what will he do for the rest of his extended life? An early scene hints at the ideational origins of this novel. Sarah and Donald have a conversation about the long-term aspects of SETI, which leads to the notion of longevity. While persistence is necessary in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, such signals might be acquired at any point in time. Truly long-term continuity is only required for communications. As this story vividly illustrates, waiting for replies could take generations. Highly recommended for Sawyer fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of alien communications, intergenerational relations, and true love. -Arthur W. Jordin

In their late 80's and in the year 2048, Don and Sarah Halifax undergo a "rejuvenation," intended to restore them to a youthful state of 25 years old. This involves a relengthening and stabilization of their telomeres, restoration of their DNA to its original pristine state, and a few touch up procedures. Unfortunately, it only works for one of them. Over a period of weeks, one partner moves toward youthful vim, vigor, and hormonal excess, while the other continues the relentless decline of old age. As one resumes the past, taking the stairs three steps at a time, the other seeks the help of grunts just to exit the easy chair. The incredibly expensive rejuvenation was undertaken for the sake of continuity of contact with another lifeform 18 light years away. What could the aliens possibly want? One of the Halifaxes had become famous for deciphering the aliens' coded message in 2009, had become a "pen-pal," and knew that they were interested in moral issues. When a society becomes technologically advanced enough to use radio contact, the ability to destroy itself is not far away. They had faced and surpassed this issue. Now they are curious about what other worlds have done to solve ethical dilemmas and they have a research plan that involves earth. Meanwhile, the Halifaxes have their own ethical dilemmas and there is food for thought on many levels. Anyone interested in aging will like this book, as will those interested in Sawyer's guess as to what technology holds for the future. Universities are a little passe for several reasons - among them, that chips with instant information access makes memorizing facts unnecessary. Computers are refined enough to have these chips implanted in the brain, relegating much of the hardware to the trash bin. As usual for Sawyer, governments are kept out of the equation. Character development is unusually good and the book becomes harder to put down with each chapter. An even better than average Sawyer book!

Serendipitously, I read most of this book on my 62nd birthday It could not have been a more appropriate read. First of all, I "enjoyed" it tremendously, if "enjoy" is the correct term for a story that made me cry so often. However, the philosophical questions and issues in this book resonated tremendously with me, even the ones that were not age-related, such as the questions of the value of a life. This type of character-driven story where real people face important life questions that are familiar to current-day readers in a context involving some kind of scientific breakthrough is just the kind of writing Sawyer does best, and he really outdid himself this time. He neatly missed several chances to make this a pretty bad book. For an example, Peter F. Hamilton, who has written some enjoyable books, wrote a totally DREADFUL novel called Misspent Youth about the effects a man's rejuvenation has on him and the people around him. Sawyer avoided all of his mistakes. Many writers today seem so pessimistic that it would have been easy to make the book a "downer". For example, I was very sad when one of the main characters died, but it was very consoling that the character died having accomplished a dream in life. That is all anyone today can hope for, so it seems like a pretty good second prize to me, if you miss the "brass ring" of successful rollback. WARNING: The rest of this review contains what some may consider a "spoiler". Sawyer could have turned Halifax's affair into something sordid, a rejuvenated man "feeling his oats", and I am glad he didn't do that, either. The story of a decent, ethical husband who is unfaithful to his wife because of very unusual circumstances and how everyone concerned deals with that is much more interesting. I loved the robot, and I mourned and truly respected his sacrifice---would that all humans were so decent!

You have to be a certain age before you will consider whether you want to be young again and live your life again. Sarah and Don are octogenarians and, after a full and contented life with children and grandchildren, have options to change their lives that we rarely dream of. However, Sarah, Dr. Halifax, is not just anybody. She is a well-known scientist who, back in 2009, had deciphered the first message from Sigma Draconis, a star system some nineteen light years away from Earth. Now, thirty-eight years later, the response to Earth's message is received and nobody can break the encryption code. Can Sarah do it again and will she live long enough to make it happen? Cody McGavin, chief of a robotics company and always on the lookout for new technological discoveries is one the richest people around. He is convinced that Sarah is vital to decoding the message now and also for future message exchanges with "her Dracon pen pal". It is 2048 and, thanks to a process of DNA resequencing and some other "tuck" jobs, it has become possible to literally roll back a person's biological body to the prime of their life, around age 25. The procedure is experimental and only for the super-rich, like McGavin himself. He is willing to pay for Sarah to have this chance at another lifespan. It's not something she accepts lightly, insisting that her husband of 60 years, Don, is included in the offer. They both undergo the procedure which is successful for Don but not for her. While in Sawyer's previous bestseller, Mindscan, life could be extended thanks to copying a complete brain map onto the bionic body, in Rollback advances in medicine are the solution. Here the ethical question is not so much who is the real person, but how do you harmonize an octogenarian brain with a 25-year old physique? Can you relive your life without stumbling over history? How do grandchildren deal with a grandfather who is much younger than their own parents? How do friends and former colleagues react? And, above all, how does this gap influence the relationship between husband and wife? Can it survive at all? Leave it to Robert Sawyer to pack his speculative fiction with deep philosophical questions and topics for debate. Rejuvenation is but one of these. If humans can recreate themselves to live, maybe forever, are humans in fact playing God? How do people and societies cope with that? Cosmic communication is another major theme. The first message that Sarah had decoded was in effect a detailed questionnaire about Earth's peoples' perspectives on life and society. Why do they want to know? What do you tell aliens about human society? Do you tell the truth or do you present Earth in the best light possible? How to answer moral and philosophical conundrums? The range of the Dracons' questions probe deeply into the human psyche, testing its integrity. The narrative moves between timelines of 2048, to previous milestones in the couple's life, mostly through Don's ponde