The Deep Field

This is a book which I found provided much insight not only in historial terms but seems to connect well to current events. This not only encourages an understanding of historical perspective but also a deeper understanding of the Americans as seen by others.

Bradley's The Deep Field is a multi-faceted and multi-layered novel. Although set in the future, starting somewhere aound 2010 and going well beyond the next couple of centuries, the speculative fiction aspect of the book is an intriguing but not the most important aspect. It is part thriller, based around the disappearance of a soul-mate brother in the polical unrest in Hongkong, part social critique of the situation of street people and other outcasts in the near future. Finally, it is part romance and exploration of time, relationships and art. The most fascinating layer of this fully engrossing book is the evolving main character, a woman photograher, who step by step learns to see in completely new ways thanks to the growing influence over her by a blind paleontologist who sees with his hands and feels the history of life in ammonite fossils.