Quarantine by Greg Egan

[Vertigo]

The solar system has been quarantined; impossibly encased in an event horizon bubble. However the purpose of the quarantine has nothing to do with the normal clichéd reasons a seasoned science fiction reader might expect but is down to far more esoteric and interesting quantum mechanics.


As always Egan delivers an intriguing and speculative hard science fiction story that is likely to be very difficult reading for anyone not prepared to be immersed in the weird twists of quantum mechanics though in that respect it is still more accessible than most Egan books I have read previously. It is a fascinating exploration of the possibilities of a quantum world where, in the words of Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw, everything that can happen does happen. In our world that apparent impossibility is resolved by the collapsing of the quantum wave function into the one reality that we experience. But what if that wave function is never collapsed?

An intriguing story that is part cyberpunk and part thriller and is not shy about exposing the reader to some of the stranger aspects of quantum mechanics. Having a slight background in physics I loved this story but I would not recommend it to any readers shy of having their minds stretched with some real physics!

 

[Brian G Turner]

Might have to watch out for this - sounds like an interesting read.

 

[Vertigo]

I thoroughly enjoyed it, probably the best of Egan's that I've read so far. The physics though still rigorous is somewhat less intense than in some of his other work.