Ratner's Star

[Joe Varo]

Jean,

Sorry for the delayed response to your reply to my call for assistance on
Ratner's Star. I really just couldn't get into this book and it took me a
lot longer than it should have for me to finish it. 

Your comment on the book was as follows:

>      To me, the book was a great send-up of "scientific discipline" and its 
>      obtuseness.  All the characters are basically idiot savants - they 
>      have this one skill that they're really good at, and they apply that 
>      skill to whatever situation they find themselves in, regardless of how 
>      appropriate or useful that skill may be in the case.  Everyone lives 
>      in their little silo, and pretty much shuts out the world around them, 
>      much less interacts in any real way with it.  They search for meaning, 
>      but what they think is meaning - isn't.

I can see how one might come up with this view of the book, since the
characters are *extremely* one-dimensional, essentially cartoon
caricatures of various scientific disciplines, but are scientist really at
all like this? Most scientist about whom I've read seem to be pretty well
rounded people, Feynman being a pretty good example.

Maybe my soft-spot for things mathematical and scientific caused me to not
care to much for this book.  It just struck me as bland and pointless.

I have The Names on my shelf, waiting to be read, but I don't know if I'm
going to bother.

Joe