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    Darwin's Radio
    Darwin's Radio
    Darwin's Radio
    Audiobook17 hours

    Darwin's Radio

    Written by Greg Bear

    Narrated by George Guidall

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Greg Bear's fiction ingeniously combines cutting-edge science and unforgettable characters. It has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and choruses of critical acclaim. Now, with Darwin's Radio, Bear creates a nonstop thriller swirling with provocative ideas about the next step of human evolution. In a cave high in the Alps, a renegade anthropologist discovers a frozen Neanderthal couple-with a Homo sapiens baby. Meanwhile, in southern Russia, the U.N. investigation of a mysterious mass grave is cut short. One of the investigators, molecular biologist Kaye Lang, returns home to the U.S. to learn that her theory on human retroviruses has been verified with the discovery of SHEVA, a virus that has slept in our DNA for millions of years and is now waking up. How are these seemingly disparate events connected? Kaye Lang and her colleagues must race against a genetic time bomb to find out. Darwin's Radio pulses with intelligent speculation, international adventure, and political intrigue as it explores timeless human themes. George Guidall's masterful performance heightens the excitement and keeps you enthralled until the final fascinating word.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJul 12, 2007
    ISBN9781440782114
    Darwin's Radio
    Author

    Greg Bear

    Greg Bear has won two Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards and is a past president to the Science Fiction Writers of America. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

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    Reviews for Darwin's Radio

    3.5/5

    58 ratings48 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Turgid is a word that comes to mind, for this novel. It feels to me like in Bear’s desire to impress everyone with all his research in this subject matter, etc., he just stuffed every last little shred of gleaned knowledge into this novel, whether it was needed or not. Also there's a scene where Kay Lang compares being forced to sign up for a national database to the persecution of the Jews during WWII. Both significant female characters in the boom are evaluated on how good they are in bed. Then to make matters worse, later on Bear has the same charters say, "They stared at me in the market," Kaye said. "I felt like a leper. Worse, like a n*gger." (page 516). I understand this novel was published in 1999, but sometimes you have to leave things like this in the past. So, it’s not recommended by me, unless you have a hankering for massive info dumps of technobabble, or need help sleeping at night.
    • 4/5
      People discover active retroviral genes in the human genome. This suddenly develops into a new plague to rival HIV, and there are worse things to come (that all count as spoilers).The science is pretty solid - it's speculative fiction, but it's plausible, mostly. Oddly for a book which is hard sci-fi of a biological nature, I found the behaviour of the society far more compelling than the science - I think that's a testament to the plausability of the science though, it lay in the background for me and worked.
    • 2/5
      A fast-paced, page-turning sci-fi/medical thriller, with an acknowledged nod to Robin Cook's "Outbreak." However, the interesting (although improbable) scientific ideas in the book lift it above the run-of the-mill bestseller.
      An unusual discovery is made - two Neandertal mummies, with a seemingly normal, Homo Sapiens infant. Is the child theirs?
      Meanwhile, a new transmissible retrovirus is discovered - although it might seem to be nothing more than a cold, one of its side effects in pregnant women seems to be miscarriage. Mitch - an anthropological archaeologist with a dubious reputation, and Kaye, a rising star in the field of genetics, are brought together by an unexpected correlation between the ancient discovery and the modern virus. What seems to be a disease may not be that at all - but a major jump in the evolution of the species
    • 3/5
      Good technical sci-fi, a quick read, although the end sort of petered out a bit.
    • 4/5
      A very interesting story about the continued evolution of human kind. The story has a few dead spots but is certainly good enough to carry you through to the end which definitely leaves you wanting more, which there fortunately is in the form of Darwin's Children.
    • 4/5
      My son's mum flipped through this book and said it seemed like it was done by a virologist who thought they could write, as opposed to a writer who thought they understood virology. I don't 100% agree--she is certainly right if we are referring to the sciencey passages, but there are also the character moments and dramatic reveals that we expect from a well-put-together Hollywood biothriller. Some of them, like the birth of a key baby for humanity's future, are handled masterfully. And certainly I can admire Bear's commitment to getting the science right. But the two sides do not always seem well integrated, and some kind of weird contempt for the masses and their ignorance (in the face of a terrifying epidemic that even the experts don't understand!) seeps in. I enjoyed this, but I would not read it again, although I would read the sequel if it came to me of its own accord.
    • 4/5
      engrossing story, well put together, and i'll look for the sequel too. i had a lot of trouble buying the central figure as a character, though, and inasmuch as i did she pissed me off. i think maybe she got dented while being shoehorned into the plot at various points, and sustained too much permanent damage.*g* cause she too often acted and thought like the complete idjit she clearly wasn't supposed to be. which impacted on other characters in her vicinity, and on the believability of the whole story.
    • 3/5
      "I hate to have women blame men," Mitch said. "It makes me want to throw up.""I don't blame anybody," Kaye said. "But you have to admit, it's a natural reaction."Mitch shot her a scowl that bordered on a dirty look, the first such he had ever given her. She sucked in her breath privately, feeling both guilty and sad, and turned to look out her window, peering down the long straight stretch of Broadway: brick buildings, pedestrians, young men wearing green masks, walking with other men, and women walking with women. "Let's forget about it," Mitch said. "Let's get some rest." This is more of a technothriller than a science fiction novel, full of political and scientific machinations as the powers that be try to prevent the human race from evolving, after the activation of a some junk DNA leads to a worldwide outbreak of miscarriages followed swiftly by unusual pregnancies. If I hadn't done a biology degree I think I would have found it boring and skipped over the convoluted descriptions of genetics and retroviruses, but as it was, I found the science and politics more interesting than the story of the frankly rather irritating main characters. Kaye is an expert in retroviruses and Mitch is a disgraced archaeologist who makes a strange discovery in an Alpine cave that may be linked to present day events, but they weren't believable characters.
    • 5/5
      This was the October SF Book of the Month for Beyond Reality. I'm the one who nominated, so I certainly needed to read it. After a number of false starts getting hold of it, I finally got a copy from the library (and then found out on Thursday night that a friend owns it and I could have borrowed it from him!) I gave myself about a week to read it, knowing I'm running a bit slow right now. I was captured by it pretty much immediately and finished it in two days. (Which isn't a bad thing as it gives me more time to read A Sundial in a Grave: 1610 which certainly is going more slowly.) The basic premise is that this new disease show us, a kind of flu that affects pregnant women more than men and causes miscarriages. Even more strangely, women who miscarry tend to fall pregnant again swiftly, without needing more intercourse in between. While the CDC and others are trying desperately to stop the pandemic, a small group of people begin to wonder if this is a disease or something else. They believe this is an upgrade, a new step in evolution that has been triggered from instructions in human DNA at a time when it is most needed. It was a bit depressing to discover how much trouble my brain had working with the science, especially since I did study at least a bit of microbiology at university level, even if I never worked in the field. Still, once I eased back a little and stopped worrying out it, the most important parts fell into place so that I could easily follow the story. For me, that seems to be the trick, let the scientific aspects seep into my head by osmosis rather than study it to the point I could try to sit an exam on the subject. Bear tricked me on the roles of the main characters, as the one I expected to be the hero wasn't, and the one who looked like being something of an anti-hero turned out to be the hero after all. Bear has faced up to a range of issues, from human development to the idea of respect versus science with relation to digging up human bones, but he doesn't dwell on these too hard, instead letting the characters muse on the subject often without reaching any definite conclusion. Mostly, he focuses on telling the story and lets the reader get as involved or not as they choose in the issues it raises. I found that the tone of the book - mostly the reaction of the general public - reminded me very much of John Wyndham's Trouble with Lichen, which was interesting, as the topic of the Wyndham novel is very different, but the more I consider it I find the themes to be quite similar. I may need to think about this a little more. I'm glad there's a sequel that will look at what is different about the new generation of children and I've already got it from the library and need to fit it into my reading schedule. I thoroughly enjoyed this - reading it when I really should have been resting because I needed to know what happened next - and gave it a 9/10.
    • 4/5
      If the next evolutionary step happened, would we recognize it? Or would we think it a disease to destroy? When a part of our genetic code suddenly activates, and women's pregnancies start go go wrong, it's a race to find the cause and cure it. Or is something else, entirely, happening?Exciting and thought provoking look at how we react to change and what we might do to keep the status quo rather than take a step into the unknown. It's science vs politics and fear.
    • 5/5
      Darwin's Radio is a science fiction story about how humans evolved and how they might evolve in the future. It is also a story of how our government might react to both an epidemic and science it does not agree with.This is one of the best science fiction stories I have read in years! The characters are real, well-rounded, and interesting. The plot moves along nicely with no longer 'lectures' on the genetics involved and is (unfortunately) very believable. The writing is tight and clean.I did have two tiny problems with the book. First, the characters, such as Christopher Dicken, are referred to through the first third of the book as 'Dicken' and then is suddenly referred as 'Christopher'. It took a few rereads to sort out whose last name went with the first. Second, the transitions from one chapter and point of view to the next chapter and point of view were too abrupt for my tastes in several spots.Overall, wonderful!!! I will reread it again, once I've forgotten some of the plot, and now I can't wait to read the sequel.
    • 5/5
      Engrossing biological hard sf. What happens when the human race evolves? and how will we cope? The answer is of course, badly. But with a ray of light still present throughout.Bear posits the just about feasible hypothesis that sometimes evolution acts very quickly indeed. Buried within the introns of the genome are alternate genesets for species design to cope with rapidly changing conditions. All it takes is the right type of viral infection to trigger this shift, and within a generation of children speciation will have occurred. Naturally such changes are quickly noticed in modern society, and upon skilled bio-tech investigation, prior hints at the possibilities are un-earthed. But for those involved, there is no cure. Only the option to face the future un-guided by the past. Our heroes are Mitch a disgraced archaeologist who has fond some unusual remains in an alpine cave, and Kaye, and eminent biologist who has spotted the first possibilities of the viral transmissions. Neither of them are well versed in the politics of science, communicating complex ideas to the public, nor the role of policy and public opinion. But when they discover some facts that seem to oppose the general wisdom, they soon find out why these matters are vital.The initial third is somewhat dense in biology. It isn't that complicated, but even the basic primer at the back doesn't really explain it that well either. This may be enough to put off some readers who don't understand what DNA is and it's role in human life. The rest is surprisingly good characterisation, and complex politics, centered in the US. Ignorance and fear remain the prime motivators, and in these times no-one has the patience while science finds the right answers. Originally written over ten years ago, it has aged well, with little of the biology being directly overturned (apart from the total number of genes). The technology is also well predicted. There are a few quibbles, especially the US centric matter, of a worldwide issue. Likewise many of the political issues and decisions get glossed over and the characters given little background. But it works well enough. Thoroughly readable and enjoyable by anyone with even a slight amount of biological background. The key points are possibly not so much the speculation over human evolution, but the attitudes towards science, politics and the other, in society today.
    • 4/5
      Anthropologist Mitch Rafelson discovers the mummified bodies of a Neanderthal couple and their strange newborn. Molecular biologist Kay Lang has unearthed evidence that “junk DNA” may have a role to play in evolution, but is having trouble persuading her colleagues her conclusions are valid. Virus hunter Christopher Dicken is trying to discover the source of an illness that strikes pregnant women and their fetuses. Mark Augustine, of the Center for Disease Control, is trying to manage public reaction and advise the US government of how to respond.And then the women who have lost their babies become pregnant (often without having sex), and their children are born with motor and language skills far in advance of “normal” humans.Is evolution a gradual process, or can its changes sometimes be abrupt? Do retroviruses have a role to play in evolution? What might happen if evolutionary changes were triggered by a virus?These novels are well worth reading for the science they explicate. The public and governmental response may strike some as over the top, but I think they are plausible. While this is billed as a scifi thriller, it is not an action novel, but an ideas novel. I found it gripping, but if you love action, you may hate it. Since it is told from the point of view of at least three people it seems disjointed at times. Darwin’s children is even more disjointed, and explicates the societal response over time.
    • 4/5
      Biotechno thriller set in the first years of the new millenium. Story takes soms detours along the way and ah awful lot of explaining is done about biogenitica. In the positive sens this means I got the feeling I actually learned something reading this book.
    • 4/5
      Fun light reading. Something is changing . . .
    • 3/5
      Darwin's Radio is a superb case of a writer doing thorough research to write a technologically advanced novel. Probably the best I've ever seen for fiction! However, the average individual, with only high school chemistry and biology would be lost within the first few pages of advanced bio-genetics and molecular biology! A more simplified truth may have captured an audience earlier rather than later, which is what this book does. The average individual will find themselves bored through the first half, but by the middle of the book the story is beginning to take shape. Unfortunately, the shape is easily recognized. An almost cookie-cutter-like storyline that one can easily predict the outcome of.I praise Bear for his research, however, the story-telling was a bit lackluster for my personal taste. The premise, however, of another evolution in the future, makes for a great group discussion for book clubs!
    • 4/5
      An interesting look at what might possibly be the next stage of evolution. Greg Bear's Hugo nominee is a wonderful mix of scientific and political thriller as well as a study of human reactions and relationships. Beautifully laid out and written in an interesting manner.After I finished this book I sat back and thought, my god, I know all about viruses and diseases and retroviruses now. Greg Bear does not dumb down the science to make sure his audience gets it, instead he explains everything several times in innovative ways to make sure the reader comprehends the importance of his storyline. The science in this book is complex and believable, compelling and worthy. While I am generally a physics and chemistry lover, the biology and molecular sciences portrayed in Darwin's Radio excited me. These aren't the same biology principles I was bored with in high school, these are full out edges of possibility, dangerous and life-changing sciences.The principle behind this book is that subspeciation and thus, evolution, is actually a function of biologically engineered retroviruses- retroviruses with networks to tell when a mutation is working and when one is failing. While it is generally speculative science, it is very grounded in modern principles which are explained throughout the novel as well as in a primer at the end.Well worth a read! This scifi book breaks the boundaries of simple outbreak thriller into the bounds of political intrigue and romance.
    • 1/5
      Maybe it's just because I'm an evolutionary biologist, but this book stretched my suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. When something unbelievable happens in a science-fiction book, the author can take one of two approaches: either quickly handwave it with technobabble and move on to focus on the consequences of the event, or foreground the explanation based on reasonable extrapolations of current science. The author tried to do the latter, but his "explanation" made all the sense of a handwave.I also found the author's attitudes toward women, particularly the bodily autonomy of women, to be troubling. What happens to the women in this story is a violation of their bodily autonomy: they become pregnant against their wishes. Being disgusted and horrified by this pregnancy is a perfectly normal and understandable reaction. However, by the end of the book, the women who are frightened and repulsed by their unwanted pregnancies and the offspring created of same are vilified, while those who embrace pregnancy and motherhood are celebrated. Not to mention that the children produced by these pregnancies, who are supposed to be yay and wonderful and the next step in human evolution, are just plain creepy.
    • 4/5
      Overall Darwin's Radio was an interesting look into possibilities of evolution. There was one glaring (to me) over site of the science that was not addressed in the book but it was only incidental to the story being told. Bear's storytelling let the reader infer many things, and a few parts that weren't critical to the story were given quick explanations/conclusions i.e. Saul. Several items seemed to have been kind of pointless to be added in, with the possibility that it will become important in sequel books. The book had a nice pace, things kept moving but not at light speed. Good book, enjoyable, not one of his best but definitely a good read.
    • 4/5
      A very interesting look at what would happen if humans evolved. The science was plausible, and while I'd hope for cooler heads, the public reactions were plausible too. I found the characters to be realistic – even the ‘evil’ guys had good motivations.I enjoyed the mystery at the beginning over the individual reactions at the end. The ending was a bit disappointing – clearly this was written with a sequel in mind.
    • 5/5
      The science is very solid and intrguing, as science should be. This work plays with an alternative theory of evolution and integrated it well with current world situation.
    • 2/5
      Greg Bear puts the punctuated equilibrium theory of evolution into overdrive to deliver this award winner. In a single near-future generation, much of the population jumps to the next level of humanity, a la Neanderthal to Cro-Magnon. The first thing I noticed in "Darwin's Radio" was how much I liked the characters. They weren't caricatures, but interesting, if fallible, people like we meet every day. I could follow most of the science, but the genetic details were obscure. The story doesn’t hinge on the science anyway, the science is only there to confirm the possibility of the main premise. The story is really about the social repercussions of a radical and sudden change in the characteristics of large segments of humanity. Issues of public welfare versus individual rights proliferate and get nasty. Reading this book in 1999, pre-9/11 and Patriot Act, must have been a very different experience than it is now. Sometimes SF gives us glimpses of the future we’d rather not meet in reality. It’s not all Jules Verne submarines.Books set in the near future often seem more anachronistic than those of long ago or the far future. We can accept the fantasies of Jules Verne and aren’t aware of his historical mistakes unless we’re Verne scholars or historians. Anything goes in the far future, of course, because, well, we are ancient history and the laws of physics really could change, maybe. Reading “Darwin’s Radio,” I kept thinking “Use the internet,” “Get your cell phone,” and “What did CNN say?” What a difference 10 years can make. 5 stars for characterization, a great and well-developed premise, and interesting popular science.-1 star for a slow ending and forgetting about CNN.
    • 4/5
      This is probably my favorite Greg Bear book, and I really like his stuff. I don't pretend to have understood all the science, but the fact that I found myself _wanting_ to is a pretty good testament, I'd say, into how well the science is woven into the story. If the gruesome scientific details aren't your cup of tea (and there are *plenty* of them), I'd suggest another Bear book, [Blood Music], to try first. It's a much quicker read, but IMHO, Darwin's Radio is more rewarding.
    • 4/5
      Bear's story about the emergence of a new kind of human through the actions of a retrovirus fascinated me, and he wrote a real page-turner with this one. I particularly enjoyed the way he managed to stay with an engaging cast of characters while also zooming out to larger societal events and issues. The book ends in a way that implies a sequel without leaving any loose ends unraveling. Thought-provoking, too.
    • 4/5
      There is a lot of hard-core science in this book, far more than was probably necessary. I got the basic idea, but a lot of the exposition bogged me down. Still, the explanations for the biology seemed good, and were realistically included, usually in the context of a scientist explaining something to a politician. But since there were a lot of politicians involved, there was a lot of explaining that needed to be done. So, in addition to trying to figure out all the science, one also has to keep track all of the politicians. Between the two, this book was a little overloaded.The premise is a really interesting one, though. What if evolution isn't as gradual as we think? What if it can happen in great leaps. What are the consequences? How do we react as a civilization? What is the role of the government? What is the role of scientists? Greg Bear tackles all these questions ably while telling a compelling story.
    • 4/5
      Similar in some respects to Blood Music, this is Bear's take on the next step in human evolution. What if something could trigger evolution to happen in a generation, and not over a long period of time, how would we react to the next generation of humans, and how would they react to us? An excellent exploration of society and how something so extreme could change it.
    • 5/5
      Darwin's Radio is the novel most firmly-based on modern science that I've ever read which puts forth a theory on how evolution to man may have occurred. Greg Bear's acknowledgements in the back credit conversations with numerous scientists. I was in molecular biology in grad school, and I was amazed at the advanced level of knowledge shown in this book. How can an author gain such an informed knowledge of such a difficult subject without becoming a molecular biologist himself? But Greg Bear did it, to write this book.The theory Greg Bear puts forth is not supported as "the truth" by the scientists he talked to, he says; but it is a fascinating supposition, and the scientific details are valid and the theory consistent with knowledge at the time of publication.Besides having my mind opened to a remarkable interpretation of biological science to explain how evolution may occur in leaps and bounds rather than in one tiny incremental change in some one individual at a time, I was amazed at the skill with which the author wove the science into the text so as to allow the characters who live the story to live and breath as very real and sympathetic people. There is no subverting of characterization in the interest of scientific or technological exposition, which is something that commonly turns me off in science fiction. A good book has to be about people under stress with serious problems to solve, and Darwin's Radio is certainly this! I found most of the characters to be written with great imagination and understanding of human nature.This SF novel is unique in my reading experience in its treatment of current progress in biotechnology as the means to understand the evolution of mankind rather than a poorly understood excuse for all sorts of imagined future physical enhancements. If the book has a drawback - which I have to admit it does - it is that the science is so truly a part of the book that people without any college courses in biology or genetics would probably find it difficult. My brother, an engineer but without the biology background, did. The author added a glossary to the back of the book, but it's probably not enough to make it easy to read. But there's nothing wrong in learning some actual facts while you lose yourself in this fascinating book!The novel was awarded the Nebula Award for Best Novel after it came out. I found it mind-blowing, and in my opinion this book should be recognized as one of the best ten works of science fiction of all time.
    • 2/5
      The genre provided for Darwin's Radio on the back of this edition's cover is not Science Fiction, but Suspense. As someone who likes the former and dislikes the latter, I found this categorization accurate. [Note: I've only read the first 100 pages of the book, so it's possible that I'm being too quick to judge.] Its central theme is not the exploration by a character of his world and himself - as in SF - but the unfolding of a menace, as seen through rather interchangeable characters of the world-traveler type. If this is science fiction, it's of the Michael Crichton sort - but less immediately intriguing that that author's novels.
    • 4/5
      I don't care about the iffy biological science; Bear's Darwin books are an enjoyable read with a great cast of characters.
    • 4/5
      The first book I've read by Greg Bear, but I won't be the last. I've already begun Darwin's Children. As others have written, the science here is a bit difficult to follow, but as the story progresses, it becomes well worth it.