Review by Cartergray -- Heaven and Earth by Arturo Riojas
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Cartergray
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- Latest Review: "Heaven and Earth" by Arturo Riojas
Review by Cartergray -- Heaven and Earth by Arturo Riojas
[Following is a volunteer review of "Heaven and Earth" by Arturo Riojas.]
2 out of 4 stars
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Heaven and Earth' is not your everyday science fiction novel. It tells the story of Olga Ramos and (her not explicitely stated boyfriend) Cuahtemoc Gavilan (I'm not yet clear on how its actually pronounced).
Being a top scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, Olga is invited to a conference held by the US government along with many other scientists so as to highlight the future of the country in terms of technology and the changing environment. Gavilan is meant to meet her after the conference for a 'Powwow'. Soon enough though the government begins to act fishy.
Sam and Dr.Welch are also invited to the conference, seeing as they're members of the Centre of the Disease Control. However the circumstances around their actually being invited are strange enough and its not long before they cross paths with Olga and Gavilan.
Finally are the Treretumians, a highly technologically advanced alien race that has been observing us for centuries, guiding our development with truly 'benevolent' interests at heart. A personal mission causes Nivla, one of the aliens sent on an expedition to study humans, to seek the help of Olga and Gavilan.
When I say its not your everyday novel, I mean it. The first thing that jumos out of you is that the author has a lot of accreditations from universities. With such a background, I was initially skeptic about the writing style used, but I was pleasantly surprised. One can be knowledgeable in many areas and its nice to see another person who can put that knowledge down in a narrative format that is quite interesting to read.
However, I would not recommend it to anyone solely interested in story progression. The book is for those who have an academic interest in fields such as psychology, biology, sociology and a little physics. Those interested in the science part of science fiction more than the fiction. The book is the author's platform to highlight America's struggle with cadmium, a carcinogenic heavy metal that also causes diabetes. Other issues discussed are human greed, that is, the manipulation of the ignorant poor by the cunning rich, how our medical system is content to treat the symptoms, not the cause. But basically, it's all about the cadmium.
The characters may sound like interesting people at first but really its only the dialogue between them that truly draws you in. Dialogue comprises a large part of the book, and honestly, its probably the only thing that will keep you reading. As a character, it is Nivla that steals the show, or any other Treretumian for that matter. Their race is probably as close to the 'ideal society' as humans are ever going to get. They're not perfect, but you will feel a little jealous when the focus shifts to their civilisation.
At the end of every chapter, the author reveals some facts about the specifics of cadmium poisoning and ways to counteract the problem. They do not affect the story in any way and it is fine if you skim over them, but if you bother to read them, you can find a wealth of life-changing information. This section serves to explain concepts introduced in the previous check chapter. Thanks to the author, I see myself being more careful about my diet and I have a good reason to say no to chocolate. What I understood from reading this book is that we are so ignorant of our environment and of how it affects our health. Our bodies are amazing in that they filter toxins we have no knowledge of, but they can survive in such a contaminated environment for only so long. The struggle of humans to completely conquer and control his/her environment began the second we began to walk this earth and at the rate we're moving, we still have a long way to go. Were we to do this then we could see a very dramatic increase in life expectancy.
Overall, as I said before, the story is not so much important as the information the book provides about cadmium poisoning and the dialogue used to present it. For those who bother to read it, I can guarantee that at least you'll be more conscious of the things you put in your mouth. The novel deserves a 2 out of 4. I would give it a 3 but there were some spelling and punctuation errors in the writing.
******
Heaven and Earth
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2 out of 4 stars
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Heaven and Earth' is not your everyday science fiction novel. It tells the story of Olga Ramos and (her not explicitely stated boyfriend) Cuahtemoc Gavilan (I'm not yet clear on how its actually pronounced).
Being a top scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, Olga is invited to a conference held by the US government along with many other scientists so as to highlight the future of the country in terms of technology and the changing environment. Gavilan is meant to meet her after the conference for a 'Powwow'. Soon enough though the government begins to act fishy.
Sam and Dr.Welch are also invited to the conference, seeing as they're members of the Centre of the Disease Control. However the circumstances around their actually being invited are strange enough and its not long before they cross paths with Olga and Gavilan.
Finally are the Treretumians, a highly technologically advanced alien race that has been observing us for centuries, guiding our development with truly 'benevolent' interests at heart. A personal mission causes Nivla, one of the aliens sent on an expedition to study humans, to seek the help of Olga and Gavilan.
When I say its not your everyday novel, I mean it. The first thing that jumos out of you is that the author has a lot of accreditations from universities. With such a background, I was initially skeptic about the writing style used, but I was pleasantly surprised. One can be knowledgeable in many areas and its nice to see another person who can put that knowledge down in a narrative format that is quite interesting to read.
However, I would not recommend it to anyone solely interested in story progression. The book is for those who have an academic interest in fields such as psychology, biology, sociology and a little physics. Those interested in the science part of science fiction more than the fiction. The book is the author's platform to highlight America's struggle with cadmium, a carcinogenic heavy metal that also causes diabetes. Other issues discussed are human greed, that is, the manipulation of the ignorant poor by the cunning rich, how our medical system is content to treat the symptoms, not the cause. But basically, it's all about the cadmium.
The characters may sound like interesting people at first but really its only the dialogue between them that truly draws you in. Dialogue comprises a large part of the book, and honestly, its probably the only thing that will keep you reading. As a character, it is Nivla that steals the show, or any other Treretumian for that matter. Their race is probably as close to the 'ideal society' as humans are ever going to get. They're not perfect, but you will feel a little jealous when the focus shifts to their civilisation.
At the end of every chapter, the author reveals some facts about the specifics of cadmium poisoning and ways to counteract the problem. They do not affect the story in any way and it is fine if you skim over them, but if you bother to read them, you can find a wealth of life-changing information. This section serves to explain concepts introduced in the previous check chapter. Thanks to the author, I see myself being more careful about my diet and I have a good reason to say no to chocolate. What I understood from reading this book is that we are so ignorant of our environment and of how it affects our health. Our bodies are amazing in that they filter toxins we have no knowledge of, but they can survive in such a contaminated environment for only so long. The struggle of humans to completely conquer and control his/her environment began the second we began to walk this earth and at the rate we're moving, we still have a long way to go. Were we to do this then we could see a very dramatic increase in life expectancy.
Overall, as I said before, the story is not so much important as the information the book provides about cadmium poisoning and the dialogue used to present it. For those who bother to read it, I can guarantee that at least you'll be more conscious of the things you put in your mouth. The novel deserves a 2 out of 4. I would give it a 3 but there were some spelling and punctuation errors in the writing.
******
Heaven and Earth
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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Latest Review: "Heaven and Earth" by Arturo Riojas
