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Seven Views Of Olduvai Gorge (2000)

by Mike Resnick(Favorite Author)

3.96 of 5 Votes: 4

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English

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review 1: This is one of my favorite SFF novella's, in no small part because of the perspective it takes. I first read it in high school, and the story has stuck with me. The basic premise, a group of scientists from various disciples examining artifacts at a dig site, trying to study an alien menace that once threatened the galaxy, is simple enough. The thing that makes it so fun is that the alien menace is humanity. We are the boogieman, the horrifying threat, the monster that the rest of the galaxy still fears five thousand years after our extinction. It's a deeply cynical story, but there are moments of light and hope in it.For all that, the thing that I remember the story best for is the ending. I can't help but grinning whenever I read it.
review 2: I'm an archaeol... moreogist with a passion for paleo-anthropology. I know the history of Olduvai Gorge pretty thoroughly, having first been brought into the field by the stories and NOVA science specials about the Leakey Family and later Don Johanson. When I saw this book, I knew I had to read it, because it examines a question that all undergraduate anthropology students have to write a paper on, "What will archaeologists, 20,000 years from now be able to learn about people living in the early 21st century from out material artifacts?" I really liked the overarching concept Resnick came up with, and I definitely laughed inwardly at the sly comment about current archaeological methods "plundering" as opposed to "excavating" sites. I would love to be able to have a soil sifter that consumed micro-layer by micro-layer of sediment and leave noting but a lovely soil profile behind!Overall I found Resnick's view of the future of mankind to be intriguing and a little frightening (as it should be), but I found his view of the past to be slightly off putting. No, there appears to be no such thing as an entirely peaceful culture of man, and we have done many things to be ashamed of, and I am probably committing a logical fallacy, but when I study Australopithecus Afarensis or Africanus, when I learn about Homo Habilis, Erectus, and Neandethalensis, and finally, the current Sapiens, I don't want to believe that all of our history was that of a mindless predator, of sociopathic killing. Yes the ancient man in Resnick's book killed for food, but he constantly describes them as having malevolence in their eyes, or a murderous intent. And when he looks at the future, the killer purpose in unabated. The future of mankind looks bleak, and the fact that we cannot seem to learn from the past is disheartening, but we are becoming aware! And with that awareness there must be a peaceful future, there must. Every other species depicted clearly came from a peaceful society, but Resnick never stops to dwell on the learning curve that is inherent in all species of any world. And yes, I agree with Carl Sagan and Michio Kaku and Neil DeGrasse Tyson that there are other intelligent life forms out there, and that one day we will meet them.I ascribe to the Replacement theory of the Homo Sapien exodus out of Africa, as oppose the Multi-Regional evolution of Homo Erectus into Homo Sapien. Darwin's laws of evolution forbid that, since evolution has no set endgame and only the mutational Russian roulette of genetics, plus time and space, will alter one species into another. Having stated that, yes, Homo Sapiens now stand as the only species of man to live on this planet, but that does not have to mean that Sapiens dominated and destroyed Erectus/Ergaster and Neanderthals. We might have just been better adapted, better suited. Yes it is naive of me, but I feel I am a peaceful person, who may get angry, but has never felt the urge to crack open my room-mate and use his femur to murder and eat my neighbor (that is clearly a hyberbolic fallacy, I realize that). I greatly enjoyed this book, and read it in one sitting on a too hot summer afternoon. I love that it made me think, and disturbed me enough to do something I almost never do, namely post my opinion on the internet. I would recommend it to anyone, science fiction and science fact lovers both. less

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