Artifact

Gregory Benford

This is exactly what I was hoping Solar would be. A political thriller with a strong sci-fi base. Benford provided two strong protagonists, archeologist Claire (junior professor out of BU and expert on ancient Greece) and mathematical physicst John (post-doc at MIT). Claire discovers a strange cube at her dig in Greece and brings in John to help with metallurgical analysis. By time they realize that this is a strange artifact in many ways, they get thrown out of the country due to Grecian political instability. But neither can let this go and they continue to pursue the strangeness. What I like is that the science the is used to explain much of the strangeness is itself quite strange (as most quantum mechanics is) and yet Benford provides a very good laymens description so that the story does not get bogged down in science. And yet gives enough to make everything probable and engaging. Basically a lot of fun, and if books are supposed to be entertainment, this one gets high marks.

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