Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Children of Time is a journey through epic scales of space and time. Space colonists come across a long forgotten mad-scientist and her failed experiment. The book explores questions of evolution, technology, culture, and exploration.

Key Takeaways

• Space requires more time and space than we can wrap our heads around. This seems to come up in every space-based book I get my hands on.
• We don't have a clear understanding of what intelligence is.
• Cooperation always beats head-on confrontation.

Memorable Quotes

• That is the problem with ignorance. You can never truly know the extent of what you are ignorant about.
• At last the words fought themselves free, 'Promise me--' 'Nothing,' she snapped instantly. 'No promises. The universe promises us nothing; I extend the same to you.
• A life lived entirely at the whim of another is no life at all.
• conclusions are a matter of extrapolated logic based on her best comprehension of the principles the universe has revealed to her.
• Life is not perfect, individuals will always be flawed, but empathy – the sheer inability to see those around them as anything other than people too – conquers all, in the end.
• They are performing that oldest of tricks: constructing a path by which to reach a destination, only in this case the destination is permanent security. With each step they take towards it, that security recedes. And, with each step they take, the cost of progressing towards such security grows, and the actions required to move forward become more and more extreme.
• It took a long time to work out how to do it, but in the end she was only information, after all. Everything is only information, if you have sufficient capacity to encompass it.

Rating: 7.5/10
I enjoyed this book, but it's slow moving at times. It has some interesting questions about intelligence and technology. A definite read if you're into sci-fi and space novels, but if not, I'd say skip it.