Robert Sawyer

   Rob Sawyer is one of my favourite authors.  Why?  Just because I like him. I have listened to him speak several times and find him just fascinating. The way his mind works is of great interest to me.  But I have to admit right here that he goes way beyond what my mind can take in.              The New York Times has called him: "a writer of boundless confidence and bold scientific extrapolation".

Now there's a word that also fascinates me: extrapolation.

I think that is exactly what this author does in his science fiction- imagines what could or might happen, based on known facts.  He takes scientific theory and pushes it to the extreme- maybe, maybe, maybe this could happen. 

"Quantum Night" is on the Canada Reads longlist and I was intrigued by it.  Don't understand some of it- but he certainly does extrapolate to the extreme.
  The theme is the neuroscience of morality.  Oh, yes, he really goes for stretching the mind.
But I could really believe some of the theory.  That is, three stages of consciousness:
Q1  robotic, do what you are told or what others are doing
Q2  psychopathic- lack of reflection and rumination
Q3 developed conscience, thoughtful
Don't we all know people in all of those stages?  And in this book, they discover a way to move a person- maybe the whole world to a different level.
And Rob always has something to say about the U.S.  In this book, he really plays with the election and the relationship between the U.S. and Russia- with Canada in the middle.  Rob is Canadian.