Bellwether

Zusatztext “One of science fiction's best writers.” — The Denver Post “Connie Willis deploys the apparatus of science fiction to illuminate character and relationships! and her writing is fresh! subtle! and deeply moving.” — The New York Times Book Review “Keen social satire touched with genuine humanity . . . Connie Willis's fiction is one of the most intelligent delights of our genre.” — Locus “A sheer pleasure to read . . . Sprightly! intelligent fun.” — Publishers Weekly Informationen zum Autor Connie Willis Klappentext Connie Willis has won more Hugo and Nebula awards than any other science fiction author. Now, with her trademark wit and inventiveness, she explores the intimate relationship between science, pop culture, and the arcane secrets of the heart. Sandra Foster studies fads-from Barbie dolls to the grunge look-how they start and what they mean. Bennett O'Reilly is a chaos theorist studying monkey group behavior. They both work for the HiTek corporation, strangers until a misdelivered package brings them together. It's a moment of synchronicity-if not serendipity-which leads them into a chaotic system of their own, complete with a million-dollar research grant, caffé latte, tattoos, and a series of unlucky coincidences that leaves Bennett monkeyless, fundless, and nearly jobless. Sandra intercedes with a flock of sheep and an idea for a joint project. (After all, what better animal to study both chaos theory and the herd mentality that so often characterizes human behavior?) But scientific discovery is rarely straightforward and never simple, and Sandra and Bennett have to endure a series of setbacks, heartbreaks, dead ends, and disasters before they find their ultimate answer. . . . Praise for Bellwether "One of science fiction's best writers."-The Denver Post "Connie Willis deploys the apparatus of science fiction to illuminate character and relationships, and her writing is fresh, subtle, and deeply moving."-The New York Times Book Review "Keen social satire touched with genuine humanity . . . Connie Willis's fiction is one of the most intelligent delights of our genre."-Locus "A sheer pleasure to read . . . Sprightly, intelligent fun."-Publishers Weekly Leseprobe hula hoop (march 1958—june 1959)—–The prototype for all merchandising fads and one whose phenomenal success has never been repeated. Originally a wooden exercise hoop used in Australian gym classes, the Hula Hoop was redesigned in gaudy plastic by Wham-O and sold for $1.98 to adults and kids alike. Nuns, Red Skelton, geishas, Jane Russell, and the Queen of Jordan rotated them on their hips, and lesser beings dislocated hips, sprained necks, and slipped disks. Russia and China banned them as “capitalist,” a team of Belgian explorers took twenty of them along to the South Pole (to give the penguins?), and over fifty million were sold worldwide. Died out as quickly as it had spread.     It’s almost impossible to pinpoint the beginning of a fad. By the time it starts to look like one, its origins are far in the past, and trying to trace them back is exponentially harder than, say, looking for the source of the Nile.   In the first place, there’s probably more than one source, and in the second, you’re dealing with human behavior. All Speke and Burton had to deal with were crocodiles, rapids, and the tsetse fly. In the third, we know something about how rivers work, like, they flow downhill. Fads seem to spring full-blown out of nowhere and for no good reason. Witness bungee-jumping. And Lava lamps.   Scientific discoveries are the same way. People like to think of science as rational and reasonable, following step by step from hypothesis to experiment to conclusion. Dr. Chin, last year’s winner of the Niebnitz Grant, wrote, “The process of scientific discovery is the log...

Product details

• Authors: Connie Willis
• Publisher: Random House USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 02.06.1997
• EAN: 9780553562965
• ISBN: 978-0-553-56296-5
• No. of pages: 256
• Dimensions: 107 mm x 175 mm x 17 mm
• Series: Random House Worlds
• Subject: Fiction > Science fiction, fantasy