Sleeper, Awake - Rich, Bob

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Résumé :
Retired film star Flora Fielding was diagnosed with cancer. Her solution: she had herself put into suspended animation, and invested her fortune in cancer research. She expected to return to life in five to ten years -- but is awakened into an utterly different world, 1433 years later. Population is strictly limited to one million, but there is plenty of wealth for everyone. This new world is controlled by an AI called Artif, whose power derives from implants in the brains of the all the planet's inhabitants. Why has Flora has been awakened now and who has designs for her new existence? Her very life and the control of planet Earth may rest in the answer to that question. Vividly written, Sleeper, Awake transports you into a world beyond comprehension, yet he presents it so well, it becomes plausible. Wonderful landscapes, incredible gadgets, love and a touch of poignancy, this book has it all. Like me, if you weren't a Sci-fi fan before, you will be converted after reading this book. -Barbara Tanner, author of Hannah's Choice As a dedicated environmentalist as far back as the 1970s, I found this book refreshing... Rich's portrayal of a new society, its inventions and innovations-all of them designed in harmony with the laws of nature-is nothing short of brilliant. This reader was captivated by the spiritual growth of the protagonists and by the wonderful devices they use in everyday living. -Florence Byham Weingberg, author of Unrest in Eden Sleeper, Awake is an unusual novel, full of clever inventions and the echoes of myths and older customs. The Norse Tree is there in spirit, so are Greek Icarus and the philosophy of the Frontiersman. Rites of passage are alive and well, and teenaged girls are still-well-teenaged girls. The ending is thoroughly satisfying, with the final scene putting the whole novel into a new and amusing perspective. -Sally Odgers, author of Elysian Dawn Learn more at www.BobsWriting.com From Modern History Press www.ModernHistoryPress.com

Biographie:
In 1972, Bob Rich had young children, and a Ph.D. thesis to write up. He was bored with the project, and kept himself awake during his library research by reading about unrelated topics. He wanted to be able to predict the future for his kids, and so drifted to futurology. No, not Nostradamus or astrology, but the use of existing trends to predict the future. The evidence was unmistakable. The coming world was horrendous. Resources then still plentiful such as cheap petroleum would become depleted, leading to hardships and even wars. This would lead to far more expensive, and environmentally more damaging methods of supply. Air and water would be polluted, so that cancers, asthma, allergies and other severe health problems would become epidemics. Increasing global mobility was bound to increase the rate at which new strains of diseases, and entirely new diseases would emerge, and even then, genetic engineering was a possibility, leading to the risk of releasing entirely new monster organisms. He was aware of research on the effects of crowding on mammals, and predicted the breakdown of the family, increasing stress-related diseases like strokes, heart attacks and digestive ulcers, wars of genocide based on unreasoning hatred, addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling and anything else with the slightest promise of easing distress. Horrendous weather events were guaranteed to become more frequent, and more severe. In other words, he predicted today's society. Some details were still to come. For example, this was over forty years before scientific evidence confirmed that we are in the sixth extinction event of earth. Species are dying out at more than 1000 times the background rate, and the numbers of many so-far not endangered species are plummeting. Of particular concern is the drop in insect and bird numbers, in part due to the climate catastrophe, in part to our insanity in bathing the entire planet in pesticides and other toxins. Destroy species at the base of a food chain, and the entire ecosystem disintegrates. And we are a part of nature, not apart from nature. Since that time, Bob has never stopped fighting for a saner world, on the grounds that, when the Cataclysm comes, he can at least say, It wasn't my fault. You can read about his proposed solution to humanity's problems in his essay, How to Change the World (http://wp.me/P3Xihq-5). Bob is the author of 18 books to date. You can inspect them all, and find lots of writing that is informative, challenging, inspiring - but never boring - at his blog, Bobbing Around (https://bobrich18.wordpress.com/).

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