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Genie
National Book Award winner Richard Powers ("The Echo Maker," "Galatea 2.2," "Generosity") has been hailed as the smartest novelist of our time. Few writers have bridged the gap between art and science so compellingly, so passionately, and with such inimitable precision. In "Genie," a short story of epic proportions, Powers goes he turns a failing relationship between a randy scientist and a staid statistician into a quest—not only for love and connection but for a way to connect to intelligent life in the universe.
Anca is an ambitious cellular biologist determined to be the first to defuse the microbial time bombs inside ever more fatal viruses. Warren works in numbers and codes. He follows the rules and likes it that way. When Anca uses the opportunity of a romantic camping trip to swipe samples of ancient bacteria from one of Yellowstone National Park’s fumaroles—bubbling pools filled with life more diverse than in a rainforest—Warren sees the writing on the Anca will never behave. They break up, until Anca makes a discovery that is just too mind-blowing to handle alone. Could she have found proof of intelligent design, the signature of the creator himself? Or is it a message left by an unknown—and unearthly—life form?
The race that Anca and Warren embark on together will change everything they have ever believed or felt—about life, each other, and the mysteries of the cosmos.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Powers is the author of ten novels, including "Galatea 2.2," "Plowing in the Dark," "The Echo Maker," and "Generosity." "The Echo Maker" won the National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Powers has received a MacArthur Fellowship, a Lannan Literary Award, and the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Historical Fiction. He lives in Illinois.
PRAISE FOR RICHARD POWERS
“Everybody else just talks about alienation, estrangement, and the unbearable lightness of being. [Powers] actually does something about them. … He will use everything we know from our higher brain functions about mind and body and art and longing, to find patterns and to close distances.” —John Leonard, The New York Review of Books
“Richard Powers is America’s greatest living novelist.” —Tom Bissell, Boston Review
“Bristlingly intelligent … Powers is a superb writer.” —Chicago Tribune
“One of the few younger American writers who can stake a claim to the legacy of Pynchon, Gaddis, and DeLillo.” —Gerald Howard, The Nation
“Most American novelists portray technology as scary stuff; they fill the sky with toxic clouds and screaming rockets. [Powers’s] best work … finds beauty in the process of scientific inquiry. The laboratory is as central to Powers as the sitting room is to Jane Austen; he loves placing brilliant characters inside a fluorescent incubator, then watching ideas hatch on the page.” —Daniel Zalewski, The New York Times
Anca is an ambitious cellular biologist determined to be the first to defuse the microbial time bombs inside ever more fatal viruses. Warren works in numbers and codes. He follows the rules and likes it that way. When Anca uses the opportunity of a romantic camping trip to swipe samples of ancient bacteria from one of Yellowstone National Park’s fumaroles—bubbling pools filled with life more diverse than in a rainforest—Warren sees the writing on the Anca will never behave. They break up, until Anca makes a discovery that is just too mind-blowing to handle alone. Could she have found proof of intelligent design, the signature of the creator himself? Or is it a message left by an unknown—and unearthly—life form?
The race that Anca and Warren embark on together will change everything they have ever believed or felt—about life, each other, and the mysteries of the cosmos.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Powers is the author of ten novels, including "Galatea 2.2," "Plowing in the Dark," "The Echo Maker," and "Generosity." "The Echo Maker" won the National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Powers has received a MacArthur Fellowship, a Lannan Literary Award, and the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Historical Fiction. He lives in Illinois.
PRAISE FOR RICHARD POWERS
“Everybody else just talks about alienation, estrangement, and the unbearable lightness of being. [Powers] actually does something about them. … He will use everything we know from our higher brain functions about mind and body and art and longing, to find patterns and to close distances.” —John Leonard, The New York Review of Books
“Richard Powers is America’s greatest living novelist.” —Tom Bissell, Boston Review
“Bristlingly intelligent … Powers is a superb writer.” —Chicago Tribune
“One of the few younger American writers who can stake a claim to the legacy of Pynchon, Gaddis, and DeLillo.” —Gerald Howard, The Nation
“Most American novelists portray technology as scary stuff; they fill the sky with toxic clouds and screaming rockets. [Powers’s] best work … finds beauty in the process of scientific inquiry. The laboratory is as central to Powers as the sitting room is to Jane Austen; he loves placing brilliant characters inside a fluorescent incubator, then watching ideas hatch on the page.” —Daniel Zalewski, The New York Times
43 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 8, 2012
11 people are currently reading
398 people want to read
About the author
Richard Powers
93 books6,752 followersRichard Powers has published thirteen novels. He is a MacArthur Fellow and received the National Book Award. His book The Overstory won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. He lives in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Librarian note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.
Librarian note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
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December 11, 2015Feb 2015.
An interviewer to Richard Powers: Your characters are almost always engaged in a consuming obsession — whether it's music or genetics or computer code — that basically puts them into a state of peak experience, at least in parts of your novels. I think that, as a reader, you get a kind of contact high, as you're empathizing with these characters, and it occurred to me that you're spreading the excitement of being alive, of learning something, through your novels in the exact same way you describe the spreading of genes or music or ideas within your work. Not that all art isn't supposed to work like that, in a sense, but in your case it's so perfect a mirror of itself.
That contagious enthusiasm is the main takeaway from this Kindle Single*-sized realist SF piece. With a theme that spins off from Orfeo, the novel Powers was working on at the time he published Genie, I was pretty sure what the conclusion of a story involving remarkable and complex patterns in cell DNA might be, but still enjoyed getting there. Mustard-keen, irreverent, cell biologist Anca, and her buttoned-up statistician ex boyfriend Warren are very recognizable geek personalities, with a low-drama relationship and passion for their respective subjects. She is the star of this, brimming with the under-recognised emotion of interest. (Finding out some years ago that that interest is regarded as an emotion unto itself made so much sense - this thing that's got me out of more ruts than any other. Interest is also pretty much what geek culture traditionally ran on.) And the story's Christmassy conclusion is de-schmaltzed with unseasonably sunny weather.
Some paragraphs have the sonorous tone which falls perfectly into place once you know that the author writes much of his work by dictation to well-trained speech recognition software, oral storytelling as such - but generally there's something chattier and more everyday about Genie compared with Orfeo and the previews I've read so far of his other books.
This story could seem very slight if you paid for it; it's a cute, fun bit of sciencey fluff (if relatively hard SF can be fluff) written for a subscription imprint that's since folded, and has nothing like the seriousness & complexity of a Powers novel. There are plenty of far meatier essays and interviews - Powers really ought to put out an essay collection, it would be excellent - linked, via a pointless extra click-through layer, from the author's website, most of which would be better value for your pound or two. (I'd love there to be a piece called How to Train Your Dragon Naturally Speaking... he seems to have done it better than most.)
*Currently cheaper on places other than Amazon. Though I got it free with points.
An interviewer to Richard Powers: Your characters are almost always engaged in a consuming obsession — whether it's music or genetics or computer code — that basically puts them into a state of peak experience, at least in parts of your novels. I think that, as a reader, you get a kind of contact high, as you're empathizing with these characters, and it occurred to me that you're spreading the excitement of being alive, of learning something, through your novels in the exact same way you describe the spreading of genes or music or ideas within your work. Not that all art isn't supposed to work like that, in a sense, but in your case it's so perfect a mirror of itself.
That contagious enthusiasm is the main takeaway from this Kindle Single*-sized realist SF piece. With a theme that spins off from Orfeo, the novel Powers was working on at the time he published Genie, I was pretty sure what the conclusion of a story involving remarkable and complex patterns in cell DNA might be, but still enjoyed getting there. Mustard-keen, irreverent, cell biologist Anca, and her buttoned-up statistician ex boyfriend Warren are very recognizable geek personalities, with a low-drama relationship and passion for their respective subjects. She is the star of this, brimming with the under-recognised emotion of interest. (Finding out some years ago that that interest is regarded as an emotion unto itself made so much sense - this thing that's got me out of more ruts than any other. Interest is also pretty much what geek culture traditionally ran on.) And the story's Christmassy conclusion is de-schmaltzed with unseasonably sunny weather.
Some paragraphs have the sonorous tone which falls perfectly into place once you know that the author writes much of his work by dictation to well-trained speech recognition software, oral storytelling as such - but generally there's something chattier and more everyday about Genie compared with Orfeo and the previews I've read so far of his other books.
This story could seem very slight if you paid for it; it's a cute, fun bit of sciencey fluff (if relatively hard SF can be fluff) written for a subscription imprint that's since folded, and has nothing like the seriousness & complexity of a Powers novel. There are plenty of far meatier essays and interviews - Powers really ought to put out an essay collection, it would be excellent - linked, via a pointless extra click-through layer, from the author's website, most of which would be better value for your pound or two. (I'd love there to be a piece called How to Train Your Dragon Naturally Speaking... he seems to have done it better than most.)
*Currently cheaper on places other than Amazon. Though I got it free with points.
November 29, 2013
This story has all the elements of a Michael Crichton bio-thriller but in Powers' hands the material doesn't feel recycled. Spielberg said Crichton reserved his "flamboyant side for his novels" - I don't think I've seen a flamboyant side in Powers work yet? Yet, Genie is The Hollow Men's "not with a bang but with a whimper" turned on its head . Flamboyant ? Maybe not, but here life will out !
December 24, 2012
I haven't read any of Richard Powers's short fiction, though I did just take a crack at Galatea 2.2 and I read Gain a while ago. Like a lot of his work, "Genie" occupies an uneasy territory between science fiction and literary fiction, here following a microbiologist and her off-and-on statistician lover as they unlock a message hidden in genetic code--the genie trapped in the title. I thought the ending was a little sudden--the story feels like it ends at the climax, with no gentle slope back into reality, no inkling that anything happens after the pair's momentous discovery. I guess you could argue that this is a story more about the people than the plot, but that's cheating.
Still, Powers raises an interesting idea here through very interesting characters, all in his usual jealousy-inducing prose. I enjoyed the read.
This is a Kindle Single by Byliner Inc., a publisher that aims to provide material "readable in a single sitting." The list of works at the end of "Genie" consists mostly of nonfiction, but the list of names they do have might make up for that: folks like Amy Tan, Margaret Atwood, Nick Hornby, James Ellroy. They also have a subscription plan, which is sort of interesting.
Still, Powers raises an interesting idea here through very interesting characters, all in his usual jealousy-inducing prose. I enjoyed the read.
This is a Kindle Single by Byliner Inc., a publisher that aims to provide material "readable in a single sitting." The list of works at the end of "Genie" consists mostly of nonfiction, but the list of names they do have might make up for that: folks like Amy Tan, Margaret Atwood, Nick Hornby, James Ellroy. They also have a subscription plan, which is sort of interesting.
January 17, 2013
I miss Richard Powers. I've gradually liked each book a little less than the last, but I still cherish every one of them. This was a good short read that reminded me of the Prometheus movie (without the gore).
I do love how he always comes back to music and the connection with math. They are both a universal language. He doesn't lose sight of the finesse that are behind algorithms and playing with data. It's not just science, it's art.
I do love how he always comes back to music and the connection with math. They are both a universal language. He doesn't lose sight of the finesse that are behind algorithms and playing with data. It's not just science, it's art.
March 28, 2013
A short story which could have been much longer and still satisfying. . . It made me think of "Contact" because of the need to use math to decipher a mystery. I wanted to know where this discovery took both the characters and society.
Four stars because I thought Powers did an excellent job portraying both a complicated relationship between the two main characters and a scientific mystery. Or perhaps that should be Mystery -- with a capital M.
Four stars because I thought Powers did an excellent job portraying both a complicated relationship between the two main characters and a scientific mystery. Or perhaps that should be Mystery -- with a capital M.
May 7, 2014
Genie" is to Richard Powers' novels The Goldbug Variations and Orfeo what Thomas Pynchon's short story "Entropy" is to The Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow. Weaving together biology, music, lab culture and central characters grappling with a complicated relationship, it's a delightful introduction o the themes and sensibility that have defined Powers' career. If you haven't read Powers previously, "Genie," published in Kindle's "Byline" series of short pieces, is a good place to start.
May 6, 2015
Short story reminded me of The Goldbug Variations. Nice blend of science and relationships
September 14, 2020
Love does not require understanding.
I loved this short story. I had to look up some words and was hopeless in understanding the science. I could understand, though, the premise of sentient life calling to us across the years, the galaxies, the unimaginable. I also always enjoy reading a master of language, a science genius, and a superb story-teller.
I loved this short story. I had to look up some words and was hopeless in understanding the science. I could understand, though, the premise of sentient life calling to us across the years, the galaxies, the unimaginable. I also always enjoy reading a master of language, a science genius, and a superb story-teller.
January 19, 2013
I don't see enough Richard Powers writing, so I was thrilled to see this Byliner single. I loved it. Beautiful descriptions of geological formations, mathematical equations--classic Powers. It comes to kind of an abrupt ending, but still, it was beautifully written and a good story, kind of "Prometheus"-like.
March 5, 2014
Richard Powers' excellent "Orfeo" turned me to this similarly intriguing short story, which explores both human relationships and genetics. Although that sounds like an unlikely pairing, Powers has the skill and imagination to make it work, and I look forward to exploring more of his work.
May 28, 2016
This quicky for online distribution is the only "book" by Richard Powers that I didn't find worth reading. He did himself a disservice .... or maybe he just isn't very skilled at short fiction. (He might study Hemingway's, or O'Connor's, or Hilary Mantel's short stories for some guidance.)
November 25, 2012
Fun story -- reads like a riffing prologue to Ridley Scott's film "Prometheus."
January 28, 2013
not much to say about this. it took me a bus ride to finish. it had a beginning, middle and ending. I didn't hate it.
February 14, 2013
The ending totally ruined it for me. This would make a good book if the author would flesh it out more. The ending was just so unsatisfying.
February 14, 2013
Good short story. Scientist finds a signal in the noise. Hard sci-fi is always interesting and I will look for more Richard Powers.
April 8, 2013
I quite enjoyed this very short piece.
June 26, 2013
An intriguing short story in which an on-again-off-again couple make an amazing scientific discovery.
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July 20, 2013Kindle Single
January 19, 2014
Really a short story. Science and relationship. Very, very good
March 22, 2014
Hard to say this is a book when it is really a short story. Richard Powers has a way with words that enthralls and challenges.
September 19, 2015
Interesting novella by a talented author. Good writing makes easy reading.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews