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Quantumnition: Ski Lift Notes Regarding the Observer Effect on Future Streams
Outlaw quantum physicist Johnny Twain sees a stark future - a post-war world where humans are extinct. He must fight his own war - against his government, against his conscious, and against reality.
- GenresFictionScience Fiction
330 pages, Paperback
Published December 16, 2015
7 people are currently reading
354 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin L. Owen
4 books34 followersBenjamin L. Owen resides in New England. His favorite authors include George Orwell and Philip K. Dick. He can be contacted at benl.owen@yahoo.com .
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 15, 2025
On the first blush of picking this one up (and I mean 'blush' literally and not figuratively) I was enthused over its artful setup of an outrageously sensational mis-en-scene. But continuing the book, several years later - after the cutthroat thrust of COVID - I saw its only claim to fame was as a piece of Pop Art.
Remember Andy Warhol?
He SOLD his art as an ironic send-up of the postmodern capitalistic phenomenon, and his Medium was the Message!
His message was twofold: the marketplace thrives on sensationalsm; and revealing that fact ironically made him (ie Warhol) a rich superstar.
If you don't think that truism is funny, I'm with you. But here Owen does the same. His book, though, from the outset, deals however with pure evil - in fact, in Tom Clancy's words, with The Sum of all Fears.
Covered with a vacant Pop Art veneer.
I think perhaps the model for HIS idea of evil here is in Hannah Arenht's study of evil, her classic coverage of the trial of the (later convicted) war criminal, Adolf Eichman.
Her conclusion from that chilling exercise was, quite simply, that evil in essence is BANAL.
How true that is! Yet how tritely it is echoed in the traumatic trivialities of Owen's novel. Owen takes that idea, and using a sensational mis-en-scene, repeats it endlessly ad absurdum, like Warhol.
So the book becomes crashingly banal in the extreme to any serious reader.
Further, his mouthpieces - the characters - are poor, unreliable lost souls. None of them has even an Ounce of virtue!
And what started out with a bang in his apocalyptic mis-en-scene -
To rephrase Eliot -
Moils on endlessly from that point in the Strangelovean whimper of a new kinda Doctor Death.
Don't go here.
Remember Andy Warhol?
He SOLD his art as an ironic send-up of the postmodern capitalistic phenomenon, and his Medium was the Message!
His message was twofold: the marketplace thrives on sensationalsm; and revealing that fact ironically made him (ie Warhol) a rich superstar.
If you don't think that truism is funny, I'm with you. But here Owen does the same. His book, though, from the outset, deals however with pure evil - in fact, in Tom Clancy's words, with The Sum of all Fears.
Covered with a vacant Pop Art veneer.
I think perhaps the model for HIS idea of evil here is in Hannah Arenht's study of evil, her classic coverage of the trial of the (later convicted) war criminal, Adolf Eichman.
Her conclusion from that chilling exercise was, quite simply, that evil in essence is BANAL.
How true that is! Yet how tritely it is echoed in the traumatic trivialities of Owen's novel. Owen takes that idea, and using a sensational mis-en-scene, repeats it endlessly ad absurdum, like Warhol.
So the book becomes crashingly banal in the extreme to any serious reader.
Further, his mouthpieces - the characters - are poor, unreliable lost souls. None of them has even an Ounce of virtue!
And what started out with a bang in his apocalyptic mis-en-scene -
To rephrase Eliot -
Moils on endlessly from that point in the Strangelovean whimper of a new kinda Doctor Death.
Don't go here.
June 22, 2017
I received my copy thanks a Goodreads giveaway. That being said I have to say that there are Some novels you read because they provide you with mindless entertainment. They are a form of escape. This is not one of those novels. You will become completely engrossed in reading this sci-fi/psychological thriller. It will leave you questioning your own perceptions of life, reality, the frailty of being, and the capabilities of the human mind.
I know that the first thing anyone who starts to read this novel is going to do is scream and rant about the typographical and grammatical errors. Get past it, or you are going to miss out on a very good read. The story lines and characters are thought provoking. It is an exploration of reality, our perceptions of right and wrong, and our attempts to moves past those perceptions to a greater understanding of the forces that make up our universe, and how those forces truly work. I truly enjoyed this read.
I know that the first thing anyone who starts to read this novel is going to do is scream and rant about the typographical and grammatical errors. Get past it, or you are going to miss out on a very good read. The story lines and characters are thought provoking. It is an exploration of reality, our perceptions of right and wrong, and our attempts to moves past those perceptions to a greater understanding of the forces that make up our universe, and how those forces truly work. I truly enjoyed this read.
March 15, 2016
A must read!
This is a very powerful book. If you find yourself attracted to intelligent stories, of the likes of the movie Inception, you will love this one. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter are a clever insight of what's to come, I found them very enjoyable.The writing is masterful, the characters are easily to relate to and this book is a perspective changer. I don't want to give too much away but this is definitely something everyone should read. Once you start reading, it's impossible to put down, you find yourself part of the characters lives and you get to see why they fell the way they do, and how they react to one specific event in someone's mind. Someone who was not altogether a bad person, but did something very bad indeed while thinking that he was doing what was right. This is what makes a book great.
This is a very powerful book. If you find yourself attracted to intelligent stories, of the likes of the movie Inception, you will love this one. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter are a clever insight of what's to come, I found them very enjoyable.The writing is masterful, the characters are easily to relate to and this book is a perspective changer. I don't want to give too much away but this is definitely something everyone should read. Once you start reading, it's impossible to put down, you find yourself part of the characters lives and you get to see why they fell the way they do, and how they react to one specific event in someone's mind. Someone who was not altogether a bad person, but did something very bad indeed while thinking that he was doing what was right. This is what makes a book great.
January 19, 2019
Let me just cut to the chase. Lots of stuff happens. Lots of stuff doesn't happen. Men cheat on and treat their wives abysmally, but it is really their wives' faults.
We have the technology to see what a criminal mastermind has going on in his brain, but, he might not be a criminal mastermind. He might be the savior of the world.
(If we can see what's going on in his mind, why can't we tell whether he is working toward a nefarious end or an altruistic one?)
And then New York City blows up.
I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.
I have got to be more discriminating about the books I take for free.
We have the technology to see what a criminal mastermind has going on in his brain, but, he might not be a criminal mastermind. He might be the savior of the world.
(If we can see what's going on in his mind, why can't we tell whether he is working toward a nefarious end or an altruistic one?)
And then New York City blows up.
I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.
I have got to be more discriminating about the books I take for free.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews