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Twistor
A university physics experiment unexpectedly opens a door into an alternate universe in this first novel by physicist and science writer Cramer. Before he leaves his protagonist, professor David Harrison, stranded, with a colleague's two children, in the gargantuan forest of the shadow world, Cramer has set in motion several other plots, from the problems of a venal department head to the more serious threat by a nefarious corporation determined to make off with the invention. A Science Fiction Book Club featured alternate.--Publishers Weekly
400 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1989
15 people are currently reading
133 people want to read
About the author
John G. Cramer
136 books21 followersJohn G. Cramer is a professor of physics at the University of Washington in Seattle, the United States. When not teaching, he works with the STAR (Solenoidal Tracker At RHIC) detector at the new Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the particle accelerator at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. He is currently engaged in experiments at the University of Washington to test retrocausality by using a version of the delayed choice quantum eraser without coincidence counting. This experiment, if successful, would imply that entanglement can be used to send a signal instantaneously between two distant locations (or a message backwards in time from the apparatus to itself). Such "spooky communication" experiments have never been successfully conducted, and only attempted a limited number of times, since most physicists believe that they would violate the no-communication theorem. However, a small number of scientists (Cramer among them) believe that there is no physical law prohibiting such communication.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
January 8, 2010
Here at goodreads it says: Given Cramer's dry, stiff, academic prose and the equally dry, stiff, academic characters, the interesting and dramatic kernel of physics speculation will open only to the most persistent of readers.
My opinion differs: while the characters weren't the kind you fall in love with, they weren't dry or stiff and neither was the writing, for that matter. Cramer's writing is a lot better than some hard sci fi authors I've read. I really wish goodreads didn't write that because I was put off by it and others probably will be too. It was only because I already started when it came to my attention that I continued.
After all, it is hard sci fi; it'll have a technical and scientific theme throughout. I found that part of it interesting but a little long. I would have liked to get to the 'shadow universe' sooner.
I'd recommend it to people who have an interest and understand of physics, even at it's most basic. If you're not interested in science and technology, then definitely pass this one by.
My opinion differs: while the characters weren't the kind you fall in love with, they weren't dry or stiff and neither was the writing, for that matter. Cramer's writing is a lot better than some hard sci fi authors I've read. I really wish goodreads didn't write that because I was put off by it and others probably will be too. It was only because I already started when it came to my attention that I continued.
After all, it is hard sci fi; it'll have a technical and scientific theme throughout. I found that part of it interesting but a little long. I would have liked to get to the 'shadow universe' sooner.
I'd recommend it to people who have an interest and understand of physics, even at it's most basic. If you're not interested in science and technology, then definitely pass this one by.
May 31, 2009
A sci-fi book written by a physicist--how can I resist? I'm only a few pages in and I've already encountered details about cosmology, circuit boards, and the dangers of romance between grad students and/or post docs.
The writing is sometimes a bit wooden and self-concious, but I'm enjoying it nevertheless. This book was written in 1989, so some of the descriptions are amusingly dated (e.g., describing what a computer mouse is). But overall, the science comes through fast and heavy, which is good.
Finished it! This book is definitely different. The author is not what I would call a "good" writer, but the writing still has a certain charm. The characterizations of the scientists are very good--I clearly recognized these people from my own grad school days.
This author doesn't take the book (or, I suspect, himself) too seriously, which is refreshing and fun, but he does take the physics seriously, which is also fun. Being a geneticist, I have to say I was a bit disappointed in the biology aspects, though.
The writing is sometimes a bit wooden and self-concious, but I'm enjoying it nevertheless. This book was written in 1989, so some of the descriptions are amusingly dated (e.g., describing what a computer mouse is). But overall, the science comes through fast and heavy, which is good.
Finished it! This book is definitely different. The author is not what I would call a "good" writer, but the writing still has a certain charm. The characterizations of the scientists are very good--I clearly recognized these people from my own grad school days.
This author doesn't take the book (or, I suspect, himself) too seriously, which is refreshing and fun, but he does take the physics seriously, which is also fun. Being a geneticist, I have to say I was a bit disappointed in the biology aspects, though.
March 26, 2014
This book was incredibly fascinating, even though I found some of the hard science fiction a bit confusing. It is well written, the plot is interesting, intriguing and flows superbly from page to page. Some of the theories used in the novel have since come to passes the book was written some years ago, but this does nothing to detract from the intensity of the novel. The characters are fairly well developed, although it is more centered on the scientific experiments rather than too much on the character's backgrounds. It is most certainly well worth the read for the suspense and multiple universes questions it poses and leaves one wondering, what if.
August 4, 2019
Cramer, John G. Twistor. 1989. Introd. Gene Wolfe. Dover, 2016.
Hard science fiction that stays fresh for 30 years is rare, but if you are a physicist who is up on the latest theories, you can pull it off. John G. Cramer, who has only written two science fiction novels, is a working physicist and frequent nonfiction contributor to Analog. In Twistor, he presents us with an adventure based on string theory and parallel universe speculation that has dated well. He also gives us a chilling portrait of academic greed and bureaucracy that he insists was not at all true at the University of Washington, where he worked and sets the story. Good stuff.
Hard science fiction that stays fresh for 30 years is rare, but if you are a physicist who is up on the latest theories, you can pull it off. John G. Cramer, who has only written two science fiction novels, is a working physicist and frequent nonfiction contributor to Analog. In Twistor, he presents us with an adventure based on string theory and parallel universe speculation that has dated well. He also gives us a chilling portrait of academic greed and bureaucracy that he insists was not at all true at the University of Washington, where he worked and sets the story. Good stuff.
July 9, 2022
Review to come.
September 9, 2013
I was a bit surprised by this book. I read the introduction and I knew the publication date, so I went in well aware that this was a sci-fi book written about technology, but it had been published quite a number of years ago. At first, the aspects of technology that had become dated or never became true were a turn-off. I mean, really? "Hacking" into Unix mainframes with an early Apple computer and briefcase sized laptops? But as I read, this became less of a distraction and I became more interested in the characters and the plot development as it pertained to the people. This book was kind of an introduction to hard sci-fi for me. I hadn't even been aware of the term. Many people will read these kinds of books because of the cool pseudo-science, and I did enjoy that, but it was more of a sideline for me. I appreciated that the author had an epilogue where he briefly covered what parts were science and what were not.
All in all, this was a pretty enjoyable book and I would recommend it since I consider it to be at least on par with much of the other sci-fi that I have read.
All in all, this was a pretty enjoyable book and I would recommend it since I consider it to be at least on par with much of the other sci-fi that I have read.
March 22, 2010
Rating: 7/10
This is a hard sci-fi story written by a physics professor. It has the two elements that would lead you to expect: A solid scientific base, and cheesy characterizations.
I found that I could get past the cheesiness and really enjoy the story. There is a fair amount of dramatic action driving the story forward, and the fictional discovery made by the main character has many interesting ramifications that gave me much to think about.
If you're into sci-fi primarily for stories driven by intelligent, intriguing, scientifically sound ideas, I definitely recommend it. The book even contains an appendix to help you sort out where the physics presented in the story branches from science into fiction.
This is a hard sci-fi story written by a physics professor. It has the two elements that would lead you to expect: A solid scientific base, and cheesy characterizations.
I found that I could get past the cheesiness and really enjoy the story. There is a fair amount of dramatic action driving the story forward, and the fictional discovery made by the main character has many interesting ramifications that gave me much to think about.
If you're into sci-fi primarily for stories driven by intelligent, intriguing, scientifically sound ideas, I definitely recommend it. The book even contains an appendix to help you sort out where the physics presented in the story branches from science into fiction.
August 29, 2013
While the technology used in the plot is this novel is a couple of decades out of date, the story itself is still fun to read. I have the original first printing of this novel in hard back, and I enjoyed reading it again as much as I did the first time. My only complaint regarding this ebook edition is that there are a number of scan errors in it that the author missed correcting when he converted it from hard copy to ebook. Not enough to detract from enjoying the story, but enough to make me wonder if he was in to much of a hurry to get the book published in digital form and decided not to take the time to fully and carefully proof the work.
Other then the scan errors, I really did enjoy reading this story again.
Other then the scan errors, I really did enjoy reading this story again.
October 8, 2013
Wow! A fine specimen of speculative science fiction, Twistor by John Cramer sprinkles in just enough real science along with "rubber science" to help the reader believe what just might be possible someday. This story also has romance, action, fantastical creatures and adventure! If science bores you to tears, please don't pick up this book, but if you are interested in theoretical physics and what could some day be discovered about shadow universes existing parallel to our own, this is a very satisfying postulation. I highly recommend it!
I received a free electronic copy of this book for the purpose of reviewing through Library Thing Early Reviewers.
I received a free electronic copy of this book for the purpose of reviewing through Library Thing Early Reviewers.
October 27, 2019
I've had this on my TBR shelf for years, and finally got to it. This is a 'hard' scifi novel, written by a practicing physicist, and if you are into physics, this may be the book for you. The physics constitute the most developed character in the novel. Basically, a group of physicists stumble on a discovery that allows them to access parallel universes. Some seek to exploit this for private gain, others want to share it with the world, and in the middle of this, some people are accidentally transported to another universe. It is fairly formulaic but a decent read nonetheless. 2.5 stars rounding up to 3.
October 22, 2018
Really enjoyed it. I worked in the UW Physics Department for eight years and he nails the culture, from the "only working helium leak detector" to the quality of the machine shop coffee.
If you read this after the late-90s, note that the Physics building described in the book is what is now Mary Gates Hall.
If you read this after the late-90s, note that the Physics building described in the book is what is now Mary Gates Hall.
November 20, 2020
This science fiction novel was actually written by a practicing academic physicist. There is real scientific extrapolation in it as well as a plausible representation of university politics. Unfortunately, the author is not a very good novelist.
September 10, 2018
Finally, hard sci-fi with some refreshingly human characters!
July 1, 2020
A cool basic idea, carried forward into multiple implications and applications. Straightforward and unassuming, kind of a sleeper novel.
July 24, 2025
John Cramer has been writing the "Alternate View" articles for Analog magazine for decades. Mostly physics news. In the mid 1980's he asked science fiction editor David Hartwell why he didn't publish more hard SF stories? Hartwell replied that it was Cramer's fault, and people like him. "People like you, who enjoy hard SF, and know how to write, aren't sending me anything to publish." Cramer took this as a challenge and in 1987 turned in a manuscript for Twistor.
And yeah, it's a hard science fiction novel. Physicists David Harrison and his beautiful grad student Victoria develop a machine that allows them to jump into a parallel universe. Action and adventure follow, bad guys chase them around for a couple hundred pages, but eventually they think their way out of all their predicaments and presumably go on to win Nobel prizes. The central McGuffin, the "Holospin Projector", was based loosely upon superstring theory, that was all the hotness in the theoretical physics community in the 80's. (This is the same stuff that Dr. Sheldon Cooper studies in "The Big Bang Theory" So it's real, for certain values of real).
I wanted to like this story more. I do like John Cramer. I've learned more about physics from his articles than just about anywhere else, and from a layman's perspective it's always interesting stuff. But Twistor is his first novel, and it shows. The science was fun, and the adventure was fun. but his characters read like an episode of Leave it to Beaver. (A PG-13 episode, but still). Dr. Harison falls in lust with his beautiful, copper-haired grad student Vickie, and spends the first couple chapters telling himself that relationships with teachers and students never end well. Then he takes her out to dinner at a fancy restaurant, and she immediately drops her panties for him. And of course everything turns out fine. It's badly written teenage male fantasy. I'd say it fails the Bechdel Test, except that Vickie is instrumental in solving many of the technical issues in the story.
Vickie has a teenage brother named Flash, who is made entirely out of one-ply cardboard. He's a zit-faced hacker right out of central casting, who ends every sentence with the letter O. "Neat-o! This pizza is really great-o! I hacked the mainframe-o!" I think he was supposed to be annoying, and he certainly was. But not in an entertaining way.
These are rookie writer mistakes, and I've got no room to throw stones. Cramer writes better than I do. Maybe if he spent ten years and a million words practicing, like a normal fiction writer, he'd be pretty good. But he didn't, and hasn't. He has three works of fiction to his name. I suppose if I ever stumble across his other novels, "Einstein's Bridge" and "Fermi's Question", I'll read them too. Because how often can one say they've read an author's complete works?
And yeah, it's a hard science fiction novel. Physicists David Harrison and his beautiful grad student Victoria develop a machine that allows them to jump into a parallel universe. Action and adventure follow, bad guys chase them around for a couple hundred pages, but eventually they think their way out of all their predicaments and presumably go on to win Nobel prizes. The central McGuffin, the "Holospin Projector", was based loosely upon superstring theory, that was all the hotness in the theoretical physics community in the 80's. (This is the same stuff that Dr. Sheldon Cooper studies in "The Big Bang Theory" So it's real, for certain values of real).
I wanted to like this story more. I do like John Cramer. I've learned more about physics from his articles than just about anywhere else, and from a layman's perspective it's always interesting stuff. But Twistor is his first novel, and it shows. The science was fun, and the adventure was fun. but his characters read like an episode of Leave it to Beaver. (A PG-13 episode, but still). Dr. Harison falls in lust with his beautiful, copper-haired grad student Vickie, and spends the first couple chapters telling himself that relationships with teachers and students never end well. Then he takes her out to dinner at a fancy restaurant, and she immediately drops her panties for him. And of course everything turns out fine. It's badly written teenage male fantasy. I'd say it fails the Bechdel Test, except that Vickie is instrumental in solving many of the technical issues in the story.
Vickie has a teenage brother named Flash, who is made entirely out of one-ply cardboard. He's a zit-faced hacker right out of central casting, who ends every sentence with the letter O. "Neat-o! This pizza is really great-o! I hacked the mainframe-o!" I think he was supposed to be annoying, and he certainly was. But not in an entertaining way.
These are rookie writer mistakes, and I've got no room to throw stones. Cramer writes better than I do. Maybe if he spent ten years and a million words practicing, like a normal fiction writer, he'd be pretty good. But he didn't, and hasn't. He has three works of fiction to his name. I suppose if I ever stumble across his other novels, "Einstein's Bridge" and "Fermi's Question", I'll read them too. Because how often can one say they've read an author's complete works?
July 29, 2021
I bought the book based on a discussion and wanted to read what he said in the Afterword of the book itself. In Geophysics and Astrophysics of Shadow Worlds on Page 336 he mentions it would only take about 38 minutes to fall through a gravity well and emerge at or slightly above the earths surface according to Non-Keplerian orbital dynamics.
Poe's "impossible leap to Sirius" made simple (See Eureka: A Prose Poem)
His experiments were done on a Macintosh SE-30 using Double Precision FORTRAN? Here I was thinking it was some huge mainframe at the University of Washington. We used to call it FORTRASH and honestly I had always thought of the Mac was as a desk clock with a mouse. Kudo's to the Motorola 60k series of processors.
He states in his Foreword: "Further, the notion of a "shadow spin" vector which is three units long and leads to (2*3+1) or seven distinct varieties of shadow matter is my own elaboration of conventional superstring theories and has no theoretical basis."
John Cramer does not give himself enough credit for his elaboration of conventional superstring theory(s). There *is* a theoretical basis.
In Chinese metaphysics we already have a word for it Jia/Chia. There are Six Jia spirits. To quote Eva Wong of all the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches it is Jia that would take an entire encyclopedia size of books to elaborate on.
The true significance of his work will be revealed over time. Presently, only 1/7th of the matter in the universe can be accounted for. Where are the other 6/7th of the matter? Chinese Cosmology and Metaphysics orients to the dimensionless coordinate points of the N-Dimensions: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7.
Jia is indeed an empty universe made of some mysterious dark/shadow matter. There is your missing 6/7ths of Matter!
Poe's "impossible leap to Sirius" made simple (See Eureka: A Prose Poem)
His experiments were done on a Macintosh SE-30 using Double Precision FORTRAN? Here I was thinking it was some huge mainframe at the University of Washington. We used to call it FORTRASH and honestly I had always thought of the Mac was as a desk clock with a mouse. Kudo's to the Motorola 60k series of processors.
He states in his Foreword: "Further, the notion of a "shadow spin" vector which is three units long and leads to (2*3+1) or seven distinct varieties of shadow matter is my own elaboration of conventional superstring theories and has no theoretical basis."
John Cramer does not give himself enough credit for his elaboration of conventional superstring theory(s). There *is* a theoretical basis.
In Chinese metaphysics we already have a word for it Jia/Chia. There are Six Jia spirits. To quote Eva Wong of all the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches it is Jia that would take an entire encyclopedia size of books to elaborate on.
The true significance of his work will be revealed over time. Presently, only 1/7th of the matter in the universe can be accounted for. Where are the other 6/7th of the matter? Chinese Cosmology and Metaphysics orients to the dimensionless coordinate points of the N-Dimensions: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7.
Jia is indeed an empty universe made of some mysterious dark/shadow matter. There is your missing 6/7ths of Matter!
December 22, 2021
There are NO spoilers in this content.
I have mixed feelings about this book. I am a huge science/science fiction nerd as well as an avid reader, which is why this book appealed to me.
Science-wise, the theories and physics were on point as far as I could tell as someone who is physics illiterate, and it was refreshing to read a novel written by not a writer but an actual scientist, because it instilled a genuine love and excitement about science in the characters.
That being said, from the literary side of things, I was a little disappointed in the novice of the writing. There were little blips of intrigue and excitement, but as a whole, the story was bland, the characters relatively shallow, and if seemed like the author was trying to juggle too many ideas, so none of them were really well developed.
This is certainly a book for hardcore science afficionados and not for those who love a good story. I would only recommend for die-hard science fiction readers.
I have mixed feelings about this book. I am a huge science/science fiction nerd as well as an avid reader, which is why this book appealed to me.
Science-wise, the theories and physics were on point as far as I could tell as someone who is physics illiterate, and it was refreshing to read a novel written by not a writer but an actual scientist, because it instilled a genuine love and excitement about science in the characters.
That being said, from the literary side of things, I was a little disappointed in the novice of the writing. There were little blips of intrigue and excitement, but as a whole, the story was bland, the characters relatively shallow, and if seemed like the author was trying to juggle too many ideas, so none of them were really well developed.
This is certainly a book for hardcore science afficionados and not for those who love a good story. I would only recommend for die-hard science fiction readers.
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February 8, 2023Michael Crichton this ain't.
I did not finish this book, because when you start skimming on page 3, that's a bad sign. I don't know if it gets any better, but I'm betting it doesn't. The first 20 pages read like a technical paper and it's clear the author knows what he's talking about, though just as clear is the fact that he doesn't know how to write a compelling story.
I imagine that this type of book will appeal to a very narrow slice of the population. One who is more concerned with getting the science right than creating an exciting narrative.
I picked it up off a pile of "free books" at a used bookstore, which tells me my suspicions are confirmed. I'm sure they tried to sell it without success.
I did not finish this book, because when you start skimming on page 3, that's a bad sign. I don't know if it gets any better, but I'm betting it doesn't. The first 20 pages read like a technical paper and it's clear the author knows what he's talking about, though just as clear is the fact that he doesn't know how to write a compelling story.
I imagine that this type of book will appeal to a very narrow slice of the population. One who is more concerned with getting the science right than creating an exciting narrative.
I picked it up off a pile of "free books" at a used bookstore, which tells me my suspicions are confirmed. I'm sure they tried to sell it without success.
June 3, 2024
I really enjoyed this book. Some parts are dated like the computer hacking, but the main premise is still relevant. It's a hard science fiction novel, so you have to enjoy that type of book to enjoy. Some people say the characters are wooden and lack depth, that is probably somewhat true but they are interesting enough to keep the story moving.
The parts I like are that this feels like something that could be happening in a Physics lab right now, an accidental discovery that has huge implications. I'm an electronics nut, so describing the experiment and the lab setup was very interesting.
Look for his other books if you liked this one.
The parts I like are that this feels like something that could be happening in a Physics lab right now, an accidental discovery that has huge implications. I'm an electronics nut, so describing the experiment and the lab setup was very interesting.
Look for his other books if you liked this one.
March 19, 2022
Loved this! Technical without being technical!
August 2, 2022
Enjoyable book. The tech is dated, being written decades ago, but the science is sound and the adventure is well presented. Enjoyable hard science fiction!
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January 31, 2023Interesting science based tale.
January 9, 2021
One of my favorites. I read this book every few years with the same enjoyment each time. Not quite as good as the author’s other book, “Einstein’s Bridge” (my all time favorite book), but pretty close for me.
I think the author does an adequate job with character development, just enough that you know who they are and what they’re about. But the book is considered to be hard sci-fi, so it’s more about the science and the story than it is the characters. And that’s what keeps me coming back - I love stories about alternative universes, time travel, etc.
I’ll read this one again!
I think the author does an adequate job with character development, just enough that you know who they are and what they’re about. But the book is considered to be hard sci-fi, so it’s more about the science and the story than it is the characters. And that’s what keeps me coming back - I love stories about alternative universes, time travel, etc.
I’ll read this one again!
April 9, 2014
Fairly pedestrian colour by numbers hard science techno thriller. The book has dated badly (explanations of what email and bit net are no longer necessary). The author does have very strong opinions it would seem about what is and isn't science fiction - there's a strange digression disparaging the Martian Chronicles and Neuromancer for poor science, but praising Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun trolley for not being fantasy.
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July 5, 2015Very good
December 14, 2012
Nice parallel universe book. A bit too soft but simplicity attraction.
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October 11, 2016Hard, hard sci-fi, set in Seattle. Physics experiment opens a pathway to parallel/alternate Earths. Nice read, with a lot of technical stuff, explanations, etc. thrown in.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews