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Author
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Topic: Deception Point
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2000 lb tiger
Member Posts: 12
From: USA
Registered: Jul 2004
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posted 07-23-2004 09:59 AM
  
Has anyone on this list read Deception Point by Dan Brown, author of The DaVinci Code? I just finished reading it and it is very entertaining. NASA, artic meteorites, ET life, espionage, a great mixture. I highly recommend it. |
BLACKARROW
unregistered
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posted 07-23-2004 02:04 PM
I'm taking it on holiday to read - thanks for the recommendation! |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 07-24-2004 09:52 AM
I skimmed it and it looked extremely bad. Within the first dozen pages or so it demonstrated an extreme ignorance about how the space world works. The author wrote that NASA launches Titan IV rockets carrying National Reconnaissance Office spysats and had blown up one or two of them, damaging national security. This was "proof" that NASA was a screwed-up, dangerous agency.I believe that the plot is based upon NASA officials, desperate to get bigger budgets, faking a major space discovery. Well, if you want to drag NASA's name through the mud, at least try to be accurate. Don't invent things. It looked like crap to me. |
4tr
Member Posts: 129
From: Scituate, Massachusetts
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 07-24-2004 11:18 AM
I enjoyed it, although I agree that if you're looking for scientific accuarcy you'd best look elsewhere. What bothered me the most as a one-time meteorite collector is that Brown proposes that conditions deep in the sea could create chondrule-like structures. I don't recall him giving a plausible explanation of how that could happen. Given that the deep sea environment is the polar opposite under which chondrules did form, he was probably wise not to. However, those "fake" chondrules are central to the story and the biggest problem I had with the book.
Ed |
2000 lb tiger
Member Posts: 12
From: USA
Registered: Jul 2004
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posted 07-26-2004 08:35 AM
If you read the book you'll see that NASA wasn't faking the discovery. We are talking about a novel (fiction). There are holes in the plot but it is still a thriller. How many books with NASA as a prominent entity are published each year? Not many. |
WAWalsh
Member Posts: 809
From: Cortlandt Manor, NY
Registered: May 2000
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posted 07-26-2004 09:12 AM
On the plausibility and writing scale, I would give it a 3 out of 10. It is what it is -- light beach reading. Unlike the DaVinci Code that caused one to reexamine art, this will not get you looking into science and politics. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 07-26-2004 10:27 AM
"There are holes in the plot but it is still a thriller. How many books with NASA as a prominent entity are published each year? Not many."Yeah, but crap is crap. I'm currently reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, having plowed through the first three books in about six weeks. All I can say is that these are wonderful, enjoyable, clever books. I highly recommend them. They're not just for kids. |
2000 lb tiger
Member Posts: 12
From: USA
Registered: Jul 2004
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posted 07-26-2004 01:04 PM
In my opinion, Harry Potter books are crap. |
Larry McGlynn
Member Posts: 1255
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 07-26-2004 01:30 PM
I read Deception Point in April and it was disappointing. The science was faulty, the plot was thin and the heroine's rescue in the Arctic Sea was beyond plausibility. Plus it made NASA look bad and even worse, stupid. I threw the book out after reading it. ------------------
Larry McGlynn
A Tribute to Apollo |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 07-26-2004 06:02 PM
"In my opinion, Harry Potter books are crap."Well, there's no arguing with a well-reasoned statement like that... |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 07-26-2004 06:33 PM
For anyone looking for fictional books featuring NASA, I suggest starting with Allen Steele's books. I particularly liked Labyrinth of Night. Rude Astronauts (a collection of short stories) is fun. He also has a great short story "A Walk Across Mars" in the anthology book Mars Probes, edited by Peter Crowther. Some of his other books are Lunar Descent and The Tranquility Alternative.There's also a book from around a decade ago by a couple of authors called Assemblers of Infinity. And you might also look up a couple of books by Mike Cassutt that have dealt with these kinds of things. One common problem with a lot of near-future fiction is that they end unspectacularly--I've seen roughly the same ending for several of the above books as well as a couple of sci-fi movies. But although the destination is a bit of a letdown, at least the journey is fun. |
2000 lb tiger
Member Posts: 12
From: USA
Registered: Jul 2004
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posted 07-27-2004 10:40 AM
"Well, there's no arguing with a well-reasoned statement like that..."True, not as eloquent as "Crap is crap." |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 07-27-2004 11:23 PM
"True, not as eloquent as "Crap is crap.""[Sigh] Okay. You bought the book, you liked the book. You asked what other people thought of the book. The comments here are essentially that the plot has holes, the science and technology is inaccurate, and the book slams NASA. My opinion that the book is crap is based upon those points. So, now you can make your case. |
2000 lb tiger
Member Posts: 12
From: USA
Registered: Jul 2004
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posted 07-28-2004 09:00 AM
I really didn't mean to start an argument. Deception Point has many flaws and required significant suspension of disbelief. I like to read books by M. Cassutt and others that are pretty much based in reality, and in which NASA figures prominently, but unfortunately they are rare. The "meteorite with a fossil, the expedition to the artic, the gadgets, the often interesting explanations were enjoyable to me. I suppose it was kinda like the old Mystery Science Theater on the SciFi Channnel where it's fun to pick apart plot elements of old movies. When I finished reading Deception Point I thought none of that could have happened, but it was a fun read. By the way, a book that I really enjoyed AND thought was plausible was Ignition by Kevin Anderson. And...I won't post any more book recommendations. |
Larry McGlynn
Member Posts: 1255
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 07-28-2004 12:12 PM
2000 lb tiger,Don't sweat it. Deception Point was ok. It's just I am the same guy who yells out during fiction movies that something can't happen because.. Everybody just tells me to shutup and sit down. You should have seen me during the final basement scene of the Silence of Lambs.  Plus people here don't like to see NASA slapped around too much. There has been enough of that in real life. So don't worry and post away. ------------------
Larry McGlynn
A Tribute to Apollo |
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