Calculating God is the new near-future SF thriller from the popular and award-winning Robert J. Sawyer. An alien shuttle craft lands outside the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. A six-legged, two-armed alien emerges, who says, in perfect English, "Take me to a paleontologist." It seems that Earth, and the alien's home planet, and the home planet of another alien species traveling on the alien mother ship, all experienced the same five cataclysmic events at about the same time (one example of these "cataclysmic events" would be the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs). Both alien races believe this proves the existence of God: i.e. he's obviously been playing with the evolution of life on each of these planets. From this provocative launch point, Sawyer tells a fast-paced, and morally and intellectually challenging, SF story that just grows larger and larger in scope. The evidence of God's universal existence is not universally well received on Earth, nor even immediately believed. And it reveals nothing of God's nature. In fact. it poses more questions than it answers. When a supernova explodes out in the galaxy but close enough to wipe out life on all three home-worlds, the big question is, Will God intervene or is this the sixth cataclysm:? Calculating God is SF on the grand scale.   Calculating God is a 2001 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel.

"For fiction to be called literature, the story should stay with readers and keep them thinking about it long after the book has been put away. It is safe to say that Sawyer has accomplished both with Calculating God." -- Rocky Mountain NewsA spaceship lands outside the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. An alien being emerges and says, in perfect English, "Take me to a paleontologist." Hollus is traveling from star to star on a quest to scientifically prove that God exists. Tom Jericho, the human scientist with whom he ends up working, is convinced there is no God. Their debates, and their growing friendship, drive the narrative in this fast-paced, morally and intellectually challenging story of ambitious scope and touching humanity. Calculating God is SF on a grand scale."Sawyer has created a very interesting figure in Tom Jericho, whose scientific mind is the battleground of ideas in the novel. A fine read; an intellectual thriller with real bite." -- Edmonton Journal

An alien traveling from star to star on a scientific quest to prove the existence of God and a human atheist scientist develop a friendship as they work together to find the truth.

"An alien shuttle craft lands outside the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. A six-legged, two-armed alien emerges, who says, in perfect English, 'Take me to a paleontologist.' It seems that Earth, and the alien's home planet, and the home planet of another alien species traveling on the alien mother ship, all experienced the same five cataclysmic events at about the same time. ... Both alien races believe this proves the existence of God."--Jacket.

An alien shuttle craft lands outside the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. A six-legged, two-armed alien emerges and says, in perfect English, "Take me to a paleontologist." In the distant past, Earth, the alien's home planet, and the home planet of another alien species, all experienced the same five cataclysmic events at the same time (one example: the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs). Both alien races believe this proves the existence of God: i.e., he's obviously been playing with the evolution of life on each of these planets. From this provocative launch point, Sawyer tells a fast-paced, morally and intellectually challenging story of ambitious scope andtouching humanity.Calculating God is SF on a grand scale. Calculating God is a 2001 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel.

When aliens land in Toronto, they present astounding evidence that their planet and Earth have experienced the same cataclysmic events--evidence that they claim proves the existence of God.

Hollus, an alien from Beta Hydri III, sets off a storm of controversy when he presents paleontologist Tom Jericho with proof that God exists by pointing out the matching evolutionary histories of three planets in the universe, and it becomes clear that Hollus's claims are about to be tested when a supernova explodes, perhaps heralding a sixth major extinction on all three worlds.

CALCULATING GOD by Best-Novel Hugo and Nebula Award-winner Robert J. Sawyer DID GOD CREATE THE UNIVERSE? THE ALIENS THINK THEY CAN PROVE IT! The beloved Hugo Award-nominated novel about the conflict between science and religion — perfect for fans of Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow and Carl Sagan's Co ntact . An alien walks into Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum and asks to see a paleontologist. Dinosaur expert Tom Jericho is stunned to learn that many worlds experienced the same five great mass extinction events as Earth did, and that the aliens believe this proves God tampers with the evolution of life. As Tom faces his own mortality, will his life-long atheism be shaken by these revelations? From this provocative launch point, Sawyer tells a fast-paced, morally and intellectually challenging story that just grows larger and larger in scope. Calculating God is SF on the grand scale — with a very human heart. Praise for Calculating God: "Spectacular; unusually thoughtful SF." — Publishers Weekly "The premise is astounding. A fine read; an intellectual thriller with real bite." — Edmonton Journal "The best science fiction novel of the year." — Denver Rocky Mountain News "An engrossing and nuanced novel, full of food for thought and meat for meditation, the sort of epistemological gavotte that reminds us why God invented science fiction in the first place." — James Morrow "An enthralling story. The climax is an exhilarating and touching glimpse of transcendence." — Starlog "Sawyer ends with grandeur worthy of Arthur C. Clarke." — The Denver Post "An action-packed yet highly philosophical, theological, and ethical story. Well-melded into the fast-paced plot, a wonderful dialogue goes on over the God question and over right, wrong, and the purpose of life. It's guaranteed to expand the minds of believers and non-believers alike." — Tom Harpur in The Toronto Star "Sawyer once again demonstrates his wild talent for innovative, iconoclastic storytelling as he relates a thought-provoking, sobering, yet wryly compassionate tale of one man's discovery of timelessness even as his own time is running out." — Library Journal "Exciting and emotional. Sawyer smoothly combines ethical questions and comical dialogue in a highly absorbing tale." — Booklist " Calculating God is the most captivating work of science fiction I've read since Carl Sagan's Contact ." — Victoria Times Colonist Robert J. Sawyer , a member of The Order of Canada and a Globe and Mail , Maclean's , and #1 Locus bestseller, is the author of 24 previous novels, including The Oppenheimer Alternative , Quantum Night , and FlashForward , the basis for the ABC TV series. He lives just outside Toronto.

Paleontologist Tom Jericho helps an alien prove the existence of God based on the occurrence of five cataclysmic events on three different planets at the same time.

"An alien shuttle craft lands outside a museum. Out pops a six-legged, two-armed alien named Hollus who says, "Take me to yoru paleontologist." The paleontologist, Tom Jericho, helps Hollus investigate Earth's evolutionary history. It seems that Earth and Hollus' home planet, and the home planet of another alien species traveling with Hollus, all experienced the same five cataclysmic events at about the same time, including events exactly like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs." -from back cover.

In this Hugo-nominated novel, an alien walks into a museum and asks if he can see a paleontologist. But the arachnid ET hasn't come aboard a rowboat with the Pope and Stephen Hawking (although His Holiness does request an audience later). Landing at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the spacefarer, Hollus, asks to compare notes on mass extinctions with resident dino-scientist Thomas Jericho. A shocked Jericho finds that not only does life exist on other planets, but that every civilization in the galaxy has experienced extinction events at precisely the same time. Armed with that disconcerting information (and a little help from a grand unifying theory), the alien informs Jericho, almost dismissively, that the primary goal of modern science is to discover why God has behaved as he has and to determine his methods.

His new novel concerns the appearance at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto of a spiderlike alien paleontologist named Hollus. The alien has come to Earth to study the five great extinction events that have hit our planet over the eons, the best known being the asteroid collision that wiped out the dinosaurs. When the museum's head paleontologist, Tom Jericho, consults with the alien, he is shocked to discover that Hollus has proof that her own planet and that of another alien race suffered a similar series of five catastrophic events at virtually the same times as Earth did. More surprising still to a 21st-century disciple of Darwin like Jericho, both alien races see this synchronicity, along with other scientific evidence, as proof of the existence of God. Much of the novel is relatively cerebral, as Jericho and Hollus argue over the scientific data they've gathered in support of God's existence, but Sawyer excels at developing both protagonists into full-fledged characters, and he adds tension to his story in several ways: Jericho has terminal cancer, which gives him a personal stake in discovering the truth of the alien's claims, and lurking in the background are a murderous pair of abortion clinic bombers who have decided that the museum's Burgess Shale exhibition is an abomination that must be destroyed. Finally, there's the spectacular, if not entirely prepared for, climax in which God manifests in an unexpected manner. This is unusually thoughtful SF. (June) FYI: Sawyer's The Terminal Experiment won the 1995 Nebula Award for Best Novel.

An alien shuttle craft lands outside the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. A six-legged, two-armed alien emerges and asks if he can see a paleontologist to compare notes on mass extinctions. According to the alien, Earth and its home planet have experienced the same five cataclaysmic events at about the same time. This launches the story which deals with the existence of God and evolution.

Imaginemos que una lanzadera espacial alienigena aterriza delante de un museo de la ciencia como muchos de los que existen hoy en dia. De la lanzadera desciende un ser con forma de arana gigantesca que, ni corto ni perezoso, bajo la mirada sorprendida y tal vez atemorizada de una creciente multitud, se dirige al guarda y, en perfecto ingles, le pide: "Quiero ver al paleontologo."Asi empieza una insolita investigacion cientifica alienigena que pretende demostrar la existencia de Dios, pese a los recelos de Tom D. Jericho, el paleontologo terrestre que, como tantos cienificos racionalistas, parece no necesitar en absoluto la hipotesis de la existencia de un Dios creador. Especulacion y divulgacion cientificas magistralmente unidas a los debates morales propios de su mente racional enfrentada no solo a un dilema cientifico sino a su propia e irremediable finitud cuando acaba de serle diagnosticado en cancer terminal.