Seveneves

Just completed reading the book Seveneves – written by Neal Stephenson and published in 2015. Read it because it was listed as one those must read books that appeared on Bill Gates reading list and then appeared on Barack Obama’s reading list.

Truthfully, this book has made me paused and ponder many times and I often find myself unable to carry on reading just because the concept of what was being introduced felt so surreal and extreme that it bordered on the edge of plausibility.

In short, the book hinges on the story line of the Earth and all of humanity coming to an end within 2 years. The story is so gripping because it is constantly action-oriented. It does not stop to elaborate on the why or feelings of the character, instead it talks about a course of action and what people are actually doing. The way it is written mirrors the storyline perfectly, it is perfunctory and describes the next steps and consequences in an almost unemotional way.

A lot of what is described in the book echoes in some ways, the truth of humanity. The good and bad. Our need to survive, our need to get ahead rather than get along. The inevitability of power struggles and war and fighting. The acceptance of their fate, the need for purpose and a reason to live and the almost understandable actions of governments and world leaders. The consequence of genetic engineering, the creation of new races and the power of how our history remains after thousands of years to determine our personality.

Perhaps what was so intriguing about the book is the ultimate possibility that it definitely can unravel to that state. That humans are capable of such ugliness that it will lead to that point where there will only be 7 eves left. That there will be so much in-fighting, lies and destabilization of economies on earth in the last days. That even with so much to lose, we still need to have power over others which lends itself to further destructiveness.

And that itself is startling.

But the story ends on a positive note, despite all that catastrophes, our need to survive will be so strong that we will make it work even if there are only 7 wombs to repopulate humanity.

This book has definitely made it to one of my favourites.