In the real world, elements often have different isotopes with slightly different properties. Boron-10 is slightly lighter than Boron-11, and it's a much better radiation shielding material.
In the world of Scales, there's another atomic property that doesn't exist in the real world, but is crucially important to the story: To simplify things a bit, "scale zero" atoms are enriched in one set of leptons. Scale one atoms are enriched in a slightly different set. Scale two is slightly different from scale one, and so on, all the way to scale seven.
Materials at different scales have wildly different properties, though these are mostly related to density and atomic spacing. Scale one material is light and diffuse. Scale seven material is extremely dense and damage resistant.
The materials are ultimately the same -- or analogous. In the real world, there is "heavy water" that is enriched in deuterium, the heavy isotope of hydrogen. In Scales, there's light scale zero water and ultra-dense scale seven water, and everything in-between.
There are also living things at every scale.
Now, imagine a scale one person stands six feet tall and weighs 200 pounds. A scale seven person is about the size of your thumbnail and yet also weighs 200 pounds. These small-but-tough scale seven people live, think, and develop dozens or hundreds of times faster than their lower-scale cousins. They also cannot be harmed by lower-scale weaponry, and they have fearsome natural weapons.
Scale seven people are VERY reminiscent of the neutron star denizens in Robert L. Forward's "Dragon's Egg." In terms of applied technological development, they run circles around the other humans, who are larger and slower. The scale sevens are not intrinsically smarter, but they are many times faster, and that counts for a lot...
(There are other points of similarity between the books, but I'll refrain from spoiling the plots!)
So why haven't the scale sevens taken over? Why do soft and slow-witted scale one people still exist? That's the crux of the story -- which runs from noir detective tale to political thriller. It's fun and very thought provoking.
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Scale Paperback – 1 January 2023
by
Greg Egan
(Author)
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When electronics importer Cara Leon goes missing, private investigator Sam Mujrif is hired by her sister to investigate. Cara is eight times taller than Sam, but evidence soon points to players much smaller than either of them. As Sam and his cross-scale colleagues pursue the case, it becomes apparent that Cara’s disappearance is linked to the development of technology with the potential to reshape their whole society, and radically alter the balance of power between the scales.
- Print length272 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication date1 January 2023
- Dimensions15.24 x 1.57 x 22.86 cm
- ISBN-101922240435
- ISBN-13978-1922240439
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Product details
- Publisher : Greg Egan (1 January 2023)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 272 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1922240435
- ISBN-13 : 978-1922240439
- Dimensions : 15.24 x 1.57 x 22.86 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 168,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 1,682 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
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Greg Egan lives in Perth, Western Australia. He has won the Hugo Award, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and the Japanese Seiun Award for best translated fiction.
Customer reviews
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136 global ratings
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M. Sambol
2.0 out of 5 stars
Read the blurb and don't bother with the rest
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 28 March 2023Verified Purchase
I read pretty much everything Greg Egan writes. I find his books brilliant, engrossing, impressive and thought provoking. He is often heavy handed with his politics but this is simply something that comes with the territory, so to speak, and not only can I live with it, I'll admit that I've been influenced by it.
That said, this one is just a total bore. If you've read the blurb you get the idea, and there's just no reason to read this. It was a drag getting to 50%, and I'm calling it quits.
That said, this one is just a total bore. If you've read the blurb you get the idea, and there's just no reason to read this. It was a drag getting to 50%, and I'm calling it quits.
4 people found this helpful
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Adam Carlton
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting science, familiar politics
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 13 February 2023Verified Purchase
Egan's short new novel starts slow, with baffling unexplained context (it turns out that there are seven different scale human types with exponential differences in size, density and metabolic/thinking speed. Ones are large, light and slow; sevens are small, dense and fast. Other communities are in-between.
They all live in a linear, zoned city on the waterfront, getting along somehow and with some benefits from trade.
The fast sevens, however, have made some technical advances which promise for themselves future prosperity and an interplanetary future - with much less reliance on the slows.
But in the existing political setup, won't the majority-slows join together to stop these innovations, potentially so threatening?
The separatists thinks so, and are preparing to declare independence.
Egan tries to give the separatists a fair crack of the arguments but his heart isn't in it. This is a liberal tract along the lines of 'why can't we all just get along'. In America Egan would be a Democrat left activist, in the UK an avid Remainer and in his native Australia a firm proponent of Aboriginal rights and a welcome to all those refugee boats.
If you agree wholeheartedly with these sentiments, you will find the writing affirming and heart-warming. Otherwise you might reach for adjectives such as naïve, gullible and tendentious.
They all live in a linear, zoned city on the waterfront, getting along somehow and with some benefits from trade.
The fast sevens, however, have made some technical advances which promise for themselves future prosperity and an interplanetary future - with much less reliance on the slows.
But in the existing political setup, won't the majority-slows join together to stop these innovations, potentially so threatening?
The separatists thinks so, and are preparing to declare independence.
Egan tries to give the separatists a fair crack of the arguments but his heart isn't in it. This is a liberal tract along the lines of 'why can't we all just get along'. In America Egan would be a Democrat left activist, in the UK an avid Remainer and in his native Australia a firm proponent of Aboriginal rights and a welcome to all those refugee boats.
If you agree wholeheartedly with these sentiments, you will find the writing affirming and heart-warming. Otherwise you might reach for adjectives such as naïve, gullible and tendentious.
One person found this helpful
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