The 21st century was on the brink of nuclear confrontation when the 300 kilometer-long stone flashed out of nothingness and into Earth's orbit. NASA, NATO, and the UN sent explorers to the asteroid's surface...and discovered marvels and mysteries to drive researchers mad. For the Stone was from space--but perhaps not our space; it came from the future-but perhaps not our future; and within the hollowed asteroid was Thistledown. The remains of a vanished civilization. A human--English, Russian, and Chinese-speaking--civilization. Seven vast chambers containing forests, lakes, rivers, hanging cities... And museums describing the Death; the catastrophic war that was about to occur; the horror and the long winter that would follow. But while scientists and politicians bickered about how to use the information to stop the Death, the Stone yielded a secret that made even Earth's survival pale into insignificance.
Publication Year: 1991
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This is excellent Hard sci-fi, enthralling. Very much a book about ideas, with scant attention paid to characterization. It is in the "strange object in space" tradition (like _Rendezvous with Rama_, and _Ringworld_) but with several welcome and intriguing twists.
It was strongest in the beginning--the questions he poses are more interesting than the answers he suggests. But that is the risk you take when you tackle such intriguing ideas and possibilities as Bear has here.
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