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Book Recommendations
Recommended books can be ordered on Bookshop.
Dissolution by Nicholas Binge
“If the present only exists when it’s observed, what if the past only exists because it’s remembered?” Time travel is a hard concept to develop in fiction novels. Often, authors lose track of the story’s trajectory moving between past and present. Readers become frustrated with the lack of continuity in the plot. An author must remain true to the story’s logic or face the wrath of angry reviewers. Did Nicholas Binge deliver a successful time travel story? Stanley, Jacques and Raph meet in Whelton College. They come from different backgrounds. And like all young people, they carry emotional baggage. One commonality is their intellect. “Having an expansive memory is the essence of creativity, and creativity is the cornerstone of all human progress.”Professor Waldman, though physically blind, views the world from a unique perspective. Over time, the professor brings curious young men together, where he stretches the boundaries of their memories. He believes memory holds the key to knowledge. By increasing your memory, an individual’s intellect expands. “If we can unlock perfect memory, we will unlock a whole new era of humanity. A new Renaissance but ten times larger. It will be the biggest discovery in the history of the human race.” Time progresses and the young men prepare to leave the university for their individual interests. However, Stanley remains. Until one day when he discovers a cryptic message from Professor Waldman. “It hungers. An immortal bane, dread, and dire, and fierce.” In Braille, Stanley finds the word Croatan. Bewildered and distraught, Stanley searches for what the professor meant. However, some questions should remain unanswered. Decades later, Stanley lives in a nursing home. His wife, Margaret, and a mysterious stranger, Hassan, join forces to uncover what the students of Whelton College unleashed. Margaret travels between past and present, trying to understand Stanley’s work and Hassan’s motivation. The octogenarian must clean up their mess. “Because our identities are defined by our experiences, and our experiences are just a collection of our memories. In that sense, our memories—both conscious and subconscious—are what make us human. Without memory, we would be blank slates.” Unfortunately, Binge failed to enlarge upon the concept of Creatures of the Dream or the before-past. Probably to spare readers from a lengthy novel. Explaining ancestral beings and deep time would easily push the novel over four hundred pages. Dissolution shows that not all monsters are bad. This is my first science fiction book of the year, and one of my favorite stories thus far.
“If the present only exists when it’s observed, what if the past only exists because it’s remembered?” Time travel is a hard concept to develop in fiction novels. Often, authors lose track of the story’s trajectory moving between past and present. Readers become frustrated with the lack of continuity in the plot. An author must remain true to the story’s logic or face the wrath of angry reviewers. Did Nicholas Binge deliver a successful time travel story? Stanley, Jacques and Raph meet in Whelton College. They come from different backgrounds. And like all young people, they carry emotional baggage. One commonality is their intellect. “Having an expansive memory is the essence of creativity, and creativity is the cornerstone of all human progress.”Professor Waldman, though physically blind, views the world from a unique perspective. Over time, the professor brings curious young men together, where he stretches the boundaries of their memories. He believes memory holds the key to knowledge. By increasing your memory, an individual’s intellect expands. “If we can unlock perfect memory, we will unlock a whole new era of humanity. A new Renaissance but ten times larger. It will be the biggest discovery in the history of the human race.” Time progresses and the young men prepare to leave the university for their individual interests. However, Stanley remains. Until one day when he discovers a cryptic message from Professor Waldman. “It hungers. An immortal bane, dread, and dire, and fierce.” In Braille, Stanley finds the word Croatan. Bewildered and distraught, Stanley searches for what the professor meant. However, some questions should remain unanswered. Decades later, Stanley lives in a nursing home. His wife, Margaret, and a mysterious stranger, Hassan, join forces to uncover what the students of Whelton College unleashed. Margaret travels between past and present, trying to understand Stanley’s work and Hassan’s motivation. The octogenarian must clean up their mess. “Because our identities are defined by our experiences, and our experiences are just a collection of our memories. In that sense, our memories—both conscious and subconscious—are what make us human. Without memory, we would be blank slates.” Unfortunately, Binge failed to enlarge upon the concept of Creatures of the Dream or the before-past. Probably to spare readers from a lengthy novel. Explaining ancestral beings and deep time would easily push the novel over four hundred pages. Dissolution shows that not all monsters are bad. This is my first science fiction book of the year, and one of my favorite stories thus far.
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