Cosmicomics - Hamster Inkwell

Cosmicomics

Submitted by Reviewer (not verified) on Saturday, November 12, 2005 - 23:38

Short Stories

Italo Calvino: Cosmicomics

Author	Italo Calvino
Made	Harvest Books
Date	1976-10-04
Media	Paperback
Catalog	Book
Sales Rank	25393
Availability	Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price	US$14.00
Our Price*	US$11.20

*Price subject to change

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Reviews:

Rating 4.5/5 from 30 reviews

Cosmicomics

Rating: 3/5 2008-03-27

I don't quite know what I was expecting with this book, but this just wasn't it. I was looking forward to reading this for a while but it just didn't keep me interested. This book definitely has an interesting concept, but apparently that just isn't enough for me. Other people might like it, but it may just take a little work to stay interested. Don't let this review discourage you though; take a chance.

Great literary beauty sabotaged by horrible attempts at pseudoscience

Rating: 1/5 (2 out of 5 think this is helpful) 2008-02-10

This is a collection of short stories ``based on'' scientific theories. However, this attempt to give pseudo-scientific explanations/settings to all the stories, spoils the general fable-like literary beauty and charm of these stories. I don't claim that science-fiction should be held to the same standards of rigour and correctness as science itself, but stories that require suspension of disbelief (Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide or Lem's Cyberiad) should not try to explain things within the realm of ``actual'' science. Such stories can develop their own internal self-consistent logical systems, but if they try to connect to actual science then they merely become inconsistent. It is sad to see good literature being wrecked by bad science.

Some funny and some ...tedious

Rating: 3/5 (1 out of 1 think this is helpful) 2008-01-31

The idea of entities as old as the universe telling their stories from their perspective - some at the galaxies macro scale and some at the atoms micro scale - seems like an interesting idea.
Italo Calvino has portrayed some stories with a style and prose that actually makes it a pleasurable reading experience. Unfortunately some of the stories are tedious and tiresome.
Overall - it deserves 3 stars for the idea, for being short- overall and for some of the stories which are truly fascinating.

The Infinite Narrator turns out to be . . .Groucho

Rating: 5/5 (4 out of 4 think this is helpful) 2007-08-13

Twelve stories of varying quality told-not by
a whale or a woodworm-but by a character who is as
old as creation. Now an infinite narrator could have
a lot of different voices. He/she/it could even be
voiceless, or speak by vibrating the molecules of
the universe.
Sorry, I got carried away there. Anyway, the voice thatCalvino chooses is the voice of in ironically-inclined
grandpa telling an unprecedented set of Just So stories.
Distance of the Moon is the easiest of these to like and
the one most sure to make it to anthologies. The Aquatic
Uncle-a story about creatures leaving the ocean and living,
joyfully, rebelliously on land-is the most socially apt.

But all of them, even in the hands of a playful narrator who
himself/herself/itself has no shape until the very last story, are
remarkably about love.

Does any of this make sense? Well, probably not. But it
makes something: a playful, avuncular poem maybe,or maybe
just a great read.

--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the novel bang BANG. ISBN 9781601640005

Of fairy dust and cosmic equations

Rating: 5/5 (2 out of 3 think this is helpful) 2006-11-02

Amazing, and though it's hard to write a cliche like this after reading something so incredibly original, it truly is unlike anything else you'll ever read. Calvino uses higher math elements as his characters and the construction of the universe and probably the destruction of time as his story line. Like the best of carnival rides, who knows what the heck's going on? But the ride is fantastic and just exists in its own space. Have fun with this-- but be careful: you might get lost at the outer/inner rim of creation.

Editorials:

Product Description

Enchanting stories about the evolution of the universe, with characters that are fashioned from mathematical formulae and cellular structures. “Naturally, we were all there, - old Qfwfq said, - where else could we have been? Nobody knew then that there could be space. Or time either: what use did we have for time, packed in there like sardines?” Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book

Amazon.com

An enchanting series of stories about the evolution of the universe. Calvino makes characters out of mathematical formulae and simple cellular structures. They disport themselves amongst galaxies, experience the solidification of planets, move from aquatic to terrestrial existence, play games with hydrogen atoms -- and have time for a love life.

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