| Tau Zero |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT TAU ZERO | |
| 1970 novels | |
| science fiction novels | |
| novels by poul anderson | |
| relativity | |
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The book is regarded as a quintessential example of so-called "hard" sci-fi, as its plot is guided by technology without any foray into the fantasy genre. Tau Zero follows the crew of the starship ''Lenora Christine'', a colonization vessel crewed by 50 men and 50 women--the first wave of the program, to be followed by additional colonists so as to firm up the settlement and avoid Genetic Drift . The ship is not capable of overcoming the light barrier and so is contrained by relativity, which limits it to two substantial engines, an accelerator and a decelerator. The decelerator becomes damaged during the trip, and so the ship is unable to slow down, careening helplessly towards light speed, or tau zero. Much of the book deals with the crewmembers' various reactions to the knowledge that they are being carried further and further into the future (because of the extreme Time Dilation caused by their ever-increasing velocity) and away from any possibility of contact with humanity. The book derives considerable power through descriptions of the changing and extreme time dilation's effects. |
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