The following book review comes from one of the board members of the Creation Science Fellowship of New Mexico. I post it in its entirety:
BEYOND EARTH—the Rise and Fall of the Interplanetary Age by Paul Lewis
Beyond Earth is an insightful story of entrepreneurs driving the conquest of the solar system. Seeing great profit in capitalizing on possibilities that are made real by new materials manufactured in low- to zero-gravity environments, commercial enterprises reach out to the planets, their moons, and asteroids. Exploration, colonization, and exploitation are the themes of a movement reminiscent of the Gold Rush days. Space, however, is a harsh host, its harbors not well suited to the Earth-born. Technology can bring humans far, but commercialism is driven on timely payoffs- let the buyer beware!
In this story, a sprinkling of Christians are instrumental in the business of conquering space. Their various contributions, personalities and private lives express a truth not readily perceived in much of literature; each Christian is an individual, and each is very much a human. Strengths and weaknesses are apparent in each, as much as in the characters of those who find Christianity offensive. Along the way, a few find reasons to believe in that God that they might have thought they left behind, or outgrew.
A remarkable fact of this book is the near-total absence of Islam. The word Islam does not occur. There is an historical reference to caliphates long gone, and late in the story a space traffic controller’s thoughts list some “moon-faring countries”, among which are ones that are now or likely to become, Muslim- Egypt, Indonesia, Persia, Uganda, Malaysia. In a decade even Europe might be Muslim-dominated.
Persia is an anachronistic name which I take to mean Iran. Events could be imagined and perhaps should have been referenced, to return it to its former name.
In any case, could so much of human history happen without significant occurrences under a crescent banner? Islam might not drive the space race, but to imagine no significant influence seems to me to require a very different reality.
One character in this string of stories about Man in space fascinates me. Introduced as born and raised on Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, this person is a great representation of a possibility which I hope has not and will not actually happen. Yet, in another sense, there are many of them all around us. I pray that God gives me wisdom and love to understand them whenever I come upon them.
Finally, I note that Beyond Earth ends with an easy path for a sequel. The status of the colony population on one planet remains in question. It happens to be the most viable venture in the system, having lost no humans. What has happened with it now that Earth’s influence has abated? Another story might be on the way!
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