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 cosmic astonishment Jan 21, 2010
A perfect exposition of science fiction, Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics is a tender and dreamlike weaving of stories that touch upon the sheer wonder both the universe and consciousness itself. Calvino begins each story with an established scientific conjecture, thereafter placing an anthropomorphic and wildly fictitious annotation of the universe at various stages or for lack of a better word, times. Narrating from entities personified through equations and representations, predominantly through the central character Qfwfq, Calvino wistfully describes the universe through fleeting instances of love, attraction, loss, creation and change.
The stories range from the concrete to the fluid, including a time when reaching the moon is as simple as climbing a ladder, the astronomical paranoia induced from simple messages sent from distant observers and millennia, where a dinosaur ponders the significance, perhaps even the power of its own extinction, to the familial colloid particles, uncertain of their new inertia, being torn apart in the creation of matter and planets. Though all have a human feel, it is a joyous exposition of the unfathomable, alien events we cannot ponder enough.
The sentience that Calvino gives to the entities persisting and changing throughout Cosmicomics is an appreciation not only of the scientific beauty of the universe, but of the beauty of his fiction.
Thinking before our time Jun 30, 2009
Move over Franz Kafka, Calvino's Cosmicomics offers metamorphoses that transcend our earthbound existence. Twelve stories (meant to imitate the Zodiac perhaps?) take the read back in time, to cosmological pre-history. Yet there is a consciousness present, even before the Big Bang, where space is sparring.
Starting each story with a scientific observation, Calvino provided us with marvelous insights into the vanities of consciousness, along with accounts of the last dinosaur (which lives as a stranger among the new inhabitants), and the consciousness of the eyeless clam that wills his own shell and conceptualizes the eye, which all other beings now have, except the clam.
Most amusing is Calvino's story of the time when the Moon was so close to the earth that it was possible for earthlings to climb a ladder and walk on the Moon. But as the Moon moves away, a woman who had tried to attract a lover (who gets off before it is too late, leaving the woman stranded there. As we, today, look at the Moon, do we see a Man in the Moon or a pining woman?
Calvino is likely to prove a "find" for science fiction readers who are as interested in the past as in the future. Cosmicomics is also likely to be of interest in readers who wish to consider the evolution of literature, especially the short story. The stories are serious and amusing at the same time. This book is definitely worthy of reading, more than once. It will make the reader laugh and think at the same time.
0 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Over a month now...haven't received it Apr 09, 2009
I ordered this book on 03/09/2009. Today it has been exactly a month since I placed the order and it has yet to arrive. When I notified the seller two weeks ago they did respond to let me know the book had inadvertently sent to the wrong post office. However, two weeks later I am still waiting. Worst experience to date buying a book on Amazon.
A home in Cosmos Sep 28, 2008
Ever since our ancestors started looking into the night sky, the saw patterns and connections between the stars, moons and planets, and used stories and myths to imbue those patterns with meaning and structure. With the big hindsight of the scientific worldview, all those ancient stories may seem quaint and naïve. And indeed, the advent of modern astronomy and astrophysics has greatly enriched and deepened our understanding of the Cosmos. But these wonderful new insights should not be taken in opposition to our imagination when we stare in the sky. And this is the starting point of Italo Calvino's wonderful book "Cosmicomics." It is in a sense a variation on the theme of Cosmos. Each one of the chapters in the book takes a certain scientific fact about the Cosmos, its evolution and the present state, and turns it into an imaginative story with a deeply personal theme. The main protagonist, whimsically named Qfwfq, is present in many forms throughout history of the Cosmos and he narrates its main events through very personal eyes. Many of the stories are love stories of the most imaginative kind, which is not surprising since Calvino is known and excels at that genre. Overall this is a wonderful book that tries to reestablish a very human face of the Cosmos. I highly recommend it.
The Greatest Book Ever Aug 17, 2008
I always hated reading translated books, but this one doesn't lose an ounce because of William Weaver and Calvino! I highly recommend reading this book. It is mind-blowing, funny, and it look me so long to read because after every sentence I would think for a while about the meaning, our meaning, and what was going on in Calvino's mind! This is a life-changing book.
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