James P. Hogan (writer)
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James P. Hogan (born June 27, 1941, London, U.K.) is a science fiction author.
Hogan's style of science fiction is sometimes considered hard science fiction; though his knowledge of science is slight, in his earlier work he conveyed a sense of what science and scientists were about, though without getting the details correct. His philosophical view on how science should be done comes through in many of his novels; theories should be formulated based on empirical research, not the other way around. If a theory doesn't match the facts, he postulates that theory should be discarded, not the facts. This is very evident in the "Gentle Giants" series, which begins with the discovery of a 50,000 year-old human body on the moon. This discovery leads to a series of investigations, and as facts are discovered, theories on how the astronaut's body arrived on the moon 50,000 years ago are elaborated, discarded and replaced. The series shows both the strength and weakness of early Hogan, since the resolution of the mystery is impossible on astrophysical grounds.
In recent years, however, Hogan's preferred theories have tended towards those widely considered "fringe" or pseudoscientific. He is a serious proponent of Immanuel Velikovsky's version of catastrophism, of Intelligent Design over Darwinism, and of the theory that AIDS is caused by pharmaceutical use rather than HIV (see AIDS reappraisal). While such theories may seem to contradict his views on scientific rationality, they are consistent with the view that scientific theories should not be accepted simply because they are widely held (see, for instance, argument from authority).
Hogan's fiction also reflects anti-authoritarian social views. Many of his novels have strong anarchist or libertarian themes, often promoting the idea that new technological advances render certain social conventions obsolete (e.g. the effectively limitless availability of energy that would result from the development of controlled nuclear fusion would make it unnecessary to limit access to energy resources. In essence, energy would become free). This melding of scientific and social speculation is clearly present in the novel Voyage from Yesteryear (strongly influenced by Eric Frank Russell's famous story, And Then There Were None), which describes the contact between a high-tech anarchist society on a planet in the Alpha centauri system, with a starship sent from Earth by a dictatorial government. The story uses many elements of civil disobedience.
Writings
His novels include:
- Inherit the Stars - May 1977 (1st book in "Giants" series)
- The Genesis Machine - April 1978
- The Gentle Giants of Ganymede - May 1978 (2nd book in "Giants" series)
- The Two Faces of Tomorrow - June 1979
- Thrice Upon a Time - March 1980
- Giants' Star - July 1981 (3rd book in "Giants" series)
- Voyage from Yesteryear - July 1982
- Code of the Lifemaker - June 1983 ISBN 0345305493 exploring ideas of a Clanking replicator robotic system
- The Proteus Operation - October 1985
- Endgame Enigma - August 1987
- The Mirror Maze - March 1989
- The Infinity Gambit - March 1991
- Entoverse - October 1991 (4th book in "Giants" series)
- The Multiplex Man - December 1992
- Out of Time 1993 (novella)
- The Immortality Option - February 1995 (sequel to "Code of the Lifemaker")
- Realtime Interrupt - March 1995
- Paths to Otherwhere - February 1996 ISBN 0671877674
- Bug Park - April 1997
- Star Child - June 1998
- Outward Bound - March 1999
- Cradle of Saturn - June 1999
- The Legend that was Earth - October 2000
- The Anguished Dawn - Summer 2003 (sequel to "Cradle of Saturn")
- Mission to Minerva (5th Book in the "Giants" series) May 2005
Short story collections include:
- Rockets, Redheads & Revolution ISBN 0671578073 Short stories and essays 1999
- Minds Machines & Evolution ISBN 067157843X 1999
External links
- Official website (http://www.jamesphogan.com/homepage.shtml)
- Bibliography (http://scifan.com/writers/hh/HoganJames.asp) on SciFande:James P. Hogan (Schriftsteller)