The Little Universe

Brilliant and Original Concept, Well Executed

"The Little Universe" by Jason Matthews is worth more than the $2.99 price and lost sleep you're sure to experience once you begin this un-put-downable novel. Even after finishing the book, I'm still losing sleep because I can't stop thinking about it.

There are quite a few excellent stories by indie authors, but all too often they are riddled with typos, formatting errors and grammatical gaffs. This book is NOT one of them. Not only is the plot based on a brilliant and original concept, it is well crafted, tightly paced and beautifully written.

The science is detailed enough to feel real but delivered organically without a single info-dump. I didn't understand all the physics, but since the main character didn't either, I never felt stupid. "The Little Universe" is as good as or better than any traditionally published book I've read in the past year and better than most.

The characters are multi-faceted, believable and instantly engaging. The story is told from the protagonist, Jon's, point of view. He is highly intelligent and creative, but uneducated and in need of a spiritual awakening. I was always on his side, but I occasionally wanted to smack him and shake some sense into him. I even yelled at him at one point, but I understood why he made the choices he did.

The antagonist had his redeeming qualities, making it difficult to hate him. His decisions were clearly motivated by greed but I think he honestly believed he was working for the "greater good."

The supporting cast was well developed without crowding the storyline. Each person was an individual worthy of their own novel. I am thrilled the sequel, "Jim's Life," features one of my favorite personalities from this novel.

I highly recommend this entertaining and enlightening book to all science fiction fans as well as anyone questioning the meaning of life or exploring their own spirituality.

Philisophically intriguing!

What a great story! From the first page, this book held my interest as well as my curiousity. The description sounded so 'deep' I was initially concerned the content might be beyond my personal comprehension - what a pleasant surprise to discover quite the opposite! The characters are well developed and believable. By the end of the book I really felt like I knee them. My only disappointment was reaching the last page. I wasnt ready to see my adventure with everyone end. I really liked Jim - he was quite funny. I have already purchased the sequel on my NC and look forward to another thought provoking adventure! I highly recommend this book to anyone who has pondered the existance of life.

Fun science fiction with a philosophical bent

This delightful, subtly humorous novel asks the question, "What might happen if you could create your own universe in miniature, and explore it to whatever level of detail you desired?" From the very first page, I was pulled into the story, and I couldn't put the book down. Most of the book is conversational rather than narrative, which helps to propel the story forward; there are no dull moments.

There are many social aspects to the story that seem implausible; how an experiment of this magnitude could be started by a single scientist, or how such an amazing array of new technologies necessary for the experiment could be brought together for the first time by that scientist, or why a carpenter with no scientific background would be picked up as an assistant. But the fact that the experiment was simultaneously so big and so small, helps to the give the story its joyous, unpredictable air, and makes it such a fun read.

Most of the technical aspects of the story are given at least a veneer of scientific plausibility. One intriguing aspect of the story is the ability of the scientists to monitor anything in their entire universe, to "zoom in" on individuals on any planet anywhere. This aspect echoes some ideas from Frank Tipler's book, "The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead."

Excellent read...

Jason Matthew's the Little Universe is a work of art, not only as his book's cover depicts, but as its content reveals. A group of scientists, with the help of an anthropomorphically interesting computer, create a miniature universe in a lab. As the little universe grows exponentially, the group microscopically observes degrees of life and development on numerous discovered planets. The group itself then begins a journey of technological, as well as spiritual growth.
Using accurate terminology from astronomy, cosmology and applied physics, Jason engages the reader with believable scenarios of varying evolutionary paths that life-humanity-can potentially take. Interweaved with the scientific are the spiritual, metaphysical queries of life as well: What is consciousness? Can it transcend matter, distance, and time? Is there a higher evolutionary position we are all destined to arrive at-individually and collectively? Is life intended to be more? These are some of the questions underlying the themes of this unique work.
This is an interesting and engaging story that I think emulates mankind's dichotomous position in history today: that of simultaneously seeing the benefits, as well as the destructive side of growth and technology, and weighing these in the balance as we all ask: is there more than just this material life, and what is my part in it?
Good job Jason, looking forward to the Little Universe's sequel.

G. F. Smith (gfsmithbooks)

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