Levinson, author of The Silk Code and The Consciousness Plague, among others novels, brings us one of the more peculiar time travel books I’ve read. In it, a group of time travellers brought together by forces unknown—and you never really find out whom—conspire to rescue Socrates from hemlock poisioning at the hands of the Athenian democracy, bringing him to the future for the benefit of all mankind.

Marusek has envisioned his world so clearly and carefully that the technical details feel like afterthoughts. References are made subtly and in passing, the way any of us would refer to a ubiquitous convenience like a cellphone or digital camera, and it takes you many pages to get a full glimpse of how this future society truly differs from our own, while remaining completely human and recognizable.

Imagine an entire world populated only by men. The oldest have only recollections of their wives and mothers. The youngest have never even seen a woman except in old movies and photographs. Who would hold all the cards in a world like this? The one who could bring the women back.

If you read science fiction, you have to read Robert J. Sawyer. That’s all there is to it.

Calculating God explores such mundane questions as “Was the universe designed by an intelligent creator?” “Is there a God?” “Does he influence the affairs of man?” “Why is there life in the universe?” Sawyer’s answers are the most imaginative you will ever read.