Venus - Ben Bova

Venus

By Ben Bova

  • Release Date: 2001-05-15
  • Genre: Science Fiction
Score: 4
4
From 28 Ratings

Description

The surface of Venus is the most hellish place in the solar system. The ground is hot enough to melt aluminum. The air pressure is so high it has crushed spacecraft landers as though they were tin cans. The sky is perpetually covered with clouds of sulfuric acid. The atmosphere is a choking mixture of carbon dioxide and poisonous gases.

This is where Van Humphries must go. Or die trying.

His older brother perished in the first attempt to land a man on Venus, years before, and his father had always hated Van for surviving when his brother died. Now his father is offering a ten billion dollar prize to the first person to land on Venus and return his oldest son's remains.

To everyone's surprise, Van takes up the offer. But what Van Humphries will find on Venus will change everything--our understanding of Venus, of global warming on Earth, and his knowledge of who he is.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Reviews

  • Venus- Ben Bova

    1
    By Ken Follet
    Venus is gripping Sci Fi thriller written by one of the masters of the craft. It's focus on Venus differentiates it from the usual space operas we see these days. Overall I would recommend it to fans of the genre. However I was moved ti write this review because of the infuriating low quality of the editing and proof reading of the e-book I bought. There are numerous repeated typos throughout the book. So many in fact, that it detracted greatly from the reading experience. For example the word "life" had been replaced by the word "the" throughout the e-book. Similarly the world "line" had been replaced by the word "Une" throughout. In addition there were many other errors. How was this allowed to happen? This would never be allowed in a paper book and I don't see why we should put up with it in an electronic book. I hope Apple and the publishing house work quickly to correct this!
  • Exciting

    5
    By chrishimself
    The book is an excellent vision of a semi-futuristic world that is grounded in reality. While not completely accurate scientifically some of the events that take place are quite acceptable with a wink and a nod. It is for the most part believable despite a few leaps the author takes to heighten the danger and suspense. It is quite uniquely written. The author excels at expressing the dull, monotonous travel one would experience in a long interplanetary voyage. You begin to feel that you too are aboard this ship experiencing the same boredoms and emotions the characters do. The characters themselves are very relatable and enjoyable. The realistic experience of space travel as relayed by this book is punctuated by sudden, sometimes disastrous events that shock you out of the dull progress are both suspenseful and entertaining. This is as close as you'll ever get to Venus.