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Extinction Shrugged
For millions of years man roamed unproductively over the Earth. Nature had given him sufficient time with which to add benefit to her plan – now it was time to let him vanish into extinction to make room for her next intelligent life experiment. At the same time, an ancient alien race of Xrans inhabiting an asteroid recently entrapped in a decaying Earth orbit was also headed for extinction. Extinction Shrugged depicts the improbable union between a small band of humans and the newly marooned Xrans as together they mount a masterful repeal of nature’s plan for their extinction. After overcoming the multiple difficulties of descending to Earth, the Xrans find that their only chance for survival is to form a biological partnership with the humans. Utilizing advanced Xran recombinant cellular-technology, the woefully under-utilized human brain is enhanced with the vastly more organized synaptic neural net of the infinitesimally small Xrans. This story seeks to explain the sudden and relatively simultaneous elevation of far-flung man to civilized status some six millennia ago.Follow the improved humans, assimilated by the first of four Xran landing groups and now known among themselves as humex, as they cross the Earth on an epic adventure to an island haven determined from orbit as the best place to establish the infrastructure of empire. As the humex attempt to repatriate three subsequent Xran landing groups from around the world, small contingents of humex are stranded along the way, left to attempt to parlay their special intelligence into the disparate beginnings of other new civilizations by absorbing the local inhabitants. Witness the humex’ strategic political and social efforts that attempt to increase their neo-genetic population numbers against the larger number of native humans who they have befriended and civilized. The potential threat of intellectual dilution through discouraged but still prolific cross-genetic intercourse and resulting births is causing the looming threat of political tyranny by the newly developing but less intelligent human majority. Accompany five generations of one humex family, as they portray the beauty of romance and the strength of love while guiding this improbable troupe to its destination. Observe embryonic science produce ancient technology, and, join in the arguments as progressive social policy develops and flourishes amid the politics of the time.After a millennium of progress, travel with a small group of archaeologists as they retrace the route of the original humex over long-abandoned trails and through once thriving outposts, now lying in ruins from centuries of neglect. During their search for artifacts, they find a civilization-ending threat to the thousand-year empire and begin a dangerous and compelling race to stop it. In upcoming sequels to this story, the humex barely manage to survive natural disasters, disease pandemics and ethnic cleansing over succeeding millennia. In small numbers, they are forced to huddle within innocuous, disparate groups, many times unaware of one another’s existence. From the safety of this concealment, they operate as the generational thread of continuity that provides Earth with the occasional bursts of genius represented by the brilliant development of its arts and institutions.
432 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 3, 2011
About the author
Michael McDonald
84 books48 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author with this name on GR. This profile might contain books by multiple authors with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 21, 2020
As a person interested in history and anthropology I found this book an excellent story covering the dot-connection of a building civilization. It combined easy to understand concepts of civilization management with the tools necessary to accomplish it. An excellent read.
November 1, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. It was a combination of science fiction & fictional anthropology, and I appreciated that mix. The author captured my imagination and definitely increased my vocabulary! Like any good book, this one also has a few unexpected twists.
What I did enjoy most is that the author kept me engaged in wanting to know what happens next!
The author does take great care in providing a high level of detail on a wide variety of subjects and technologies. This has the makings for a good movie.
Look forward to the next book.
What I did enjoy most is that the author kept me engaged in wanting to know what happens next!
The author does take great care in providing a high level of detail on a wide variety of subjects and technologies. This has the makings for a good movie.
Look forward to the next book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews