Amidst my physics classes, a midterm, a poster to print, and a textbook to return to sender, I managed to get out to the Montreal Jewish Public Library to see a reading by Robert J. Sawyer.

It was very entertaining. He said a lot of things about science fiction, and how it’s a unique medium to tell really meaningful human stories. Maybe that makes me sound like a geek, but I know that that’s only because Star Wars and its ilk has given sci-fi a bad name.

I bought a copy of Mindscan, it being the only book of his they had on sale there that I didn’t already own, and had it signed. On the subway home, since it was a good half hour or so, I started reading it again. I remember reading it last year at the same time I was taking a class in biomedial ethics, and found it very pertinant, with lots of discussion relevant to issues like abortion and euthanasia.

Today, after reading just the prologue, I remembered again why Sawyer’s particular brand of science fiction is so far and above the sort of thing that comes to most people’s minds. I’ll have to pick up a few of the other books he mentioned today, and hope they’re as good.