Ever since H G Wells wrote War of the Worlds and described the Martians ruthlessly zapping the Home Counties, we've seen countless visions of how we might react to learning we're not alone in the universe. From government cover-ups and conspiracies to all-out interplanetary war, aliens coming to visit is a science-fiction staple. In Ken MacLeod's "Learning the World", however, humanity has a long way to go before meeting new life. MacLeod suggests a universe so vast that humans conquer space travel and colonise vast numbers of star systems before finally encountering intelligent life. In this novel, we are the invaders. And most of the ...  Read the complete review

"Learning the World" is a tale of space exploration told from the points of view of a number of protagonists in the distant future of humanity. As the space exploration (generation) ship "But the sky, my lady! The sky!" nears its destination after hundreds of years of travel, the inhabitants start to get excited about the prospect of being able to colonise the system. Sending out probes to gather information on likely sources of raw materials, the ship's inhabitants are shocked to discover that one of the main planets in the system, known locally as 'Ground', is populated by intelligent beings that are a little advanced, ...  Read the complete review