📚心得【Recursion 記憶玩物】 by Blake Crouch, 2019

#Thriller #軟科幻 #時間旅行 #時間悖論 #中譯本

Blake Crouch一直以來都很喜歡寫時間相關的主題，比較出名的大概就是《Dark Matter 人生複本》與這本《Recursion 記憶玩物》。會發現這本，是在Goodreads上翻21世紀科幻書單時看到的，因為評分很高、頁數看起來不算太多，就拿來看了，自己讀完後才發現原來早就有繁中翻譯本了 😅

一般來說，自己並不喜歡時光倒流的作品，自己事先也沒注意是時間主題，而故事一開始也是丟了滿滿的懸疑謎團，直到中、後段才開始發現一連串事件發生的原因是因為有人發現了時光旅行方式。

不喜歡時間旅行主題的原因，純粹因為物理上有質量的物質即使達到光速，對其他人來說也只是該物體的時間近似停止而已，也許達到FTL可以技術上回到"過去"，但有質量的物體達到光速的同時也會因為質量暴增而產生黑洞，而蟲洞因為得先經過重力幾乎無限大的奇異點，就算真的重新被丟出來分子也重新排列了，原本乘載的資訊變得不可考。

但這部作品切入的角度比較有趣，設定上是以「人在死亡、彌留之際，注入大量腎上腺素等藥物，讓人體感受的時間停止，同時以電流刺激已失去氧氣的腦部，讓腦回憶起過去某個時間段的記憶，這樣就能以類似四次元的方式跨到那個時間段的平行宇宙去」；更有趣的是，作者給這個bug下了一個限制，回到過去後，時間若推進、回到現在，所有這兩個時間線間記憶有出入的人物都會同時想起這兩個時間段的所有記憶。舉例來說，你回到一年前、救了某個人，一年後被救了的人會瞬間想起在另一個時間線中死亡的「假記憶」；同樣的，如果回到過去改變了政治，被改變了的政治影響到的所有人都會想起兩個時間線被改變的記憶；同時，人的大腦所能容下的記憶有限，因此這樣多來幾次、瞬間體驗多個人生的記憶，就容易把所有人腦子燒壞、分不清何為現實，也會因為衝突的記憶過多而容易失智，所有過去、現在、未來也成為能被改變的東西。

當然，這已經超出Speculative Sci-fi的範圍了，無論如何都不可能因為一個人內在的神經操作而改變整個現實的時間線，這簡直已經到了不費吹灰之力創造另一個平行宇宙的程度了，過於破格。

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IMO總分：64分，文筆不錯、劇情緊張刺激、收尾卻有點隨便的普作。

核心思想：★★★☆☆ 核心討論議題是否有趣*5

劇情細節：★★★★★ 綜觀整體劇情的質與量*4

角色刻畫：★★★☆☆ 角色群的必要性與深度*3

科學軟硬：★☆☆☆☆ 是否符合現實物理現象*3

結局滿意：★★★☆☆ 結局滿意度與有無回餘韻*3

易讀程度：★★★★☆ 閱讀時章節是否難消化*2

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#Thriller #Soft_Scifi #Time_Travel #Time_Paradox #Chinese_Translated

The author, Blake Crouch, has always been passionate about writing on themes related to time. I came across it while browsing a list of 21st-century sci-fi books on Goodreads. Intrigued by its high rating and manageable length, I decided to read it. Later, I found out that there was a translated book available in local library for free, but I'd already finished it.

Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of time-travel stories because they often involve paradoxes or impossible scenarios that will never happen in reality. In fact, I didn’t even realize this book was about time travel until midway through the story. Initially, it’s filled with suspense and mystery, but as things progress, it becomes clear that the plot revolves around someone discovering a method for time travel.

The reason I don't like time travel themes is purely because, in physics, objects with mass — even if they reach light speed — would only have their time almost stopped relative to others. Maybe achieving faster-than-light (FTL) speeds could technically allow one to return to the "past," but objects with mass reaching light speed would also experience infinite mass and potentially create black holes. As for wormholes, they require passing through a singularity of infinite gravity. Even if someone were to exit, the molecules might have reorganized if there isn't any imaginary "matter with negative mass" to hold it open, making the information carried by the original object irretrievable.

However, this book presents a unique angle on time travel. The premise is that “when someone is near death and injected with large amounts of adrenaline, their perception of time can stop. By electrically stimulating the brain, even when it’s deprived of oxygen, one can retrieve memories from specific past time periods. This allows them to access parallel universes in a four-dimensional sense.” What makes this concept more intriguing is that the author introduces a limitation: once you return to the past and then come back to the present, anyone whose memories conflict between the two timelines will suddenly recall all their experiences from both times. For example, if you save someone a year ago, the person you saved will instantly remember a "false memory" of dying in another timeline. Similarly, altering political events in the past would cause everyone affected by those changes to retain memories of both altered and original timelines. Since the human brain can only hold so much information, experiencing multiple lifetimes worth of memories at once could overwhelm it, leading to confusion between reality and madness.

Of course, this goes beyond speculative sci-fi. It’s unrealistic to suggest that internal neural operations could alter entire timelines or create parallel universes with such ease. It’s simply too radical.

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IMO Rating: 64. The writing is decent, the plot keeps you on edge, but the ending feels a bit lackluster. Overall, it’s an interesting but average read.

Core Theme: ★★★☆☆ (*5)

Plot Quality: ★★★★★ (*4)

Character Development: ★★★☆☆ (*3)

Science Validity: ★☆☆☆☆ (*3)

Ending Satisfaction: ★★★☆☆ (*3)

Readability: ★★★★☆ (*2)