Inherit the Stars
by James P. Hogan · first published 1977
75% recommend13% neutral13% critical
Why HN recommends it
Hard science fiction built around a mystery: a body found on the Moon reveals human spaceflight predating recorded history, and the story follows the investigation. For readers who enjoy speculative premises.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The man on the moon was dead. They called him Charlie. He had big eyes, abundant body hair and fairly long nostrils. His skeletal body was found clad in a bright red spacesuit, hidden in a rocky grave. They didn't know who he was, how he got there, or what had killed him. All they knew was that his corpse was 50,000 years old -- and that meant that this man had somehow lived long before he ever could have existed!
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
"Inherit the Stars" by James Hogan is a good scifi story about this. Also "The Hab Theory" by Allan Eckert.
on “Was There a Civilization on Earth Before Humans?” ↗You might like “Inherit the stars” by James P Hogan.
on “Evidence for Large Climate Altering Thermonuclear Explosions on Mars in the Past” ↗These are all entertaining: Definitely the Wizardry series by Rick Cook https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/rick-cook/wizardry/ Programming meets magical realms James Hogan Inherit the Stars - Has supercomputers but not main characters Code of the Lifemaker Has Ancient Tech evolving into a robotic society Two Faces of Tomorrow - humans trying to get along with AI D.F.Jones Colossus,…
on “Ask HN: What fiction books would you recommend for programmers?” ↗Here's one: the Giants Series by James P. Hogan; starts with Inherit the Stars.
on “Is the Solar System Stable? (2011)” ↗…Bane* — Fantasy, Programming/Magic Mashup https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112616.Wizard_s_Bane - *Wizardry Series (overview)* https://www.goodreads.com/series/43084-wiz ## James P. Hogan - *Inherit the Stars* — Hard Science Fiction https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743568.Inherit_the_Stars - *Code of the Lifemaker* — Sci-Fi, Artificial Life https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/296722.Code_of_the_Lifem...…
on “Ask HN: What fiction books would you recommend for programmers?” ↗The scifi novel "The Hab Theory" by Eckert goes into some interesting debate about whether there were unknown previous advanced civilizations or not. It sounds almost plausible, but not quite. "Inherit the Stars" by Hogan is another interesting take on it.
on “Lost Advanced Civilizations” ↗Maybe Earth? Who knows? Lots of good sci-fi has been written about it. I recommend J.P. Hogan’s “Inherit the Stars”, which starts with evidence of human spaceflight predating known history and goes on interesting directions.
on “New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancient Mars” ↗Inherit the Stars by James Hogan Like a lot of people, by the time I got to the end of the book, I just wanted to fling it across the room. -----Here be spoilers-------- The entire premise of the book is that humans…
on “Ask YC: What's the most insipid sci-fi book you've read?” ↗There was this 1977 science fiction book called 'Inherit the Stars' by James Hogan [0] about finding the corpse of 50,000 year old astronaut on the moon. He carried a 'book' that was too fragile to read and to explore with any kind of electromagnetic radiation. They…
on “Mystery of superior Leeuwenhoek microscope solved after 350 years (2018)” ↗