From the multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author: "A panoramic
story of what happens to a world gone super intelligent" (Astounding
Science Fiction).
With "wonderfully logical detail . . . exciting storytelling and moving
characterization" (Anthony Boucher), science fiction master Poul
Anderson explores what happens when the next stage of evolution is
thrust upon humanity and animals. As Earth passes out of a magnetic
field that has suppressed intelligence for eons, the mental capacity for
all mammals increases exponentially, radically changing the structures
of society.
A mentally impaired farm worker finds himself capable of more delicate
and intelligent thoughts than he ever dreamed. A young boy on holiday
manages to discern the foundations of calculus before breakfast. Animals
that were seen as livestock and pets can now communicate clearly with
their owners and one another. And an already brilliant physics
researcher now uses his boundless intellect to bring humankind to the
stars--even as his wife plunges into an existential crisis. For all of
them, the world will never be the same . . .