''Quantum Night'' is a 2016 science-fiction thriller novel written by Canadian novelist

Robert J. Sawyer Robert James Sawyer (born April 29, 1960) is a Canadian science fiction writer. He has had 24 novels published and his short fiction has appeared in ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'', ''Amazing Stories'', '' On Spec'', ''Nature'', and numerou ...

. Set in 2020, the book touches on themes of quantum physics, psychology, current politics and ethics.

Plot

Professor Jim Marchuk is an experimental psychologist at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.utilitarianism In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charact ...

. He is asked to testify at the sentencing hearing of a convicted murderer in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, using his new technique for identifying

psychopath Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent Anti-social behaviour, antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and Boldness, bold, Disinhibition, disinhibited, and Egotism, egotistical B ...

s from lack of saccadic eye motion, which he claims outperforms the Hare checklist. While in the United States, he learns that the recently elected

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Quentin Carroway has overturned ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...

'' and enacted several measures to reduce the rights of illegal immigrants. While being cross-examined in court, Jim is shocked to discover that he is missing six months of memory from early 2001. Returning to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, Jim consults with his colleague and mentor Menno Warkentin, whom he describes as an elderly professor who was blinded in a car accident. They attribute Jim's memory loss to the trauma of a stabbing at the hands of a stranger that Jim remembers from a New Year's Eve 2000 trip to visit his parents in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. A physicist named Kayla Huron contacts Jim and informs him that her research is also related to psychopathy. As they agree to meet, Jim learns that Kayla is his former girlfriend from the lost period. Over dinner Kayla reveals that she ended their relationship because Jim was abusive towards her, but she believes that he has changed. Kayla introduces Jim to her collaborator Victoria Chen at the

Canadian Light Source The Canadian Light Source (CLS) (french: link=no, Centre canadien de rayonnement synchrotron – CCRS) is Canada's national synchrotron light source facility, located on the grounds of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, C ...

(CLS) in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

. They use the beam to perform a measurement on Jim's brain cells and find that they have three

microtubules Microtubules are polymers of tubulin that form part of the cytoskeleton and provide structure and shape to eukaryotic cells. Microtubules can be as long as 50 micrometres, as wide as 23 to 27 nm and have an inner diameter between 11 an ...

in a

quantum superposition Quantum superposition is a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics. It states that, much like waves in classical physics, any two (or more) quantum states can be added together ("superposed") and the result will be another valid quantum ...

. This is revealed to be part of a

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

which they call Q1-Q2-Q3: four-sevenths of all humans have one quantum microtubule in superposition, two-sevenths have two and one-seventh have three, with these numbers only changing as a result of a coma or

general anaesthetic General anaesthetics (or anesthetics, see spelling differences) are often defined as compounds that induce a loss of consciousness in humans or loss of righting reflex in animals. Clinical definitions are also extended to include an induced coma ...

. By observing behavioural traits of their test subjects, Kayla and Victoria hypothesize that Q2s are psychopaths, while Q1s are

philosophical zombie A philosophical zombie or p-zombie argument is a thought experiment in philosophy of mind that imagines a hypothetical being that is physically identical to and indistinguishable from a normal person but does not have consciousness, conscious ex ...

s: non-conscious humans who lack free will and become susceptible to mob mentality. Only Q3s are seen as having critical thinking ability and empathy. Jim and Kayla become romantically involved once again, but Victoria breaks up with her boyfriend after the test identifies him as a Q1. Meanwhile, Jim begins to reconstruct his past and discovers that his memory of being stabbed is a

confabulation In psychology, confabulation is a memory error defined as the production of fabricated, distorted, or misinterpreted memories about oneself or the world. It is generally associated with certain types of brain damage (especially aneurysm in the a ...

. He learns that, along with spending that New Year's Eve in Winnipeg, he participated in a

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simpl ...

-funded study run by Menno and engineering professor Dominic Adler. The study, called Project Lucidity, aimed to create an

EEG Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The biosignals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neocortex ...

-like helmet to read articulated thoughts and aid battlefield communication. To overcome the 'background noise' of Jim's inner voice – his conscience – they accidentally caused him to enter a Q1 state during which his memories were indexed differently. Menno reveals that Jim returned to a fully conscious state six months later, and that he and Dominic decided to go their separate ways and maintained secrecy due to a

non-disclosure agreement A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal contract or part of a contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish ...

, moral issues due to Menno's

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

religion, and concerns that their research could be used to justify discrimination. As Jim continues therapy, he gains access to a memory from the end of his lost period when he had become psychopathic. He is shocked to learn that he killed Dominic in cold blood and blinded Menno before a laboratory device 'rebooted' him into a Q3 state. As political tensions rise, a series of violent riots erupt across Canada, precipitated by a protest over the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...

' overtime loss in game seven of the

Stanley Cup Finals The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, french: Finale de la Coupe Stanley) is the National Hockey League's (NHL) championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, North America ...

, and the Canadian government under new

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Naheed Nenshi Naheed Kurban Nenshi (born February 2, 1972) is a Canadian politician who was the 36th mayor of Calgary, Alberta. He was elected in the 2010 municipal election with 39% of the vote, and is the first Muslim mayor of a large North American city. ...

struggles to restore order. Using the riots as an excuse, Carroway orders an American invasion of Canada.

Russian President The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

also makes plans to invade Canada, bringing the US and Russia to the brink of war. Jim uses his technique to show Carroway and Putin are psychopaths, and asks Kayla if they can be transitioned from Q2 to Q3, thus averting the crisis. Kayla says that the CLS running at full power can manipulate cranial superposition on a global scale, and that the best solution would be two reboots, resulting in the majority of humans fully conscious and empathetic. However, she refuses to help as she doesn't want her daughter Ryan to become a psychopath. Jim suspects that Kayla had been a psychopath before surgical anesthetic caused her consciousness to reboot; Kayla admits to this and explains it as the reason she has been studying psychopathy. Jim enlists the help of Victoria, who had lied about Ryan's test and says that the reboots will raise Ryan from a Q1 to a Q3. Menno volunteers to sacrifice himself and keep the CLS running amid lethal doses of radiation. Before Kayla can stop them, the plan comes to fruition and the world enters a new age in which the majority of humans can feel empathy and remorse. As a Q2, Jim decides to have an affair with Victoria. However, Kayla perceives him as a threat and reboots him as a Q3 with Menno's device. Kayla and Victoria wish to remain in the Q2 state. Out of self-interest, Victoria erases their research and Kayla gives Jim custody of Ryan. Convinced of having made an unprecedented move for the greater good, Jim decides to connect with his estranged family.

Major themes

Author Robert J. Sawyer keeps an updated list of all of his works and groups them among recurring themes. He self-identified ''Quantum Night'' as containing the following themes: the nature of consciousness, biology determining psychology, Canada, courtroom drama, parent-child relationships, psychotherapy/counseling/psychological testing, modern physics and the nature of reality.

Development history

In an interview with ''SFFWorld'', Sawyer described how he wrote the book. When asked if the characters or the story came first, Sawyer said, "Neither. I'm a thematically driven writer; I figure out what I want to say first and then devise the storyline and a cast of characters that will let me most effectively say it." The theme that drives ''Quantum Night'' is "the most pernicious lie humanity has ever told itself is that you can't change human nature." In the same interview Sawyer said, "I wanted to open people's eyes and have them look critically at social forces sweeping around them." Sawyer includes a list of fifty-one non-fiction books in the back of the novel which he consulted while writing the novel. Books, articles and authors referenced.

Consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

and

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, ...

: * ''

The Emperor's New Mind ''The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds and The Laws of Physics'' is a 1989 book by the mathematical physicist Sir Roger Penrose. Penrose argues that human consciousness is non-algorithmic, and thus is not capable of being modeled ...

: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of by Physics'' by

Sir Roger Penrose Sir Roger Penrose (born 8 August 1931) is an English mathematician, mathematical physicist, philosopher of science and Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics in the University of Oxford, an emeritus fel ...

* ''

Shadows of the Mind ''Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness'' is a 1994 book by mathematical physicist Roger Penrose that serves as a followup to his 1989 book '' The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds and The Laws of ...

: A Search for the missing Science of Consciousness'' by

* ''Consciousness in the Universe: A Review of the 'Orch OR' Theory'' by

Stuart Hameroff Stuart Hameroff (born July 16, 1947) is an American anesthesiologist and professor at the University of Arizona known for his studies of consciousness and his controversial contention that consciousness originates from quantum states in neural mi ...

and

Roger Penrose Sir Roger Penrose (born 8 August 1931) is an English mathematician, mathematical physicist, philosopher of science and Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics in the University of Oxford, an emeritus fello ...

Philosopher's zombies: * ''

The Conscious Mind ''The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory'' was published in 1996, and is the first book written by David Chalmers, an Australian philosopher specialising in philosophy of mind. Though the book has been greatly influential, Chalmers ...

'': In Search of Fundamental Theory'' by David J. Chalmers * ''Life on the Edge: The Coming Age of Quantum Biology'' by

Johnjoe McFadden Johnjoe McFadden (born 17 May 1956) is an Anglo-Irish scientist, academic and writer. He is Professor of Molecular Genetics at the University of Surrey, United Kingdom. Life McFadden was born in Donegal, Ireland but raised in the UK. He holds j ...

and

Jim Al-Khalili Jameel Sadik "Jim" Al-Khalili ( ar, جميل صادق الخليلي; born 20 September 1962) is an Iraqi-British theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster. He is professor of theoretical physics and chair in the public engagement in scien ...

* ''The Character of Consciousness'' by David J. Chalmers * ''The Authoritarians'' by

Bob Altemeyer Robert Anthony Altemeyer (born 6 June 1940) is a retired Professor of Psychology at the University of Manitoba. Altemeyer also produced the right-wing authoritarianism scale, or RWA Scale, as well as the related left-wing authoritarianism scale, ...

Complex behavior: * '' Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life'' by

Charles Duhigg Charles Duhigg (born 1974) is an American journalist and non-fiction author. He was a reporter for ''The New York Times,'' currently writes for ''The New Yorker Magazine'' and is the author of two books on habits and productivity, titled '' The P ...

* ''Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious'' by

Gerd Gigerenzer Gerd Gigerenzer (born 3 September 1947) is a German psychologist who has studied the use of bounded rationality and heuristics in decision making. Gigerenzer is director emeritus of the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition (ABC) at the Max P ...

* ''The Self Illusion: How the Social Brain Creates Identity'' by Bruce Hood * ''Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist'' by

Christof Koch Christof Koch ( ; born November 13, 1956) is a German-American neurophysiologist and computational neuroscientist best known for his work on the neural basis of consciousness. He is the president and chief scientist of the Allen Institute for B ...

* ''Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect'' by Matthew D. Lieberman * ''The Smart Swarm: How Understanding Flocks, Schools, And Colonies Can Make Us Better at Communicating, Decision Making and Getting Things Done'' by Peter Miller * '' Psychonomics: How Modern Science Aims to Conquer the Mind and How the Mind Prevails'' by Eric Robert Morse * ''Wired for Culture: Origins of the Human Social Mind'' by

Mark Pagel Mark David Pagel FRS (born 5 June 1954 in Seattle, Washington) is an evolutionary biologist and professor. He heads the Evolutionary Biology Group at the University of Reading. He is known for comparative studies in evolutionary biology. In 199 ...

* ''Social Physics: How Good Ideas Spread'' by

Alex Pentland Alex Paul "Sandy" Pentland (born 1951) is an American computer scientist, the Toshiba Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, and serial entrepreneur. Education Pentland received his bachelor's degree from the University of M ...

* ''Autopilot: The Art and Science of Doing Nothing'' by Andrew Smart * ''

The Wisdom of Crowds ''The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations'', published in 2004, is a book written by James Surowiecki about the aggregation of information in groups, ...

'' by

James Surowiecki James Michael Surowiecki ( ; born April 30, 1967) is an American journalist. He was a staff writer at ''The New Yorker'', where he wrote a regular column on business and finance called "The Financial Page". Background Surowiecki was born in Mer ...

* ''The Social Conquest of the World'' by

Edward O. Wilson Edward Osborne Wilson (June 10, 1929 – December 26, 2021) was an American biologist, naturalist, entomologist and writer. According to David Attenborough, Wilson was the world's leading expert in his specialty of myrmecology, the study of a ...

* ''Mirroring People: The Science of Empathy and How We Connect with Others'' by Marco Iacoboni * ''The Myth of Mirror Neurons'' by Gregory Hickock

Psychopaths Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been u ...

: * ''

The Mask of Sanity ''The Mask of Sanity: An Attempt to Clarify Some Issues About the So-Called Psychopathic Personality'' is a book written by American psychiatrist Hervey M. Cleckley, first published in 1941, describing Cleckley's clinical interviews with patie ...

'' by

Hervey Cleckley Hervey Milton Cleckley (September 7, 1903 – January 28, 1984) was an American psychiatrist and pioneer in the field of psychopathy. His book, '' The Mask of Sanity,'' originally published in 1941 and revised in new editions until the 1980s, ...

* ''Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us'' by

Robert D. Hare Robert D. Hare (born 1 January 1934) is a Canadian forensic psychologist, known for his research in the field of criminal psychology. He is a professor emeritus of the University of British Columbia where he specializes in psychopathology and ...

* ''The Psychopathic Whisperer: The Science of Those Without Conscience'' by

Kent Kiehl Kent A. Kiehl is an American neuroscientist with research interests in cognitive neuroscience, psychopathy, interaction of neuroscience and law, and behavioral prediction. He is professor at the department of psychology, University of New Mexico. D ...

* ''The Psychopathic Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry'' by

Jon Ronson Jon Ronson (born 10 May 1967) is a British-American journalist, author, and filmmaker whose works include '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'' (2001), ''The Men Who Stare at Goats'' (2004), and ''The Psychopath Test'' (2011). He has been desc ...

* ''

Snakes in Suits ''Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work'' is a 2006 non-fiction book by Industrial and organizational psychology, industrial psychologist Paul Babiak and Criminal psychology, criminal psychologist Robert D. Hare. Contents summary The text ...

: When Psychopaths Go to Work'' by Paul Babiak and

* ''The Sociopath Next Door'' by

Martha Stout Martha Stout (born August 12, 1953) is an American psychologist and author. Education, training, and career Stout completed her professional training in psychology at the McLean Psychiatric Hospital and obtained her Ph.D. at Stony Brook Un ...

* ''The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success'' by

Kevin Dutton Kevin Dutton (born 1967) is a British psychologist and writer, specialising in the study of psychopathy. Work He is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, and a member of the Oxford Centre f ...

* ''The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain'' by James Fallon * ''Women Who Love Psychopaths'' by Sandra L. Brown

Milgram experiment The Milgram experiment(s) on obedience to authority figures were a series of social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram. They measured the willingness of study participants, 40 men in the age range ...

: * '' Obedience to Authority'' by

Stanley Milgram Stanley Milgram (August 15, 1933 – December 20, 1984) was an American social psychologist, best known for his controversial experiments on obedience conducted in the 1960s during his professorship at Yale.Blass, T. (2004). ''The Man Who Shocke ...

* ''The Man Who Shocked the World: The Life and Legacy of Stanley Milgram'' by

Thomas Blass Thomas Blass (December 25, 1941 – December 29, 2021) was an American social psychologist, Holocaust survivor, and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is known for his work regarding Stanley Milgram ...

* ''Behind the Shock Machine: the Untold Story of the Notorious Milgram Psychology Experiments'' by Gina Perry Stanford Prison Guard Experiment: * ''The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil'' by

Philip Zimbardo Philip George Zimbardo (; born March 23, 1933) is an American psychologist and a professor emeritus at Stanford University. He became known for his 1971 Stanford prison experiment, which was later severely criticized for both ethical and scient ...

* ''

Eichmann in Jerusalem ''Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil'' is a 1963 book by political thinker Hannah Arendt. Arendt, a Jew who fled Germany during Adolf Hitler's rise to power, reported on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the major organizers ...

: A Report on the Banality of Evil'' by

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. Arendt was born ...

Human Evil: * ''Hitler's Charisma'' by

Laurence Rees Laurence Rees (born 1957) is an English historian. He is a BAFTA winning historical documentary filmmaker and a British Book Award winning author of several books about Adolf Hitler, the Nazis and the atrocities committed, especially by them, ...

* ''

Conservatives Without Conscience ''Conservatives without Conscience'' is a book written by John Dean, who served as White House Counsel under U.S. President Richard Nixon and then helped to break the Watergate scandal with his testimony before the United States Senate. The book a ...

'' by

John W. Dean John Wesley Dean III (born October 14, 1938) is an American former attorney who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal ...

* ''Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty'' by Roy F. Baumeister * ''The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty'' by

Simon Baron-Cohen Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen (born 15 August 1958) is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of ...

* ''Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil'' by Paul Bloom

Utilitarianism In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charact ...

: * ''

Practical Ethics ''Practical Ethics'', a 1979 book by the moral philosopher Peter Singer, is an introduction to applied ethics. The book has been translated into a number of languages. Summary Singer analyzes, in detail, why and how beings' interests should be ...

, Third Edition'' by

Peter Singer Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher, currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular, ...

* ''Writings on an Ethical Life'' by

* ''The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty'' by

* ''Animal Liberation'''': A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals'' by

* ''Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them'' by Joshua Greene

Ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

and

Free Will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actio ...

* '' The Trolley Problem: Or Would You Throw the Fat Guy Off the Bridge?'' by Thomas Cathcart * ''Brain Trust: What Neuroscience Tells Us About Morality'' by Patricia S. Churchland * ''Who's in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain'' by

Michael Gazzaniga Michael S. Gazzaniga (born December 12, 1939) is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara in the USA, where he heads the new SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind. He is one of the leading researchers in cognitive ...

* ''Free Will'' by

Sam Harris Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics ...

* ''The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human'' by

Jonathan Gottschall Jonathan Gottschall (born September 20, 1972) is an American literary scholar specializing in literature and evolution. He holds the title of Research Fellow in the English department of Washington & Jefferson College in Pennsylvania. He is the ...

* ''Homo Narrans: The Poetics and Anthropology of Oral Literature'' by John D. Niles Scientific basis for creation of literature and art: * ''Mimesis and the Human Animal: On the Biogenetic Foundations of Literary Representation'' by Robert Storey

Publication history

2015, US, Ace , 1 March 2016, Hardcover

Explanation of the novel's title

The title refers to "it's always darkest before the dawn." Sawyer wanted to write a book that addressed the dark side of human nature and the negative forces and outright evil in the 21st century world and he wanted the title to reflect that.

Reception

''Quantum Night'' has received positive reviews. ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' called it a "fast-moving, mind-stretching exploration of the nature of personality and consciousness." ''Winnipeg Free Press'' described the book "a breath of fresh air and a return to classic Sawyer: big ideas, relatable people and a Canadian perspective."

References

{{reflist 2016 Canadian novels Novels by Robert J. Sawyer 2016 science fiction novels Novels set in Manitoba Novels set in Saskatchewan Speculative crime and thriller fiction