Set in the future on an isolated island with its citizens divided into ‘sects’. To change position exams must be taken. We follow a young girl taking such an exam with her chosen subject a man who forged the beginning of their society. As she answers the examiners so she questions her beliefs and that of her upbringing. What emerges is a debate about philosophy and artificial intelligence, an extraordinarily thought-provoking work which was written as a children’s book and indeed long-listed for the 2009 Guardian Children’s Prize. The writing is simplistic, the themes are not.
A thought-provoking tale of the future set on an isolated island fortress: ';The ending is an absolute mind-blower' (Booklist). Anax thinks she knows history. She has studied the stories of the distant twenty-first century very diligently. Her grueling all-day examination has just begun, and if she passes, she'll be admitted into the Academythe elite governing institution of her utopian society. But Anax is about to discover that for all her learning, the history she's been taught isn't the whole story. And the Academy isn't what she believes it to be. In this brilliant and suspenseful novel, Anax's examination leads us into a future where we are confronted with unresolved questions about technology and humanity, artificial intelligence and the nature of consciousness. ';A philosophical inquiry of sorts into a favorite and time-tested conundrum: Can a machine achieve consciousness, and if so, what should its relationship with its creators be?' The Wall Street Journal
Bernard Beckett has a degree in Economics, and has taught in the Wellington region for several years. He has published nine novels, and has won many awards for his fiction.
In 2006 Bernard was awarded a New Zealand Science, Mathematics and Technology Teacher Fellowship where he worked on a project examining DNA mutations. This new direction led to the publication of Genesis in 2006, which won the Young Adult Category in the 2007 NZ Post Book Awards. In 2008 the book made publishing history when UK publisher Quercus Books offered the largest advance ever put forward for a young adult novel in New Zealand. The novel, also published in Australia, is to be released in the UK as two separate editions: adult and young adult, and is to be published – at this date – in over 20 countries.
Bernard’s fascination for science also led to Falling for Science: Asking the Big Questions (2007), his non-fiction exploration of the relationship between story-telling and science.
Bernard currently lives in Wellington with his wife, Clare Knighton (and co-author of Deep Fried.)
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