science

In the Mouth of the Whale

In the Mouth of the Whale is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand In the Mouth of the Whale rather than just read about it. In short: In the Mouth of the Whale is a 2012 science fiction novel by Paul J. McAuley, the third in his Quiet War sequence.

Key takeaways

In the Mouth of the Whale belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect In the Mouth of the Whale to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of In the Mouth of the Whale from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

In the Mouth of the Whale is a 2012 science fiction novel by Paul J. McAuley, the third in his Quiet War sequence.

Summary While The Quiet War and Gardens of the Sun were set in a mid-term future Solar System, In the Mouth of the Whale is spatially and temporally much further out, set thousands of years in the future around a Fomalhaut system long since colonised by refugees from the Quiet War. The first settlers, the Quick, have since been superseded by the True who are in turn challenged by the posthuman Ghosts. The story is told from the point of view of three characters. The first, the Child, believes she lives in a village in the conflict-torn Amazon. She becomes transfixed by a mysterious boy with the head of the jaguar but in reality, her world is part of an elaborate, failing, simulation created on a damaged starship that is finally on the verge of reaching Fomalhaut. The crew created the simulation based on her experiences of life before the Quiet War and hold her in high regard, however, those already at Fomalhaut know of her impending arrival. The second, Ori, is one of the Quick. She remotely pilots maintenance spacecraft around the Whale space station, which orbits the gas giant Cthunga. The Whale station is attempting to make contact with a mind which had crashed into the planet long ago and is thought by the True to have transcended. It is Ori who witnessed what could be a sign from the Mind, which quickly attracts the attention of the True. The third strand is the Librarian, who with his assistant Horse kills demons to atone for having caused the death of two of his comrades. These "demons" are the corrupted remains of Quick technology but when he is faced with a mission which parallels the tragedy from his past, he begins to see a way in the Library itself. These three strands converge as the Ghosts and True are drawn inexorably into conflict.

Reception The reception for In the Mouth of the Whale was more mixed than the previous two novels in the series. In Strange Horizons, Paul Kincaid received the novel positively, praising how McAuley "draws us in to the story, and holds us there, feverishly turning the pages to keep up with rapidly evolving events." However, he didn't feel that the novel matched the high standards of its predecessors, noting that "[a] layer of political and emotional complexity is missing from the new novel. Maybe it is better to read it as a standalone work, completely detached from what went before." Greg L. Johnson's review was more positive, concluding "[i]n short, everything we've come to expect from Paul McAuley at his best."

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with In the Mouth of the Whale

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what In the Mouth of the Whale claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to In the Mouth of the Whale before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about In the Mouth of the Whale ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of In the Mouth of the Whale

In research: In the Mouth of the Whale appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses In the Mouth of the Whale in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: In the Mouth of the Whale is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2012 British novels, 2012 English-language novels, 2012 science fiction novels, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for In the Mouth of the Whale outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study In the Mouth of the Whale in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what In the Mouth of the Whale means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain In the Mouth of the Whale out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is In the Mouth of the Whale in simple terms?

In the Mouth of the Whale is a 2012 science fiction novel by Paul J. McAuley, the third in his Quiet War sequence.

Why does In the Mouth of the Whale matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study In the Mouth of the Whale?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on In the Mouth of the Whale.