# Name this SciFi book with little information please? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-scifi-book-with-little-information-please/756179 "2016-05-31T18:18:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-scifi-book-with-little-information-please/756179/1 "2016-05-31T18:18:16Z")
A female scientist finds a way to visit alternate universes using a, um, cosmic can opener thingy. She doesn’t seem very well regarded on regular time Earth. I remember her going to an Earth that was very ancient Egyptian-like. Read the book in the early '90s but that doesn’t mean that was when it was written. I know it isn’t a lot to go on but if any place can name it, it’s here on The Dope. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-scifi-book-with-little-information-please/756179/2 "2016-05-31T19:06:37Z")
It vaguely sounds like “The Subtle Knife” by Pullman, but that was 1997. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-scifi-book-with-little-information-please/756179/3 "2016-05-31T19:53:47Z")
[Number of the Beast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Number_of_the_Beast_(novel)) by Heinlein? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-scifi-book-with-little-information-please/756179/4 "2016-05-31T20:23:09Z")
There’s something like that in _Eon_ by Greg Bear, but it’s only a minor sideplot. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-scifi-book-with-little-information-please/756179/5 "2016-05-31T20:36:32Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > There’s something like that in _Eon_ by Greg Bear, but it’s only a minor sideplot. Yeah, I think this is it. After reading the summary, I remembered all that other stuff too. Dunno why Vazquez and her can opener stayed with me and everything else fled. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-scifi-book-with-little-information-please/756179/6 "2016-06-01T01:42:41Z")
A ‘clavicle’ I believe in Eon, not a can opener. And she was not the one who used it, but a person who was an expert in ‘clavicle operation’. That was an interesting part of Eon, and she was prominent in the sequel as an Egyptian, or Greek, teacher, until she got, somehow, back into ‘the Way’. Bob ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2016, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-scifi-book-with-little-information-please/756179/7 "2016-06-01T01:50:27Z")
> [@urban1a](#): > > A ‘clavicle’ I believe in Eon, not a can opener. And she was not the one who used it, but a person who was an expert in ‘clavicle operation’. > > That was an interesting part of Eon, and she was prominent in the sequel as an Egyptian, or Greek, teacher, until she got, somehow, back into ‘the Way’. > > Bob It was the original scientist’s granddaughter who shows up in the sequel (called “Eternity”), as I recall.