# Trying To Find The Name Of A Book (science fiction)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-the-name-of-a-book-science-fiction/517631>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 15, 2009, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-the-name-of-a-book-science-fiction/517631 "2009-11-15T04:15:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JimMacMillan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7bcc69/32.png) [@JimMacMillan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimMacMillan)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-the-name-of-a-book-science-fiction/517631/1 "2009-11-15T04:15:00Z")

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Hi Guys,

Do you remember a science fiction book about a technology where one could remotely view anywhere? As the technology advanced the ability to look back in time was realized as well.

I don’t recall how the technology worked but the societal implications where interesting. Pretty much every crime was solved via remote viewing. Amorous teens made no attempt hide their activities as pretty much privacy was a thing of the past.

Groups of people started meeting in pitch black rooms and communicated with each other via touch thereby making it impossible for a remote viewer to know what was going on. People where trying to use their remote viewing gear to see the resurrection of Christ but were unable to due to the belief that there where to many remote viewers in the present in future causing a traffic jams of sorts.

TIA  
Jim  
P.S. I tried to search for this but SDMB is generating an error message.

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-the-name-of-a-book-science-fiction/517631/2 "2009-11-15T04:22:57Z")

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I don’t think this is it, but it has certain similarities with Asimov’s “[The Dead Past](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_Past).”

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**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-the-name-of-a-book-science-fiction/517631/3 "2009-11-15T04:31:33Z")

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The Light of Other Days by Stephen Baxter and Arthur C. Clarke, I believe.

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**Author:** ![JimMacMillan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7bcc69/32.png) [@JimMacMillan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimMacMillan)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-the-name-of-a-book-science-fiction/517631/4 "2009-11-15T04:36:07Z")

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Thanks for the quicky replies, Smeghead nailed it! Now to Amazon so that I can buy a copy.

THANK YOU

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**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-the-name-of-a-book-science-fiction/517631/5 "2009-11-15T04:47:34Z")

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Yay! First time I’ve ever managed to get the answer first. It’s also one of the best sci-fi books I’ve read in recent years.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-the-name-of-a-book-science-fiction/517631/6 "2009-11-15T05:00:23Z")

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The novella _E for Effort_ by T.L. Sherred also used this idea.