Darwin's Radio

This novel is a fine example of some of the problems with Hard Science Fiction - there science is all there, and there's a new and fun interpretation of some relatively revolutionary concept in science - in this case punctuated equilibrium. The concept is great, and the elevator pitch version is the best thing ever.

However, to make that into a novel, one needs characters with their character arcs, and also some story that will lampshade the infodumps. I've read my share of attempts that fell flat on their faces, and a few that were great on both parts, (Andy Weir and Neal Stephenson come to mind).

This novel is somewhere on the better end of the spectrum, but the difference between the "science" and the "fiction" parts is very jarring. What doesn't help is that the story part involves a lot of politics, with lots of names of different agencies, and lots of boring meetings.

Overall, I'd recommend it for hard sf lovers, as the science part is exceptionally good.