3 in 1 Giants Omnibus [Mass Market Paperback]

Millennia before the Apollo project, mankind had reached Luna. As man returns to the Moon, he finds evidence of a prior human technological society. Moreover, he finds artifacts of another alien civilization on Ganymede, the largest moon of Jupiter.

In Inherit the Stars, a survey party finds someone in a spacesuit within a cave-like hole in the Copernicus crater. The body was that of a human being who had died over 50,000 years ago. Apparently it had come from Minerva, the long destroyed planet between Mars and Jupiter.

In The Gentle Giants of Ganymede, an alien spaceship has been found under the ice of Ganymede. Inside are found the remains of eight-foot tall entities who have been named Ganymedeans. Then the Shapieron, a fully operational Ganymedean spaceship, appears near Ganymede.

In Giants' Star, the Shapieron leaves to search for the migrated Ganymedeans at a star in the constellation of Taurus. Before their departure, a message is sent from a human installation on the Luna Farside toward this star telling of the ship's departure and a response is received soon thereafter welcoming the crew to their new home. Although no other responses are received for some time, months later messages start arriving in English using standard communication codes from a source in the fringe of the solar system.

These novels established the author's reputation as a writer of hard science fiction capable of inducing a sense of wonder. All three of these novels concern the use of the tools of science and technology to explore the past and present of other societies, one human and the other alien. They evoke the vicarious excitement of discovery, from gathering data to forming a consistent explanation.

Highly recommended for Hogan fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of archaeological investigation of alien civilizations and first contact with such aliens.