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dustydigger
Posted 2015-10-22 5:21 AM (#11537 - in reply to #9182)
Subject: Re: Pick and Mix 2015		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		I recently finished Fred Pohl's Man Plus,which I enjoyed very much,and thought well deserved to be on the SF Masterworks list. So I was a bit disconcerted to say the least when checking the reviews that most people found it dated bland,poor. Ah well,one man's meat,as they say! here is my view;
Just completed Fred Pohl's Man Plus about the trials and dilemmas of a man being adapted to live on Mars. World overpopulation has led to mass starvation in the third world,and the superpowers are on the brink of nuclear war. The US decide to start looking into the possibility that the world may be nearing its end. The ruthless,coldblooded way in which the politicians and scientists approach their task is truly chilling.There are a lot of manipulators in this tale,and the book is intense and harrowing at times,with a neat twist at the end. Fred Pohl at his misanthropic best. Not a lot of likeable characters here,but the book,barely over 200 pages is packed with interest. Of course the science is way off - it is only now that we are seeing the world as pre and post computer proliferation. Here the computers are very few,and room sized. Its a major feat to produce a back pack computer,and it has to be linked to a huge computer in orbit above for the new Martian to use it. But the book is really involved with the thoughts and sufferings of the poor human undergoing all this,so the book is still readable today. Deserves its place on the SF Masterworks list. Up there with Way Station and The Long Tomorrow as my most interesting reads of the year. Excellent.

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