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dustydigger
Posted 2015-05-23 10:37 AM (#10596 - in reply to #9162)
Subject: Re: The Definitive 1950s Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		Long time since I gave a year report for this challenge. I increased my total to 15 and had to go back to fill in some reads,then upped it to twenty,once again had to fill in the gaps.
So,now its 1955. I had previously read 3/16 books: - The Body Snatchers,great fun, an iconic work about possession/replication of humans by aliens. I actually preferred the film versions to the book which was rather poorly written,but the themes of identity etc certainly struck a chord with the public. Loved The Crysalids about a post nuclear war society ruthlessly trying to eradicate radiation caused mutations by destroying such unfortunates . Like The Long Tomorrow we have a fundementalist anti technology society., but whilst society is capable of destroying physical mutants,some people have developed telepathic traits. Another excellent read by John Wyndham. I had also read Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky,one of my favourite RAH juveniles,where high school students of the future go on a survival test on a distant planet,getting there through the Gates,but unfortunately a malfunction leaves them stranded on a dangerous planet far away. Great fun!
For this challenge I read Leigh Brackett's The Long Tomorrow,one of my favourite reads this year. I particularly liked the way Brackett was even handed about the pros and cons of eschewing technology after a nuclear holocaust,especially by having the main character heavily conflicted about technology. No black and white certainties here. Excellent book. I also read Pohl and Kornbluth's Gladiator-at-Law a light amusing story about a young lawyer fighting big corporations of the future,seeking to destroy the stranglehold they have on society.Typical sharp satire from P & K
There were no less than 11 of the books unavailable in the library. In fact I had to buy a copy of the Brackett book. A pity I couldnt get hold of so many. It seemed to be a year totally given over to Mars and Martians! I would have enjoyed reading them all!

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