The Demolished Man

What to write about this first ever winner of the Hugo award? The main conclusion must be this: times have changed. The CIA had a secret program ('Project MKULtra') trying to gain insight into mind control during the 1950s and the early sixties. Arthur C. Clarke dabbled in the paranormal (see the foreword to Childhood's End--also published in 1953), Asimov had telepaths living in a second Foundation, and Frank Herbert wrote The Santaroga Barrier as late as 1968. It were trippy times, and the belief in the potential powers of the mind was hopeful and naive.

Is this book science fiction? Not because it's set in 2301 AD, as that doesn't matter for the story: it could have been 1981 AD just as well. Not because it features Venus or Ganymede as locations, as that doesn't matter either, it could have been Hawaii and Malawi too. The fact that humans colonized the solar system is not explored one bit--the most comical moment of the book is when a character wonders if he'll catch the "10 o'clock rocket" to someplace off-planet. Not because cars are called jumpers and can fly. And not because the judge is a computer, as that could have been any bureaucrat.

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