Something To Read by Ken Slater

THE ROBOT AND THE MAN . ed. Martin Greenberg (Grayson & Grayson), 9/6. 

Ten tales about robots and men, as the title indicates, ranging from the satirical SELF PORTRAIT of Bernard Wolfe to the almost mystical and quietly beautiful INTO THY HANDS by Lester del Rey, in which mankind is reborn under the guidance of the robots who survived him. Humour is added by H. H. Holmes (Anthony Boucher) with ROBINC, in which the small designer of the "usuform" robot comes into conflict with the great manufacturer of the humanoid robot, and to some extent is also present in Lewis Padgett's DEADLOCK, in which the theoretically indestructible and inquisitive robots are faced with the final problem - "How can I destroy me?"

Despite the fact that the ten stories are by different authors, were originally printed in different magazines at different times, their arrangement here has the effect of a chronological account of the effect of the robot on human history. An excellent addition to Grayson & Grayson's lengthy list of reprinted American anthologies

CHILDREN OF THE ATOM Wilmar H.Shiras (T.V.Boardman), 9/6.

Not infrequently magazine stories told on a connected theme suffer the obvious fault of remaining  connected magazine stories when placed between boards. It is my opinion that Miss Shiras' book about Peter Welles, psychiatrist, and Timothy Paul, superboy, can be truly called a "novel" as this fault is not apparent. Timothy is sent to Welles by his  school mistress,  who suspects  something is wrong with him... there is; his I.Q. is something way above any that can be registered by the standard tests! The first section of the book is devoted to the discovery by Welles of the truth about Paul, who has been "In Hiding "; Welles and Paul become fast friends. Then by "Opening Doors" they search for other children akin to Paul, and discover them; they plan the erection of a special "school for advanced children" in "New Foundations," and it is here that we leave the sections of the book which have appeared in the magazines. A little under half the book is new, "Problems," and "Children of the Atom " being titles given to the two new sections. These cover the running of the "school" and the conflict which ensues when a garbled story of these "giant, inhuman intellects" is released to the world through the mouth of Tommy Mundy, a sensation-seeking lay-preacher. The solution to the resultant problem concludes the story on a not new beginning. Comparisons can be draw between this and other stories of "mutations" and "supermen" For instance, it is in some way parallel to Stapledon's ODD JOHN; the children growing up estranged from humanity, their contacts with each other, the insane child, the group coming together. But Miss Shiras dealt with the theme in a fashion entirely divergent. Her children are still children, with laughter and tears. A most readable enjoyable novel.

THE CAVES OF STEEL Isaac Asimov (T. V. Boardman), 9/6.

This book fits someplace into Asimov's private Galactic History, shortly after the "Spacers" have remade contact with Earth. Those of humanity who remained on earth have developed a city culture of great complexity, and an agoraphobia. The Spacers, while refraining from contact in the physical sense with the Terrans, are trying to induce the city-people to make use of robots; the Terrans like neither the robots nor the "stand-offish" attitude of the Spacers.

Lije Bailey is a policeman; when a Spacer is unaccountably murdered, he is called in to take joint charge of the case with the representative of the Spacers. His colleague turns out to be R. Daneel Olivaw - the "R." standing for Robot!

Now, it becomes obvious that this is a detective story. There is some question whether in a "good" detective story it is necessary to keep the murderer hidden until the end. One school of thought claims that this is required only in the "pulp-pot-boiler" style of writing, where the reader's interest can only be maintained (if at all) by that method. Well, that is the way it is done here, but I feel that Mr. Asimov would have found it difficult to handle in any other way, for with the solution of the murder comes the solution of the over-riding sociological problems and the beginning of the reconciliation of the Spacers and the Terrans.

However, this is perhaps not one of Isaac Asimov's best stories. It is good, it shows his usual adequate workmanship, but somehow it does not quite come up to what I expect. Nevertheless, it is worth reading - it is far better than some other material currently available.

THE STARMEN Leigh Brackett (Museum Press),  9/6

Miss Brackett is perhaps best known to the science fiction reader for her stories of heroes who, sword in one hand and blaster in the other, ride their spaceships down into all kinds of trouble and by sheer luck and brute force manage to rescue the heroine from a fate she usually deserves. THE STARMEN, while similar in many respects, is a little above the "sword and blaster" plane.

Michael Trehearne has traced his ancestry back to a village in Brittany , and while there finds some strange people who closely resemble him in outward appearance. He follows them, and discovers they are star-voyagers, trading throughout the worlds. They are the only race who can withstand the rigours of space­flight. He takes a chance on his descent from earlier visitors - and by the fact that he does not die when the ship takes off proves he is of the same blood. As in all races, there are various political factions, and Trehearne gets tangled with a party who desire to give space­flight to all races of the Galaxy - the "Vardda's" immunity is artificial, although inherited, and the secret has been lost. After lots of exciting adventures, chases between the stars, etc., Trehearne recovers the lost secret and broadcasts it to the Galaxy, thereby earning the respect of some people and the hatred of others.

Worth reading, but not exceptional.

MUTANT Henry Kuttner (Weidenfelt & Nicholson), 9/6.

This is a collection of the "Baldy" stories published under the Lewis Padgett pseudonym in ASF, and it does regrettably show the distinction of being a collection. Although connected in theme, the stories have different characters and are too wide-spread in time sequence to permit of them being turned into a novel, although an effort has been made to connect by making them the "memories" of a crashed airplane pilot.

The five tales cover a period of some two hundred years, from the time the "Baldies" - telepathic mutants resulting from the "blow-up" - who are "normal" start their underground conflict with the separate mutant strain who are paranoid, and continue to follow the major incidents in this conflict until the discovery of a method to make all men, Baldy or not, telepathic.

It cannot be denied that the stories are excellent, and although, it is possible that Mr. Kuttner's portrayal of a telepathic minority trying to co-exist with a non-telepathic race has since been equalled it has not been excelled. Four of the stories were published in 1945, and the fifth in 1953. Which makes the major part of the book almost ten years old - but still fine reading today. If you have not already read these yarns, I recommend them. If you want to re-read them - and I expect you will - here is your chance.

THE GREEN AND RED PLANET Hubertus Strughold (Sidgwick & Jackson), 7/6.

Writing not "down to," but in a fashion understandable to the layman, Dr. Strughold extrapolates from known Terran conditions to discover the possibility of life  "as we know it" existing on Mars; qualifying his extrapolations by the astronomical knowledge we have of Mars. He supports his text with a number of illustrations and graphs which are self-explanatory, and he ends the book with an excellent biblio­graphy and an adequate index.

Should you wish to be informed in accordance with modern scientific knowledge, buy this book and read it.

Other books received include an exhaustive and beautifully produced 345-page HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY by Giorgio Abetti. This is a must for all those who have a deep interest in the facts of that basic subject of science-fiction, astronomy, and is published by Sidgwick and Jackson at 25/-.

 

from Nebula No. 10. October 1954

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