Subject: Review of Barnes' _A Million Open Doors_

From: [email-masked] (Susan E. Kayser NSSDC/STX (301)513-1673)
Date: 29 May 1993 23:19 EDT

A Million Open Doors
     			   by John Barnes
     						reviewed by Susan Kayser

     When a member of a highly sophisticated culture (at least, in his opinion) 
finds himself in a very different society, the treatment of his reaction can be 
political, satirical, or philosophical. The situation has something for 
everyone, and  "A Million Open Doors" works on all three levels. 

     The "million open doors" are those between planets, settled by an enormous
variety of cultures, when the "springer" (instantaneous transportation) comes
to them. What happens to a planet that suddenly finds everyone can visit,
bearing gifts, entertainment, trade, ideas, money? What happened to Japan in
the last century, or Russia right now? The protagonist of this book, Giraut,
who grew up in a society based on the medieval troubadors--stratified, sexist,
amoral, with artistic creativity as the highest good--finds himself on the
planet Caledony, which has just gotten the springer. Caledony is repressed by
any measure, having taken Calvinism about as far as it can go, but it is not
stratified, not sexist, too moral, and "art" is not part of the local
vocabulary. The reaction of Giraut and his friends to Caledony, and of the
Caledonians to him and the rest of the universe, is what the book is about. 

     Barnes does a better job showing Giraud's development, naturally, since
it's easier to figure out how an individual responds than an entire society.
His writing is smooth, with a delightful style in describing troubador conduct
and speech, and lots of humor. He also makes some very good points about the
balance of social vs. economic forces, and about the value of the individual in
his society. Women's libbers should be pleased also, with the way in which
Giraut is forced to open his eyes to how badly his own society treats women. 

     This is one of the better books I have read recently, and would expect it 
to appeal to anyone who hates intolerance.

     %A John Barnes
     %T A Million Open Doors
     %I A Tor Book (St. Martin's Press)
     %C New York
     $D 1992
     %G ISBN #0-312-85210-X
     %O Hardcover, $19.95
     %P 320 pp.

Susan Kayser		NCF::KAYSER  or  [email-masked]
Hughes/STX at NASA/GSFC/NSSDC
Greenbelt, MD