From rec.arts.sf.misc Wed Aug 26 15:26:21 1992 Xref: isy comp.ai.philosophy:7292 rec.arts.sf.misc:2725 alt.cyberpunk:9314 Path: isy!liuida!sunic!nobeltech!admin.kth.se!kth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!bloom-beacon!mintaka.lcs.mit.edu!yale!yale.edu!nigel.msen.com!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!menudo.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!cosc176t From: cosc176t@menudo.uh.edu (Jason Asbahr) Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy,rec.arts.sf.misc,alt.cyberpunk Subject: _The Turing Option_ Message-ID: Date: 26 Aug 92 06:09:44 GMT Sender: usenet@menudo.uh.edu (USENET News System) Organization: /posole/cosc176t/.organization Lines: 35 Nntp-Posting-Host: menudo.uh.edu Greets, all... I hope unsolicited testimonials are accepted here. :) I've just finished the very enjoyable (and much awaited) book by Harry Harrison and Marvin Minsky, _The Turing Option_. TTO reflects both authors' talent for pushing current trends into the future and realistically suggesting their result. The story starts in the year 2023, far enough into the future for High Definition Television to become recognized as an important high-tech item. Much the future technology in common usage in _The Turing Option_ can be clearly recognized as first having been born in American universities like MIT, CMU and UNC. It is pleasing to lose oneself in a world where the fruits of the last half century of CS, AI, and robotics research are familiar and useful tools. The characters in TTO are believable, and, if they lecture a bit in the beginning, at least the lectures are interesting! _The Turing Option_ came as a welcome change to the recent endless stream of near-future sci-fi novels that paint only scarred and desolate futures. Though everything isn't beautiful, and people are still people, it's a hopeful vision. Thanks, -- Jason Asbahr 116 E. Edgebrook #603 asbahr@uh.edu Houston, Texas 77034 next@tree.egr.uh.edu (NeXTmail) (713) 941-8294 voice (summer) asbahr@tree.egr.uh.edu (NeXTmail) UH NeXT Campus Consultant From /tmp/sf.4258 Tue Feb 1 03:51:40 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!uunet!news!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: pcrxs@valinor.giss.nasa.gov (R.B. Schmunk) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Review: Harrison's THE HAMMER AND THE CROSS Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <9309282140.AA08212@nasagiss.giss.nasa.gov> Date: 29 Sep 93 00:57:33 GMT Lines: 74 THE HAMMER AND THE CROSS By Harry Harrison and John Holm A book review by R.B. Schmunk (Copyright 1993) THE HAMMER AND THE CROSS is a new alternate history novel by Harry Harrison, author of a few other well-known novels in that sub-genre, including A TRANS- ATLANTIC TUNNEL, HURRAH! and WEST OF EDEN. This time around, he has apparently been joined by a collaborator, as the title and copyright pages reveal a co- author named John Holm. The setting of THE HAMMER AND THE CROSS is England in the years 865 and 866, when the land was divided into several kingdoms and Vikings were a serious threat looming over the eastern horizon. Though not explicitly stated, the tale apparently devolves from our own history right in the first chapter when King Aella (or Ella) of Northumbria captures a much-hated Viking named Ragnar Lothbrekes and at the urging of several churchmen has him executed in a snakepit. Soon after, Ragnar's four sons hear of it and swear fearsome oaths that they will lead a massive invasion of England and destroy its four kings. But while THE HAMMER AND THE CROSS is the story of that invasion and its aftermath, it is primarily about the the rise of a young man from East Anglia. Named Shef, he is the bastard son of an English woman and a Viking who raided her husband's lands some years before. He first appears at Ragnar's execution, having accompanied his step-father on a visit north, and re-appears as the men of East Anglia prepare to meet the latest threat to their shore. Returning from his first battle, he finds that the family hold has been plundered and his step-sister Godive kidnaped. Rather than join the assembling English army, he sneaks off like all good heroes do on a private rescue mission. Soon he is in the camp of the Vikings and becomes a participant in great events. (Hmmm, perhaps those last four words should be capitalized.) I much enjoyed THE HAMMER AND THE CROSS for its evocation of the time and place in which it occurred. Though I know little about the era, the book felt right to me with its deadly battles and grimy peasants. However, I was not particularly comfortable with the characterization. The bad guys were almost uniformly bad (particularly Shef's step-brother and the four Ragnarssons), and the good guys were generally left undescribed. Only two characters seemed to come in shades of gray; one was a Viking leader and the other was...Shef. Perhaps this latter point is what disturbed me most about THE HAMMER AND THE CROSS. At several times, Shef is seen doing things that are not particularly admirable, and at a few others his motivation is unclear. Perhaps some of this might have been cleared up if the authors had done a better job describing the relationship between Shef and Godive, since several plot developments result from that relationship, but instead much has been left for the reader to assume. A final nit which disturbed my enjoyment of the book was Shef's inventiveness, a device apparently used so that several features of military technology could be introduced decades if not centuries before they actually appeared in our world. This point is not all that important, but it did detract from the book's success in portraying its setting. Thus, while I warmly recommend THE HAMMER AND THE CROSS for its description of an invasion and subsequent events which never happened, I temper my comments with a warning about poorly drawn characters. Consequently, the reader interested in the tale may wish to wait until the book appears in paperback form, presumably in the summer of 1994. %A Harry Harrison %A John Holm %B THE HAMMER AND THE CROSS %I Tor %C New York City %D 1993 %G ISBN 0-312-85439-0 %O hardback, US$23.95 %P 415 pp. -- R.B. Schmunk Email: pcrxs@valinor.giss.nasa.gov Smail: NASA/Goddard Institute, 2880 Broadway, New York, NY 10025 USA Vox: 212-678-5637 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Jan 17 17:35:57 1994 Xref: liuida rec.arts.sf.reviews:466 rec.arts.sf.written:46214 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!uunet!news.sprintlink.net!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: archer@frmug.fr.net (Vincent Archer) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.sf.written Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: THE TURING OPTION by Harry Harrison and Marvin Minsky Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Organization: FrMug Usenet BBS Message-ID: <1994Jan14.235414.19711@frmug.fr.net> Date: 16 Jan 94 00:00:05 GMT Lines: 117 THE TURING OPTION by Harry Harrison and Marvin Minsky A book review by Vincent Archer Copyright 1994 Vincent Archer [Std disclaimer: English is not my native language, so you'll probably find a lot of bad wording, expressions and similar mistakes. That fact never stopped me from enjoying SF works in the original version - I read more english SF than french SF] Given the two names on the cover of this book, one would expect a very smart book, beautifully written, with a lot of interesting and up-to-date scientific contents. The plot revolves around one Brian Delaney, computer genius, who works for Megalobe Industries in this year 2023. Working on "true" A.I., Brian Delaney gets nearly killed in a break-in. Industrial spies get hold of everything and everyone in the labs - save our hero, which conveniently manages to gets himself locked in a safe vault just after being shot thru the head. The plot summary at the back of the book focus on what happens to Brian Delaney, after a world's best neuro-surgeon - who, also, conveniently worked some time ago with Delaney - manages to graft a super-computer inside the scientist's skull to reconnect the severed parts of the brain. In fact, the book has three major topics: We've got a computer-inside-brain subject, an AI subject, and a criminal/industrial spying mystery. The fascinating aspect of a computer seamlessly integrated inside someone's head do not dominate the book at all! As the reference to Turing indicates, we'll have to face a strong AI contents too. *** SPOILER WARNING *** [Spoilers about the book follow after this.] I felt cheated because, apart from the somewhat long regression therapy, during which we're subjected to Delaney's childhood, and a few 'unexpected' things during his recovery, the brain + computer part was completely forgotten. Delaney uses its computer implants half a dozen times, download a few "memories", and we get a glimpse of the brain's new capabilities for what amount to a grand total of two or three pages on more than half the book. These capabilities are nothing miraculous. Any book dealing with this topic never failed to present us with instant knowledge on any subject gained by downloading books/libraries/encyclopaedia in the computer, flashing insights provided by the CPU, device control or direct mind-to-computer discussions. Here, nothing new is shown, and the way these aspects are treated left me wanting for more. Then, there's the AI. From simple expert systems at the beginning, our fearless scientist recreates its lost research, then proceed to download a part of its own brain pattern in its creation, and presto... you've got Sven, the wonder robot. The M.I. (Machine Intelligence, because Artificial is demeaning - god, we've got PC talk!) promptly solves part of the criminal investigation, uses its inbuilt detector to spy upon cellular telephone calls, and perform a lot of other wonders. There's no problem in Sven passing the Turing Test, basically because I never got the impression that Sven was anything else but a human walking in a funny body. The mystery was also completely botched. Nobody finds anything, until the AI provides us with the name of the company that sells smart robots using the stolen technology. Then, that same AI finds a telephone number conveniently hidden inside these robots' ROM, which leads our hero to the computer expert that was "innocent; recruited by the bad guys; then blackmailed to do the job". Upon its timely - and moral - death, that scientist also happen to know the location of the arch-villain and leaves a message to Delaney, which confronts him in his Switzerland haven. The villain then dies too, leaving the identity of the government he worked for unknown. That last chapter was really too much. We've got gaping inconsistencies like the fact that Delaney's boos blood was found on the lab walls after the theft, then it was found later that he was the arch-villain. And nobody even wondered why... And yes, we've also got our big, baaad, evil general that want to keep everything under its own control for the "national security". Tell me about originality. After finishing the book I can tell you that this purchase was a mistake from my part. For an airplane reading, I would still use it; it's light reading, you won't be too challenged in your world view, and after you arrive at your destination, you can discard it without a second tought. The fact that it's being published by Warner Books, after having been featured by the Science Fiction Book Club should have been warning enough: I almost always find Questar books in airport bookstores. It's obvious that the synergy between Harrison and Minsky was not very good, and I feel that they should refrain from doing more books together. Then, the book attempted to deal with too many things at once. Either of the three aspects of the book - thriller, AI, mind enhancement - is more than enough to fill a book by itself. To cram all three in one takes a lot of talent. To squeeze all that, plus filler, is obsviously too much even for a 400-page book. Putting together a very good SF writer (which Harrison is) and a very good scientist (which Minsky is) was a good idea. Too bad it didn't work out. The end result still had its fascinating glimpses of a not so far future and tries to teach us one or two things about scientific theories, but lacks in-depth coverage of the themes. It might be good reading for the general public, but not so much for a hundred-books-a-year SF reader. %T THE TURING OPTION %A Harry Harrison %A Marvin Minsky %I Warner Books %C Nwe York %D October 1993 %G ISBN 0-446-36496-7 %P 409 pp. %O paperback, US$5.99 -- Vincent Archer Email: archer@frmug.fr.net Don't worry if it doesn't work right. If everything did, you'd be out of a job. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Nov 30 16:56:18 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!fizban.solace.mh.se!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!paladin.american.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.kei.com!uhog.mit.edu!news!nobody From: Jonathan Thornburg Subject: Review of Harrison & Minsky: "The Turing Option" Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Keywords: author= Jonathan Thornburg Sender: news@media.mit.edu (USENET News System) Organization: Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 03:25:28 GMT Approved: wex@media.mit.edu (Alan Wexelblat) Lines: 107 [some minor spoilers --AW] This is an interesting, though flawed, novel about the attainment of human- level artificial intelligence (AI), set in the 2020s. Minsky is well-known as a major AI researcher and former director of the famed MIT AI Labs. Accordingly, the book is free of the glaring technical howlers found in many fictional discussions of AI. The writing, plot, and characterization are fairly good, and the book met my personal litmus test of keeping me up past midnight the first night I brought it home from the library. But the authors reaffirm common stereotypes about the personalities of gifted children and adults, the sociology of scientific research, and the dehumanizing implications of AI. The plot revolves around a brilliant AI researcher, Brian Delaney. Just as he's making a major breakthrough in his AI research, unknown persons penetrate the high-security corporate lab where he works, and shoot him in the head (this is the _United_States_: there's a fair bit of blood and gore!), leaving him for dead. They then steal the entire contents of the lab, including all the records of Brian's work. (Just for good measure, they also remove a goodly number of corpses of assorted guard dogs, guards, and other corporate personnel caught in the attack.) However, Brian survives the attack, and his employers recruit a top brain surgeon to try and repair Brian's badly injured brain, in the hopes of his being able to either identify his attackers, or better yet recreate his AI breakthrough. The surgeon successfully implants a number of computers and "nervous system switches" in Brian's brain, and Brian regains conciousness in relatively good physical condition, but with much of his memory and personality -- his "mind" -- still shattered. Working together, the surgeon and Brian successfully program Brian's brain-implant computer to reconnect the severed nerves in his brain. The "bionic" Brian then sets about recreating his AI research, and eventually succeeds in constructing a true "machine intelligence", far more capable than the prototype stolen in the attack. Unfortunately, Brian's original attackers are still at large, and they see Brian and his work as a threat to their AI monopoly. Brian survives several further attacks on his life, but is forced to live a secluded life in an isolated high-security laboratory. He eventually rebels against his imprisonment, and escapes to try his own hand at outwitting his enemies. I won't reveal the remainder of the plot, but the ending is both interesting, poignant, and disturbing. The basic concept of the book as a good one: What are the implications of successful AI -- of a computer system which is fully as intelligent and self-aware as a human? But I think the authors fall down in several areas: Brian is presented as an exceptionally gifted child, who (for example) discovers the concept of "prime number" for himself at the age of 8. But the authors' presentation of the adult Brian -- and later the "bionic Brian" -- as a lonely workaholic, incapable of meaningful adult relationships, owes more to TV stereotypes than to reality. In fact, although gifted children often lead rather unhappy childhoods, they generally emerge as adults who are psychologically _healthier_ than average. The authors should have known this. I also thought the authors presented several of the characters as pretty naive: When breaking out of a high-security military compound, would Brian and his accomplice really admit into their conspiracy, the military's nominee as Brian's research assistant? Is it really plausible that such a person, presented as an AI expert with an extensive computer database background, wouldn't know that cellular phones _must_ continuously broadcast their position to the telephone network, in order for incoming calls to be rounted to the proper cell? And should both of them, knowing they were fleeing the entire resources of the US government (not to mention some other very well-bankrolled enemies), go about using credit cards, passports, and the like all _in_their_own_names_? The authors present Brian as working alone, with noone else in the world being able to follow his work. This is in highly improbable: new scientific discoveries almost never come as bolts out of the blue, but rather out of experience with the limits of existing scientific knowledge. Accordingly, there are almost always a number of researchers around the world working along similar lines. Moreover, most scientists work in groups of anywhere from 2 or 3 to as many as 1000 researchers. Again, the authors should have -- and Minsky surely does -- know this. Finally, let's consider the central philosophical subject of the book, the nature of AI and its impact on humans. Here Minsky's AI background shows: the writing is authoritative and the authors carefully avoid some of the common misconceptions in the field, and even debunk a few others. But although they use Alan Turing's name several times, and even have a short preface titled "The Turing Test", they never actually explain the Turing test's central roles in AI. The ending presents Brian's newly-created AI is growing steadily more human, while the "bionic Brian" himself becomes cold and impersonal. But the authors neither justify this divergence nor expand on any of the other sociological impacts of AI. Overall, then, this book is a "good read", but I expected much better from someone with Minsky's background. I'd give the book a 6/10: don't buy it now, but perhaps check it out in your local library, and keep an eye out for a 2nd-hand copy. %A Author Harry Harrison %A Author Marvin Minsky %T Title The Turing Option %I Publisher Warner Books %C Place Published New York %D Date Published 1992 %G Order Number ISBN 0-446-51565-5 (hardcover) %P Pages 422 pp - Jonathan Thornburg U of British Columbia / Physics Dept / "There is nothing to it: You only have to hit the right note at the right time, and the instrument plays itself." - J. S. Bach From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Sep 20 11:42:30 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!newsfeed.direct.ca!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!gatech!sipb-server-1.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!usenet From: "Aaron M. Renn" Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell by Harry Harrison Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 15 Sep 1999 14:05:53 -0400 Organization: GNU's Not Unix! Lines: 50 Sender: wex@tinbergen.media.mit.edu Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2460 The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell by Harry Harrison Review Copyright (c) 1999 Aaron M. Renn Conclusion: Don't Bother What happened to Harry Harrison? I've been a huge fan of the Rat for years. In fact, I've probably read the original Stainless Steel Rat novel 25 times. I've also read most of the others several times. They are great light and funny reading. Perfect for when you've got some time to kill but don't want to dig into anything serious. But Harrison struck out with The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues, and I'm afraid he did the same with this book. As with Sings the Blues, Goes to Hell just plain wasn't funny. Well, there were a few chuckles in there, but mostly this was plain boring. The story involves a mad scientist named Justin Slakey who's kidnapped the Rat's wife Angelina. Unlike "He" or some of the other great Rat villians, Slakey isn't out to take over the universe or anything. I won't spoil the plot by telling what he does want - though I probably should in order to keep you from being tempted into buying this book - but it's pretty underwhelming. Nothing illustrates the blandness of this novel more than the episode that takes place on the world called "Glass." The Rat and Angelina get trapped there for a few days, and go off to survey the native flora and fauna. This sort of thing might work in a hard SF exploration story, but in a book of this nature it just leaves the reader scratching his head. Particularly since it is completely irrelevant to the story. Hard core Stainless Steel Rat fans like me have probably already bought this one. Others should stay away, though the rest of the books in the series - except for the previously mentioned Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues - are excellent. Harrison has another Rat book out in November (The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus (?!?!)) and I hope he's recovered from whatever it is that poisoned the last two rat novels. But given the series trendlines, I'm not hopeful. %A Harrison, Harry %T The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell %I Tor %D 1997-01 (original publication 1996-11) %G ISBN 0-812-55107-9 %P 253 pp. %0 mass market paperback, US$5.99 Reviewed on 1999-09-11 Aaron M. Renn (arenn@urbanophile.com) http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Dec 17 12:36:39 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!news-peer-europe.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!dreaderd!not-for-mail ~Sender: wex@deepspace.media.mit.edu ~From: "Aaron M. Renn" Approved: wex@media.mit.edu ~Subject: Review: The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus by Harry Harrison Organization: GNU's Not Unix! ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written ~Date: 08 Dec 1999 14:57:37 -0500 Message-ID: X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.5/Emacs 20.3 ~Lines: 37 NNTP-Posting-Host: deepspace.media.mit.edu X-Trace: dreaderd 944683059 29390 18.85.23.65 ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2508 The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus by Harry Harrison Review Copyright (c) 1999 Aaron M. Renn Conclusion: The Rat is Back - Sort Of Since the last two Rat books basically sucked, I was all prepared to kick myself for buying this one in hardcover. But lucky for me, Harrison seemed to be back in form on this installment, with a readable if not spectacular Rat tale. The self-styled richest man in the universe hires Slippery Jim to investigate a series of bank robberies at institutions said rich man owns. The Rat discovers that the only thing in common between all of the robberies was that a circus was in town at the same time, always featuring Puissanto - the strongest man in the universe. So Jim signs on with the circus along side Puissanto as a magic act, and ends up on the corrupt planet of Fetorr. Absurd adventures ensue. I don't know about you, but I read the Rat for the humor, of which there is enough in this book to make it worth reading. However, I thought it contained a bit too much straight ahead action-adventure and was a bit too long for a Rat book. But this one is still light years ahead of Goes to Hell and Sings the Blues. Rat fans might be able to justify this in hardcover, but most folks will want to wait for the paperback. %A Harrison, Harry %T The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus %I Tor %D 1999-11 %G ISBN 0-312-86934-7 %P 269 pp. %O hardcover, US$23.95 Reviewed on 1999-11-27 Aaron M. Renn (arenn@urbanophile.com) http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Mar 1 23:23:46 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!nntp.primenet.com!nntp.gctr.net!newspeer1.nac.net!netnews.com!howland.erols.net!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!dreaderd!not-for-mail Sender: wex@deepspace.media.mit.edu From: "Evelyn C Leeper" Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: THE YEAR 2000 edited by Harry Harrison Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Organization: none Date: 01 Mar 2000 16:06:37 -0500 Message-ID: X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.5/Emacs 20.3 Lines: 110 NNTP-Posting-Host: deepspace.media.mit.edu X-Trace: dreaderd 951944799 2948 18.85.23.65 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2619 THE YEAR 2000 edited by Harry Harrison Berkley, ISBN 0-425-02117-3, 1970, 254pp, US$0.95 A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 2000 Evelyn C. Leeper In 1970, Harry Harrison had thirteen authors write stories set thirty years in the future, in the year 2000. Well, having arrived there, I thought this might be a good time to see how close or far these stories are from reality. The beginning of the first story, Fritz Leiber's "America the Beautiful," gives you a feel for what these stories are like: "I am returning to England. I am shorthanding this, July 5, 2000, aboard the Dallas-London rocket as it arches silently out of the diffused violet daylight of the stratosphere into the eternally star-spangled purple night of the ionosphere." The story itself deals with both the rising tensions between America and "the Communist League," and the generally self-satisfied feeling that Americans have with themselves. If the former has turned out to be false, there is still some truth in the latter. The second story ("Prometheus Rebound" by Daniel F. Galouye) reads like something out of the 1930s, making me wonder what *he* was thinking the year 2000 would be like. Before there was Mike Resnick, there was Chad Oliver, and before there was "Kirinyaga" there was "Far from This Earth," Oliver's story of progress, if progress it be, in Kenya. It's surprising, in fact, that this was not one of the inspirations for Resnick's series, but it wasn't. Naomi Mitchison's "After the Accident" is a rather straightforward genetic engineering story. "Utopian" by Mack Reynolds reads like one of those stilted Utopian stories from decades ago, right down to people saying things like "If we were still using the somewhat inefficient calendar of your period, this would be approximately the year 2000." Like Reynolds's story, "Sea Change" by A. Bertram Chandler deals with someone who has "time-traveled" (via deep sleep) from 1970 to 2000. Similarly, Chandler also has a theme of "the old best are sometimes the best," though in a different sense than Reynolds. Robert Silverberg is one of the two authors who thought the race issue would be critical over the next thirty years. Though his racially separated society of "Black Is Beautiful" did not arise, his story does raise issues that are relevant today, not least of which is when does autonomy become just segregation under a different name. The paperback edition has an unfortunate typo at the beginning, with "1933" instead of "1983." The other story of race relations is "American Dead" by Harry Harrison, and it paints an even gloomier view of the conflict between black and white. What is of interest is that neither Silverberg nor Harrison has any other racial influences in his story. Missing are the Asians and the Hispanics who certainly have an impact in the racial politics of the United States in the year 2000. "The Lawgiver" by Keith Laumer is still very topical today with its theme of "right-to-life" issues, though a bit heavy-handed, I thought. Though in real life J. J. Coupling was involved in communications technology (under his real name, John R. Pierce, he was an executive director in Bell Labs when he wrote his story), "To Be a Man" is more about bioengineering. However, it has some very "modern" ideas, in particular more of the concepts that Greg Egan is using these days. I was particularly reminded of Egan's "Reasons to be Cheerful." One note: of the thirteen authors, only Aldiss, Coupling, Harrison, Masson, and Silverberg are still alive to see how it really turned out. The used bookstore where Mark or I bought this went out of business a few years ago as well, after being in existence more than a hundred years. %B The Year 2000 %E Harry Harrison %T "America the Beautiful" %A Fritz Leiber %T "Prometheus Rebound" %A Daniel F. Galouye %T "Far from This Earth" %A Chad Oliver %T "After the Accident" %A Naomi Mitchison %T "Utopian" %A Mack Reynolds %T "Orgy of the Living and the Dying" %A Brian W. Aldiss %T "Sea Change" %A A. Bertram Chandler %T "Black Is Beautiful" %A Robert Silverberg %T "Take It Or Leave It" %A David I. Masson %T "The Lawgiver" %A Keith Laumer %T "To Be a Man" %A J. J. Coupling %T "Judas Fish" %A Thomas N. Scortia %T "American Dead" %A Harry Harrison %C New York %D 1970 %I Berkley %O paperback, US$0.95 %G ISBN 0-425-02117-3 %P 254pp Evelyn C. Leeper | My other email address is eleeper@geocities.com +1 732 332 6218 | http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you're alive is a special occasion. --Ann Wells