Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!godot!ima!ISM780!patrick From: patrick@ISM780.UUCP Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Re: Orphaned Response Message-ID: <144@ISM780.UUCP> Date: Tue, 5-Mar-85 01:56:43 EST Article-I.D.: ISM780.144 Posted: Tue Mar 5 01:56:43 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 7-Mar-85 05:40:56 EST Lines: 47 Nf-ID: #R:topaz:-79800:ISM780:32900003:000:2351 Nf-From: ISM780!patrick Mar 4 01:32:00 1985 Hey - another Brunner freak, and at ISC too... Stand on Zanzibar was (I believe) written before The Sheep Look Up, and you're right, neither book is a sequel to the other. SOZ is my favourite SF book of all time; I've read it a dozen times, and owned several copies (I lend them to people saying "you must read this", and never see them again). For years now I've been haunting the bookstores looking for the latest Brunner. He seems to write two sorts of books - quickie pot-boilers of no particular interest, and long thoughtful books which (until the latest one) I loved. In addition to the two mentioned above, try "The Jagged Orbit" - a scary story about paranoia and the arms-manufacturers who encourage and feed off it, and "The Shockwave Rider" - about computer networks, and a guy who lives outside the law by manufacturing "electronic personalities" for himself. There's also an early book of his called "The Squares of the City", which is the only SF book I know about town/traffic planning (I used to hang out with a bunch of people in this profession - the book is realistic), Latin America, and the game of chess (!). I must admit that there's a touch of formula-writing about these books; there's always a super-smart super-unconventional sociologist-type who knows all the answers to everything, but nevertheless, if you like your SF sociological as opposed to high-tech or fantastic, then you'll enjoy these books. (One reason they appeal to me is that I used to be a sociologist.) Each book tends to take a social trend which currently worries 'concerned individuals' (Stand on Zanzibar - population; Sheep Look Up - pollution; Jagged Orbit - arms and 'security'; Shockwave Rider - computerization) and extrapolates it into the near future. BUT... recently he released his latest 'big book' (The Crucible of Time - I've seen mention of it here before). I snatched it up as soon as I saw it, and still, several months later, haven't finished it. It's a complete change of style for him, and I'm sorry to say I found it very boring. I only hope that when the next one is published (the interval is ususally about two years) he reverts to the 'social' as opposed to 'scientific' speculation I like so much. Anyone else like this kind of stuff? Patrick Curran Interactive Systems Corp. ...ihnp4!ima!ism780!patrick