BrownianMotion reviewed Brain Wave by Poul Anderson
Brain Wave, a trip to the future’s past
3 stars
I think this is one of Anderson’s first full length novels and it’s something of a retro-fest to read it for the first time almost 70 years after publication. As a 21st century reader for a very 1950’s outlook story, the characters are very predictable, and the whole story is very archaic in it’s view of women and cultures outside of conservative white technocrats. I think this is really the barest outlines of the book he wanted to write to examine what humanity would be like if we rid ourselves of the desires that cause so many wars and human conflicts. Again and again he muses on the effects of the change in society caused by the the sudden increase in the abillity of all creatures mental capabilities. But Anderson never really grapels with the true measures of what this would entail, and the result is a very disjointed, almost …
I think this is one of Anderson’s first full length novels and it’s something of a retro-fest to read it for the first time almost 70 years after publication. As a 21st century reader for a very 1950’s outlook story, the characters are very predictable, and the whole story is very archaic in it’s view of women and cultures outside of conservative white technocrats. I think this is really the barest outlines of the book he wanted to write to examine what humanity would be like if we rid ourselves of the desires that cause so many wars and human conflicts. Again and again he muses on the effects of the change in society caused by the the sudden increase in the abillity of all creatures mental capabilities. But Anderson never really grapels with the true measures of what this would entail, and the result is a very disjointed, almost outline level discussion of the ramifications. Our sci-fi book club read this for our selection this month and the discussion was almost universal in it’s wish that he would have picked one topic of the many he introduced and stuck with it. My feeling is that he did what he needed and was told to write, to get a first novel published. His later works that I recall reading were much more refined in their viewpoints of women and society. But, I’m glad to have read it.