Brain Wave

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Poul Anderson: Brain Wave (2018, Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy)

paperback, 214 pages

Published Sept. 18, 2018 by Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy.

ISBN:
978-1-5040-5455-3
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3 stars (2 reviews)

1 edition

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 …