DESTINATION VIDE

A surprisingly good collection of relatively early SF stories by A. E. van Vogt. I first read it in my mid-teens, and it made a big impression on me; when I rediscovered it forty years later, it was with real delight. His stories bridge the Gernsback era of science fiction to the Campbell era; they could be utterly memorable, and in Destination: Universe they mostly were. They express feelings and moments that stayed with me for decades. His later bad habit of cannibalizing his own earlier work shadowed his overall reputation in my eyes, but the fact remains that when he was good, he was very good indeed. Although all of the stories are excellent, "The Monster" and "A Can of Paint" are particularly memorable.

This is an exploration of what define consciousness. A small crew of clones has been sent into space and been given the challenge to create a conscious entity.

Most of the book is taken up with philosophical dialogue between the various characters. While the dialogue is interesting from a philosophical point of view, it's fairly stilted. The characters are one-dimensional and not very believable and there is virtually no character development. Perhaps this because the characters are clones who have been conditioned to behave in prescribed ways. (In fairness, many of them are aware of and try to overcome this conditioning, but without success).

In the end, the characters are little more than a way of exploring different viewpoints about what constitutes consciousness.

While I certainly found the discussions interesting, I wouldn't say that I actually enjoyed the book.