Everyone said it before and I am saying it too... This is Mad men thrown into a pulp SF blender with glorious results. Frankly for it's writing I would give this book only 3 stars, but I was in the mood for some light SF cheese and anti corporate messaging and this book delivered.

I was greatly surprised to find the anti corporate and nature preservationist sentiments in a book from the 50s. "When we look back we also look down" (I can't remember whose quote this is so please tell me in the comments so I can add it). I always have to remind myself of this quote to remember that we are not dealing with all of this just now, it is a long fight, and not all of the people in the 50s were just repeating propaganda and ads instead of speaking. I mean People had to be aware of these issues back in the 50s in other to fight for them in the 60s. We have to commend Frederik Pohl for being in the forefront of these issues and viciously mocking both the "executives" and "consumers" all the while creating this particular type of dystopia in the 50s long before anyone could dream of Cyberpunk Hellscapes.

And to think he first started work on his novel during WWII set in New York featuring men working in advertising. Coming home he realized what he had written was quite bad and that he knew nothing about advertising, so he made sure to get a job in an advertising agency and he worked for 3 years for research purposes while writing SF on the side... What a Man!