Rating: 
Summary: Good novel, bad book
Review: This Island Earth, the novel, is indeed different from the movie in the second half -- better, in my opinion, although less special-effects-driven. I don't remember the movie explaining the title, either; Jones is comparing Earth to the Pacific islands in World War II where the fighting washed back and forth, and the inhabitants were dragooned into helping build airstrips and such for either side. Here it's a war involving numberless galaxies (where the movie's was just between two planets).The novel is good, but the book is terrible. Pulpless.com's typesetters put in more typos than Raymond F. Jones could have made in a couple of centuries of writing. And the editors let it all slip by. But I don't believe there was any mass-market paperback, so this is the only game in town.
Rating: 
Summary: Pulp Classic: This Island Earth by Ramond F. Jones
Review: What moral obligation does a scientist have? If his or her efforts are used by the military to inflict death and destruction on an enemy to spare others from dying, is he or she morally wrong? This question, among others, is a central theme of this re-released work that inspired the classic 1950's movie. Joe Wilson is the purchasing agent for Ryberg Instrument. One day, instead of getting what he ordered, he gets a shipment of rather strange looking parts. He turns them over to Cal Meacham to play with while he tries to get Cal's order straightened out. Cal starts playing with the parts back in the lab and discovers they are simply amazing and like nothing he has ever seen of or heard of before. Joe sends in a replacement order and instead gets more of the same parts, plus an intriguing catalog. He turns everything he gets over to Cal and Cal is also fascinated by the catalog. It seems to suggest that a device can be built from the parts listed in the catalogue. A device that no one seems to have heard of before. Cal builds the device and it allows him to communicate at vast distances. The ability to create the device from nothing more than a parts list was a test and he has passed. He accepts the resultant job offer and becomes involved in a vast conspiracy of mind-boggling proportions. The fate of the world may hang in the balance as well as Cal's own moral code. Regardless of whether or not you have seen the movie, this is a great book. The writing is crisp and sharp with strong characters and a fantastic premise. Not too many people write Science Fiction like this anymore and this story well withstands the test of time.
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