Rating: 
Summary: An interesting and thought provoking book.
Review: He makes you want to live in his world where freedom is real not just an outmoded concept. He presents history in a very interesting angle. What if this had happened then what would follow, he takes a step further and paints it in technicolor. An artist and teacher of vision.
Rating: 
Summary: For Your Libertarian Library
Review: Heavy on its political agenda, and more than a little indebted to Phillip Dick and Sam Spade, "The Probability Broach" is entertaining but message-heavy. If you want a pure sci-fi alternate reality read, try Huxley's classic "Brave New World" - Smith's book won't survive the test of time quite as well.
Rating: 
Summary: If you like thinking for yourself you will like this book.
Review: I first heard of this book after reading a short story sequel called "Spirit of Exmas Sideways" also by L. Neil Smith. "The Probability Broach" is one of my favorite books. The United States that Win Bear starts in was not as dreary as described in 1980 but it is getting there. I'm sure I could have a more intelligent conversation with a dolphin than with some people I have met. I highly recomend this book to fill out any science fiction library. Frank J. Curran 3rd
Rating:
Summary: Probability Broach is becoming a liberty clasic.
Review: I first read this book many years ago and it was one of many that helped to form my understanding of how a free society could function and some of the dangers that would face such a society. It offers compelling reason to think about what liberty means and what you could and would do to maintain that liberty. We fool ourselves sadly to think that we can have both liberty and unbroken peace. When liberty is sold to gain peace, we get neither one.
Rating:
Summary: A New Paradigm for A Discouraged Freedom-Lover
Review: I picked up the sequel to The Probability Broach (The Venus Belt) by accident. That hooked me. L. Neil Smith plays with the language as can no author since Harry Harrison and, unlike Mr. Harrison, promotes a world-view of unfettered freedom and unlimited personal responsibility. After too many years of Comrade Clinton, I was starting to lose hope, but after reading The Probability Broach, I realized that this could work! Get this book into the hands of anyone who'll read it. We just might start a much-needed Gallatinist revolution in this universe!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and entertaining read, but no Heinlein.
Review: I read The Probability Broach in 24 hours this past weekend. It was an entertaining read, but somewhat awkward and dated. Written in the late 70's, the awful fate awaiting mankind in the next 20 years was government oppression in the name of energy conservation. Obviously this never came to pass, invalidating the author's argument as to why his alternate universe (the other side of the Probability Broach) is superior.The alternate world is strictly libertarian. George Washington was killed in that universe for proposing taxes, and the Whiskey Rebellion succeeded. Everyone wears guns, has flying cars, and the monkeys and dolphins talk and vote. It's interesting, but not particularly convincing. There's almost a complete lack of government, and no taxation, but Smith never explains where the money to pave the streets comes from, or how the fire department is funded. I can appreciate some libertarian viewpoints, but this is just a little too absurd. The book does pay homage to Robert A. Heinlein a great deal though, in the alternate history he's an Admiral, never having caught the tuberculosis he was stricken with here in the real world. There's a "Heinlein City" in Alaska too. The most subtle homage was in the name of the mathematician who discovers the broach. Her name is "Deejay Thorens" and is an extremely thinly veiled version of "Dejah Thoras" from Heinlein's "The Number of the Beast". Unfortunately for Smith, his work doesn't hold up well against Heinlein's, on a pure storytelling level.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and entertaining read, but no Heinlein.
Review: I read The Probability Broach in 24 hours this past weekend. It was an entertaining read, but somewhat awkward and dated. Written in the late 70's, the awful fate awaiting mankind in the next 20 years was government oppression in the name of energy conservation. Obviously this never came to pass, invalidating the author's argument as to why his alternate universe (the other side of the Probability Broach) is superior. The alternate world is strictly libertarian. George Washington was killed in that universe for proposing taxes, and the Whiskey Rebellion succeeded. Everyone wears guns, has flying cars, and the monkeys and dolphins talk and vote. It's interesting, but not particularly convincing. There's almost a complete lack of government, and no taxation, but Smith never explains where the money to pave the streets comes from, or how the fire department is funded. I can appreciate some libertarian viewpoints, but this is just a little too absurd. The book does pay homage to Robert A. Heinlein a great deal though, in the alternate history he's an Admiral, never having caught the tuberculosis he was stricken with here in the real world. There's a "Heinlein City" in Alaska too. The most subtle homage was in the name of the mathematician who discovers the broach. Her name is "Deejay Thorens" and is an extremely thinly veiled version of "Dejah Thoras" from Heinlein's "The Number of the Beast". Unfortunately for Smith, his work doesn't hold up well against Heinlein's, on a pure storytelling level.
Rating:
Summary: Still fun, but hasn't really worn well
Review: I recently re-read this book after discovering it in the early '80's. Some elements haven't really stood the test of time: the talking gorilla thing never really happened, did it? But it's still fun to watch the good guys beat the bad guys, and Smith has always been one of the most articulate Libertarian spokemen. Some of the economic assumptions in Smith's utopia don't really stand up to close scrutiny. Taxes certainly are a parasite on a free-market economy, but recent African and Eastern European experiences show that anarchy isn't necessarily a big improvement on centralized government. The supposedly huge philosophical split between Jefferson and Hamilton isn't really borne out by the events of Jefferson's presidency, in which he talked like Jefferson but acted like Hamilton. Even so, it's a fun read. If the book sometimes comes across like a force-grown Heinlein clone, at least the characters keep their clothes on most of the time. The characters are all one-dimensional, but that dimension is often attractive or at least entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Shallow book, important message
Review: I'd had this book recommended to me as a good piece of libertarian fiction, so I decided to pick it up. And as a book, _Probability Broach_ is pretty shallow. Shallow characters, somewhat interesting but heavily underdeveloped plot, interesting setting that we barely got to see a piece of, flat dialogue, bland, uncapturing prose, and stereotypical slickly evil villain. But this book contains a message - the libertarian message. And that message is worth hearing, so I give this four stars and recommend it to you if you're interested in reading the libertarian view, and glance at what could have been.
Rating:
Summary: great libertarian ideas in an easy to swallow dosage!
Review: I'm already a libertarian, so I didn't need any convincing, but converting liberals or conservatives really isn't the point of the book anyway. It's a fun science-fiction book with a libertarian cherry on top.
I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a light story filled with interdimensional travel, talking gorillas, and a fresh, if not optimistic, view of what life could be like without the mess that is our government.
In the interest of informed decisions I should also say that there is a multitude of events that positively portray the use of guns (and well explained, in my opinion) and an interestingly "adult" sex scene. Oh how I wish it weren't so, because I would love to see this book on a school summer reading list!
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