Eight Keys to Eden

Rating:
Summary: A thoughtful and timeless science fiction classic.
Review: "Eight Keys to Eden" is a wonderful science fiction novel dealing with the limits of human perception and perspective, and the effect that these limits have had on human advancement. In the future, the author postulates, a group of highly-trained and exceptional persons known as "Extrapolators" exist, specifically exempted from all restrictions and laws for the purpose of solving problems. Extrapolators (or "Es" as they are called) are trained to think "outside the box" and not be bound by preexisting and unproven notions. Mark Clifton proposes the intriguing concept that mankind's beliefs about the universe are distorted by mankind's anthrocentric viewpoint. From the time of the first sentient human beings, he notes, the universe appeared to be centered on the individual human being, the sun revolved around the earth, etc. Slowly, Clifton notes, mankind has managed to correct this erroneous thinking. In the novel, that is the job of the "E" when dealing with problems.

The basic storyline here deals with a specific problem. An Earth colony on a distant planet loses communication with the Earth. A junior E is dispatched to deal with the problem. Earth Government factions want him to fail, as their first assault on the authority of the Es, who they resent for the fact that the Es are not under the authority of the Government. This all combines to make for a very interesting story with an imaginative ending.

Despite its intellectually-oriented theme, this is a well-written novel that is not at all heavy going for the reader. Clifton writes with clarity and simplicity. There is a solid plot and storyline here, and no shortage of both imagination and humor. I first read this book as a teenager. I recently picked it up again, and found that there was more here than I had appreciated at the younger age. This is a truly fine novel, with something to say, and does a superb job saying it.

This is one to keep in your personal library.

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful Sci-fi at its best!
Review: I read this book the first time when I was about 12, and it totally changed the way I thought. Basically, it's about perception, about the way we filter all our thoughts through our already existing experiences. By doing so we miss opportunities to process truly new information. Although I recommend this work on the strength of what I got out of it, it also works simply at the level of a good story: well written, easy to read, creating a believable future world. I certainly agree with the assesment of another reviewer that this classic deserves to be much better known!

Rating:
Summary: Should be Eight Stars for Eden
Review: One of the great unknown classics of science fiction, this novel begins with a minor problem. Contact is lost with a colony. A brilliant man which may be best described as a sort of super social scientist, though young, is sent to solve the problem. It turns out to be larger than expected, of course, with all technology and artifacts being destroyed and the minds of the colonists controlled. It turns out to be that the . . . Oh that's right, I'm not allowed to say. His originality wins out in the end with some surprizing benefits. Well, I found it very satisfying as a story when I first read it a long time ago. I still read it every couple of years.

In my not so humble opinion it is truly a great sf classic, the original from which many other stories have been um researched/derived/filched from. Written better than the previous sentence, you will find it way too short, and very enlightening.