<< 1 >>
Rating: Summary: A dumb little book that could change your life. Review: The novel itself didn't impress me that much as a work of fiction -- although it's been a bestseller for years, and has won some science fiction awards. It's certainly entertaining enough, but it doesn't rank with Heinlein or Asimov, for instance. I read it againrecently, and I still found it kind of simplistic and naive -- very much a product of the 1940's, when it was written.
On the otherhand, the 'real' subject of this book is not the protagonist, or the plot: it's a discipline called General Semantics. Gilbert Gosseyn ("Go Sane" -- get it?) has mastered this deceptively simple-seeming, but very complex discipline. As a result, he's able to deal with some pretty daunting challenges, and (well, of course) win out in the end.
I discovered this book years ago, and after reading it, I began to wonder if "General Semantics" was 'real'. I did some investigating. Turned out it was, indeed, real.
I studied the stuff, and have continued to study and apply it, for years. I can't transport myself across the universe like old Gilbert, -- but I sure owe van Vogt a debt for having put me in touch with gs.
Rating: Summary: A dumb little book that could change your life. Review: The novel itself didn't impress me that much as a work of fiction -- although it's been a bestseller for years, and has won some science fiction awards. It's certainly entertaining enough, but it doesn't rank with Heinlein or Asimov, for instance. I read it againrecently, and I still found it kind of simplistic and naive -- very much a product of the 1940's, when it was written. On the otherhand, the 'real' subject of this book is not the protagonist, or the plot: it's a discipline called General Semantics. Gilbert Gosseyn ("Go Sane" -- get it?) has mastered this deceptively simple-seeming, but very complex discipline. As a result, he's able to deal with some pretty daunting challenges, and (well, of course) win out in the end. I discovered this book years ago, and after reading it, I began to wonder if "General Semantics" was 'real'. I did some investigating. Turned out it was, indeed, real. I studied the stuff, and have continued to study and apply it, for years. I can't transport myself across the universe like old Gilbert, -- but I sure owe van Vogt a debt for having put me in touch with gs.
Rating: Summary: Continuation and expension of the story of Goseyne. Review: Wonderfull , wonderfull book , with more entriges thrown in , enemies revealed , and the true story is begining to take form.Writen in the masterly style of that author's-god , that if you don't know by now , you will-and admire. Van-Vogt let's us know at the end (an excellent one) of the real origin of Gilbert Goseyne. This book is , by the way , the sequel of "A World OF Null-A". Excellent book , I can't say enaugh about it.
<< 1 >>
|