Rating: 
Summary: Still a good read after many years.
Review: This book offers an interesting view of social politics as they were in the 50's, and still are. This book tells us what we are all rather blind to see, which is that we really do have very little control in what we do any more, whether it be in education, employment, or any other area. Revolting against the government is eventually what became of it and may..."Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent revolution inevitable"
Rating: 
Summary: Out of line
Review: I'm slowly working my way throught the Vonnegut library; I've read about 12 books so far. Player Piano is far, far below the rest. This is Vonnegut trying to be a pure science fiction writer, devoid of much of the wit and satire that make his other books so wonderful. Looking for some Vonnegut to read? Try Slaughterhouse Five, Hocus Pocus, or Timequake. Only read Player Piano if you're a Vonnegut fanatic and won't feel complete until you do.
Rating:
Summary: Golden Satire
Review: I agree with a professor of mine when he told me that Slaughterhouse Five is better written, but Player Piano is more entertaining. This book is not at the peak of what Vonnegut is capable of, but it is a well done piece of satire that is wonderfully entertaining. One thing I enjoy about Vonnegut is the model T writing. By this I mean for him it is the bare essentials. He writes only what is necessary for either plot or character. Now I do enjoy the verbose nature of some of the grand old novels or the stream of conscious experimentations, but when I settle into a Vonnegut I love every moment of it. This isn't his best novel, but I give it five stars because of the special affection it holds to me as being one of the first novels I read growing up. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes good entertaining satire.
Rating: 
Summary: player piano
Review: player piano is vonnegut jr.'s first novel describing the completely automated future of illium new york. the machines have taken the jobs of the people who were not the best and brightest and left those people to work either as the highway repair crew known as the reeks and wrecks or as soldiers in the army .for the few who were extremely talented or extremely smart there were jobs as managers or egineers in the factorys of illium. these people were considered upper class and rarely came into contact with the lower class because there societies were divided by a river. the upper class striving too make things easier for man kind and the lower class looking for a place where they are needed. the lower class secetely organizes a revolt through an underground group known as the ghost shirt society.after succesfully destroying most of the machines in their city they begin picking through the wreckage thinking up machines they could build with the severed pieces.basically they were chomping at the bit too rebuild there dilema that caused the revolt in the first place.it just shows human nature . vonnegut jr was very creative in his depiction of the future.the main character doctor paul proteus is a up and coming manager at the illium works and through the book he begins too sympathize with the common people eventually he quits his job and joins the ghost shirt society after the revolt began ended succeeded and failed proteus turned him self into the police who were surronding the city
Rating:
Summary: brilliant.
Review: This book was really thought provoking, and despite my suspicions that it would be just another 1984 type book, it wasn't at all. It presents a very unique and interesting way in which humanity can go screaming from the track into oblivion. It isn't as funny as other Vonnegut, though, so I deducted a star. good stuff. this book should be on school reading lists.
Rating:
Summary: Favorite Vonnegut book
Review: Perfect read in today's society. I'm an engineer and it is very humorous, yet enlightening.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the most accurate prediction of Modern Times....
Review: This year is the 50th anniversary of this novel. I remember that I was working as an engineer back when I first read it. This was appropriate since most of the main characters are engineers. I remember being struck at how close Vonnegutt's predictions about society actually were. Now that I've reexamined them 20 years later, I am even more impressed.
The basic premise of the story is that American industry is run by a tiny group of wealthy and powerful managers and engineers, while the vast majority of the population are stripped of their well-paying industrial jobs and forced to live as poor, powerless menials.
This elite of managers and engineers live in closed, gated Orwellian communities, where they watch each other closely for the slightest hint of nonconformity or disloyalty to the system.
Vonnegut shows how most managers and engineers have always had a contempt for the average American worker and have been looking for a way to replace them even before WW2. He thought that this would primarily be by automation (as opposed to simply shipping the jobs out of the country.)
Vonnegut also assumed that agriculture would be totally mechanised by large corporations and the small farmer made extinct.
There is also the eerie prediction that the President would be a man of low intelligence who would get elected on the basis of a "three hour television show." It would make no difference because there would be no connection between who was elected and who actually ran the country. Remenber, this was in 1952....
Oh yes, he also prdicted that no one would be able to get any job worth having without a graduate degree.
I know that some people will say that this novel is dated based simply on the repeated mention of vacuum tubes (transistors were not in commercial use in 1952.) However, if you substiute "integrated circuit" or "computer chip" for every place he uses vacuum tube the obsolescence vanishes. Simularly, a modern reader may laugh at the idea of a computer large enough to fill Carlesbad caverns. Believe me, even today the Cray supercomputers and their support equipment take up quite abit of space.
My only real criticism with Vonnegut's projections is that he thought that engineers would have alot more power and influence than they actually have. From my own experince MBA's, CPA's, and lawyers have much more power.
Rating:
Summary: This book is great!
Review: I honestly would of never have read this book if I wasn't in honors English. It is required summer reading, so I had to read it. I am not sorry that I did. In fact, this book is one of the best books that I have ever read. I could hardly tell when it was written. It told the story of the future, where machines had replaced most human actions and the managers were starting to take over the job force. Paul, the main character, is mad over the system and wants to quit his job as manager of the Ilium works. Before he can, he has run-ins with people from his past and from his future.
Rating:
Summary: Farseeing! Timeless insight!
Review: What vision! Vonnegut writes this amazing novel from a pre-Internet, pre-Information Revolution, pre-Overautomated era. It is based a post-war society that is run by technocrats - an elite group of managers and engineers who year over year gradually improve and automate society. The story explores the moral choices presented to a society, and the institutions required to maintain an ever-improving status quo. The protagonist is a budding technocrat struggling with his place in this dehumanizing society. He struggles with a wife he claims to love, a duty he feels obligated to live up to, and a sense that something is deeply wrong. The agitation, and revolutionary action in the novel speaks to many times. It speaks to a fear of automation in a pre-technical society. It also talks to the activism in the 60s, with a message of "Rebel even if you can't succeed". It also speaks to today's world, where every choice presented to us seems to be filtered through numerous technologies... This was a very quick read, a very entertaining read, and a very insightful read. It put words to ideas that it drew from within me. It's timeless message does great justice to the author's reputation.
Rating:
Summary: Amusing fun story
Review: This Vonnegut novel is about a futuristic world that is controlled by machines and engineers. The main character of the book, Paul Proteus, is an engineer himself, and in the course of the novel he starts to question his job and the society his peers have created. It is a very funny and entertaining critique of modernization and the ever increasing role of machines in our lives. The only problem i had with the book was the ending, which seemed rushed and too short. It seemed as if Vonnegut was not sure where to take the story anymore and therefore decided to end it quickly. Other than that, the book is excellent; it is definitly worth reading.
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