mpm@hpfcla.UUCP (02/10/86)
In a response to "Request from an SF Dilettante" I wrote the follow- ing: > An excellent book that seems little known of late is Daniel Galouye's > "A Scourge of Screamers". It offers a novel plot: one based on the as- > sumption that we are all functioning at a "low" level of mental ability > because of a "field" that the Earth has been within for thousands of years. > What happens when our solar system moves into "free space" and our neurons > go crazy? One observant reader of "net.sf-lovers" (namely William J. Richard of Charles River Data Systems) responded with this: > Funny, this sounds exactly like the plot of "Brain Wave" by Poul > Anderson. I haven't read the book you mention, though the title sounds > familiar, so I guess there could be two books with essentialy the same > plot or maybe one of us is confused. Indeed, both books have a similar plot. I found myself more engaged by Galouye's novel. Both authors show the effects of "neural enhancement" on ordinary people. In each book there are cases of people who have grown ac- customed to "ordinary" life - one with no demands, or risks - and find them- selves thrust into supernormalcy. To these people, greater intellectual ability is a threat to their way of life, their very being. I think Galouye is the more effective of the two authors at portraying this change in society and in individuals. He subtly shows the psycholog- ical effects on people - changes in personality, reactions to the events that transpire - in a way that brought the story home to me. To me it was more of a "novel of what could come to pass" than was the story by Anderson (which I did find entertaining). In "A Scourge of Screamers" I found a sense of horror-bordering-on- fascination (or fascination-bordering-on-horror) like that found in some of the best journalism. -- From Colorado: land of high mountains Mike McCarthy {ihnp4, hplabs}!hpfcla!mpm
jsq@im4u.UUCP (John Quarterman) (02/20/86)
One might also compare Sirius by Olaf Stapeldon (a dog who is given
human intelligence) and Charley by <author escapes me for the moment>
about a moron who achieves human intelligence briefly. Not to mention
Odd John by Olaf Stapeldon about a mutant human and his mutant fellows
who acheive an intelligence as much higher than the human as the human
is higher than the apes or the dogs....
--
John Quarterman, UUCP: {gatech,harvard,ihnp4,pyramid,seismo}!ut-sally!im4u!jsq
ARPA Internet and CSNET: jsq@im4u.UTEXAS.EDU, jsq@sally.UTEXAS.EDU