VLSI%DEC-MARLBORO@sri-unix.UUCP (03/15/84)
From: John Redford <VLSI at DEC-MARLBORO> "The Practice Effect" by David Brin The gimmick here is that there is a world where things become better through use. As you use a knife its edge becomes sharper and its handle better fitted. Beds become more comfortable, clothes more beautiful, walls stronger, etc. The hero, a 21st century physicist, has to figure this out and come to terms with it. Why did Brin bother to write about such an implausible premise? It's still a page-turner, but there doesn't seem to be much point. His explanation for the effect at the end of the book is extremely weak. Most of it is just fun and games in trying to exploit the effect. Each chapter seems to consist of the hero getting into a jam and escaping by introducing another bit of Earth technology to this feudal society. This "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" theme is a popular one in science fiction but there doesn't seem to be much justification for it here. Aside: how many other books can people think of that belong to this genre? There's "Lest Darkness Fall" by De Camp where an American saves the Roman Empire by introducing printing and double-entry bookkeeping, and "Conjure Wife" where they work out the laws of witchcraft by applying symbolic logic. Can you think of others? Brin has written some novellas recently that would seem to me to have much more promise for expansion. There was "The Postman" where civilization is restored by the US Postal Service, and another about a space station built out of Shuttle external tanks. It beats me why he spent his time working on this instead. I suppose that a full-time writer has to get out something to pay the bills. John Redford --------
coleman@sdccsu3.UUCP (03/19/84)
This is *not* a pot boiler! It just happens that "The Practice Effect" is really brin's frist work. He did most of it while he was an undergrad at caltec. I reviewed the manuscript before he sent it off to the publisher, and it was a very hard book to review. It was good, but it is missing a few things that I couldn't really put my finger on, at least in a useful manner. "The Pratice Effect" was ment to be, and is, a "fun" book. I wouldn't rate it as good as his otherworks, but if you read his works in the order he *wrote* them, you will notice that he is continually improving. Lets hope he continues in this fashion. -- --- don "The Back to Hack Kid" coleman@sdccsu3.ucsd sdcsvax!sdccsu3!coleman@berkely.arpa [ ihnp4|decvax|ittvax|ucbvax ]!sdcsvax!sdccsu3!coleman.uucp