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Dayworld (Dayworld #1)
Dayworld leads a sf trilogy by Philip José Farmer set in a dystopian future in which an overpopulated world allocates people only one day a week. The other six days they're in suspended animation. The focus is on Jeff Caird, a daybreaker living more than a day a week. He's not like most daybreakers. He belongs to the radical Immer group working to create a better governmen...more
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
January 26th 1985
by G.P. Putnam's Sons
(first published 1985)
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This is one of the coolest science fiction premises I've ever encountered. The world is so overpopulated that society comes up with a bizarre way of handling this, not through population control but through suspended animation.
Every person on the earth is allotted one day out of every seven to live out his life normally. The other six days, the person is frozen in suspended animation, completely inert, consuming no resources whatsoever.
This effectively reduces the entire population to 1/7th of t...more
Every person on the earth is allotted one day out of every seven to live out his life normally. The other six days, the person is frozen in suspended animation, completely inert, consuming no resources whatsoever.
This effectively reduces the entire population to 1/7th of t...more
It's the far future, Earth has become a crowded place whose technology allows for supporting an enormous population, but whose geography makes this difficult. The solution? Use "stoning" technology, which freezes people (or anything else) into ageless solids, to freeze most of the Earth's population. Then unfreeze them on a schedule, so each person gets to live but one day of each week, sharing living space with six others.
Such is the premise of Farmer's Dayworld, a story that spins out from thi...more
Such is the premise of Farmer's Dayworld, a story that spins out from thi...more
I'm hooked, and if I were not already reading the Dark Tower series, I'd be reading the sequel now, Dayworld Rebel. Fun stuff. The main character is what is known as a "Daybreaker", someone that chooses to live every day of the week, illegally. The greater mass of humanity is required by law to remain in suspended animation for six days out of each week, to alleviate the overpopulation problem. He takes on a different identity each day.
The idea of a man who has created so many personalities ba...more
The idea of a man who has created so many personalities ba...more
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The only reason this book received a star was because I thought the premise was amazing. It’s always such a disappointment when a book has a great idea, but the execution is terrible. Such was the case with Dayworld.
I first stumbled upon this book at work and was so drawn to it I began reading it that same night. In the distant future, Earth is too crowded and the government decides to allow each person one day out of the week to live. The other six days t...more
The only reason this book received a star was because I thought the premise was amazing. It’s always such a disappointment when a book has a great idea, but the execution is terrible. Such was the case with Dayworld.
I first stumbled upon this book at work and was so drawn to it I began reading it that same night. In the distant future, Earth is too crowded and the government decides to allow each person one day out of the week to live. The other six days t...more
Well, Farmer tried with this one. I mean, the concept was good. How to divide up the world evenly when you have too many people? When there is not enough land, can we do it by time? And how much would we miss the length of spring or summer if we got the full span of life over time?
Unfortunately, the whole is less than its parts. This whole book came across as very 70s despite having been published in 1985. It had a few pleasant quirks - the idea of fads being different by day and having to navig...more
Unfortunately, the whole is less than its parts. This whole book came across as very 70s despite having been published in 1985. It had a few pleasant quirks - the idea of fads being different by day and having to navig...more
Jan 18, 2009
David Monroe
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction
I recently re-read this book. I remember I enjoyed it a lot the first time. Reading it again, 20 years later in 2007 I still like the plot but the writing and characters left me a bit flat. Maybe it was the mood I was in, maybe I was just overthinking it. It's still worth a read.
The premise is, or was, unique. Overpopulation has taken it's toll on resources so 1/7 of the world's population is placed in a rotating suspended animation for six days. On the seventh day, they live their normal lives...more
The premise is, or was, unique. Overpopulation has taken it's toll on resources so 1/7 of the world's population is placed in a rotating suspended animation for six days. On the seventh day, they live their normal lives...more
Today won't miss her. They'll think she's off on her own chase, if they think about her at all. Castor's kept them pretty busy. And what happens tomorrow? Will Snick appear at organics HQ with her visa and her orders from Sunday? No, she won't. So how will Friday know that she's supposed to appear? It won't, and the following days won't know about her, either. Nobody will know that she's missing until Sunday comes and she doesn't report to her superiors. Sunday can do nothing about it except to...more
Oct 16, 2009
Travis
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
the-farmerverse,
sf-fantasy
A cool idea, a world where over population is dealt with by giving everybody one day to live and the rest of the time your body is frozen, that very soon gets out of Farmer's control and you realize he hasn't thought through how his world works and what to do with it and the hero.
Starts strong but then wanders and loses steam.I love Farmer and the idea 'Dayworld', but had lost interest by the end of the book and have no interest in tracking down the rest of the trilogy.
Starts strong but then wanders and loses steam.I love Farmer and the idea 'Dayworld', but had lost interest by the end of the book and have no interest in tracking down the rest of the trilogy.
After 46 pages of not caring about any of these characters, I've decided to put this one down and spare myself the quandry of whether or not I should try the 2 sequels. The concept is fantastic, but the execution so far is just boring. Why the lenghty descriptions of clothing? What is the explanation for males going by female names and vice versa? Why does Ozma paint grasshoppers? It just all seems to quirky for the sake of being quirky.
I decided to read this book after watching Riverworld on Sci-Fi.
We don't have Riverworld so in lieu of that I read something by Farmer that's readily available from V's collection....
Argh... I just don't like his action scenes. I am the type that tunes out action scenes even when it is acted out. Reading about all the cases just left such a bad taste in my mouth afterwards (don't know why... sensory organ crossings?)
We don't have Riverworld so in lieu of that I read something by Farmer that's readily available from V's collection....
Argh... I just don't like his action scenes. I am the type that tunes out action scenes even when it is acted out. Reading about all the cases just left such a bad taste in my mouth afterwards (don't know why... sensory organ crossings?)
Apr 18, 2010
Jennifer
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
dystopian-post-apocalyptic
I was drawn to this book for its premise: due to overpopulation, a person only lives one day a week, spending the other six in a suspended state. But the further I read the more my interest waned. Too much time was spent on the inconsequentials of the story and not enough on developing the underlying premise.
I read this as a teenager and loved it. 20 years later, it sadly didn't live up to my memories. The concept is great - to combat overpopulation, people only live for one day a week, and are "stoned" or frozen for the other six days. Daybreaking is a serious crime, but a rebel group have agents who do just that, living each day of the week as a different personality.
The book centres on Jeff Caird, one of these daybreakers, as his world crumbled around him over the course of a week. The concept is...more
The book centres on Jeff Caird, one of these daybreakers, as his world crumbled around him over the course of a week. The concept is...more
Recommended if you enjoy sci-fi written about 30 years ago. I have read a few books by Farmer and this series feels a lot like classic Heinlein in tone. I didn't think I would like it as the concept is very experimental and didn't seem conducive to a coherent story. It is a bit difficult, since the main character is sort of a different version of himself on every day of the week. But somehow, Farmer makes it work. It's interesting to read now since the futuristic technology for television and co...more
Set in New York City in the far future. People live but one day a week to keep the planet from groaning under the population of 10 billion (we have over 6 billion right now!) and they go into suspended animation for the rest of the week. The hero has several 'personalities' because he's a criminal who lives more than one day a week. One self is a cop, chasing 'God', a murderer who is insane. Each self is completely different from the last one and most of them have a wife or two. Good fun. Sly wi...more
Another interesting premise from Philip Jose Farmer. I enjoyed these books, although I don't think they caught my imagination quite to the extent that the Riverworld books did.
Really enjoyed this years ago. Could never find the rest of the series, but I think I need to re-read it now and see if it's worth picking up the others.
I found the premise of "Daybreak" to be interesting, if far-fetched. The writing was bland and the characters were simplistic, excepting the protagonist, who was artificially complex. I read a lot of science fiction and this one just didn't measure up to many other great books out there.
I love this book and even though I've read Dayworld Rebel I'm going to start it now. Sometimes the plot moves pretty slowly and things get a bit to descriptive for me but all in all it's a 5 star novel. I really like sci-fi and this is awesome.
An entertaining read, though I actually prefer his World of Tiers and Riverworld Series.
The strength of this book is the creative setting - the story and writing weren't that strong.
Read this when I was 13. I really liked it then, not sure if would hold up now.
May 16, 2010
K. Axel
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
sci-fi,
partial-review
The story...
What if... the world was so crowded that people couldn't live each day? What if you only lived one day each week? What if you chose to break these rules and live each day instead? You'd be a daybreaker for sure, a criminal, hunted by the police.
The premise in this book is very different from anything else I've ever read, something very cool and original. Farmer is a master, of that there can be no doubt, a master who continues to surprise. I was entertained all the way through this b...more
What if... the world was so crowded that people couldn't live each day? What if you only lived one day each week? What if you chose to break these rules and live each day instead? You'd be a daybreaker for sure, a criminal, hunted by the police.
The premise in this book is very different from anything else I've ever read, something very cool and original. Farmer is a master, of that there can be no doubt, a master who continues to surprise. I was entertained all the way through this b...more
Solid sci-fi. Makes me think of P.K. Dick's work.
Really good, but it gave me a headache.
Farmer wrote the classic Riverworld Series, and this book has the same strengths and flaws. Great concept, a bit weird and philosophical in spots, and it comes to an ending mainly because there needs to be an ending, not because of where the book went. Ratings varied from 2-4 during the read...
Stormbringer
Feb 20, 2011
Gloriavirtutisumbra
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction-old-and-new
One of my favorite what ifs!!
2
Again, I don't remember many details, but I believe the idea for this book was that the world had become so crowded that people had to occupy the same living quarters, and to make it tolerable, they only spent one day a week in them, and were in suspended animation the rest of the week. But some citizens -- they may have been called Daytrippers -- broke the rules and lived on more than one day of the week, which of course opened up the possibility of a secret life and illicit behavior.
Imaginative and fast-paced, but Farmer's weirdly awkward prose kept distracting me from the story.
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Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, but spent much of his life in Peoria, Illinois.
Farmer is best known for his Riverworld series and the earlier World of Tiers series. He is noted for his use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for and reworking of th...more
More about Philip José Farmer...
Farmer is best known for his Riverworld series and the earlier World of Tiers series. He is noted for his use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for and reworking of th...more
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Sep 19, 2007 04:34am