City by Clifford D. Simak - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

Aug 30, 2012 mark monday rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: futuristik-classik

gosh i loved this one!

City is a collection of eight connected stories depicting the future and end of mankind, and the rise of dogs. just as i always suspected, dogs will eventually inherit the earth. good dogs!

Simak is a humanist, but a clear-eyed one, an author who doesn't let much sentiment cloud his storytelling. man fails, and fails again, but his strivings are viewed with both careful distance and genuine affection. this is not one of those scifi novels about man being the architect of his...more gosh i loved this one!

City is a collection of eight connected stories depicting the future and end of mankind, and the rise of dogs. just as i always suspected, dogs will eventually inherit the earth. good dogs!

Simak is a humanist, but a clear-eyed one, an author who doesn't let much sentiment cloud his storytelling. man fails, and fails again, but his strivings are viewed with both careful distance and genuine affection. this is not one of those scifi novels about man being the architect of his own doom. well, i suppose it sort of is - but minus the doom part. there is a kind of transcendence achieved, or at least a movement by mankind into a state that is clearly more glorious and exuberant than their earthly forms. they reach for the stars (ding, ding, ding, cliche time arrives) but don't quite get there. eh, no matter. how does the song go? you can't always get what you want... but if you try sometimes... you get what you need. man gets what he needs. when dogs inherit the earth - well, perhaps, not our earth - man is basically a mythical creature. the stories in City are tales told and studied by the dog race a millenia in the future.

the novel is subtle, nuanced, tender; even-tempered and even-handed. the prose is clean and straightforward and rather literary as well. the narrative is anything but straightforward, although the stories move sequentially in time. people and places and things and ideas are mentioned, developed, dropped, and yet always return. nothing of value is left abandoned. this is not a novel that is by any means thuddingly obvious. i was consistently surprised at the twists and turns that each story took and how the story of our future history is developed. and don't expect hard science - or any realistic science in general - when reading this. expect yearning and melancholy and kindness and a sweet sort of poetry and an infinite largneness of spirit. it is a classic novel for many good reasons; i was completely enthralled. the kind of novel where, after i finished, all i wanted to do was hug the author for creating it.

of particular interest to me was the depiction of a society based on mechanistic ideas compared to that of a society based around more... i suppose the word would be psychic ideas. that still doesn't feel like the right word. some kind of word that includes psychic but also spiritual and emotional and mental. ish. ah well, words fail him. a typical human failing!

this would be a 5 star book for me but, sad to say, i did find the first story to be rather weak. the second story was interesting but i wasn't quite sold. the third story and beyond: perfection.

but hey, what is it all about? well,

ants evolving into mysterious threats and building strange structures, flights into alternate dimensions, dimensions that dogs can see, threats that exist in those dimensions and sometimes cross over, a robot guardian named Jenkins - guardian to the future race of dogs, intelligent animals, a brotherhood of animals, the last city of Geneva fallen silent and its denizens sleeping an endless sleep, the race of men transported elsewhere, the race of men now a handful of bow and arrow naturals, psychic robots, wild robots, mutant humans living in castles and crossing the universe through strange doorways, the family known as Webster - forever moving mankind forward (or not), a trap for humans built by mutants - a trap based around empathy, a terrible and remorseless mutant named Joe, Jupiter as a gateway to transcendence, the ability to change form and adapt to Jupiter, Nathaniel the first genetically enhanced dog, census-taking on a pastoral world, agoraphobia, Martian philosophers, a Martian plague, humanity moves first to the countryside and then from the earth itself, the death of cities...

and now i must beg your indulgence:

(view spoiler)(less)

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Feb 24, 2013 Galina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

Направо ме побиваха тръпки тук-там! Изключително дълбоки съждения за съществуването на човечеството. Лично на мен, една от най-интересните представени гледни точки ми се стори тази, отнасяща се до въпросът за посоката, която човечеството е поело. Дали наистина сме я избрали или е тя е просто нещо, което е генетично заложено?
В измисления бъдещ свят, Саймък представя индивидуализмът на хората като първоизточник на деградацията, която успява да надделее дори векове след като последният акт на наси...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Fabien rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Voila un livre surprenant virevoltant entre S-F (certes, un peu poussiéreuse) et une certaine forme de philosophie.

Il existe dans la mythologie canine, une histoire des hommes. De là à dire que les hommes aient un jour existé sur Terre, ce serait certainement audacieux, mais il reste des textes légendaires transmit de génération de chiens en génération de chiens. Ces mythes retracent sur des milliers d'années ce qui pourrait expliquer la place actuelle des canidés sur Terre : la fin des cités,...more

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Jan 12, 2011 Simon rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-masterworks, sf

I have to say that this was quite a disappointment for me and not what I was expecting after reading the excellent Way Station.

"City" is basically a chronicle of mankind's demise, usually involving characters who are decendents of the Webster family who invariably end up involved in pivotal events in our future history. No single event or catastrophy here, rather it is a gradual decline. And the reasons are more social, cultural and psycological than anything else.

This is actually a collection...more I have to say that this was quite a disappointment for me and not what I was expecting after reading the excellent Way Station.

"City" is basically a chronicle of mankind's demise, usually involving characters who are decendents of the Webster family who invariably end up involved in pivotal events in our future history. No single event or catastrophy here, rather it is a gradual decline. And the reasons are more social, cultural and psycological than anything else.

This is actually a collection of interelated stories, depicted as a set of legends that dogs tell each other around the camp fire. Yes, for dogs have inherited the earth and mankind is now no more than a myth disbelieved by all except their most crackpot scholars. There is a fictitious editorial introduction to each story, whom we are to think of as a dog, that briefly expounds various canine interpretations of the stories. Daft as this might sound, these parts were actually my favourite parts of the book.

Various things let this book down in my opinion. Firstly it just hasn't dated very well. Both in terms of the ideas and the dialogue. Okay, it was first published in 1951 but it must have seemed very far fetched even then. The ideas become more wild and ludicrous as we get further into the future until we end up in the realms of pure fantasy. The character's usually sounds like hillbillies, even when it's the animals who are talking (yes animals aquire a hereditary ability to talk through vivisection!)

The above might well have been largely forgiven but for the fact that the story lines are almost completely devoid of narative tension. Occaisionally I thought a story started out interestingly only to skirt around the moments that would help build and maintain the reader's interest to needlessly shift focus elsewhere (like a badly edited movie). Ultimately, it left me largely uninterested in the overall story arc and was a bit of a struggle to finish.

Many others seem to be quite fond of this book so perhaps I am being unkind but for me the flaws just kept getting in the way of my getting much out of it. And it's left me not to keep to try anything else by Simak.(less)

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Jun 08, 2012 Marvin rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: science fiction fans and dog lovers

Of all the great science fiction writers of the 50s, my favorite is Clifford D. Simak. He is also one of the authors that has fared poorly as we begin the 21th century. His novels are not that easy to find in reprints. While Simak could write of space travel and androids as well as the Heinleins and the Asimovs, he was most comfortable in the setting of rural Wisconsin and generously laced his stories with a sense of American pastoralism. In fact he was often called the pastoralist of science fi...more

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Jun 26, 2008 Christy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: readinglist2-sf, science-fiction-and-fantasy, 20th-century-american-lit, favorites, want-to-reread

I'd read one of the stories in this book before, "Desertion," and loved it. I still think I love that story best, but the whole book is definitely worth reading. In fact, this is one book that I would love to teach, for several reasons.

1. It's a fun read, with some interesting conceits (a future Doggish society [made up of a race of intelligent speaking dogs], space travel, a society of ants, etc.)
2. It demands close reading skills, not just in the stories themselves but in the Doggish commentar...more I'd read one of the stories in this book before, "Desertion," and loved it. I still think I love that story best, but the whole book is definitely worth reading. In fact, this is one book that I would love to teach, for several reasons.

1. It's a fun read, with some interesting conceits (a future Doggish society [made up of a race of intelligent speaking dogs], space travel, a society of ants, etc.)
2. It demands close reading skills, not just in the stories themselves but in the Doggish commentary on those stories, which reveal a great deal about the future Doggish culture as well as providing some incisive critiques of humanity.
3. It raises several really fascinating questions: What counts as intelligence? What is the ultimate value and worth of humanity? How is humanity defined? Is progress worth more than happiness, or is progress necessary for happiness? Is violence inherent within humanity? How intelligent are animals? What would happen if animals had humanly recognizable intelligence and society? What are the possibilities of a "Brotherhood of Beasts," a recognition of connection and commonality across species lines? And is a truly nonviolent world possible? Is it really "better that one should lose a world than go back to killing" (252)?

Simak himself says that this book was "written out of disillusion" (1) after World War II. He says, "City was written not as a protest (for what good would protest do?) but as a seeking after a fantasy world that would serve as a counterbalance to the brutality through which the world was passing" (2). He goes on to recognize that he "peopled the fantasy world with dogs and robots because [he] could see little hope of mankind arriving at such a world" (2). I'm not sure I agree with the cynicism of this statement or with City's insistence that violence is an unavoidable part of human nature, but I do agree that the humankind of the 20th century deserves to be indicted for its behavior. Simak argues in his introduction to the book (from which I have been quoting) that humanity is beyond saving and, further developing this argument, creates in this book a world in which humankind disappears, leaving a more peaceful, kind, and empathic world of Dogs and Robots; I would argue, on the other hand, that Simak's creation of this world shows the possibilities of nonviolence, even for humans, because it shows through this contrast what changes would need to be made to have this kind of world. The Doggish commentator on the stories asks, "If Man had taken a different path, might he not, in time to come, have been as great as Dog?" (146). Despite the violence of the 20th century (and the opening of the 21st) and despite Simak's loss of faith in humanity, I believe there is still a chance for us to take a different path. And the kind of criticism of humanity levied by Simak is an important part of the process involved in finding that path.(less)

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Jan 14, 2012 Samuel rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Biologically, this book is absurd: quasi-robotic intelligent dogs, hyper-evolved progressive rural humans with an intelligence seemingly gained from nothing whatsoever, a race of ants experiencing socio-economic and industrial revolutions, evolution stemming from surgery; to name but a few. Philosophically, it's broken and contradictory to the point of frustration; economically null, politically ridiculous and simply completely ignorant of the science in science-fiction. That this collection of...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Stefan Meyer rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book tells the story of the gradual depopulation of Earth by means of a series of chapters that each stand as independent stories in themselves. The key chapter, entitled "Desertion," is the best science fiction story I have ever read, and bears a strong similarity to the basic plot of James Cameron's film, Avatar. Humans go to Jupiter, where they can only survive in specially altered bodies that are genetic replicas of those of the dog-like creatures native to the planet. One by one, the h...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Andrewcharles420 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf12

This book takes a surprisingly long view of history, starting from recent eras and carrying forward around twelve thousand years. As this would be difficult to do with any human character, the stories--8 discrete stories with wonderfully humorous wrapping, er, introductions--mainly follow Jenkins, the robot servant of the family Webster, though every story has links with generations of the Webster family.

We walk through a progression of history where ease of transportation and threat of war mak...more This book takes a surprisingly long view of history, starting from recent eras and carrying forward around twelve thousand years. As this would be difficult to do with any human character, the stories--8 discrete stories with wonderfully humorous wrapping, er, introductions--mainly follow Jenkins, the robot servant of the family Webster, though every story has links with generations of the Webster family.

We walk through a progression of history where ease of transportation and threat of war make city living unpopular (i.e. no one wants to live in a missile target area, and commuting was simple with apparently cheap, reliable planes). As humanity becomes more self sufficient (esp. with robots!), many of the social elements of society fall away, leading many people to become reclusive and agoraphobic. Technological progress continues, and contact with intelligent Martians opens the door to considering other routes of thought than those based on human brain pathways, and without the historical encumbrances of human history (and tradition, language, society, etc). The reclusivity of humanity ends up taking a toll on the species--when a martian philosopher is near a ground-shattering philosophical breakthrough, he (it?) falls ill and requires the best human doctor to save him... but is sadly refused when the doctor (with the aid of his robot, Jenkins) is unable to leave his house.

Perhaps to atone for this societal sin, and probably the most important development in the book: dogs are taught to speak (and/or humans are taught to understand the dogs). Eventually they are given robot companions to act as their hands.

Man and talking-dog get on well for several generations until further explorations in space lead humanity to abandon its form to become some Jupiterian super-beings (somehow, they sadly forget all but one dog).

The dogs develop fine on their own, cohabiting the Earth with independent robot colonies until another species comes to change the balance! (and I'll not give away the ending).

========================

This book was a real joy to read! I was initially worried with the short story introductions (both that it was introducing short stories rather than a novel, and the pretense that this was a historical collection of stories--by, and for, dogs!), but it worked well, and made sense as the book carried on (and it was a novel--the short stories were quite clearly and necessarily connected (despite some dog-scholar theories!)).

I don't agree with all of its predictions--that city life is unattractive, that agoraphobia will be the death of us, or that we'll lose interest in continuing advancement due to a Maslow-ian contentment--but I hope we advance to stages where if we can transfer our 'selves' to better states, we will not be afraid to take that option! I really hope we as a species recognize the need to communicate more directly with 'lower' forms of life on Earth as we hope to contact 'higher' forms of life in space.

This is one of the best science fiction books I've read of this era, though the reading wasn't particularly challenging, so it might not be of the greatest interest for folks who prefer more complicated fare. Great for young readers, though I wouldn't call it a YA book!(less)

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Sep 16, 2012 Becky rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

I didn't exactly love or hate Clifford D. Simak's City. This is a collection of eight stories (plus an epilogue); the stories are linked together as the accumulated mythology of dogs. Each story is introduced and "explained" from the scholarly dog perspective. Man never really existed, there's no proof man ever existed, there certainly isn't any reason to think that men ever had anything to do with dogs, or helped in the "creation" of dogs or robots, etc. But men continued to play a role--someti...more I didn't exactly love or hate Clifford D. Simak's City. This is a collection of eight stories (plus an epilogue); the stories are linked together as the accumulated mythology of dogs. Each story is introduced and "explained" from the scholarly dog perspective. Man never really existed, there's no proof man ever existed, there certainly isn't any reason to think that men ever had anything to do with dogs, or helped in the "creation" of dogs or robots, etc. But men continued to play a role--sometimes a large role, sometimes a small role, in the cozy campfire tales/stories of dogs. The early stories focus on man's diminishing role on Earth, and the abandoning of cities for the countryside. Men no longer feel the need to work together to form a society, each man or each family prefers to be on their own, to rely on themselves. Government becoming absurd after the concept of cities has fallen apart. Most of the stories do feature talking dogs and robots and a few "mutant" men and "wild" robots. (I'm not sure exactly what made the mutant men mutant and the wild robots wild except both seem to have more freedom and less inclination to follow strict rules and structures.) The stories are: City (1944), Huddling Place (1944), Census (1944), Desertion (1944), Paradise (1946), Hobbies (1946), Aesop (1947), The Simple Way (1951), Epilog (1973). The stories do span ten thousand years or so, plenty of time for people and animals and society to change again and again. Elements of City strongly reminded me of The Long Earth; for example, the concept of there being many, many, many earths that one could learn to travel between, each one being a variant of sorts of the original but also unique.

Short stories can be difficult for me, at times, because I generally prefer longer fiction where I get a better chance to know the characters and a better chance to connect with the story and plot. I often felt disconnected from these stories. I remained slightly interested, for the most part, never really wanted to stop reading the book. (less)

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Jul 15, 2012 Franziska rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, earth, dog, animals, utopia, end-time, jupiter

Eine Welt, die von (intelligenten) Hunden besiedelt wird? Nun, da würden die meisten wohl nur den Kopf schütteln. Genau andersherum geht es jedoch den Hunden, die hier in diesem Buch beschrieben werden: Was sind eigentlich Menschen? Was ist eine Stadt? Sollten die Menschen tatsächlich intelligente Wesen gewesen sein? Aber nein, das sind ja schon wir, die Hunde.
Zugegebenermaßen: Ganz so wird der Leser nicht ins kalte Wasser geworfen, denn der Erzähler (ein Hund) schreibt in diesem Buch vor allem...more Eine Welt, die von (intelligenten) Hunden besiedelt wird? Nun, da würden die meisten wohl nur den Kopf schütteln. Genau andersherum geht es jedoch den Hunden, die hier in diesem Buch beschrieben werden: Was sind eigentlich Menschen? Was ist eine Stadt? Sollten die Menschen tatsächlich intelligente Wesen gewesen sein? Aber nein, das sind ja schon wir, die Hunde.
Zugegebenermaßen: Ganz so wird der Leser nicht ins kalte Wasser geworfen, denn der Erzähler (ein Hund) schreibt in diesem Buch vor allem Entstehung seiner Art nieder, die natürlich zunächst bei dem Menschen beginnt:
Nachdem durch entsprechende Fortbewegungsmittel, hohe technische Standards und einem Weltfrieden die Notwendigkeit des Zusammenlebens in einer Stadt beseitigt ist, ziehen immer mehr Leute aufs Land und hinterlassen eine leere Stadt. Selbst die Regierung muss schließlich erkennen, dass sie überflüssig ist - die Gesellschaft zerfällt. In einem der Landhäuser setzt sich jemand in den Sinn, sprechende Hunde zu züchten - und hat damit auch noch Erfolg. Nachdem ein Großteil der Menschheit (einige Jahrhunderte später) vermeint, dass sie auf einem anderen Planeten glücklicher sein wird und von der Erde verschwindet, beginnen schließlich die Tiere und Roboter die Oberhand zu gewinnen...
Soviel ansatzweise zum Inhalt. Ich finde es wirklich erfreulich, dass dieses Buch als Neuauflage erschienen ist, weil es endlich wiedermal ein SF-Buch war, dass mich begeistert hat - sowohl inhaltlich als auch vom Schreibstil. Zwar erscheinen manche Entwicklungen etwas unwahrscheinlich, jedoch wird dies dadurch kompensiert, dass in dem Buch ein Zeitraum von mehreren Tausend Jahren beschrieben wird. Und wer weiß heute schon, was in 5000 Jahren sein wird? In dem Buch stecken aber auf jeden Fall eine Menge von lesenswerten Ideen und Überlegungen (auch wenn man an mancher Stelle merkt, dass das Buch schon einige Jahre auf dem Buckel hat, bspw. im Bezug auf den kalten Krie).
Einzig das letzte Kapitel fand ich etwas störend - wie im Nachwort vom Autoren beschrieben wird, wurde dieses erst nachträglich hinzugefügt... was auch recht auffällig ist.(less)

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Jun 27, 2012 Artem Huletski rated it 4 of 5 stars

А ведь и правда было бы лучше, если бы Землю не монополизировали люди. Будь то Разумные Псы, роботы или "мутанты", жизнь была бы разнообразнее. Какая у сегодняшнего человечества цель? Вялая битва за ресурсы планеты. Почему за 50 лет никто не слетал на Луну? Это знаете, как в Sid Meier's Civilization, когда новые технологии заканчиваются. Человеку в построенном раю невыносимо скучно. Капитализм победил. Маленький шах для человека, и большой - для человечества.

"- В 1950 году вы написали книгу, при...more А ведь и правда было бы лучше, если бы Землю не монополизировали люди. Будь то Разумные Псы, роботы или "мутанты", жизнь была бы разнообразнее. Какая у сегодняшнего человечества цель? Вялая битва за ресурсы планеты. Почему за 50 лет никто не слетал на Луну? Это знаете, как в Sid Meier's Civilization, когда новые технологии заканчиваются. Человеку в построенном раю невыносимо скучно. Капитализм победил. Маленький шах для человека, и большой - для человечества.

"- В 1950 году вы написали книгу, принёсшую вам всемирную славу, — сборник рассказов «Марсианские хроники». Там говорилось: уже к началу [нового] тысячелетия на Марсе будут поселения, целые города землян. Как вы думаете, почему этого в итоге так и не произошло?

- Меня часто про такое спрашивают, и я люблю фантазировать над ответами. Ответ сегодняшнего дня: потому что люди - идиоты. Они сделали кучу глупостей: придумывали костюмы для собак, должность рекламного менеджера и штуки вроде айфона, не получив взамен ничего, кроме кислого послевкусия. Человечеству дали возможность бороздить космос, но оно хочет заниматься потреблением - пить пиво и смотреть сериалы". (Рэй Брэдбери)(less)

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Jun 07, 2012 Williwaw rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Why is Clifford Simak virtually a forgotten writer?

"City" won the International Fantasy Award in 1952. Simak won a Hugo for his novella, "The Big Front Yard." He also won a Hugo for "Way Station" in 1964. Simak was a big wheel in the science fiction world back then.

So again, I ask. why is he forgotten? I have combed the shelves of used book shops, and Simak's books are tough to find. I don't know if this means that collectors tended to hoard Simak's books, or if it means that people commonly th...more

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May 29, 2012 Sarah Pi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf, wwe_grandmasters_challenge, wwe-grandmasters-challenge

This slim white hardcover from the Science Fiction Book Club has caught my eye numerous times over the years, nestled between its bigger shelfmates in my family's science fiction collection. I had a vague knowledge that it was narrated by dogs, and a vague knowledge that this was a "fix-up novel" - a group of short stories tied together with an overarching structure for publication purposes. I'm glad I didn't go into it with any further preconceptions. Simak did an excellent job of linking the s...more This slim white hardcover from the Science Fiction Book Club has caught my eye numerous times over the years, nestled between its bigger shelfmates in my family's science fiction collection. I had a vague knowledge that it was narrated by dogs, and a vague knowledge that this was a "fix-up novel" - a group of short stories tied together with an overarching structure for publication purposes. I'm glad I didn't go into it with any further preconceptions. Simak did an excellent job of linking the stories; I thought the conceit of the story notes added great depth to the ideas put forth in the stories.
The book consists of eight stories and a framework of notes that precede each story. I'd like to call them anthropological field notes, but I think the more accurate term might be caninological, since they are written by an advanced race of dogs. "These are the stories the Dogs tell, when the fires burn high and the wind is from the north," says one of the early notes. The stories the dogs examine span twelve thousand years, starting in a near future with dates now past. Some of the stories are put forth as apocryphal, some as fables, some as containing a germ of truth. They discusses the nature of time, and the nature of the bond between dogs and people, and the nature of dogs, and the instincts that govern both. A human family by the name of Webster is present in almost all of the tales. The Webster family robot, Jenkins, serves as the human proxy when no human is available, and as a common thread woven through the lengthy timeline. Jenkins is a surprisingly rich character, with fascinating motives.
I had never read Simak before, and didn't expect the beauty of the language or the depth of the ideas he explores. Though this is a story of dog, it is also a story of mutants and robots and ants and men and websters and Websters and cities and aliens and cobblies, all of which cycle in and out of the stories. I loved the way various members of that cast of characters appeared and reappeared. New situations were sketched with a deft hand, bringing the reader up to date quickly despite jumps of thousands of years.
If I have any complaint, it is the absolute lack of female characters. I don't think a single female dog is named in the entire book, and there are only a couple of human women, dismissed quickly. I can justify it somewhat by making a connection to fables and fireside stories, and suggesting that each Wolf and Bear and Squirrel is meant to stand for something larger. Still, it speaks to the quality of the stories and the concepts and the prose that I was mostly able to ignore the rather glaring omission of half of the population. I would probably name this as my new favorite novel-in-stories.
(less)

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Jan 11, 2012 Jessica rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I read this book in high school, having got it through the Science Fiction Book Club, and now Goodreads has recommended it to me, based on my "alltimefavorites" shelf. Hm. Nope. Not an all-time favorite. A weird, vaguely amusing but also vaguely unsettling little book, trying at the same time to be witty and shocking, with its vision of the future wherein humans have left the earth (and, it's implied, met a bad end) and so dogs have evolved. The dogs don't seem to do a whole lot, they have amusi...more

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Oct 29, 2011 Христо Блажев rated it 5 of 5 stars

Кучетата наследяват Земята в “Градът” на Клифърд Саймък
http://www.knigolandia.info/2011/01/b...

Още не мога да проумея как Клифърд Саймък е останал досега далеч от фантастикофилското ми око. Знам, че когато някога опустошавах фантастичната секция на видинската библиотека, съм чел негови неща, но по неизвестни причини не са оставили в мен ясен спомен. Сигурно защото тогава съм нямал личното ми дневниче Книголандия :)

“Градът” е книга, която се запечатва в съзнанието, искаш или не. Светът е Земята...more

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Jul 30, 2011 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Clifford/Cliff Simak is an author I first came to when I was a teenager in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. At first I wasn’t sure – it wasn’t spaceships and action, but instead a much more subtler and gentle SF. (Mark Charan Newton has since referred to it as ‘rural SF’, which sorta works.) Instead of Star Wars whizz-bang action, we have pastoral introspection, Waltons-style homily and self-depreciating humour.

And in City in particular we have robots, ants and dogs.

To my younger self, City was...more

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Jul 27, 2011 Sparrow rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well, this was recommended to me by a family friend, someone whose opinion of sci-fi is one I respect. She's usually even pickier about what makes a good book than I am, and since this was supposedly her FAVORITE book (surpassing LotR, Asimov, and His Dark Materials, all of which are highly praised by her...) I thought I was in for a real treat. But I was so... bored... The narrative was so rambly. I don't need to know someone's exactly wandering thought process on all corners of an issue. And w...more

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May 18, 2011 Bill Ward added it

Shelves: sf-review

City has the well-deserved reputation of a classic, Clifford D. Simak’s beautifully-written future history rivals anything produced in science fiction’s Golden Age in sheer scope and originality of vision. You won’t see a book like this today, a third of the size of a modern fat fantasy yet somehow managing to create a sense of vastness as the story unfolds over tens of thousands of years — proof that there is more than one way to craft an epic. City is an episodic novel built from a series of l...more City has the well-deserved reputation of a classic, Clifford D. Simak’s beautifully-written future history rivals anything produced in science fiction’s Golden Age in sheer scope and originality of vision. You won’t see a book like this today, a third of the size of a modern fat fantasy yet somehow managing to create a sense of vastness as the story unfolds over tens of thousands of years — proof that there is more than one way to craft an epic. City is an episodic novel built from a series of linked stories originally published separately in the forties (though the final story, ‘Epilog,’ was not written until the seventies and the book did not achieve its present shape until 1980), and each story begins with a connecting explanatory note examining the history and obscure terminology in the tale, written by a learned Dog.

That’s right, a Dog. Through hints and context clues the reader soon realizes these nine tales of a rapidly changing human society survive only as puzzling folk myths amongst a civilization that has cause to wonder if mankind ever really existed at all, or if that species is as fictional as as the other strange and un-Doggish concepts present in the stories, such as spaceflight, warfare, and cities. In fact the first story in City, from which the whole cycle takes its name, is the most problematical for the Dogs, so full of strange concepts to be almost meaningless.

To us, of course, it is just the opposite — the further into the future the stories in City stretch, the genuinely stranger they become, until they begin to resemble myths of the distant past, in fact. The first story takes place in the shell of a city in the wake of a mass migration of humanity to the countryside — a perfect storm of cheap atomic energy, private air transport, and a hydroponics revolution have dramatically altered the social fabric of mankind. Cities have become an anachronism, anyone of average means can now own a virtual mansion in the middle of a large acreage and trust to perfect communication and the family helicopter to bridge the distance to work and recreation. Written in 1946, the short story City anticipates the world of 1990 as a sort of post-singularity future — an atomic singularity as envisioned by the World War II generation.

Though this is the last time a city has any importance to the plot of the book (with a very minor exception), the first story establishes the themes of the cycle. Firstly, we are introduced to the Webster family, members of which are central to many of the stories in the book (and are arguably the most important humans ever to live — as it was a Webster that first altered Dogs and taught them speech and culture), secondly the theme of decay and decline takes center stage and never really lets go. Change is palpable in City, and always there’s a feeling like a great winding-down of days, a slow approaching doom, and the flight of man from the cities and the death of his communal instincts is essentially the first step on a long road to annihilation. But always it is social change that is the motive force; from the first story onward technology is an important tool but never the decisive force, indeed the most important of all technologies in the book is itself a kind of philosophy, a thing that alters the way humanity understands itself. This is a future history that puts the long sweep of societal change in the driver’s seat.

With each generation of Websters we are introduced to more and greater changes — and to an unexpected apocalypse of ingenious devising. Eventually, Man is reduced in importance, his successors the Dogs, the Robots, and the Mutants each pursue their own ideas of civilization. Only one figure really recalls the enormous scope of history that runs through these stories, and that is Jenkins, a robot servant of the Websters who becomes a mentor to the Dogs and teaches and instructs them. Once free completely of the influence of man, the Dogs develop their own perceptions and philosophies and create a pacifistic animal paradise, in which the animals of the earth live in harmony. When Man is reintroduced into this idyll, so too comes murder. When Jenkins is confronted with the reinvention of the bow and arrow, he muses on the nature of mankind:

It’s just a bow and arrow, but it’s not a laughing matter. It might have been at one time, but history takes the laugh out of many things. If the arrow is a joke, so is the atom bomb, so is the sweep of disease-laden dust that wipes out whole cities, so is the screaming rocket that arcs and falls ten thousand miles away and kills a million people.

Jenkins arrives at a solution, and in the end the tiny remnant of mankind have come full circle, and it is they that are the children in need of a father, rather than the Dogs. The later stories in City most contrast the world of Man and the world of the Dogs, but Simak does not necessarily take the easy road of condemnation. Mankind is violent, inherently dangerous, but it is shown that there are things he can do to survive that neither Dog nor Robot can accomplish, even in his most primitive state. What Jenkins ponders, and Simak poses, is whether or not such powers are worth the price they inevitably demand in payment. Jenkins’ answer is a firm ‘no.’

City is a haunting book, a far vision of a strange future that packs more sense of wonder than any space opera. It’s also a thoughtful book, and perhaps a pessimistic one, but one that looks at the future sweep of society in such a compellingly original way that it’s impossible to forget. Like Asimov’s Foundation, Simak plays with the building blocks of history to create a chain of interlocking narratives, each building logically from the last. But Simak’s sensibilities are perhaps closer to Le Guin’s, and his prose more akin to Bradbury’s, than to any of his contemporaries writing on the hard SF end of the spectrum. Regardless of just how you slice it, City is an indispensable classic of the genre that, though written at a time when many loudly prophesied apocalypse in a rain of atom bombs, chose to eschew the bang and embrace the whimper.

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Feb 20, 2010 Lesley rated it 5 of 5 stars

Several months ago, I visited the science fiction museum up in Seattle. It wasn't that impressive to me, like someone's small private collection stretched out to cover a bunch of exhibits. Forrey's house had been more impressive than this place. But I'd had some interest in post-apocalyptic stuff lately, so I paused at the exhibit, and I noticed some books I hadn't read before featured as classics in the genre. Among them were Alas, Babylon and City by Clifford Simak.

I found Alas, Babylon pretty...more Several months ago, I visited the science fiction museum up in Seattle. It wasn't that impressive to me, like someone's small private collection stretched out to cover a bunch of exhibits. Forrey's house had been more impressive than this place. But I'd had some interest in post-apocalyptic stuff lately, so I paused at the exhibit, and I noticed some books I hadn't read before featured as classics in the genre. Among them were Alas, Babylon and City by Clifford Simak.

I found Alas, Babylon pretty easily, but City eluded me at local bookstores. In fact, I found myself astonished that none of the stores I'd visited had *any* of Simak's books (much less City, which seems to be regarded as some of his best work). I'd never read him before, but his name had always popped out in my head as one of the classic authors of science fiction. Finally, while visiting some friends in San Diego who were old SF fans, I mentioned this, and they had a copy of the book! They cheerfully lent me it and one other. I cracked open the book, and was glued to it.

City is a collection of short stories, originally published in Astounding (the magazine which later became Analog). These stories are book-ended by commentary from dogs, which have now grown to greater intelligence and communicative abilities, and are looking back and debating whether Man truly existed, or if they are merely figments of storytelling used to highlight parables. In the sense that the dogs are looking back, and Man clearly is no longer around, the novel can be called post-apocalyptic I suppose, but it doesn't match the framework in any other manner. There are no big explosions, devastating disasters or biological attacks which wipe out the human race. The stories span tens of thousands of years in time, and as you read them, you see the future of the world gently unfold before you.

This novel started making me reconsider my recent book purchasing habits. When contrasted with the book I read before it, The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep, a perfectly fine novel, I realized that some books must be owned, and some books do not. The City must be owned. If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor and look about for a copy (some are expensive, but I have seen inexpensive ones with some digging.)

(As a side note, the edition I owned included a story called Epilog, written by Simak twenty years after the original stories were done. Simak included a note in the edition saying that while he felt Epilog had turned out well enough as a story, he wasn't sure how he felt about it being included after the other stories. He was concerned that it took away from the ending. I agree with him - Epilog is a nice story, but the collection as a whole leaves you with a much stronger ending without it. If the version you buy has Epilog, take a moment before you read this story to imagine that the novel ends there, and the impressions you are left with.)(less)

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Aug 09, 2009 Chuck rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thought I had read all of Clifford Simak, but my friend Dave Mead introduced me to Simak; I'm glad he did. Simak was one of the seminal periods in what I consider the Golden Age of SF, and he was one of the writers that fired my imagination when I was a teen and young adult.

Two narratives are intertwined; the "current day" of the novel is the far future, more than twelve thousand years in the future. Dogs are the dominant species on Earth, and humankind has faded so far into memory that the de...more I thought I had read all of Clifford Simak, but my friend Dave Mead introduced me to Simak; I'm glad he did. Simak was one of the seminal periods in what I consider the Golden Age of SF, and he was one of the writers that fired my imagination when I was a teen and young adult.

Two narratives are intertwined; the "current day" of the novel is the far future, more than twelve thousand years in the future. Dogs are the dominant species on Earth, and humankind has faded so far into memory that the debate among scholarly dogs is whether or not humans ever existed. Some believe the tale is literally true, while others believe they are myths primitive cultures made up to explain things they don't understand (much the way early human culture created mythic creatures such as dragons).

The "current day dog debate" serves as the frame for Simak's extrapolation of the fall of humankind. The thing that brings about the slow decay of humankind is not some disaster but the lack of it; cheap energy and cheaper manufacturing, along with food so plentiful none must ever go hungry has made people move out of cities and onto large estates in automated houses that tend to their every need. People stop living in cities, and humankind begins to die. For Simak, the city is what keeps humankind vital.

It's interesting to read SF from the fifties and see the way writers a half a century ago envisioned our future. The startling thing isn't that they got it wrong, but how much of the future Simak got right. Many of the inventions that he believed would "soften" humankind up have come to pass and now, with the advent of social networking software and online shopping, many of us do huddle in our homes, connected and interacting with one another, but with far less "face time" and actual interaction than earlier generations did.
In some ways, we are on the path Simak prophesied.

The things he didn't anticipate are inventions that didn't catch on; Simak thought the helicopter would replace the automobile, and he, like most scientists, believed that nuclear power would provide cheap energy that would fuel the world for the forseeable future. It probably could, but Simak didn't anticipate the public backlash against nuclear power, or the few disasters (three mile island and Chernobyl) that turned public opinion against it.

Interspered throughout this are the gradual rise of dogs, who are, in most ways, more noble, more human, and more moral than humans. I don't want to say too much because I strongly recommend any who love this book read it; it's not long (about two hundred pages) and is thoughtful, occassionally sad, sometimes comic. Very much worth reading.

I'll also add that, if you don't know Simak and have any interest in speculative ficiton, you will find him an author well worth knowing.(less)

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Feb 13, 2012 Rochelle rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. My SHU Response:

Beyond being beset upon with personal problems on the homefront, City has posed just one difficulty after another for me. Which is sort of strange because the moment I first picked it up, I was intrigued. It’s a whole other way from what I’ve seen of connecting a light smattering of short stories together and making it palatable for public consumption. At least, that was my initial impression. After those few precious moments when I thought this might be good, it all went south.

I...more My SHU Response:

Beyond being beset upon with personal problems on the homefront, City has posed just one difficulty after another for me. Which is sort of strange because the moment I first picked it up, I was intrigued. It’s a whole other way from what I’ve seen of connecting a light smattering of short stories together and making it palatable for public consumption. At least, that was my initial impression. After those few precious moments when I thought this might be good, it all went south.

In fact, there’s so much in this book that doesn’t work, that I struggle to know where to begin. Perhaps with the short stories. Firstly, they’re horrible. The writing is...just bad. I know that the Cambridge Companion of SF mentions that in the early days that SF wasn’t the best thing written, and surely, this novel proves it. Characterization is flimsy, at best. No one shows up who’s worth caring about. Exposition took far too much presence. There was just a waffling on and on of details I didn’t need or that could have been expressed more visually with only a line or two. Character interaction/dialogue was often severely overdramatic. Even the robots with their quaint folksy ways (which is bizarre enough to believe on that front alone) come across as more human than the humans. The pacing was slow and the only tension spike that happened throughout the entire thing was about midway through when the Brain-Surgeon Webster became the instrument for losing the Juwainian Philosophy altogether. That’s it. The rest of it? So slow and stodgy. There’s nothing really at stake at the end of each story except for that one. Instead of there being negative consequences that the reader would like to avoid, the tone becomes largely fatalistic, because we’re already aware that this is the end of humanity as we know it, and there’s nothing that’s going to happen that can stop it. It’s all history; old news. You know what? Old news is boring.

Beyond bad writing, I’d say the largest hurdle for me to overcome was the believability in this novel. It is the writer’s job to get the reader to willingly suspend their sense of disbelief as they spin their tale. And generally, they do that by slowly delivering us little nuggets of believability, of further knowledge about this foreign world, that we can swallow and get further and further into the story. The four largest areas of believability that I struggled with were: the juxtaposition of human nature against the reality of how the world works, the likelihood of pacifism actually coming to pass as described by Simak, the level of intelligence found in all animal kind, and the enforced pacifism secured by this brotherhood. (I was tempted to add in the Science, or lackthereof, but really, that didn’t bother me too horribly. Though the book did seem to almost do a genre switch from SF to Fantasy towards the end, in comparison with the overwhelming presence of the rest of it’s problems, it seemed a minor note.)

From almost the first instant I started the first of the eight stories, I had trouble swallowing what Simak was feeding me. I just can’t fathom how people actually exist in his reality. With that fancy Atomic power and the way they can use their helicopters to go anywhere, civilization breaks up. I only have one word for this: Bizarre. Humans are communal creatures, always have been. We gather in numbers not only for survival, but to fulfill our social needs, to reproduce, to engage in commerce, earn a livelihood, which then provides us a place to live, food to eat, etc. Necessities, for lack of better term. Even the eradication of cities and government--Why would mankind willingly return to a time of lawlessness? It just doesn’t make sense.

Again and again with each new story questions are raised, and never answered. Like how we managed to do away with violence and religion. Uh, how? Violence alone, while we may not like to admit it, makes up a part of human nature. That’s a tough one to breed out. Even if I could swallow that, violence is so heavily prevalent in all animals just about that to even reach the level of pacifism that Simak does… It seems impossible. And entirely unbelievable without any information of how that came to be.

Furthermore, just what kind of intelligence level do animals 10,000+ years from now have? Dogs, I could sort of understand. Those are somewhat intelligent creatures, but ants? Robins? Squirrels? Bears? We’re talking a pretty wide range of animal brain sizes, and yet they all seem to be able to function on almost a human level with only 10,000+ years difference from animals today? Unbelievable. Unless they were hit with smart beams, or some other event occurs, this needs to be better explained.

Without reading up on further sources about Simak’s intention and the underlying message he’s trying to portray, just from reading his words alone as they are, only one message comes to me. Pacifism should be universal, but many will be dissatisfied with this unnatural lifestyle, and it can only be enforced and made reality with the help of a dictator, benevolent or otherwise.

And lastly, though it might seem a bit from right field: the ending. The structure of the book follows an almost academic setting. There’s an introduction, some side commentary between their quotes/stories, and absolutely no follow up. This book severely needed a conclusion from the dogs about why this is important, and what message we were supposed to get. Without a proper denouement, the entire structure flops, becoming meaningless.(less)

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Aug 27, 2012 Nikki rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-fiction, fantasy

I really wouldn't attempt to read City as speculative fiction, despite the opening stories and the fact that there's space travel and alternate dimensions. After I saw the reactions of group members to it, I thought I wasn't going to get on with it at all -- totally unscientific, only one or two female characters even mentioned, etc.

But then I started reading and the scholarly notes really tickled me. I've read them before, in a sense, in every book that attempts to piece together whether King A...more

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Dec 11, 2011 Rhys rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A 'fix-up' novel consisting of eight linked short-stories that cover the next 12,000 years of history. *City* was published in 1952 but the stories date from the mid to late '40s. Simak's style is pastoral, poetic and nostalgic, rather like Ray Bradbury's, but he is fundamentally an ideas writer, and the ideas in *City* are extremely good. Simak has a remarkable talent for weaving together disparate subplots, half a dozen at a time, each one loaded with thought-provoking concepts, and the sevent...more

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Apr 10, 2011 Neil rated it 3 of 5 stars

This classic work of SF is an interesting, meditative work that ponders the nature of humankind's dreams and directions, the difference between human ambition and that of other species, the path of evolution, and the relationship of humans and robots. It's melancholy and kind of beautiful, but I'm not sure I buy Simak's fundamental assumptions.

For one thing, this reads like Asimov and other science fiction that I've read from the period (written around the years of WWII) in that while it tries g...more

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May 19, 2013 Rick Strong rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: SF fans, 40s and 50s SF-curious, dog lovers, robot lovers

City, like several other science fiction books, is a series of connected short stories; written between 1944 and 1951, they were published separately in John W. Campbell's Astounding Stories, and gathered together and published in 1952 as a novel. The stories follow a future history of Earth from a very near future to a time over 12,000 from now, and are held together by introductory notes, written by a canine scholar. No, not a student of Dogs, but a Dog. Dogs now gather around campfires and te...more City, like several other science fiction books, is a series of connected short stories; written between 1944 and 1951, they were published separately in John W. Campbell's Astounding Stories, and gathered together and published in 1952 as a novel. The stories follow a future history of Earth from a very near future to a time over 12,000 from now, and are held together by introductory notes, written by a canine scholar. No, not a student of Dogs, but a Dog. Dogs now gather around campfires and tell stories of the old days, stories upon which Doggish opinion is very divided, that tell how the vanished and possibly mythological/symbolic beings known as humans gave them the opportunity and the tools to talk and to develop their own culture.

One family, the Websters, appears consistently, from the first through the last story. The Websters are an interesting family, displaying at times great genius and at others terrible failure; it is one of them who sets the Dogs on their path to ascendance.

The first two stories deal with the breakdown of human culture, the end of the need for cities, a retreat to a decentralized existence enabled by the development of robotic servants/helpers, and a growing agoraphobia among people unused to leaving their isolated homes. A Martian, Juwain, a friend of one of the Websters, develops a new and unprecedented philosophy that will eventually revolutionize human thought...but not when originally intended, and not with the effect anyone had in mind.

In the third story the Dogs appear for the first time, and a Webster has figured out a way to give Dogs the gift of speech, and provided robot assistants in place of hands. At the same time human mutants appear, living apart from the others, displaying a complete disregard for human empathy and behavioral norms. One of them, as an experiment, sets the Ants on a new and frightening evolutionary path.

In the fourth and fifth stories humanity is given a chance to completely remake itself, but it has to choose between remaining human or assuming a new synthetic physical form on Jupiter. Juwain's philosophy assumes a tremendous importance many years after it was first developed.

In the last three stories, humanity on Earth is reduced to a very small group that eventually retreats to a walled/sealed Geneva, while Earth is now filled with Dogs, helper robots, 'wild' robots with their own inscrutable agendas, human mutants with their inhuman agendas, and Ants, who have started building structures that threaten to envelop the Earth, and whose consciousness is so alien that their agenda simply cannot be imagined. The Dogs, who without hands have had to learn to rely on thought more than mechanical tinkering, discover how to travel between the infinite alternate universes. Jenkins, the 12,000 year old robot who has been with the Dogs since the beginning, helps them and serves as mentor, not the least by keeping them from making the same mistakes made by humans. A ninth story, Epilog was added in 1973, with an interesting twist which I will not detail here.

I am being purposely vague: I really don't want to give it all away. This isn't a very suspenseful novel but if it's your first time you are going to want to discover some things for yourself.

I really like this book. Reading it for perhaps the sixth time was like meeting an old friend after many years apart. The book deals with one huge idea after the next but manages to keep a humane, sympathetic, and almost folksy quality throughout even when dealing with disturbing ideas. It's so interesting to feel like curling up in bed with a book that treats the future of humanity with wistfulness and a certain pessimism - it was written directly after World War II and does seem to have been influenced by it in its implications that humankind's propensity for violence is deep-rooted and incurable.

If you like science fiction of the 1940s and 1950s at all this is a must-read and probably an already-have-read, and if you are unfamiliar with the genre it is a fantastic place to start. Great ideas, lots of them, and well-written. Very highly recommended.
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Dec 31, 2009 Aaron rated it 4 of 5 stars

Brilliant conjecturing along with great character moments. The agoraphobia chapter was tops. I do find it funny though how obsessed sci-fi writers are with the evil nature of man (I'm probably over sensitive to this theme having just read this and Childhoods End, although Simak has a much more even handed approach). Not only Simak in this and Way Station, but countless other speculative stories concentrate on man's base nature and his need to find a sort of higher existence or be damned to oblit...more

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Feb 11, 2012 D.K. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Problems with Premise - SHU response to City by Simak

I didn't think I would actually be using my sociology undergrad for anything other than having an undergrad from a university to get a better job. However, I kept going back to what I have learned about group behavior and societies in sociology when reading Simak's City and extrapolating man's futurein-existence.
The context of City is that these stories were written at the end of WWII and the beginning of the cold war. Simak references the ha...more Problems with Premise - SHU response to City by Simak

I didn't think I would actually be using my sociology undergrad for anything other than having an undergrad from a university to get a better job. However, I kept going back to what I have learned about group behavior and societies in sociology when reading Simak's City and extrapolating man's future in-existence.
   The context of City is that these stories were written at the end of WWII and the beginning of the cold war. Simak references the harnessing the atom with Atomic Fuels and machine which was a marvel at that time with the atomic bomb. It is fairly simple to see Simak's technological extrapolations based on the growth that was literally happening across the US with suburbs and family vehicles. I can see the value of posing that the City life would dwindle as an interesting "what-if" situation because cars and planes were becoming more affordable and could travel further. However, the sociologist in me (as much as it pains me to say that), sees that 60 plus years later, we have a lot of what Simak was extrapolating technology. We do have the means of conversing over distance easier than at his time. Until recently, I was able to work out of the house for my job. All my communication was electronic via email and I rarely ever spoke to anyone on the phone.
   The problem I have with Simak's premise is to believe that with everyone doing this, that we'd all lose touch with each other and with the loss of interaction, extinction will follow. Again, I understand the theory and how it could make for an interesting story. However, with media streaming services on portable devices such as Netflix, why do we still have movie theatres? Because we still enjoy the experience of the large dark room filled with strangers that gasp and laugh with us. We still have malls and grocery stores even when you can order medications, diapers, etc online and have it delivered to you without human interaction. Sociologically, I believe there is something inherit in us that makes us crave social interaction even despite prolific technological advances. I'm like Webster on page 45 in that I have my moments of agoraphobia. But, I still need the interaction of family and close friends. Even with 3D High Def TVs I still would rather have my nostrils burned when inhaling salt water after falling of a surf board than just experience it visually in my home. Dogs aren't the only social or pack animal on the planet. If humans didn't have that aspect to our personality, we'd never have had cities or civilizations.
This isn't a complete rant, as these are my sociological observations. As a reader however, I enjoyed the different view of what would happen if we lost human contact and went extinct leaving our robots and gadgets or something else in our wake. For that, I understand and appreciate the teaching opportunity City provided. I'll go more into this on my CC response but I see the clear avenue in Science Fiction, above other genres, to serve as a warning to the rest of humanity about not taking new developments too far to our possible future harm.
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Oct 10, 2011 David rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

Science fiction doesn't always age well. When it attempts to predict the future, most often reality takes a different course. Stuff that seemed plausible in the early 50's (City was published as a collection of connected short stories in 1952) seems downright silly now. Such is the case here. I can overlook some technological assumptions that an author made to establish his setting, but the quality of the story itself has to make up for it.

Simak takes the nuclear power wet dream of electricity...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Rod rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've read about this book many times, as it finds its way onto many science fiction "best of" lists, so I was glad to find myself with the opportunity to read it in the space of a leisurely day. Though I knew the basic premise (dogs sitting around telling ancient tales of when humans are said to have ruled the Earth), I was impressed with the sweep and the insights Simak could draw from that premise. Not perfect by a long shot, and Simak--known for his heartland, rural approach to sf--can get ca...more

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