false 312612 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771m/312612.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771s/312612.jpg 312612 6 1876516 book 1976 Mindbridge total:100|5:23|4:31|3:40|2:6|1:0| 100 371 147 15 12476 3.72 6542 845 44166380 1935318 312612 0575071141 9780575071148 10 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771m/312612.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771s/312612.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312612.Mindbridge 3.71 86 1976 3 1 false Fri Jan 16 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 08:22:59 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 08:41:01 -0800 2009
This book is written in a way I'd never seen a book written before. Some chapters are presented as a play, with just dialogue. There are also complicated charts that have information that pertain to the story (and a lot of info t...more...]]> 68478206 1478469 312612 0575071141 9780575071148 10 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771m/312612.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771s/312612.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312612.Mindbridge 3.71 100 1976 3 0 false Sun Aug 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 22 14:17:38 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 13:24:34 -0700 2009 more...]]> 65201740 705225 312612 0575071141 9780575071148 10 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771m/312612.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771s/312612.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312612.Mindbridge 3.71 100 1976 3 0 false Thu Jul 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 18:46:14 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 18:51:16 -0700 2009 71436055 1256262 1833141 0380016893 9780380016891 2 http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1833141.Mindbridge 3.33 6 1976 3 2 false Fri Sep 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 11:16:13 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 25 17:42:23 -0700 2009
Inconsequential geographic mistakes about Colorado Springs--where I lived thirteen years--knocked me out of the story several times. N...more...]]> 80154487 3017474 1811874 0312533403 9780312533403 3 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1253677270m/1811874.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1253677270s/1811874.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1811874.Mindbridge 4.20 5 The discovery of the Levant-Meyer translation, in terms of an accidental finding by a scientist doing an unrelated experiment, is a retelling of a story occurring with many scientific discoveries. The idea that humans went on using the effect, perfecting it by trial & error, but not having a theoretical grasp of why it works, is plausible.
The description of Lefavre's father's scientific rise & fall, with a refutation quickly disproved, is realistic. Many talks at the American Physical Society have created fame & infamy for the speakers as they claim to refute, prove & disprove theories & conjectures.
The description of the use of the Translation effect, its exploitation by money-making companies, & the highly inconvenient slingshot caveat, are well narrated. The chapter detailing an advertisement is an effective narration style.
The Mindbridge, is explained with some imagination to be a complete mystery for two centuries, until it's found that the bridges were built as part of an elaborate game by godlike beings a million years ago on a distant planet. This tale is told in an irregular chapter--a flash-forward to the future. The hints in this chapter of many wonders to come, of our descendents overcoming many barriers & possessing telepathic abilities, provides an optimistic vision.
The social vision of Lefavre's own times are not quite so hunky-dory, & has its gloomy ominous aspects. The company which in principle you can leave any time you want, but in practice you are bound to by the threat of poverty, reminds us of the sinister multinationals of today. Multinationals have the world in a much tighter deadly grip than they did 40 years ago. Some of Haldeman's dark visions have unfortunately come true.
Like many White writers, excepting LeGuin, Haldeman's vision involves mainly the white world, tho there is a token chinese & black. Today's 3rd World is absent. This could mean either that the 3rd World has continued poor & the 1st World has managed to keep 4/5s of the population confined to the periphery, or, that the White world has somehow managed to do away completely with those inconvenient people. Granted, this is a feature common to most white SF writers, & JH deserves credit for his two nonwhite characters. The Chinese character speaks & thinks in Chinese, i.e., the world does not all speak English. The black female character is at least partly African, had a good African name, & was not black American or similarly tamed.
Haldeman's treatment of his 2ndary characters is methodical but not particularly good. The sudden deaths would have been more effective if we cared a bit more about the characters. Carol, Lefavre's mate/wife, appears to be a person the reader might have liked if the author had done her more justice. The idea of Carol's living on in Jacques' head, after her death, had little emotional appeal since she was undeveloped.
More praiseworthy is the way the author introduces us to Lefavre himself, his brutality & humanness together. We know him as an unpleasant person but don't dislike him. His characterization is central to the story. It's his unpleasantness--according to the L'vrai, his animalness--that allow them to communicate thru him. Again, this characterization was technically adequate but not masterly.
In summary, despite shortcomings, a book well worth reading if you're a SF fan.--M. Haque (edited)]]> 1976 3 0 false Mon Dec 07 05:50:00 -0800 2009 Mon Dec 07 05:51:35 -0800 2009 72220056 949790 1811874 0312533403 9780312533403 3 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1253677270m/1811874.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1253677270s/1811874.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1811874.Mindbridge 3.71 100 The discovery of the Levant-Meyer translation, in terms of an accidental finding by a scientist doing an unrelated experiment, is a retelling of a story occurring with many scientific discoveries. The idea that humans went on using the effect, perfecting it by trial & error, but not having a theoretical grasp of why it works, is plausible.
The description of Lefavre's father's scientific rise & fall, with a refutation quickly disproved, is realistic. Many talks at the American Physical Society have created fame & infamy for the speakers as they claim to refute, prove & disprove theories & conjectures.
The description of the use of the Translation effect, its exploitation by money-making companies, & the highly inconvenient slingshot caveat, are well narrated. The chapter detailing an advertisement is an effective narration style.
The Mindbridge, is explained with some imagination to be a complete mystery for two centuries, until it's found that the bridges were built as part of an elaborate game by godlike beings a million years ago on a distant planet. This tale is told in an irregular chapter--a flash-forward to the future. The hints in this chapter of many wonders to come, of our descendents overcoming many barriers & possessing telepathic abilities, provides an optimistic vision.
The social vision of Lefavre's own times are not quite so hunky-dory, & has its gloomy ominous aspects. The company which in principle you can leave any time you want, but in practice you are bound to by the threat of poverty, reminds us of the sinister multinationals of today. Multinationals have the world in a much tighter deadly grip than they did 40 years ago. Some of Haldeman's dark visions have unfortunately come true.
Like many White writers, excepting LeGuin, Haldeman's vision involves mainly the white world, tho there is a token chinese & black. Today's 3rd World is absent. This could mean either that the 3rd World has continued poor & the 1st World has managed to keep 4/5s of the population confined to the periphery, or, that the White world has somehow managed to do away completely with those inconvenient people. Granted, this is a feature common to most white SF writers, & JH deserves credit for his two nonwhite characters. The Chinese character speaks & thinks in Chinese, i.e., the world does not all speak English. The black female character is at least partly African, had a good African name, & was not black American or similarly tamed.
Haldeman's treatment of his 2ndary characters is methodical but not particularly good. The sudden deaths would have been more effective if we cared a bit more about the characters. Carol, Lefavre's mate/wife, appears to be a person the reader might have liked if the author had done her more justice. The idea of Carol's living on in Jacques' head, after her death, had little emotional appeal since she was undeveloped.
More praiseworthy is the way the author introduces us to Lefavre himself, his brutality & humanness together. We know him as an unpleasant person but don't dislike him. His characterization is central to the story. It's his unpleasantness--according to the L'vrai, his animalness--that allow them to communicate thru him. Again, this characterization was technically adequate but not masterly.
In summary, despite shortcomings, a book well worth reading if you're a SF fan.--M. Haque (edited)]]> 1976 5 0 false Wed Sep 23 07:02:05 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 25 07:42:11 -0700 2009 65132149 945038 1833141 0380016893 9780380016891 2 http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1833141.Mindbridge 3.71 100 1976 3 0 false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1977 Mon Jul 27 09:43:12 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 09:44:34 -0700 2009 16797051 545441 312612 0575071141 9780575071148 10 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771m/312612.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771s/312612.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312612.Mindbridge 3.71 100 1976 5 0 false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 01 17:18:47 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 01 17:21:19 -0800 2008 The Forever War, this one is again a science fiction tale in the style of old school sci-fi. The brief written on the back makes you think it is about a person (or group of people) who have telepathic like abilities to reach across huge distances in space a...more...]]> 72193313 974210 1811874 0312533403 9780312533403 3 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1253677270m/1811874.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1253677270s/1811874.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1811874.Mindbridge 3.71 100 The discovery of the Levant-Meyer translation, in terms of an accidental finding by a scientist doing an unrelated experiment, is a retelling of a story occurring with many scientific discoveries. The idea that humans went on using the effect, perfecting it by trial & error, but not having a theoretical grasp of why it works, is plausible.
The description of Lefavre's father's scientific rise & fall, with a refutation quickly disproved, is realistic. Many talks at the American Physical Society have created fame & infamy for the speakers as they claim to refute, prove & disprove theories & conjectures.
The description of the use of the Translation effect, its exploitation by money-making companies, & the highly inconvenient slingshot caveat, are well narrated. The chapter detailing an advertisement is an effective narration style.
The Mindbridge, is explained with some imagination to be a complete mystery for two centuries, until it's found that the bridges were built as part of an elaborate game by godlike beings a million years ago on a distant planet. This tale is told in an irregular chapter--a flash-forward to the future. The hints in this chapter of many wonders to come, of our descendents overcoming many barriers & possessing telepathic abilities, provides an optimistic vision.
The social vision of Lefavre's own times are not quite so hunky-dory, & has its gloomy ominous aspects. The company which in principle you can leave any time you want, but in practice you are bound to by the threat of poverty, reminds us of the sinister multinationals of today. Multinationals have the world in a much tighter deadly grip than they did 40 years ago. Some of Haldeman's dark visions have unfortunately come true.
Like many White writers, excepting LeGuin, Haldeman's vision involves mainly the white world, tho there is a token chinese & black. Today's 3rd World is absent. This could mean either that the 3rd World has continued poor & the 1st World has managed to keep 4/5s of the population confined to the periphery, or, that the White world has somehow managed to do away completely with those inconvenient people. Granted, this is a feature common to most white SF writers, & JH deserves credit for his two nonwhite characters. The Chinese character speaks & thinks in Chinese, i.e., the world does not all speak English. The black female character is at least partly African, had a good African name, & was not black American or similarly tamed.
Haldeman's treatment of his 2ndary characters is methodical but not particularly good. The sudden deaths would have been more effective if we cared a bit more about the characters. Carol, Lefavre's mate/wife, appears to be a person the reader might have liked if the author had done her more justice. The idea of Carol's living on in Jacques' head, after her death, had little emotional appeal since she was undeveloped.
More praiseworthy is the way the author introduces us to Lefavre himself, his brutality & humanness together. We know him as an unpleasant person but don't dislike him. His characterization is central to the story. It's his unpleasantness--according to the L'vrai, his animalness--that allow them to communicate thru him. Again, this characterization was technically adequate but not masterly.
In summary, despite shortcomings, a book well worth reading if you're a SF fan.--M. Haque (edited)]]> 1976 3 0 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1990 Tue Sep 22 21:09:37 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 22 21:10:47 -0700 2009 1 44092037 1608811 312612 0575071141 9780575071148 10 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771m/312612.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771s/312612.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312612.Mindbridge 3.71 100 1976 4 0 false Fri Jan 23 13:48:47 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 13:49:34 -0800 2009 50547704 1557751 312612 0575071141 9780575071148 10 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771m/312612.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771s/312612.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312612.Mindbridge 3.71 100 1976 3 0 false Sun Feb 25 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Mar 26 15:18:42 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 26 15:18:42 -0700 2009 13924651 726844 312612 0575071141 9780575071148 10 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771m/312612.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771s/312612.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312612.Mindbridge 3.71 100 1976 4 1 false Thu Jan 31 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 29 07:29:42 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 31 14:05:43 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1372728 84831 312612 0575071141 9780575071148 10 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771m/312612.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771s/312612.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312612.Mindbridge 3.71 100 1976 5 0 false Tue Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Tue May 22 15:37:21 -0700 2007 Tue May 22 15:40:16 -0700 2007 21040486 1118763 312612 0575071141 9780575071148 10 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771m/312612.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771s/312612.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312612.Mindbridge 3.71 100 1976 5 0 false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sat Apr 26 11:54:03 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 26 12:15:25 -0700 2008 11228312 199135 312612 0575071141 9780575071148 10 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771m/312612.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771s/312612.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312612.Mindbridge 3.71 100 1976 3 0 false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 29 13:11:27 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 29 13:12:20 -0800 2007 82154325 1992799 312612 0575071141 9780575071148 10 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771m/312612.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771s/312612.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312612.Mindbridge 3.71 100 1976 0 0 false Sun Dec 27 00:55:20 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 27 00:55:22 -0800 2009 81930028 2242656 1875562 0860079325 9780860079323 0 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1253677116m/1875562.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1253677116s/1875562.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1875562.Mindbridge 0.0 0 1976 0 0 false Thu Dec 24 03:13:35 -0800 2009 Thu Dec 24 03:13:35 -0800 2009 81711434 3023649 312612 0575071141 9780575071148 10 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771m/312612.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771s/312612.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312612.Mindbridge 3.71 100 1976 3 0 false Mon Dec 21 19:38:34 -0800 2009 Mon Dec 21 19:38:34 -0800 2009 81081135 3043742 312612 0575071141 9780575071148 10 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771m/312612.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771s/312612.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312612.Mindbridge 3.71 100 1976 4 0 false Tue Dec 15 08:23:45 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 15 08:23:45 -0800 2009 80129009 47552 312612 0575071141 9780575071148 10 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771m/312612.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173666771s/312612.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312612.Mindbridge 3.71 100 1976 5 0 false Sun Dec 06 19:54:40 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 06 19:54:40 -0800 2009 8 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=312612