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Stand on Zanzibar
by
John Brunner
Norman Niblock House is a rising executive at General Technics, one of a few all-powerful corporations. His work is leading General Technics to the forefront of global domination, both in the marketplace and politically---it's about to take over a country in Africa. Donald Hogan is his roommate, a seemingly sheepish bookworm. But Hogan is a spy, and he's about to discover...more
672 pages
Published
(first published 1968)
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:: Stand on Zanzibar is one of my favorite novels ::

a) Stand on Zanzibar is about overpopulation. if the entire world's population were to stand on Zanzibar, it would sink.
b) Stand on Zanzibar is about information. how is it processed? what does it really mean?
c) Stand on Zanzibar is about the evils and cupidity of corporatization. it is about how a corporation may be able to do a good thing, despite itself.
d) Stand on Zanzibar is about the evils and stupidity of the State. it provides many exa...more

a) Stand on Zanzibar is about overpopulation. if the entire world's population were to stand on Zanzibar, it would sink.
b) Stand on Zanzibar is about information. how is it processed? what does it really mean?
c) Stand on Zanzibar is about the evils and cupidity of corporatization. it is about how a corporation may be able to do a good thing, despite itself.
d) Stand on Zanzibar is about the evils and stupidity of the State. it provides many exa...more
This psychedelic novel is set in the far distant future, 2010! When we can look forward to picture phones,holographic t.v. sets , moon bases and battery powered cars everywhere(can't wait).The happening man is Norman Niblock House.He lives in a domed Manhattan,the rest of New York City's citizens are not important enough to have that structure. Norman works as an executive and only black man, for General Technical Corporation(G T to its employees), and still run by the founder Georgette Tallon B...more
Jan 04, 2011
Erik Graff
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone
Recommended to Erik by:
no one
Shelves:
sf
Reading this before discovering DosPassos' U.S.A., I was mightily impressed by Brunner's originality of technique. Discovering U.S.A., I was even more impressed by DosPassos, of course, but did not fault Brunner's employment of the other's proven methods for painting an enormous, richly textured picture of a possible future.
The book was anxiety-provoking in 1969. The accuracy of many of Brunner's predictions makes one wonder about the increasingly large subgenre of science fiction books which ar...more
The book was anxiety-provoking in 1969. The accuracy of many of Brunner's predictions makes one wonder about the increasingly large subgenre of science fiction books which ar...more
Aug 14, 2011
Bill
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
sci-fi,
bill-s-favourites
Found it interesting; a unique style of writing. I've read different ways; the normal way from front to end, then also by sticking to the sub-headings; context, the happening world, tracking with closeups, etc. Either way, it made for excellent reading.
That was 600+ pages of sheer eccentricity! Not in a bad way, but wow. I love books like this, that push the boundaries in some way, play around with indirect narrative. As long as they know why they're doing it. This one did.
(context)
This book takes place in several different ways. Context is given from future encyclopedias, or other writings. The happening world places this world in, not context, but in an emerging flow of information, which generally manages to give immense texture to the worl...more
(context)
This book takes place in several different ways. Context is given from future encyclopedias, or other writings. The happening world places this world in, not context, but in an emerging flow of information, which generally manages to give immense texture to the worl...more
Jul 11, 2008
Matt
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People who like science fiction
Shelves:
science-fiction
I've read this book twice now, once a few months back and once in the early 90's. While I still greatly enjoyed the novel, it didn't stand up to a second reading as well as I thought it might.
'Stand on Zanzibar' is told in a very modern style that could be off-putting to some, although it is far more approachable than some other canonical stories from experimental 'New Wave' science fiction from the same period. And, as 'New Wave' there is some casual brutality to the story that some others migh...more
'Stand on Zanzibar' is told in a very modern style that could be off-putting to some, although it is far more approachable than some other canonical stories from experimental 'New Wave' science fiction from the same period. And, as 'New Wave' there is some casual brutality to the story that some others migh...more
Avarice, mass-consumerism, international intrigue, special ops training and political and social commentary - oh, and a storyline in there somewhere.
Broken down into easily digestible and confounding bits (although the confusion was soon lifted but not without leaving me a bit dazed). The main story kept me in thrall, split between a proposed deal for a massive corporation to unite with some obscure little country and a somewhat recognisable United States fencing with some other obscure (and not...more
Broken down into easily digestible and confounding bits (although the confusion was soon lifted but not without leaving me a bit dazed). The main story kept me in thrall, split between a proposed deal for a massive corporation to unite with some obscure little country and a somewhat recognisable United States fencing with some other obscure (and not...more
I loved this non-novel. at first it was hard to follow the style of the book but then it started to flow. it was so interesting reading a book written in the 60s about 2010. as usually we are no where near having all the technology that these sci-fi writers envision but we are very close the topics presented in this book- eugenics, cloning, etc. and the character Chad Mulligan says nothing untrue of our society today. this character has inspired me to be more forth coming with my own social writ...more
Oct 20, 2007
J. Mark
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
sci-fi fans and not-so sci-fi fans, fans of extrapolated sociology
Shelves:
sci-fi-fantasy
This and "The Sheep Look Up" are Brunner's masterworks, though there are dozens of worthwhile reads from his amazing pen. This involved work, structurally based on John Dos Passos' "U.S.A. trilogy," gives a full worldview of what was then a not-too-distant future. Brunner had a knack for extrapolating current events and where they were likely to lead, and what we have in "Stand on Zanzibar" is a world that is in many ways like the one in which we now live. A cloak-and-dagger mystery as well as s...more
NO MAN IS AN ISLAND
I’ve known of this book for years and have been meaning to read it for as long. And I really wanted to rave about it. It’s a classic, after all, so it ought to be good. Well, it is and it isn’t. I have no doubt that when it was first published, back in 1968, it would have seemed impressive. This book has big ambitions, and that’s always to be lauded. It would have fallen into the ‘experimental’ bracket in its day, and it’s mainly for this reason that it suffers now. Although t...more
I’ve known of this book for years and have been meaning to read it for as long. And I really wanted to rave about it. It’s a classic, after all, so it ought to be good. Well, it is and it isn’t. I have no doubt that when it was first published, back in 1968, it would have seemed impressive. This book has big ambitions, and that’s always to be lauded. It would have fallen into the ‘experimental’ bracket in its day, and it’s mainly for this reason that it suffers now. Although t...more
This dystopia from 1967 feels very 1967... the "experimental" bits that interrupt the narrative and are labeled things like "tracking with close ups" really bugged me at first, but some of them are nice little short stories in their own right. In a book that weighs in at over 600 pages, this stuff could have definitely been scrapped.
With science fiction novels that are passed their expiration date, it is hard not to compare what the author "got wrong" and "got right." So, yeah, most of this dys...more
With science fiction novels that are passed their expiration date, it is hard not to compare what the author "got wrong" and "got right." So, yeah, most of this dys...more
Like most of the science fiction-books that deal with the near future, John Brunner's "Stand on Zanzibar" takes place on an overcrowded dystopic Earth.
The title of the book comes from the fact that by the time of World War I you could stand the whole of the human race on the 147-square-mile Isle of Wight. In the year 2010, when this book takes place, you would need a larger island, like the 640-square-mile Zanzibar.
In this future world the government tries to stop the overcrowding by eugenic leg...more
The title of the book comes from the fact that by the time of World War I you could stand the whole of the human race on the 147-square-mile Isle of Wight. In the year 2010, when this book takes place, you would need a larger island, like the 640-square-mile Zanzibar.
In this future world the government tries to stop the overcrowding by eugenic leg...more
One of the great, sprawling dystopias of the 1960s. Brunner's central concern in this book was the effect of overpopulation on the world's limited space and resources. Some details of his world are very much of the '60s, like the attitudes toward race and drugs, or the belief in the power of seers/gurus/professional humanists like the fictional Chad C. Mulligan. Other elements, however, ring eerily true, like the role of advanced genetic science, and the consumerization of violence.
Brunner also...more
Brunner also...more
Jul 18, 2012
Mike Moore
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Those with an academic interest in form, and little to no interest in content.
Recommended to Mike by:
Hugo award committee
If I were to review this book in a single word, that word would be "Overreach". This is a remarkably unpleasant book that has lot of very good elements but somehow goes too far in almost every regard. One example could be the language. Brunner at first seems to be a maestro of slang on par with Anthony Boroughs, but somehow he goes off the deep end (I simply cannot believe that "buckadingdongs" would ever enter common usage as a way to refer to money). Then there's the horror at violence in the...more
**did not finish.
i actually got this book, among others, from a bag of sci-fi books at a garage sale (lucky me!) for $2 (the whole bag). at prices like that, i'm willing to branch out and experiment--plus, i've been keen on reading older sci-fi novels and this one won the hugo-nebula award, so it seemed like a sure thing.
nope.
my problem with this book is that it is very very dated--and it shows. don't get me wrong, brunner was way ahead of his time, coming up with something very much like the in...more
i actually got this book, among others, from a bag of sci-fi books at a garage sale (lucky me!) for $2 (the whole bag). at prices like that, i'm willing to branch out and experiment--plus, i've been keen on reading older sci-fi novels and this one won the hugo-nebula award, so it seemed like a sure thing.
nope.
my problem with this book is that it is very very dated--and it shows. don't get me wrong, brunner was way ahead of his time, coming up with something very much like the in...more
I loved this book when it came out in 1968. I thought it was daringly brilliant, a frightening projection of what the world might be like in 2010. Reading it in 2012, I'm reminded that projection isn't the same as prediction.
As a predictor, writing in the mid-1960s, Brunner missed a few things like cell phones, the internet, auto-immune disorders like AIDS, and Iran replacing Egypt as the middle-east bad guy. He also missed the facts that a permanent moon base and suborbital high-speed airliner...more
As a predictor, writing in the mid-1960s, Brunner missed a few things like cell phones, the internet, auto-immune disorders like AIDS, and Iran replacing Egypt as the middle-east bad guy. He also missed the facts that a permanent moon base and suborbital high-speed airliner...more
Otro libro más, y por supuesto con su reseña con retraso.
Si hace poco en Microsiervos calificaban de malo a Nova, uno de los libros de ciencia ficción que causaron furor en el año 1968, y que consideraron que había envejecido mal. Sin embargo, creo que Todos sobre Zanzibar a envejecido bien o muy bien, y como cualquier libro de ciencia ficción no es más que una extrapolación del presente que conoce el autor, en algunas cosas fallará como ocurre con el sexo hiperlibre, o la legalización total de...more
Si hace poco en Microsiervos calificaban de malo a Nova, uno de los libros de ciencia ficción que causaron furor en el año 1968, y que consideraron que había envejecido mal. Sin embargo, creo que Todos sobre Zanzibar a envejecido bien o muy bien, y como cualquier libro de ciencia ficción no es más que una extrapolación del presente que conoce el autor, en algunas cosas fallará como ocurre con el sexo hiperlibre, o la legalización total de...more
This book floored me. John Brunner`s Stand on Zanzibar was published in 1968, and is still just as relevant as much more contemporary Science Fiction.
The form of this book really calls on the story. The reader follows a handful of different protagonists, broken up with non-narrative segments that gives the book a much more interesting and complete view of the world Brunner has imagined. There is a rich and complex narrative between the protagonists, coming to a head on their involvement with th...more
The form of this book really calls on the story. The reader follows a handful of different protagonists, broken up with non-narrative segments that gives the book a much more interesting and complete view of the world Brunner has imagined. There is a rich and complex narrative between the protagonists, coming to a head on their involvement with th...more
Yep, another true classic in the SF Masterworks imprint.
First couple of hundred pages were hard work though. Brunner was clearly experimenting, and what was avant garde in 1968 might seem a little awkward today. Heck, it probably jarred back then too.
Some of the book's strands tell the main story, however others read like channel-surfing, or are peripheral vignettes, all adding detail and colour to Brunner's world-building.
Once you get used to the style there's a strong, salient story here. A...more
First couple of hundred pages were hard work though. Brunner was clearly experimenting, and what was avant garde in 1968 might seem a little awkward today. Heck, it probably jarred back then too.
Some of the book's strands tell the main story, however others read like channel-surfing, or are peripheral vignettes, all adding detail and colour to Brunner's world-building.
Once you get used to the style there's a strong, salient story here. A...more
I've finished Stand On Zanzibar. Er, sorry unisfa, I think I'm handing it back late. Isn't that what ex-librarians are for? =D
It's not really a friendly book, jumping everywhere, making references to things I don't entirely get and blarring out large advertisments/images. Wikipedia tells me what I'm trying to describe is that the novel attempts to create (successfully?) the impression of information overload.
But once you get the hang of it, it's pretty cool. The second half definitely picks up a...more
It's not really a friendly book, jumping everywhere, making references to things I don't entirely get and blarring out large advertisments/images. Wikipedia tells me what I'm trying to describe is that the novel attempts to create (successfully?) the impression of information overload.
But once you get the hang of it, it's pretty cool. The second half definitely picks up a...more
I have read and re-read this prophetic novel many times. John Brunner's "non-novel," as it was once described, has influenced my own writing. He knows how to write from a character's viewpoint, and let you as a reader in on that fact. Thus, a third-person narration is probably factually accurate, but perception is always filtered.
Mosre to the pooint, Brunner was a brilliant prophet in the 1960's. He go maany of the "details" wrong: we are not opressed by world-wide fanaticism over eugenics, but...more
Mosre to the pooint, Brunner was a brilliant prophet in the 1960's. He go maany of the "details" wrong: we are not opressed by world-wide fanaticism over eugenics, but...more
This is a book that should only be read by true fans of science fiction. While I'm sure it was an incredible book in it's day, and the right reader can find the gold in it, most of it's readers today will be disappointed.
Stand on Zanzibar falls into that category of books written in the past about the present day that fell far from the mark of today's world. Yes, the themes of the book are still relevant, and the characters do ring true, but on the whole the book feels disjointed and out of pla...more
Stand on Zanzibar falls into that category of books written in the past about the present day that fell far from the mark of today's world. Yes, the themes of the book are still relevant, and the characters do ring true, but on the whole the book feels disjointed and out of pla...more
Nov 16, 2012
Bettie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Bettie by:
Dog-sitters, novice knitters, new adults
John Brunner - Stand On Zanzibar (1968) [2011] Reader: Erik Bergmann
Unabridged
Runtime: 21h 14mn 59sec Total Number of Audio Files: 120 Audio: MP3
1969 Hugo Winner; 1969 BSFA Winner; 1968 Nebula Nominee
Publisher's Promo: Norman Niblock House is a rising executive at General Technics, one of a few all- powerful corporations. His work is leading General Technics to the forefront of global domination, both in the marketplace and politically - it's about to take over a country in Africa. Donald Hoga...more
After reading and being thoroughly drawn into "The Sheep Look Up," I decided to pick up some of Brunner's other books; "Stand on Zanzibar" seemed to be the most prominent of his works.
In this one, the title refers to a projection that in the year 2010, the population of the world would be such that they could all stand, shoulder to shoulder, on the island of Zanzibar. In the novel, eugenics has been practiced for many years now, with rigorous genetic screening done before and after conception --...more
In this one, the title refers to a projection that in the year 2010, the population of the world would be such that they could all stand, shoulder to shoulder, on the island of Zanzibar. In the novel, eugenics has been practiced for many years now, with rigorous genetic screening done before and after conception --...more
I always find it amusing/entertaining to read about what people in the past thought today would be like. The book was written in 1968 about the year 2010. It definitely surprised me that there happened to be a character named President Obomi (not of the US) who is half black and half white, and he and his country are in some ways a symbol of hope for peace.
This was a really interesting read, although a bit hard to get into at first. He just sort of dumps you right into his quirky writing style w...more
This was a really interesting read, although a bit hard to get into at first. He just sort of dumps you right into his quirky writing style w...more
"Meanwhile, back at the planet Earth, it would no longer be possible to stand everyone on the island of Zanzibar without some of them being over ankles in the sea"
Book set not in the far future (2010) and touching the problem of overcrowding of the planet (over 7 billion, can you imagine that?!)
I would recommend it for those who are interested in genetics, eugenics(!), politics, geography and future synopsis prognosis. But I would not recommend it to hardcore christians.
It is very complex read w...more
Book set not in the far future (2010) and touching the problem of overcrowding of the planet (over 7 billion, can you imagine that?!)
I would recommend it for those who are interested in genetics, eugenics(!), politics, geography and future synopsis prognosis. But I would not recommend it to hardcore christians.
It is very complex read w...more
Well, what an amazing novel. Totally unique and ahead if its time. I was intrigued by the fact it was written in 1968 and the story was set in 2010!
I loved the phrases the author invented - codders and shiggies (men and women), mockers, sheeting hell (I say that a lot myself now!), pint of whaledreck.
I loved the vast array of colourful characters - especially the inimitable Chad C Mulligan.
Some of the scenes (most of them very short and shocking) will stick in my memory for a long time. Such as...more
I loved the phrases the author invented - codders and shiggies (men and women), mockers, sheeting hell (I say that a lot myself now!), pint of whaledreck.
I loved the vast array of colourful characters - especially the inimitable Chad C Mulligan.
Some of the scenes (most of them very short and shocking) will stick in my memory for a long time. Such as...more
I give this 5 stars for its style alone, which made it an absolute pleasure to read. As I'm sure you've read in the description, the style varies from narrative to dialogue to a TV newspiece to a chapter from a book within the book etc etc, and this really makes the place Brunner describes come to life. Its rare that I've felt so immersed in a fictional universe.
The content is also very varied, with some interesting psychological and sociological observations. The actual sci-fi aspect to the boo...more
The content is also very varied, with some interesting psychological and sociological observations. The actual sci-fi aspect to the boo...more
Set in a near-future that is overpopulated and increasingly run by eugenics and computers this Hugo-winning work by Brunner examines the lives of two roommates--the white academic and spy Donald and the African-American Muslim Norman--via a very unique story-telling method. The main plot-line (called "continuity") is split up with four other types of chapters: context (writings important to the world), tracking with close-ups (short stories focusing in on minor characters), and the happening wor...more
It was ok. I found it hard to get into to begin with. With its odd chapters of computer speak, myths and other oddness world information giving. I have never read a book with this sort of style. But i found it oddly intriguing. I didnt particularly like the plot or the characters but i couldn't put it down and had to finish it. Its a strange one, i dont know whether i'd recommend it (as in u really really must read this!!! ) But i'm glad i have read it, it was good, not great. I do love some of...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sci Fi Aficionados: * August Read: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner | 32 | 64 | Aug 27, 2012 09:43pm |
The late John Brunner was perhaps as well known for much of his career in the US as in the UK. A leftwing activist, with particular connections to the peace movement, much of his best and most mature fiction is involved in a complex analysis of social trends and where they will take us--novels like Stand on Zanzibar which deals with overpopulation, among other things, and The Sheep Look Up, which...more
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Sep 10, 2012 09:47am
Sep 10, 2012 12:48pm