Rereading: THIS ISLAND EARTH by Raymond F. Jones

There are several 1950s science fiction novels by Jones that I like, and I was always curious about this one because of the film made from it. A few years ago I finally found a used copy.

Cal Meachum is a hot-shot pilot and also an engineer for a small instrument maker. He orders some condensers from a supply company, but mysteriously, a very different kind of condenser arrives unlike anything he’s ever seen, but it performs much better and is much smaller than the conventional type. When he orders more, he also gets an amazing catalog full of parts and products he’s never heard of, including something called an interociter. Cal is fascinated, and orders all the parts to make his own interociter, whatever it does, and spends all his free time putting it together. When he’s finished, he turns it on and a view screen comes to life. On it, a middle-aged man with a commanding stare tells him he’s just passed a test, and he’s being offered a job by the company that makes interociters. It will pay well, and all will be explained if he takes it. A private plane will arrive at his airfield that night to pick him up.

Thus begins Cal’s involvement with a mysterious group called the Peace Engineers. The work is fulfilling, and Cal soon makes friends with Ruth Adams, the staff psychologist, and is reunited with Ole, another engineer he’s worked with before. Ruth and Ole think there’s something else going on behind the scenes, though, and the three of them try to find out. They discover their products are being shipped out to an unknown destination by…flying saucer!

This is a pretty good read, though at times it moves slowly through the process of building tools and running the factory. The exciting space part, which the movie focused on, is at the end. I also rewatched the film, and as is typical, only about ten percent is from the book, mostly at the beginning, though it does follow a somewhat similar arc. The book and film now seem old-fashioned, but are still work a read and a look. Mildly recommended.

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