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Arcot, Morey and Wade a.k.a. The Black Star #2
Islands of Space
'John Campbell’s book was written as a sequel to ‘The Black Star Passes… and believe me, it was a world-beater in those days.
‘Arcot, Wade, Morey and their computer, Fuller, put together a ship which will travel faster than light… they give us what may have been the first space-warp drive. The concept was simple; to make it plausible wasn’t – unless you were John Campbell.
‘With this out-of-space drive they hightail it among the stars. They locate the fugitive planets of the Black Star… find a frozen cemetery-world of a lost race… then head out for another galaxy… and wind up in a knock-down-drag-out interplanetary war in the other galaxy.’
-P. Schuyler Miller, Astounding Science Fiction
‘Arcot, Wade, Morey and their computer, Fuller, put together a ship which will travel faster than light… they give us what may have been the first space-warp drive. The concept was simple; to make it plausible wasn’t – unless you were John Campbell.
‘With this out-of-space drive they hightail it among the stars. They locate the fugitive planets of the Black Star… find a frozen cemetery-world of a lost race… then head out for another galaxy… and wind up in a knock-down-drag-out interplanetary war in the other galaxy.’
-P. Schuyler Miller, Astounding Science Fiction
191 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1956
37 people are currently reading
277 people want to read
About the author
John W. Campbell Jr.
784 books284 followersJohn Wood Campbell, Jr. was an influential figure in American science fiction. As editor of Astounding Science Fiction (later called Analog Science Fiction and Fact), from late 1937 until his death, he is generally credited with shaping the so-called Golden Age of Science Fiction.
Isaac Asimov called Campbell "the most powerful force in science fiction ever, and for the first ten years of his editorship he dominated the field completely."
As a writer, Campbell published super-science space opera under his own name and moody, less pulpish stories as Don A. Stuart. He stopped writing fiction after he became editor of Astounding.
Known Pseudonyms/Alternate Names:
Don A. Stuart
Karl van Campen
John Campbell
J. W. C., Jr.
John W. Campbell
John Wood Campbell
Isaac Asimov called Campbell "the most powerful force in science fiction ever, and for the first ten years of his editorship he dominated the field completely."
As a writer, Campbell published super-science space opera under his own name and moody, less pulpish stories as Don A. Stuart. He stopped writing fiction after he became editor of Astounding.
Known Pseudonyms/Alternate Names:
Don A. Stuart
Karl van Campen
John Campbell
J. W. C., Jr.
John W. Campbell
John Wood Campbell
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January 30, 2019 Stated First Edition on the copyright page. Original price of $2.50
July 23, 2015
This book is in the public domain as it was written in the 1950's I downloaded this book from Librivox to listen to on the beach while I was on vacation. This book written in a style that harkens to the golden age of sci-fi is a gem. Its narrative style is fluid and colorful. The characters though a product of their age are three dimensional and extremely likable. The storyline stretches believability but doesn't break it. So then as our travelers glide between the galaxies we are not left questioning it. It is also a book that astounds with its inventive grasp of the future of material and power technologies that seem greatly advanced even from today's perspective. The Librivox edition is also exquisitely narrated. I highly recommend this book.
March 17, 2014
‘John Campbell’s book was written as a sequel to ‘The Black Star Passes… and believe me, it was a world-beater in those days.
‘Arcot, Wade, Morey and their computer, Fuller, put together a ship which will travel faster than light… they give us what may have been the first space-warp drive. The concept was simple; to make it plausible wasn’t – unless you were John Campbell.
‘With this out-of-space drive they hightail it among the stars. They locate the fugitive planets of the Black Star… find a frozen cemetery-world of a lost race… then head out for another galaxy… and wind up in a knock-down-drag-out interplanetary war in the other galaxy.’
-P. Schuyler Miller, Astounding Science Fiction
Blurb from the Ace 1956 paperback edition.
The sequel to Campbell’s ‘The Black Star Passes’ sees our four strapping heroes; Wade – the muscle-bound chef; Arcot - ‘the world’s greatest living physicist’; Morey – ‘his brilliant mathematical assistant’ and Fuller, the design engineer (not, as P Schuyler Miller seems to believe, the computer) building – on a whim – an intergalactic ship and setting off on a joyride across the Universe.
For the time it was written, the cosmology is convincing even if the means by which the four manage to travel between galaxies makes no sense at all. Their drive is built on the principle of space-strain, which allows the ship to effectively travel through hyperspace at phenomenal speeds. Luckily the boys have stopped at regular intervals to take photographs of the stars behind them so that they’ll be able to find their way back.
After discovering a dead world of frozen cities and getting trapped in the orbit of a dead star they eventually wind up embroiled in a war of ideologically opposed planets and of course, being American and all that, they have to join in and ensure the right side wins.
It’s an unapologetically masculine novel in every sense. Quite apart from the fact that not one single female (human or alien) appears throughout, the behaviour of the characters is more that of teenage boys than responsible adults. When arriving on the planet Nansal the boys decide they would like to have a swim and so use their fabulous weapon-toys to destroy all life in the lake they have chosen to swim in.
Nasal and the planet Sator have been at war for centuries, Nansal being a planet which has developed a worldwide ethical and philosophical system, opposed only by those who prefer lives of cunning and wickedness. These reprobates long ago settled on Sator and have been attempting to reconquer Nansal ever since.
On Sator the boys make friends with Torlos, a Nasalian spy and return with him to Nansal, where they help the Nasalians to build supertoys of their own with which to fight the Satorians.
Torlos, like the rest of his race, is very tall, hugely muscled and has bones of iron; a veritable archetype of hyper-masculinity.
Reading this with the benefit of historical perspective the book comes across as an extreme example of sexism in SF of the time. Other writers such as Van Vogt and EE Doc Smith, although handling female characters badly, at the very least acknowledged their existence. The women in this book are most notable not only for their absence, but also the absence of any mention of them.
At the outset the boys approach their Fathers, one of whom is Head of Transcontinental Airways, for finance for their project and their implicit consent for their expedition. There are no wives, girlfriends or mothers. None are spoken of, even in passing. Looked at from a contemporary perspective this allows a rather surreal interpretation which one presumes was certainly never intended by Campbell.
‘Arcot, Wade, Morey and their computer, Fuller, put together a ship which will travel faster than light… they give us what may have been the first space-warp drive. The concept was simple; to make it plausible wasn’t – unless you were John Campbell.
‘With this out-of-space drive they hightail it among the stars. They locate the fugitive planets of the Black Star… find a frozen cemetery-world of a lost race… then head out for another galaxy… and wind up in a knock-down-drag-out interplanetary war in the other galaxy.’
-P. Schuyler Miller, Astounding Science Fiction
Blurb from the Ace 1956 paperback edition.
The sequel to Campbell’s ‘The Black Star Passes’ sees our four strapping heroes; Wade – the muscle-bound chef; Arcot - ‘the world’s greatest living physicist’; Morey – ‘his brilliant mathematical assistant’ and Fuller, the design engineer (not, as P Schuyler Miller seems to believe, the computer) building – on a whim – an intergalactic ship and setting off on a joyride across the Universe.
For the time it was written, the cosmology is convincing even if the means by which the four manage to travel between galaxies makes no sense at all. Their drive is built on the principle of space-strain, which allows the ship to effectively travel through hyperspace at phenomenal speeds. Luckily the boys have stopped at regular intervals to take photographs of the stars behind them so that they’ll be able to find their way back.
After discovering a dead world of frozen cities and getting trapped in the orbit of a dead star they eventually wind up embroiled in a war of ideologically opposed planets and of course, being American and all that, they have to join in and ensure the right side wins.
It’s an unapologetically masculine novel in every sense. Quite apart from the fact that not one single female (human or alien) appears throughout, the behaviour of the characters is more that of teenage boys than responsible adults. When arriving on the planet Nansal the boys decide they would like to have a swim and so use their fabulous weapon-toys to destroy all life in the lake they have chosen to swim in.
Nasal and the planet Sator have been at war for centuries, Nansal being a planet which has developed a worldwide ethical and philosophical system, opposed only by those who prefer lives of cunning and wickedness. These reprobates long ago settled on Sator and have been attempting to reconquer Nansal ever since.
On Sator the boys make friends with Torlos, a Nasalian spy and return with him to Nansal, where they help the Nasalians to build supertoys of their own with which to fight the Satorians.
Torlos, like the rest of his race, is very tall, hugely muscled and has bones of iron; a veritable archetype of hyper-masculinity.
Reading this with the benefit of historical perspective the book comes across as an extreme example of sexism in SF of the time. Other writers such as Van Vogt and EE Doc Smith, although handling female characters badly, at the very least acknowledged their existence. The women in this book are most notable not only for their absence, but also the absence of any mention of them.
At the outset the boys approach their Fathers, one of whom is Head of Transcontinental Airways, for finance for their project and their implicit consent for their expedition. There are no wives, girlfriends or mothers. None are spoken of, even in passing. Looked at from a contemporary perspective this allows a rather surreal interpretation which one presumes was certainly never intended by Campbell.
March 15, 2025
Old school dated but classic sci fi. Reminds me of Jules Verne. Narration is kind of naive but not long to be bothering. Campbell used many ideas in physics and tech from modern physics special relativity to astrophysics and nerotech at that time way before modern authors focused of each one of these ideas to publish hundreds of pages for one or few ones.
Name of the book can be related to the same name as Island universe after E. Kant. But the concept is totally different from this story.
Name of the book can be related to the same name as Island universe after E. Kant. But the concept is totally different from this story.
January 13, 2025
In an apt description by somebody in one of the reviews - "this is not your Dad's sci-fi! This is your Grandpaw's!" A wonderful example of old-time sci fi with science, space exploration, lots of fighting and aliens. I understand this is the book that gave us the warp drive, tractor beam and ship cloaking device (Hello Star Trek!). Humans here have superior civilization. I at first chuckled at the straightforward ease with which the Earthlings determine which of the warring planets way deep in Space are the good ones to support with superdestructive weapons beyond anything known on the planet - in the name of peace. Then I thought of how Americans are, and thought - its on point. Then I thought how everybody everywhere else in the position of superiority is (The Soviets, the Persians, etc etc) and just sighed.
The aliens here are very much humanoid .
This is a continuation of the The Black Star Passes
The aliens here are very much humanoid .
This is a continuation of the The Black Star Passes
December 30, 2025
Space exploration has never been so enervating.
As longtime editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, John W. Campbell was generally recognised as the most influential figure in sci-fi during his time. I had never read any of his own stuff before. That was a blessing.
Cardboard cutouts in place of characters, dull scientific exposition instead of dialogue, flakey pseudoscientific twaddle about telepathy, shoehorned into the narrative to no good effect - all common crimes during the so-called "Golden Age" of Science Fiction.
Four desperately dull geniuses head into deep space on The Ancient Mariner, a ship they designed and built themselves with faster then lightspeed space-strain drive. They encounter and overcome cosmic rays, gas clouds, and collapsing white dwarf stars with all the gusto and excitement of retiring accountants cleaning out their desks.
'They had thought of this trip as a wonderful adventure in itself, but the soundless continued monotony was depressing.'
Not as depressing as the story.
As longtime editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, John W. Campbell was generally recognised as the most influential figure in sci-fi during his time. I had never read any of his own stuff before. That was a blessing.
Cardboard cutouts in place of characters, dull scientific exposition instead of dialogue, flakey pseudoscientific twaddle about telepathy, shoehorned into the narrative to no good effect - all common crimes during the so-called "Golden Age" of Science Fiction.
Four desperately dull geniuses head into deep space on The Ancient Mariner, a ship they designed and built themselves with faster then lightspeed space-strain drive. They encounter and overcome cosmic rays, gas clouds, and collapsing white dwarf stars with all the gusto and excitement of retiring accountants cleaning out their desks.
'They had thought of this trip as a wonderful adventure in itself, but the soundless continued monotony was depressing.'
Not as depressing as the story.
February 10, 2017
Not a bad little story this, another one that lent itself to good visuals whilst reading and would also make a good movie or tv show.
December 7, 2022
I just can’t with this one.
My review is poorly written and I needed to get my complaints out of pure frustration.
No character development, no tension.
At no point do the characters fear for their lives and why would they? Their ship has apparent endless resources, it doesn’t run out of energy, it has an invisibility cloak, it has a laser beam that can destroy literally anything, including the ability to kill or move a star.
While being attacked by aliens they simply outrun them, then decide to get near another alien city where they are attacked, before moving on to you guessed it another alien city.
The designing and building of the ship felt more like a few dudes working on a project car rather than building what is the apparently the fastest, and most advanced piece of technology ever conceived by humans.
The characters who are apparent geniuses, who somehow have a complete understanding of the entire universe can immediately communicate with alien races (because the telepathic aliens apparently think in English?) and can come up with an elaborate plan based on one piece of information and find out about an alien race, again with one piece of information. A piece of information that they apparently noticed while in a fire-fight, leads them to speculate on their alien friends entire existence. They had time to notice this minor detail because even while under attack by an army of aliens, they still had no fear for their lives.
I’m so done with this.
I didn’t quite finish it, but it would have to have a hell of a good twist ending to save it in my eyes and I just don’t see that happening.
My review is poorly written and I needed to get my complaints out of pure frustration.
No character development, no tension.
At no point do the characters fear for their lives and why would they? Their ship has apparent endless resources, it doesn’t run out of energy, it has an invisibility cloak, it has a laser beam that can destroy literally anything, including the ability to kill or move a star.
While being attacked by aliens they simply outrun them, then decide to get near another alien city where they are attacked, before moving on to you guessed it another alien city.
The designing and building of the ship felt more like a few dudes working on a project car rather than building what is the apparently the fastest, and most advanced piece of technology ever conceived by humans.
The characters who are apparent geniuses, who somehow have a complete understanding of the entire universe can immediately communicate with alien races (because the telepathic aliens apparently think in English?) and can come up with an elaborate plan based on one piece of information and find out about an alien race, again with one piece of information. A piece of information that they apparently noticed while in a fire-fight, leads them to speculate on their alien friends entire existence. They had time to notice this minor detail because even while under attack by an army of aliens, they still had no fear for their lives.
I’m so done with this.
I didn’t quite finish it, but it would have to have a hell of a good twist ending to save it in my eyes and I just don’t see that happening.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2018
The book itself is a piece of history, always a favorite of my childhood, when I fell in love with the idea of a starship being developed by independent scientists working for an industrial company, who tok off across the galaxy for wild adventures without involving the government or the military. Still a fine idea, that. Okay, in 2018 there's a lot "not quite kosher" with this book (for a start, our mores are far removed from those of Campbell's day!) but if you read Islands as a product of its times, a piece of history as well as a rip-snorter of a story ... it's actually worth four stars. I want to give it 3.5, but Goodreads won't let me, so I'll round it up, recommend it -- and also tender a gentle warning that it *is* written from the perspective of an earlier age which wasn't driven by the same mindset of our own era. Pulp fiction or classic fiction? You make the call. Classic pulp?! (Incidentally, you can get a free ebook download, I forget where ... might be Feedbooks.com. What I like about their public domain product is the integrity of the file creation.)
December 25, 2018
I took a chance on this one, even though I absolutely hated
The Black Star Passes
. I wouldn't go so far as to call this book good, but it's imminently more readable than the first book in the series. The heroes, rich as hell from their inventions, whip up a faster-than-light ship and decide to go exploring. They cross galaxies, encounter a dead civilization, get trapped in the gravity well of a neutron star, and have fun violating the Prime Directive by taking charge in a war between to rival planets.
Campbell dials up the action and turns down the technobabble just a little, usually keeping his scientific speculation only on matters that effect the story (though his weird fascination with alien elevators continues). His characters still haven't developed actual personalities, though they're beginning to grow the ability to snark at each other. Still, these men who are supposedly adult scientists behave more like ten-year-olds playing "spaceship" in the backyard.
Campbell dials up the action and turns down the technobabble just a little, usually keeping his scientific speculation only on matters that effect the story (though his weird fascination with alien elevators continues). His characters still haven't developed actual personalities, though they're beginning to grow the ability to snark at each other. Still, these men who are supposedly adult scientists behave more like ten-year-olds playing "spaceship" in the backyard.
December 5, 2024
This book is in the public domain as it was written in the 1950s. I downloaded it from LibriVox to listen to on the beach while on vacation. This book, written in a style that harkens to the golden age of sci-fi, is a gem. Its narrative style is fluid and colorful. Though a product of their age, the characters are three-dimensional and extremely likable. The storyline stretches believability but doesn't break it. So then, as our travelers glide between the galaxies, we are not left questioning it. It is also a book with its inventive grasp of the future of material and power technologies that seem greatly advanced even from today's perspective. The LibriVox edition is also exquisitely narrated. I highly recommend this book.
June 17, 2021
This is the closest thing to pulp fiction I've read since I was 12 or so. It got quite good reviews so I thought I'd try it but - nope. Zero character development, and zero plot really other than to get Out There to test-drive this preposterously-powerful and accomplished new spaceship. Other than thinly-scattered rabbit-raisins of science truth, the story is just one cow pie of science tosh after another. If you crave intergalactic travel, go for Anderson's Tau Zero, published 13 years later - though you won't get a race of gentle Hulks thrown in.
October 20, 2022
I love reading old science fiction because the authors usually have no idea about the advances in computers and electronics, so you end up with intergalactic spaceships with vacuum tubes and mechanical relays. But Campbell did come up with some interesting ideas that were used in modern sci-fi, like being unable to jump into hyperspace within a gravity well and the dangers of flying through a star at warp speed.
October 27, 2023
It's rather fitting that this book, written by the man whose work as an editor would go on to codify western science fiction (for better and worse), is an amusingly juvenile mishmash of concepts and ideas that reads like a boys' club book with too much technobabble. Even Campbell's peers recognized its awkwardness, and its only lasting impact is that it gave us the word "hyperspace."
July 29, 2018
Suffers from some of the same issues in The Black Star Passes with being overly technical and lacking in characterization, but this sequel is definitely a step up in terms of the story. Overall it contains more excitement and was worth the listen.
April 14, 2023
Not very readable these days.
Very dated and cardboard characters.
One of the problems is that Campbell tried to use current science and extrapolate from that. However, our understanding of electricity, physics ( including Quantum )moved on. So his extrapolation are no longer even semi plausible.
Very dated and cardboard characters.
One of the problems is that Campbell tried to use current science and extrapolate from that. However, our understanding of electricity, physics ( including Quantum )moved on. So his extrapolation are no longer even semi plausible.
February 9, 2025
DNF. Extremely boring with card-board characters.
The first chapter was decent, but after that, it felt like I was reading a technical manual for a spaceship.
Apparently, this book was the first to introduce the concept of warp drive or curvature propulsion (TBP).
The first chapter was decent, but after that, it felt like I was reading a technical manual for a spaceship.
Apparently, this book was the first to introduce the concept of warp drive or curvature propulsion (TBP).
August 23, 2018
Read on LibriVox (free audio books in the public domain).
November 25, 2021
3 out of 5
February 18, 2022
Older science heavy first third of book. Good to read for seeing story from the golden age of science fiction
February 20, 2022
Great narration
February 8, 2023
No notes I love them so much
February 1, 2024
Just hilarious reading these early sci-fi works by some of the originators in the field. The terminology used is impressive.
November 14, 2025
Great astronomical fiction
I couldn't stop reading. Totally fascinating. Boggles the imagination. Stuff like - ten million light years from earth!!! Ten times the speed of light!!!
I couldn't stop reading. Totally fascinating. Boggles the imagination. Stuff like - ten million light years from earth!!! Ten times the speed of light!!!
March 31, 2016
One of the great pleasures of reading Astounding/Analog magazine back in the day was John W. Campbell's editorials. He'd come up with the germ of an idea for a story that was simultaneously scientific and tantalizing. The mission, back then, was to focus minds on the stars, on the future, on something other than these damned world wars people kept fighting.
Islands of Space is a perfect example of that kind of writing. It's full of little ideas and suppositions that make you wonder "what if...?" and want to break out your calculator.
Unfortunately, a lot of the times you feel like you're reading about a story rather than reading the story itself. A lot of the best potential "set pieces" are elided over with a sentence. Moments of great suspense are breezed by. The storytelling is as cavalier as the characters.
And, boy, are the characters cavalier. With about half-a-dozen world changing inventions under their belts, our four protagonist launch into space and get into bunches of potentially life-ending scrapes, and all their revolutionary technology would go with them. It would be such a huge event to launch a genuine interstellar trip, just making a successful journey and back would be enough.
This ideas is dismissed idea early on, but there's really no reason for that. They could have touched base at minimal loss, reported back what they learned, and this still wouldn't have interfered with any of the plot devices. Instead, they keep pushing their luck because they want to find life, apparently. (And even then, one bitches about the inhospitableness of a planet—20 million light years from where any human has ever gone. Cavalier!)
They do find life, about 2/3rds of the way through the book and, I kid you not, the remaining 60 pages are devoted to them resolving a civil war. With SCIENCE! An alien civil war apparently not being worth a full book, I guess.
It's odd. It flits from idea to idea, just long enough to (essentially) exposit that idea.
The other thing about the "hard science" nature of this is it tends to make one (or at least me) more suspicious of the science I don't grasp. I couldn't figure out the rules of inertia for the Mariner for example. They seemed to be jerked from super-light speeds at some points with minimal trouble, but the ship would be rocked by explosives. Which, dramatically, you want—but I couldn't figure out how any explosions (of the size described) could have any effect at all on a ship that could withstand the sort of forces this one did.
On this, and several other points, I couldn't say for sure the author got it wrong. It just made me go "hmmm." A curious artifact from 1931's Amazing Stories.
Islands of Space is a perfect example of that kind of writing. It's full of little ideas and suppositions that make you wonder "what if...?" and want to break out your calculator.
Unfortunately, a lot of the times you feel like you're reading about a story rather than reading the story itself. A lot of the best potential "set pieces" are elided over with a sentence. Moments of great suspense are breezed by. The storytelling is as cavalier as the characters.
And, boy, are the characters cavalier. With about half-a-dozen world changing inventions under their belts, our four protagonist launch into space and get into bunches of potentially life-ending scrapes, and all their revolutionary technology would go with them. It would be such a huge event to launch a genuine interstellar trip, just making a successful journey and back would be enough.
This ideas is dismissed idea early on, but there's really no reason for that. They could have touched base at minimal loss, reported back what they learned, and this still wouldn't have interfered with any of the plot devices. Instead, they keep pushing their luck because they want to find life, apparently. (And even then, one bitches about the inhospitableness of a planet—20 million light years from where any human has ever gone. Cavalier!)
They do find life, about 2/3rds of the way through the book and, I kid you not, the remaining 60 pages are devoted to them resolving a civil war. With SCIENCE! An alien civil war apparently not being worth a full book, I guess.
It's odd. It flits from idea to idea, just long enough to (essentially) exposit that idea.
The other thing about the "hard science" nature of this is it tends to make one (or at least me) more suspicious of the science I don't grasp. I couldn't figure out the rules of inertia for the Mariner for example. They seemed to be jerked from super-light speeds at some points with minimal trouble, but the ship would be rocked by explosives. Which, dramatically, you want—but I couldn't figure out how any explosions (of the size described) could have any effect at all on a ship that could withstand the sort of forces this one did.
On this, and several other points, I couldn't say for sure the author got it wrong. It just made me go "hmmm." A curious artifact from 1931's Amazing Stories.
December 25, 2016
Incredibly prescient. A wonderful read.
Just think about it. Here's a guy, John Campbell, writing about intergalactic travel in 1929! This is the time when we were just beginning to understand the size and true composition of the universe. These are the days of Edwin Hubble. This was WAY before Fred Hoyle tried to put down the now-accepted theory of the origin of the universe by calling it "The Big Bang."
Yet even back then, Campbell had assimilated what was known of the universe in his day and worked it into a cogent and thoughtful story addressing that still-unanswered question, "Are we alone?"
True to the soul of good science fiction Campbell only asks us to accept one or two basic premises: that we can monkey with space-time and travel faster than "c," and that we can find, in this vast universe, another intelligent life form capable of, or interested in, communicating with us. From there the story is as good as anything Gene Roddenberry ever came up with. Indeed, Campbell was an inspiration for the genius of Gene Roddenberry, Isaac Asimov, Larry Niven and a host of other hard-core science fiction writers. Emphasis on science.
So give this one a careful reading. Suspend your supercritical mind. Remember that it was written when television was still a nifty trick in a laboratory, before the transistor was invented, when atomic energy was just a theory, less than 30 years after Orville and Wilbur flew their gas-powered box-kite at Kitty Hawk.
Islands of Space is more than just a book. It's a tour-de-force of one man's imagination as inspired by the wild and (not-so) wacky science of his time. Read it. Forget the flubs that YOU know about; Campbell had no way of knowing that silicone chips and printed circuits were coming. He had no "Drake's Equation." The Big Bang vs Steady-State models for the universe were just being formulated. Just read it... and make a promise to yourself to make yourself as open-minded and scientifically literate today as this man was in the late 1920s, when this book was conceived and written.
And beyond all that... it's a pleasant little story that expresses the sublime wish that no matter who we are, no matter where we come from, we're all in this together. So let's try to get along.
Just think about it. Here's a guy, John Campbell, writing about intergalactic travel in 1929! This is the time when we were just beginning to understand the size and true composition of the universe. These are the days of Edwin Hubble. This was WAY before Fred Hoyle tried to put down the now-accepted theory of the origin of the universe by calling it "The Big Bang."
Yet even back then, Campbell had assimilated what was known of the universe in his day and worked it into a cogent and thoughtful story addressing that still-unanswered question, "Are we alone?"
True to the soul of good science fiction Campbell only asks us to accept one or two basic premises: that we can monkey with space-time and travel faster than "c," and that we can find, in this vast universe, another intelligent life form capable of, or interested in, communicating with us. From there the story is as good as anything Gene Roddenberry ever came up with. Indeed, Campbell was an inspiration for the genius of Gene Roddenberry, Isaac Asimov, Larry Niven and a host of other hard-core science fiction writers. Emphasis on science.
So give this one a careful reading. Suspend your supercritical mind. Remember that it was written when television was still a nifty trick in a laboratory, before the transistor was invented, when atomic energy was just a theory, less than 30 years after Orville and Wilbur flew their gas-powered box-kite at Kitty Hawk.
Islands of Space is more than just a book. It's a tour-de-force of one man's imagination as inspired by the wild and (not-so) wacky science of his time. Read it. Forget the flubs that YOU know about; Campbell had no way of knowing that silicone chips and printed circuits were coming. He had no "Drake's Equation." The Big Bang vs Steady-State models for the universe were just being formulated. Just read it... and make a promise to yourself to make yourself as open-minded and scientifically literate today as this man was in the late 1920s, when this book was conceived and written.
And beyond all that... it's a pleasant little story that expresses the sublime wish that no matter who we are, no matter where we come from, we're all in this together. So let's try to get along.
April 6, 2014
You really have to remember the era this was written in. It shows off the prejudices of that time so well. No female characters at all, even the alien race they encounter seems to have no females in positions of authority. The main characters are so heroic & flawless they'd almost be considered fan service these days.
Written almost a decade before Star Trek's Prime Directive their first act on landing on an earth-like planet in another solar system is to kill everything in a mountain lake so they can go for a swim and not risk getting eaten. They then proceed to offer both sides in an interplanetary war the weapons to commit genocide.
Overall a good read, at least as a reflection on the society it was written in but some classic space opera story-telling as well.
Written almost a decade before Star Trek's Prime Directive their first act on landing on an earth-like planet in another solar system is to kill everything in a mountain lake so they can go for a swim and not risk getting eaten. They then proceed to offer both sides in an interplanetary war the weapons to commit genocide.
Overall a good read, at least as a reflection on the society it was written in but some classic space opera story-telling as well.
October 27, 2010
This book was slightly bizarre in a few ways.
First of all, there was predictions of amazing faster than light travel, but the characters were taking photographs of galaxy with films, and carrying books. The characters themselves were these enlightened geniuses (who seem to be single handedly responsible for a number of world changing inventions), who decided to kill any possible organisms in a lake before having a swim, just in case they caught something. I think it's interesting how much this book has dated, even without a real reference point of the time it's set in (other than the future).
First of all, there was predictions of amazing faster than light travel, but the characters were taking photographs of galaxy with films, and carrying books. The characters themselves were these enlightened geniuses (who seem to be single handedly responsible for a number of world changing inventions), who decided to kill any possible organisms in a lake before having a swim, just in case they caught something. I think it's interesting how much this book has dated, even without a real reference point of the time it's set in (other than the future).
February 11, 2013
is evidently an early classic of the science fiction genre. It chronicles the adventures of a clutch of hapless friends who sojourn across the universe. Campbell demonstrates a keen interest in science, paying tribute to some the best theories of his day, as well as relying on some well trod stereotypes. His characters are a little naive though adding to the inherent sense of suspended disbelief.
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May 5, 2009Islands Of Space by John W. Campbell (2000)
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