The man who pulled down the sky

by John Barnes

First Edition, part of the Isaac Asimov Presents series. A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. The acidic pages are toning along their margins. Tanning to the dust jacket's inside flaps. Barnes' first book.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

John Barnes (born 1957) is an American science fiction author, whose stories often explore questions of individual moral responsibility within a larger social context. Social criticism is woven throughout his plots. The four novels in his Thousand Cultures series pose serious questions about the effects of globalization on isolated societies. Barnes holds a doctorate in theatre and for several years taught in Colorado, where he still lives.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bar...

Reviews

[David Nichols · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are worse ways to begin one's writing career than with an homage, and in his first SF novel, John Barnes picked a good classic to which to pay tribute, Heinlein's THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS. Barnes' 1986 novel is, however, more sophisticated and learned than its predecessor. Set in the early 22nd century, THE MAN WHO PULLED DOWN THE SKY envisions a Solar System divided into three hostile factions: the industrialized and powerful Orbital Republics, the depopulated and radiation-blasted Earth that the OR hold as a protectorate, and the Confederation, a coalition of asteroid miners and moon settlers who secure nominal independence from the OR after a bloody war. Twenty years after its secession, still economically dependent on the Orbital Republics and facing the shutdown of many of their colonies and military bases, the Confederation decides to grab Earth from the Republics in a pre-emptive strike. For this they will need the assistance of rebels on Earth, who tried to rebel three decades earlier but failed. Among the agents the Confederation sends to Earth is Saul Pareto, a military veteran and social scientist, whose subsequent guerrilla campaign against the OR garrisons and administrators goes about as one would expect: well enough for the Confederation's purposes, badly for his Earthside friends, disappointingly for those who wanted a square deal for an independent Earth but don't get it.

Barnes packs this novel with speculative details, grounded in both social and hard science. He puts a lot of thought into the political issues that fractured the human race into warring camps, the economic logic underlying the Confederation's imminent decline (“You can't outrun compound interest”), the quasi-libertarian legal ideology that the ORs use to keep Earthsiders divided and dependent, and similar aspects of his future history. The exposition is often a bit heavy handed as a result; there's a good reason Barnes made two of his main characters college professors. The novel's plot is pedestrian - “rebellion against evil empire” was pretty old hat by the 1980s – but Barnes handles it well, and one generally cares about the characters he presents, none of whom are either angels or monsters.

In addition to Heinlein, Barnes pays a bit of tribute to Isaac Asimov's FOUNDATION series here, insofar as one of the characters in this novel is reminiscent of Hari Seldon. MWPDTS was actually published as an “Isaac Asimov Presents” book, with an intro by the Old Man in which Asimov opined that Barnes' premise was basically crap. You can't please everyone, I guess, and moreover I suspect Asimov didn't actually read the novel before writing the intro. His loss.

[Mathew Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book I picked up at the thrift store for .50 cents. Was the only book in the sci-fi section that looked interesting on that particular day.
Turns out it was on okay book. I finished it. But I wasn't enthralled with it or anything like that.
It reminded me of Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. It seemed like an attempt at replicating that book. The idea was there; a political battle between those on earth and those in outer space.
I'll give it some slack though as it turns out it is Barnes' first novel. I've heard he has gotten way better.

[Benjamin Fasching-Gray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of windy lectures, many in the most dismal of the pseudo-sciences... then other bits that I would have wanted to take longer, like when the main character is supposed to organize a revolutionary social movement and it just gets handed to him nearly fully formed...

And then sudden shifts to atrocities: massacres, rapes, the works...

Then back to goofball windy lectures about political science and economics...

But there's enough action, weird future social structures in the outer solar system, a radioactive prophet, stuff like that to keep the ball rolling. I've read enough good books by Barnes that I was willing to slog through this mess to the end, but I wouldn't recommend it.

[Norman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bello e crudo. Pecca di ingenuità in alcuni aspetti (perché le repubbliche orbitali non sfruttano meglio la loro posizione strategica in orbita?), ma è compensato dallo sviluppo (anche se relativamente superficiale) nella storia degli aspetti politici ed economici della guerra.

[Jeff Youngstrom]

my review

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one loses its narrative edge as the violence becomes more trite.