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Bedlam Planet
A group of colonists come to the planet, Asgard, in the hope of discovering a paradise, but instead find harsh living conditions
185 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
4 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
John Brunner
572 books485 followersJohn Brunner was born in Preston Crowmarsh, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and went to school at St Andrew's Prep School, Pangbourne, then to Cheltenham College. He wrote his first novel, Galactic Storm, at 17, and published it under the pen-name Gill Hunt, but he did not start writing full-time until 1958. He served as an officer in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1955, and married Marjorie Rosamond Sauer on 12 July 1958
At the beginning of his writing career Brunner wrote conventional space opera pulp science fiction. Brunner later began to experiment with the novel form. His 1968 novel "Stand on Zanzibar" exploits the fragmented organizational style John Dos Passos invented for his USA trilogy, but updates it in terms of the theory of media popularised by Marshall McLuhan.
"The Jagged Orbit" (1969) is set in a United States dominated by weapons proliferation and interracial violence, and has 100 numbered chapters varying in length from a single syllable to several pages in length. "The Sheep Look Up" (1972) depicts ecological catastrophe in America. Brunner is credited with coining the term "worm" and predicting the emergence of computer viruses in his 1975 novel "The Shockwave Rider", in which he used the term to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network. Together with "Stand on Zanzibar", these novels have been called the "Club of Rome Quartet", named after the Club of Rome whose 1972 report The Limits to Growth warned of the dire effects of overpopulation.
Brunner's pen names include K. H. Brunner, Gill Hunt, John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Ellis Quick, Henry Crosstrees Jr., and Keith Woodcott.
In addition to his fiction, Brunner wrote poetry and many unpaid articles in a variety of publications, particularly fanzines, but also 13 letters to the New Scientist and an article about the educational relevance of science fiction in Physics Education. Brunner was an active member of the organisation Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and wrote the words to "The H-Bomb's Thunder", which was sung on the Aldermaston Marches.
Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes. He attempted to shift to a more mainstream readership in the early 1980s, without success. Before his death, most of his books had fallen out of print. Brunner accused publishers of a conspiracy against him, although he was difficult to deal with (his wife had handled his publishing relations before she died).[2]
Brunner's health began to decline in the 1980s and worsened with the death of his wife in 1986. He remarried, to Li Yi Tan, on 27 September 1991. He died of a heart attack in Glasgow on 25 August 1995, while attending the World Science Fiction Convention there
aka
K H Brunner, Henry Crosstrees Jr, Gill Hunt (with Dennis Hughes and E C Tubb), John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Keith Woodcott
Winner of the ESFS Awards in 1980 as "Best Author" and 1n 1984 as "Novelist"..
At the beginning of his writing career Brunner wrote conventional space opera pulp science fiction. Brunner later began to experiment with the novel form. His 1968 novel "Stand on Zanzibar" exploits the fragmented organizational style John Dos Passos invented for his USA trilogy, but updates it in terms of the theory of media popularised by Marshall McLuhan.
"The Jagged Orbit" (1969) is set in a United States dominated by weapons proliferation and interracial violence, and has 100 numbered chapters varying in length from a single syllable to several pages in length. "The Sheep Look Up" (1972) depicts ecological catastrophe in America. Brunner is credited with coining the term "worm" and predicting the emergence of computer viruses in his 1975 novel "The Shockwave Rider", in which he used the term to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network. Together with "Stand on Zanzibar", these novels have been called the "Club of Rome Quartet", named after the Club of Rome whose 1972 report The Limits to Growth warned of the dire effects of overpopulation.
Brunner's pen names include K. H. Brunner, Gill Hunt, John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Ellis Quick, Henry Crosstrees Jr., and Keith Woodcott.
In addition to his fiction, Brunner wrote poetry and many unpaid articles in a variety of publications, particularly fanzines, but also 13 letters to the New Scientist and an article about the educational relevance of science fiction in Physics Education. Brunner was an active member of the organisation Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and wrote the words to "The H-Bomb's Thunder", which was sung on the Aldermaston Marches.
Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes. He attempted to shift to a more mainstream readership in the early 1980s, without success. Before his death, most of his books had fallen out of print. Brunner accused publishers of a conspiracy against him, although he was difficult to deal with (his wife had handled his publishing relations before she died).[2]
Brunner's health began to decline in the 1980s and worsened with the death of his wife in 1986. He remarried, to Li Yi Tan, on 27 September 1991. He died of a heart attack in Glasgow on 25 August 1995, while attending the World Science Fiction Convention there
aka
K H Brunner, Henry Crosstrees Jr, Gill Hunt (with Dennis Hughes and E C Tubb), John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Keith Woodcott
Winner of the ESFS Awards in 1980 as "Best Author" and 1n 1984 as "Novelist"..
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 1, 2026
Imagine we find a planet that could be a second Earth and we send people there. It's fertile so that they can grow crops and there seem to be no dangerous wild animals or native inhabitants. But the Earthpeople face problems. There may be a lot more to a planetary ecology than they realize...
This one is from 1968 and reflects the growing concern about ecology of the late 60s which has continued to today. Brunner ( 1934-1995) was a British author who raised some important issues in his writing. In his most famous book, "Stand on Zanzibar," he discussed overpopulation ( that book won the 1969 Hugo Award ).
He's also known for coining the word "worm" and predicting computer viruses.
I only give "Bedlam Planet" 3 *** as I thought it could have been developed much more. But I liked it and would prefer to give it a rating of ***1/2.
This one is from 1968 and reflects the growing concern about ecology of the late 60s which has continued to today. Brunner ( 1934-1995) was a British author who raised some important issues in his writing. In his most famous book, "Stand on Zanzibar," he discussed overpopulation ( that book won the 1969 Hugo Award ).
He's also known for coining the word "worm" and predicting computer viruses.
I only give "Bedlam Planet" 3 *** as I thought it could have been developed much more. But I liked it and would prefer to give it a rating of ***1/2.
September 1, 2015
review of
John Brunner's Bedlam Planet
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - October 14, 2013
The bio opposite the title p tells us that Brunner's "interest in science fiction began at the age of six when "someone misguidedly left a copy of the War of the Worlds in the nursery." He sold his first sf paperback at the age of 17 and made his first sales to U.S. magazines before his 18th birthday." Impressive.
The Author's Note on p 4 informs us that: "In writing this novel I have made extensive use of the Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (the English version of Larousse Mythologie General) and am in consequence indebted to its compilers, editors and translators."
The hints of subtle differences on a new planet are effective: "Relying on the contact of his skin and his mattress, he gained sufficient control to swing his legs to the floor and tried not to realize that the smooth planks on which he placed his soles had been peeled from the layered bulk of a thing more like a vegetable carbuncle than an honest upright tree. It was wood . . . of a sort." (p 6) "Even in the womb-like dark of his room at night, there was still the indefinably wrong smell of Asgard to remind him." (p 19)
Colonists on this new planet have had one of their spaceships destroyed upon arrival & are, therefore, working under worse conditions than their careful planning wd've had otherwise. Nonetheless, the planet is astonishingly habitable. Subconsciously, however, "What armour do I wear against reason? We calculate, we analyze, we deduce, and think we have planned for all eventualities. But what impulses lurk below the surface of the mind, which never could be allowed for in advance because it took the impact of an alien planet to trigger them?" (p 8)
Ancient seafarers w/ inadequate supplies of vitamin C are evoked: "["]Anybody here not know what scurvy is?"" (p 28) ""Remember we had epidemic diarrhoea on our first arrival—a kind of interplanetary turismo? Well, as you know, most of the bacteria here are used to protoplasm in their hosts which is different enough from ours to mean we can't fall sick from them. However, we always carry around with us certain bacteria from which we don't fall ill, but actually derive benefit. And from analyzing and culturing stool-samples we've found that since we got over that diarrhoea epidemic all of us have been carrying around a variety of local bugs which like the hospitable environment of the human bowel. They don't cause any trouble so we needn't bother about them, bar one crucial factor. One of them tends to make ascorbic acid metabolically inaccessible to us. It knocks the molecule about in a way which our bodies aren't accustomed to. So in spite of eating a balanced diet we're developing a deficiency."" (pp 28-29)
It's largely the psychology of adjusting to a new planet that seems to concern Brunner here & his extensive use of mythology relates to that: "We don't know precisely what kind of cultural frame a human being needs to keep his sanity. At best we can make enlightened guesses. That's why we brought as much personal contact with as many areas of Earthly tradition as we could arrange." (p 41)
Section Four's entitled "The Moon's My Mistress" wch makes me think of Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress wch I reckon Heinlein's publisher (or whomever) might've taken from a famous poem or some such. Epigraphs from "Tom o' Bedlam's Song" appear at the beginning of each of the sections. According to Wikipedia,
""Tom O' Bedlam" is the name of a critically acclaimed anonymous poem written circa 1600 (it can be definitely dated back to 1634) about a Bedlamite.
The term "Tom O' Bedlam" was used in Early Modern Britain and later to describe beggars and vagrants who had or feigned mental illness (see also Abraham-men). They claimed, or were assumed, to have been former inmates at the Bethlem Royal Hospital (Bedlam)."
The colonists are careful to avoid direct contact w/ their new environment - they don't swim in the sea, they don't eat the food, etc.. - but the main character recklessly swims in the sea & gets stung by a sea creature. He becomes delirious & hallucinates in terms of traditional mythology from his ethnic group ancestors:
"Therefore the hero mused, and spoke at last of envy poison-deep in his heart, to go among the Blest and match his strength to Nuada Argatlam, to play at chess with Finn the son of Cool and bait Cú Chulainn til he turned around within his skin and the hairs of his head glowed red with fire and blood." (p 69) I was able to recognize this as irish mythology partially b/c a reference to "Manannán's pigs" (p 70) reminded me of Henry Cowell's 1914 tone-cluster piano piece "Tides of Manaunaun".
My new (or, more likely, forgotten) word gleaned from this on p 74: "his left hand being thrust into the burrow of some sand-living creature, to be withdrawn with a moue" - "moue" = a pout, a little grimace (thank you: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio... ).
Essentially, Bedlam Planet explores the idea of when does someone stop being a colonist & start being a native? The main character becomes transformed:
"I ought to be hungry.
"He switched off the power and sat shivering as a vivid, revolting memory came clear in his mind. He had vomited, and spewed a great gout of liquid all over himself. What had been in him, that his stomach rejected so violently? And more alarming still: what was in him now, that he did not feel hungry despite not touching his packaged stores for ten mortal days . . . ?" - p 78
To avoid spoiling too much I'll just say that the transformation involves the mythology that Brunner expresses his gratitude for at the beginning of the bk. One bit of slightly off-the-beaten-track (plot-wise) mythology that occurs here also occurs in Brunner's novella Father of Lies: ""Okay, we'll keep these chairs here as a sort of Siege Perilous," (p 117): "In Arthurian legend, a seat at King Arthur's Round Table kept for the knight destined to find the Holy Grail and fatal for any other occupant." ( http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Sieg... )
Brunner explores the possibility of instinctual attraction to the appropriate nutritive source: "Somewhere in with the rest he had been told about one of the pioneer round-the-world trips by a nuclear submarine, following which the crew came ashore with an inexplicable need to eat cottage cheese. A check showed that they were short of calcium, and their bodies knew what they consciously did not: that this was the quickest way to replenish their supply." (p 135)
This made me think of dogs going after particular plants when they're sick or just out for a walk &, sure enuf, 4 pp later: ""Did you ever keep a dog?" she said after a moment for thought. "Did you ever see one drag itself across country when it was so sick it could barely stand, in search of a special kind of grass which would make its belly reject the poison it had swallowed? We've got to be our own dogs, as it were. Our bodies know things which our minds never can.["]" (p 139) & then: "Your body is wiser than your mind; its been around longer, and it carries memories in its cells which we've barely begun to guess at."" (p 147) Exactly. & it's Brunner's exploration of this notion that made this interesting for me.
John Brunner's Bedlam Planet
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - October 14, 2013
The bio opposite the title p tells us that Brunner's "interest in science fiction began at the age of six when "someone misguidedly left a copy of the War of the Worlds in the nursery." He sold his first sf paperback at the age of 17 and made his first sales to U.S. magazines before his 18th birthday." Impressive.
The Author's Note on p 4 informs us that: "In writing this novel I have made extensive use of the Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (the English version of Larousse Mythologie General) and am in consequence indebted to its compilers, editors and translators."
The hints of subtle differences on a new planet are effective: "Relying on the contact of his skin and his mattress, he gained sufficient control to swing his legs to the floor and tried not to realize that the smooth planks on which he placed his soles had been peeled from the layered bulk of a thing more like a vegetable carbuncle than an honest upright tree. It was wood . . . of a sort." (p 6) "Even in the womb-like dark of his room at night, there was still the indefinably wrong smell of Asgard to remind him." (p 19)
Colonists on this new planet have had one of their spaceships destroyed upon arrival & are, therefore, working under worse conditions than their careful planning wd've had otherwise. Nonetheless, the planet is astonishingly habitable. Subconsciously, however, "What armour do I wear against reason? We calculate, we analyze, we deduce, and think we have planned for all eventualities. But what impulses lurk below the surface of the mind, which never could be allowed for in advance because it took the impact of an alien planet to trigger them?" (p 8)
Ancient seafarers w/ inadequate supplies of vitamin C are evoked: "["]Anybody here not know what scurvy is?"" (p 28) ""Remember we had epidemic diarrhoea on our first arrival—a kind of interplanetary turismo? Well, as you know, most of the bacteria here are used to protoplasm in their hosts which is different enough from ours to mean we can't fall sick from them. However, we always carry around with us certain bacteria from which we don't fall ill, but actually derive benefit. And from analyzing and culturing stool-samples we've found that since we got over that diarrhoea epidemic all of us have been carrying around a variety of local bugs which like the hospitable environment of the human bowel. They don't cause any trouble so we needn't bother about them, bar one crucial factor. One of them tends to make ascorbic acid metabolically inaccessible to us. It knocks the molecule about in a way which our bodies aren't accustomed to. So in spite of eating a balanced diet we're developing a deficiency."" (pp 28-29)
It's largely the psychology of adjusting to a new planet that seems to concern Brunner here & his extensive use of mythology relates to that: "We don't know precisely what kind of cultural frame a human being needs to keep his sanity. At best we can make enlightened guesses. That's why we brought as much personal contact with as many areas of Earthly tradition as we could arrange." (p 41)
Section Four's entitled "The Moon's My Mistress" wch makes me think of Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress wch I reckon Heinlein's publisher (or whomever) might've taken from a famous poem or some such. Epigraphs from "Tom o' Bedlam's Song" appear at the beginning of each of the sections. According to Wikipedia,
""Tom O' Bedlam" is the name of a critically acclaimed anonymous poem written circa 1600 (it can be definitely dated back to 1634) about a Bedlamite.
The term "Tom O' Bedlam" was used in Early Modern Britain and later to describe beggars and vagrants who had or feigned mental illness (see also Abraham-men). They claimed, or were assumed, to have been former inmates at the Bethlem Royal Hospital (Bedlam)."
The colonists are careful to avoid direct contact w/ their new environment - they don't swim in the sea, they don't eat the food, etc.. - but the main character recklessly swims in the sea & gets stung by a sea creature. He becomes delirious & hallucinates in terms of traditional mythology from his ethnic group ancestors:
"Therefore the hero mused, and spoke at last of envy poison-deep in his heart, to go among the Blest and match his strength to Nuada Argatlam, to play at chess with Finn the son of Cool and bait Cú Chulainn til he turned around within his skin and the hairs of his head glowed red with fire and blood." (p 69) I was able to recognize this as irish mythology partially b/c a reference to "Manannán's pigs" (p 70) reminded me of Henry Cowell's 1914 tone-cluster piano piece "Tides of Manaunaun".
My new (or, more likely, forgotten) word gleaned from this on p 74: "his left hand being thrust into the burrow of some sand-living creature, to be withdrawn with a moue" - "moue" = a pout, a little grimace (thank you: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio... ).
Essentially, Bedlam Planet explores the idea of when does someone stop being a colonist & start being a native? The main character becomes transformed:
"I ought to be hungry.
"He switched off the power and sat shivering as a vivid, revolting memory came clear in his mind. He had vomited, and spewed a great gout of liquid all over himself. What had been in him, that his stomach rejected so violently? And more alarming still: what was in him now, that he did not feel hungry despite not touching his packaged stores for ten mortal days . . . ?" - p 78
To avoid spoiling too much I'll just say that the transformation involves the mythology that Brunner expresses his gratitude for at the beginning of the bk. One bit of slightly off-the-beaten-track (plot-wise) mythology that occurs here also occurs in Brunner's novella Father of Lies: ""Okay, we'll keep these chairs here as a sort of Siege Perilous," (p 117): "In Arthurian legend, a seat at King Arthur's Round Table kept for the knight destined to find the Holy Grail and fatal for any other occupant." ( http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Sieg... )
Brunner explores the possibility of instinctual attraction to the appropriate nutritive source: "Somewhere in with the rest he had been told about one of the pioneer round-the-world trips by a nuclear submarine, following which the crew came ashore with an inexplicable need to eat cottage cheese. A check showed that they were short of calcium, and their bodies knew what they consciously did not: that this was the quickest way to replenish their supply." (p 135)
This made me think of dogs going after particular plants when they're sick or just out for a walk &, sure enuf, 4 pp later: ""Did you ever keep a dog?" she said after a moment for thought. "Did you ever see one drag itself across country when it was so sick it could barely stand, in search of a special kind of grass which would make its belly reject the poison it had swallowed? We've got to be our own dogs, as it were. Our bodies know things which our minds never can.["]" (p 139) & then: "Your body is wiser than your mind; its been around longer, and it carries memories in its cells which we've barely begun to guess at."" (p 147) Exactly. & it's Brunner's exploration of this notion that made this interesting for me.
March 5, 2020
The "Tom-o-Bedlam" poems at the beginning of every chapter are...weird.
When the six "test subjects" ate the native plants of Asgard, and had their hallucinatory experiences, (after Dennis Malone had his), they all "dreamed" myths of Earth. I liked the one from Kitty Minakis.
P.96:
"they're in the Grove of Persephone the mini headed dog Cerberus came fawning, to lick the feet of the new arrivals, wagging his horrid tail. But let him once get the scent of death from a passerby, and from then on forever that person should not pass again. Seeing the fearful hound who blocked the way back to the sweets & delights of Earth, the dead drank get gladly of the Waters of Lethe, and forgot."
I liked the way the main character got the discouraged and apathetic colonists going after the six leaders trashed the dam, the biolab, the kitchen...
P.117:
" 'here--take these and get out there with everyone else!' he ordered. 'you seem to have been more or less running things lately, and what's happened as a result is a downright disgrace.'
stunned, the two men simply stared at him, making no move to take the chairs.
'don't you agree?' Dennis threw at the audience. 'look at yourself! You're filthy! You stink! You've behaved more like primitives out of the Dark ages than civilized people - going and jeering at lunatics for a Sunday outing!'....
'well, when Dan broke the dam--' tibor began defensively.
'stuff that immediately,' Dennis cut in, taking malicious pleasure in throwing Tibor's own phrase back at him. 'how many dams did Dan build on other islands? I've been away from pipes and purified water for almost 4 weeks. I didn't even have buckets and tanks - I used the cushionfoils' inflatable dinghy for a bathtub! First thing after this meeting, the whole gang of us is going to the stream with soap and disinfectant. Steve, keep that painted rope handy -- and watch out particularly for the mess hall staff! I never expected to see anyone handling food with black-edged fingernails in my lifetime!'
A book about a group of Earth colonists who build a settlement on a planet they name Asgard. They have a really rough time of it when some bacteria in their stomachs eat up all the ascorbic acid, leaving them with scurvy. They have to learn to be Asgard-lings, instead of Earth-lings.
When the six "test subjects" ate the native plants of Asgard, and had their hallucinatory experiences, (after Dennis Malone had his), they all "dreamed" myths of Earth. I liked the one from Kitty Minakis.
P.96:
"they're in the Grove of Persephone the mini headed dog Cerberus came fawning, to lick the feet of the new arrivals, wagging his horrid tail. But let him once get the scent of death from a passerby, and from then on forever that person should not pass again. Seeing the fearful hound who blocked the way back to the sweets & delights of Earth, the dead drank get gladly of the Waters of Lethe, and forgot."
I liked the way the main character got the discouraged and apathetic colonists going after the six leaders trashed the dam, the biolab, the kitchen...
P.117:
" 'here--take these and get out there with everyone else!' he ordered. 'you seem to have been more or less running things lately, and what's happened as a result is a downright disgrace.'
stunned, the two men simply stared at him, making no move to take the chairs.
'don't you agree?' Dennis threw at the audience. 'look at yourself! You're filthy! You stink! You've behaved more like primitives out of the Dark ages than civilized people - going and jeering at lunatics for a Sunday outing!'....
'well, when Dan broke the dam--' tibor began defensively.
'stuff that immediately,' Dennis cut in, taking malicious pleasure in throwing Tibor's own phrase back at him. 'how many dams did Dan build on other islands? I've been away from pipes and purified water for almost 4 weeks. I didn't even have buckets and tanks - I used the cushionfoils' inflatable dinghy for a bathtub! First thing after this meeting, the whole gang of us is going to the stream with soap and disinfectant. Steve, keep that painted rope handy -- and watch out particularly for the mess hall staff! I never expected to see anyone handling food with black-edged fingernails in my lifetime!'
A book about a group of Earth colonists who build a settlement on a planet they name Asgard. They have a really rough time of it when some bacteria in their stomachs eat up all the ascorbic acid, leaving them with scurvy. They have to learn to be Asgard-lings, instead of Earth-lings.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 19, 2023
2.5 stars.
The plot can be summarized as a drawn out exposition. Women featured in the story cannot have a presence without some mention of their chest nor nonwhite characters without being referred to as their race. The "climax" of the story is the realization that to overcome sickness brought on by a new planet, the people must look for a native cure rather than relying on the supplies they've brought from Earth. However, the cure that is found comes with a temporary bout of a psychedelic episode which convinces the colonists that whoever eats the bark goes permanently mad. This leaves those who are too afraid to experiment with what the native ecosystem can provide to die of vitamin c deficiency.
The larger message here could be an instance in embracing new cultures and the fruitful life that comes of integration; however, this is muddled amidst another point the author is pushing: the necessity of instinct in species adaptation. Some characters argue that high rational fully removed from our inner animal can stunt growth and it is only through giving control back to their reptilian brain that they can thrive and embrace all the new planet has to offer. This idea is contrasted by an almost-rape the main character perpetrated and keeps reliving throughout the story. An event that serves as a reminder to the main character and the readers that the best option for survival is not in either extreme, but rather somewhere in the middle.
While Bedlam Planet had its moments, there was really no spark or long-lasting enticing story-telling to keep me interested. It is due to my own completionist desires that I finished this one.
P.S. the point .5 is for the cover art which is beautiful, the reason I bought the book at a second-hand shop, and the only reason I am having trouble sending it to the donation stack now.
The plot can be summarized as a drawn out exposition. Women featured in the story cannot have a presence without some mention of their chest nor nonwhite characters without being referred to as their race. The "climax" of the story is the realization that to overcome sickness brought on by a new planet, the people must look for a native cure rather than relying on the supplies they've brought from Earth. However, the cure that is found comes with a temporary bout of a psychedelic episode which convinces the colonists that whoever eats the bark goes permanently mad. This leaves those who are too afraid to experiment with what the native ecosystem can provide to die of vitamin c deficiency.
The larger message here could be an instance in embracing new cultures and the fruitful life that comes of integration; however, this is muddled amidst another point the author is pushing: the necessity of instinct in species adaptation. Some characters argue that high rational fully removed from our inner animal can stunt growth and it is only through giving control back to their reptilian brain that they can thrive and embrace all the new planet has to offer. This idea is contrasted by an almost-rape the main character perpetrated and keeps reliving throughout the story. An event that serves as a reminder to the main character and the readers that the best option for survival is not in either extreme, but rather somewhere in the middle.
While Bedlam Planet had its moments, there was really no spark or long-lasting enticing story-telling to keep me interested. It is due to my own completionist desires that I finished this one.
P.S. the point .5 is for the cover art which is beautiful, the reason I bought the book at a second-hand shop, and the only reason I am having trouble sending it to the donation stack now.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 8, 2022
A pretty good entry into Brunner's vast catalog. This story is about a new settlement on a distance Earth-like planet. They run into problems when some of their supplies are destroyed on one of the ships that flies into the moon. They are also in trouble because a native bacteria doesn't allow them to absorb ascorbic acid, leading them to develop scurvy. They need to develop a way to get this nutrient, which may include needing to start eating the native vegetation. This is where things get trippy and they run into further problems.
I really enjoy Brunner's writing and ideas. I feel like they resonate well these days. This may not be his crowning achievement, but it is good sci-fi and worth checking out.
I really enjoy Brunner's writing and ideas. I feel like they resonate well these days. This may not be his crowning achievement, but it is good sci-fi and worth checking out.
January 3, 2020
I find Brunner's writing a bit on the ornate side and not easy to read, but I really enjoy his story lines. This certainly wasn't my favorite Brunner book - Stand on Zanzibar or Squares of the City would be that, but I'm glad I read it. This one really needs to be read through before it all makes sense. If you're a John Brunner fan, by all means go for it - if not, this probably isn't the best place to start.
March 3, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"To move past my variegated obsessions regarding William Kotzwinkle’s Doctor Rat (1976) (review + list of imaginary scientific articles), I decided to reread a lesser known John Brunner novel. I cannot pinpoint exactly when I first read Bedlam Plant (1968), other [...]"
"To move past my variegated obsessions regarding William Kotzwinkle’s Doctor Rat (1976) (review + list of imaginary scientific articles), I decided to reread a lesser known John Brunner novel. I cannot pinpoint exactly when I first read Bedlam Plant (1968), other [...]"
July 4, 2023
Pretty good for a book I grabbed off a shelf at the thrift store! The only thing that makes me sad about these old sci-fi novels is when the authors go out of their way to create Star Trek-level diversity in their cast of characters... and then use weird racialized language all the time to describe them.
July 15, 2025
Short, interesting new-age colonial SF with a neat challenge and a quick, plausible ending. Not a great book. But a fine one.
I have a LOT of Brunner paperbacks (yet not a one of his most famous four novels) and this is probably the first one I would bother recommending because it is "short" and "interesting". But not a strong recommendation. Only if you have any interest in Brunner.
I have a LOT of Brunner paperbacks (yet not a one of his most famous four novels) and this is probably the first one I would bother recommending because it is "short" and "interesting". But not a strong recommendation. Only if you have any interest in Brunner.
March 14, 2019
I haven't been so hooked on a book in a long time. I couldn't put it down for the last forty pages. a crazy trip exploring the development of human culture on outer planets, and our reliance on tech - even in a book written in 1968. definitely a good read for scifi fans and culture theorists alike.
May 24, 2017
Long before Robinson bored us with Aurora, there was Bedlam Planet, covering much of the same ground, but from a mytho-poetic direction.
January 30, 2025
Worth the read
I love Golden Age sci-fi, so I'm probobly boased. But I really liked this one. It's not the best, but it shows the spirit of exploration that I love from the genre.
I love Golden Age sci-fi, so I'm probobly boased. But I really liked this one. It's not the best, but it shows the spirit of exploration that I love from the genre.
July 12, 2015
This might be THE example of psychedelic sci-fi that no one knows about. It is post-structuralist, looming, cerebral, and sometimes happens in an aphysical space, and it totally works. It is a quick read, an easy read, and a memorable one at that.
March 12, 2011
Grade C
November 4, 2012
I enjoyed this novel very much from start to finish. It has a very original plot twist in it that you will never expect. A really good read!
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