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What Members Thought
I was blown away by this satirical and cynical novel. I couldn't believe how fresh it felt, even sixty years after it was originally published, it's still so pertinent, so topical. I would not have been surprised to find out it was written twenty years after it was.
Reading up about the origins of this novel, I was amazed to discover that Pohl actually decided to get a job in advertising just so he could know the industry better and write about it with more authority. And yes, one certainly feels ...more
Reading up about the origins of this novel, I was amazed to discover that Pohl actually decided to get a job in advertising just so he could know the industry better and write about it with more authority. And yes, one certainly feels ...more
May 01, 2013
Brad
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
about-lies,
exceeded-my-expectations,
political,
sci-fi,
read-in-2013,
classic,
long-overdue
Never have I read such a marvelously plausible work of Science Fiction. There are many prophetic works, and plenty of works of farther distant futures that I can see being possible, but The Space Merchants is mostly here right now, and everything else (if you exchange Mars for Venus) is merely moments away. And that is a scary fucking proposition.
Pohl & Kornbluth's world is an overpopulated mess, where food and water are at a serious premium and the super-rich dominate the use of goods and serv ...more
Pohl & Kornbluth's world is an overpopulated mess, where food and water are at a serious premium and the super-rich dominate the use of goods and serv ...more
The Space Merchants has a very 1984 feel: the underground movement, the profession of the main character... but it's very different as well. A similar situation, if you like, but with a capitalist society taken to the extremes rather than a socialist one. I'm surprised at people saying it feels outdated; I'm with the people who feel it still seems surprisingly relevant for something written in the 1950s.
It's a very quick read, and one worth reading not so much for characters or relationships, bu ...more
It's a very quick read, and one worth reading not so much for characters or relationships, bu ...more
Aug 31, 2008
Richard
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction,
pringle-top-100-1949-84
Jul 21, 2013
William Eckman
marked it as to-read
Jan 07, 2016
~Geektastic~
marked it as to-read
Oct 18, 2020
Eric
marked it as to-read
May 04, 2023
Isabelle
marked it as to-read
