Vertigo / Bob Shaw

Vertigo

by Bob Shaw

science fiction

copyright 1978

read (again) in December 2016

rated 7/10: well worth reading

I found this book sitting on my bookshelf. It's years since I first read it. Back then, all I read was science fiction and Bob Shaw was one of my favourite authors.

This time, as I read Vertigo, I remember why I enjoyed books by Shaw. And I am surprised at those memories.

I remember solid science fiction. Yet Vertigo spends most of its chapters exploring the characters. The science... Perhaps, more correctly, the *technology* is secondary. The hero could well have been injured in a skiing accident and now be afraid to get back on the skis.

Not that the characters have any great depth, they are quite shallow stereotypes, with some analysis of why they are so. Little explanation. More a pointing out of possibilities and problems. Done, however, with sympathy.

The psychology, the application of technology, the attitudes, are all a bit dated. Not necessarily wrong... Some is now out of fashion, some is now commonplace, some is now forbidden from discussion

The book is still easy to read and very enjoyable. Simple, predictable and enjoyable.

With a most interesting sign of changing attitudes, on the back cover:

A back page quote says that Bob Shaw is, "One of the most impressive writers of the genre." Of the genre?! Oh yes...

Back in 1980 -- when my edition of this book was printed -- science fiction was a distinct genre. Read by a few nerds, shunned by the masses. A book was either science fiction, or not.

Now science fiction is mainstream. In books, tv and movies. And that is good... and bad. It definitely means that I have more "science fiction" to read. And that I sometimes read a book which no sensible person would even consider. Simply because it claimed to be "science fiction".

Perhaps the fine-to-dross ratio is much the same. The mainstreaming of science fiction has certainly expanded my reading range. That has its problems. Mostly, however, it's very good.

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"No plan survives contact with the enemy." … Helmuth von Moltke the Elder