Colony / Ben Bova

Colony

by Ben Bova

science fiction

copyright 1978

read in July 2019

rated 7 / 10: well worth reading

At the start of this book I am thinking, Uh oh, this book could be horribly dated. It is not. The speed of technological development is hugely over-optimistic. The style of government is way off reality (the story is set in 2008). The role of corporate business is (perhaps) exaggerated.

Yet the book soon gets past its future-history failings. The facts may have missed reality but the underlying ideas are still relevant. Actual race wars -- for example -- may not be happening but racial tensions are just as real.

The "facts" have been proven wrong. The major principles are still relevant.

One fact has yet to be disproven: human beings, as soon as they leave Earth, develop cultures where clothing is optional. This is true on Bova's near-Earth Colony as much as on any far distant alien planet.

And why not? After all, most alien cultures prefer nudity. Or maybe it's just the preference of many writers -- and readers -- of science fiction...

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"Dogs also bark at what they do not know" … Heraclitus
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dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
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