Dr. Futurity by PKD

I read this novel in an ACE double where it was paired with the Unteleported Man. Both are by PKD. I reviewed the Unteleported Man previously. ACE doubles are something I had never seen before; this one was from 1972 and is kind of retro cool.

I read some reviews (on sites other than amazon) that are very negative about Dr. Futurity. I disagree. I did like the book. It even had a much less open ending compared to other books by PKD that I have read - I'm not a big fan of open endings in novels as a rule.

Anyway, in Dr. Futurity, we have a medical doctor from a time not very far ahead of our present who gets dragged several hundred years into Earth's future. This future society is very different to his and ours as well. For one thing, the people seem to be basically American Indian; white people no longer exist. Reproduction is strictly controlled and "defectives" are not tolerated. Medicine is no longer practiced - in fact, it seems like practicing it is a serious crime. Technology is advanced. Few old people are around.

The doctor, last name Parsons, does not know how he was brought into the future, nor who is responsible. Soon after arriving, he makes the mistake of healing an injured woman and is exiled to Mars. On his way to Mars, agents of the people who brought him into the future intercept him, but they are killed in the process. Things are touch and go, but Parsons gets back to Earth and meets the people who brought him into the future and learn that they want him to revive one of their group.

He does what they ask, but this is soon mysteriously undone. They end up traveling to the 16th century as part of the fix required. Lots of twists and turns from here until the end. The time "paradoxes" are all over the place, so you have to pay attention while reading.

The group Parsons tries to help has a plan to alter history. What is it and will it succeed? Does Parsons ever get back to his own time? You'll have to read the story to find out. Don't want to spoil it for you.

I thought the book was well written, and it kept me interested throughout. Some may not agree with how the author handled the time "paradoxes", but I say not to get all hung up there and just enjoy the story as it unfolds. It even has kind of a happy ending.

The Unteleported Man

This is a review of  the Unteleported Man by PKD.

First, there are several versions out there of the Unteleported Man and not all under the same title. This version appealed to me the most, so I got a copy and have just finished it. Overall, I liked the story and the writing. The style might take a bit of getting used to since the author did not use exactly "standard" English grammar and spelling, but it is not too far off. Sometimes he used a sort of made up slang that was usually easy to figure out, thought it took me a while to figure out that "hyper-see" meant "hyper-c" where the "c" refers to the speed of light, so hyper-see referred to travel at faster than light speed.

This story is set on Earth in 2014 where the population is 7 billion and the planet very overcrowded - the author seemed to get the population about right for what it should be next year, but the rest was not so close. WWIII took place in the 1980's. A united Germany seems to be running the world, at least through dominance of the UN. Ships are available that can travel a little faster than light and there are Earth colonies all over the solar system, but these have not been a great success.

A teleportation technology exists which has been used to transport millions of people to a planet 24 light years away in about 15 minutes - this is versus a ship at hyper-see taking 18 years. Only problem is that the teleportation is a one way trip - or so they say, at least.

Things about this colony light years away are not adding up, so the hero, a Mr. Applebaum, proposes to take his hyper-see ship to see what the real story is in this far off colony. That's when powerful forces go into action to stop him.

People are told that things in this far off colony are just wonderful. So why stop Applebaum? Makes some people from LIES, Inc. wonder. Great name for a company, no? An acronymn, but not quite what you might think.

Applebaum finally sets off in his ship, but some people from LIES decide to teleport and get answers a lot quicker. And, they sure do. Not quite as expected maybe.

The UN stops Applebaum and brings him back to Earth - called Terra in the story. What happens next is quite a surprise.

I didn't care much for the ending. A little less than conclusive for my taste, but did have a large amount of hope. This made it 4 stars for me and not 5 (out of 5) though.

The story kept me interested throughout and was a fast read. Recommended.

Just a quick mention of an expanded version of this story. The author doubled the size of the story some years after writing this version. Mixed a sort of quantum theory kind of view of reality created by the observer in some sense along with an LSD trip. I thought the quantum stuff might be interesting, but the LSD stuff not so much - especially when it involved 100 pages. But, thought I'd mention it as others might want to read it. I think it was retitled "Lies, Inc" in this version.

Hope you enjoy whatever version you pick.

The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection (by Alexander McCall Smith)

I usually read the latest book from this series - the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series - not long after publication. Took me longer to get to this one. In fact, a new one has come out before I got finished with this one. Well, at least I don't have to wait for the next one now.

It was good to see what our friends in Botswana have been up to since last we heard from them. They do have a way with words and a knack for getting into "situations".

So much going on in this book. Precious and Grace get to meet their hero from America. Is he all they expected him to be? What's all this about the Limpopo Academy of Private Detection?

Fanwell, the good apprentice at Speedy Motors, gets into trouble while helping out a friend. Will the judge believe him innocent? How is it that Mma Ramotswe scares a witness who is about to lie into telling the truth on the witness stand? Fanwell is grateful, but Charlie could have been in big trouble because of it. Charlie's heart was really in the right place though.

Grace and Phuti are building a house. Something's not quite right about the builder though. The bricks tell the story here.

Mma Potokwane, matron of the orphan farm, may have met her match in a Mr. Ditso. Will she really be thrown out of her job? And speaking of Mr. Ditso, he should be careful about where his wife has her nails done.

Speaking of nails, Grace's nemesis from school, Violet Sephotho, has clearly not mended her ways. And she has a brother who is about as bad as she is it seems. How bad can they be? Pretty bad.

Take a look at the book and all this will be explained. Very entertaining too.

And it seems that we will see Mma Soleti again, given the name of the next book in this series. She and her sister were very helpful to Precious in this book.

Hopefully, there will be many more books about our friends from Botswana.

Lost Christianity (by Jacob Needleman)

I stumbled across this book by total accident one night many months ago. I read through several reviews and thought the book might have some real answers to questions I'd been asking a long time without any luck. Took me a while to get to it, but finally I started.

At first, it seemed very promising, then I got bogged down in it. It's a little over 200 pages, but took me several months to get through. Part of the "delay" may have been that the book made me think about a lot of things, which wasn't a bad thing, but it didn't seem to get to the point a great deal of the time. I did learn some things in the book, but not so much on what I had hoped it would tell me. I wanted to find what was "lost" as the title suggests.

I guess it sort of told me what I wanted to know, but it doesn't seem to really come out and say it. And it offers little in telling how to get to the place in question.

If someone is interested in the book/topic, I recommend reading the Conclusion before reading anything else. In fact, read the last paragraph of the Conclusion first - the author is not kidding when he states that the single aim of the book was to communicate the idea mentioned in this last paragraph. Not much in the way of detail is found elsewhere in the book for that matter - best advice I can give is to pay special attention when the soul/intermediate is discussed in the book. Might save a reader's time if they know all this upfront.

Yes, something seems to have been lost in Christianity. The author seems to have found what that might be. But, his description is not all that clear, and things are even murkier on the how to overcome the loss part. Notice how I haven't stated much detail as to the "answer" - that's because I can't really explain it that well, even though I did read and understand the book. Yes, it is one of those kinds of books.

The book has value, but it was a very frustrating read at the same time. Left me unsettled and somewhat unsatisfied.

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Into the Slave Nebula by John Brunner

I had never heard of this book or the author until very recently. I was looking for a copy of a book by PKD that was out of print and found it as an ACE double with the book reviewed here. It sounded interesting. I ended up getting the present book in a version by itself and the PKD book in Ace Double form with another that I was also interested in due to price and availability overall. Funny how these things happen sometimes.

Mr. Brunner, the author here, originally wrote this story under another title, then revised/expanded it and released it again under the current title. Note that the cover illustration is a bit misleading - there is no scantily dressed female, at least not in the context shown, in the book. The story is pretty family friendly overall as I recall.

I liked the writing in the book. It was a bit better in the first half than the last part, but still good overall.

The story opens with the main character, Denny Horn, getting ready for carnival week on Earth. This takes place at some time in the future where Earth has solved its problems and humans have expanded to many other planets in the galaxy. Life on Earth is easier than on the outer worlds. Most work is done by robots or blue skinned androids - the latter being "artificial" living human like creatures.

On his way out to the festivities, Derry finds an android beat to a pulp and dying and nearby, a dead human. One thing leads to another, and Derry, who is from a wealthy family and not doing very much of any importance with his life, decides to go off planet to get to the bottom of these killings. In the process, he is kidnapped and learns the actual origin of the androids - people believe that they are made on a world far from Earth, though vague on exactly where. Derry then gets away from his captors and brings justice to the androids.

In a way it is a coming of age story set in the future, but in a way it is a story about the dangers of having too many material things and too little to do and accepting things as they are without asking too many questions. Does the latter sound familiar at all?

One of the worst of the things easily accepted is the subjugation of the androids based on the very superficial difference between them and "natural" humans. Much food for thought there.

The story moves at a good speed and doesn't get too preachy while giving the reader some things to think about perhaps. There are some serious parts, but it is still lots of fun.

I enjoyed this book. Hope you do too.