The Noblest Experiment in the Galaxy / The Communipaths

by Louis Trimble, Suzette Haden Elgin

ACE Double Novel 11560

The Communipaths
Suzette Haden Elgin
Which was the true path - loyalty to self or service to the stars?

The Noblest Experiment in the Galaxy
Louis Trimble
The problem of the invincible weapon and its invisible hijackers

Genres: Fiction

254 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Louis Preston Trimble (2 March 1917 - 1988) was an American writer and academic. His published work included science fiction, westerns, and mysteries, as well as academic non-fiction. He generally wrote as Louis Trimble, but used the pseudonym "Stuart Brock" for some of his work.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an Ace Double book, a curious publishing phenomenon that was extant 1952 - '78. Two books were printed in tête-bêche format, back-to-back and in opposite orientation to one another with two covers (both of them excellent in this case, Elgin's by Josh Kirby and Trimble's by Jack Gaughan) so that there were two fronts and no back, and no "A" or "B" side. The Communipaths is the shorter of the pair. It was Elgin's first book, and introduced her best-known character Coyote Jones, itinerant interstellar folk singer. It's a very feminist (for 1970) story set in a galaxy linked by a chain of telepaths in the style of the Pony Express. It's very elegant is spots, though some of the situations and characters could have been much better fleshed out. The Noblest Experiment in the Galaxy was Trimble's second novel, though he'd had over fifty mystery and western novels published since the '30s before it appeared. It's set in the same universe as his first sf book, Anthropol, and is another engaging and amusing espionage satire like Laumer's Retief or Janifer's Knave stories. Zeno lives in Victorian Wooten Dorset and begins to question some of the anachronisms like electricity and hovercraft and computers and why there are two of him. Two good stories for the price of one... they don't print 'em like this anymore.

[Carolyn F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Double Novel. 3.5 stars average

The Noblest Experiment in the Galaxy by Louis Trimble. Wow, you can tell this book was written in the 1970s especially with the way Petra/Chloe keeps throwing out "Lover" at the end of nearly every sentence. It was grating on the nerves. And I still don't get why they had to make a society from 1800s England, clothing, language, etc. Seemed a waste of time to me. 3 stars.

The Communipaths by Suzette Haden Elgin. Now this story I enjoyed a whole lot more although there were a couple of instances where they told their boss off with sarcastic disdain which so reminds me of the 1970s attitude in books and movies. Other than that, I really liked it. 4 stars

[Ephraim Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

These late 60s Ace Doubles are always hit and miss, but make up for it in brevity. 140 pages a novel is great sometimes.

'The Communipaths' / ⭐️⭐️ / Exactly one interesting sci-fi concept (using a long chain of telepaths as a cross-galactic internet service provider) doesn't make up for some real flat characterization and a plot that feels made up as it went along.

'The Noblest Experiment In The Galaxy' / ⭐️⭐️⭐️ / I love spy-fy bullshit but the layers upon layers of double-and-triple agents were needlessly confusing when the story was, in fact, quite simple. If it was supposed to be satirical I couldn't tell. Also - I couldn't help giggling because the sonic laser guns were unironically called 'vibrators.'

[SciFiOne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ace Double Novel 441-05595-075
Noblest Exp In The Galaxy, Louis Trimble, grade B+
Communipaths, Susette Haden Elgin, grade C

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Communipaths is a very well-done story in which the Galactic bureaucracy has to draft a powerful telepath (telepathy being the only method of rapid interstellar communication) as a "Communipath" only to discover the psi is actually an infant. Tragedy ensues. I was particularly impressed with how Elgin shifts between points of view without losing the plot threads.

"Noblest Experiment" is the equivalent of the bottom half of a movie double bill, the kind of film not good enough to bring in an audience on its own. A corporate conspiracy has set up a model Victorian town on an alien world. But why? Agents infiltrate the town to investigate ... and spend most of their time sitting around talking. This was a dull one.