Star Probe

by Joseph Green

One of the oldest dreams of Man, contact with another intelligent species, fulfilled in 2011! But was man ready to accept the opportunity? The New Friends of the Earth, a powerful and activist radical movement dedicated to the husbanding of Earth's resources and especially to the abandonment of the Space frontier was determined that no contact should be made with the Star probe. And it had the muscle to enforce its ban.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

Hardcover

First published March 1, 1976

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Star Probe was published in 1978 and takes place in the near future of — 2011. I’m sure in 1978 the projection of the space program had a dramatic upward trend. Instead, the reality is we went in a different direction as goals changed and budgets were slashed. So the predicted capability of fiction 2011 is still greater than our capability in 2026.

Also, the idea of a world government with authority in the book seems laughably absurd. Instead we have a toothless UN that is often ignored, and probably reasonable so.

The actual issue that bothers me is that word used to describe the main character's intellectually disabled son. Although I know that it was a normal and technical term then, it is still jarring for me to read. Combined with the immorality of decisions made about him for selfish reasons rather than his well-being, was pretty gross.

The conflict between the rocket company and the Luddite environmental group was frustratingly one-sided. While the Friends of the Earth (FOE) has a defensible premise, this is never explored or developed. They become an extremist group which dilutes the tension. And it’s too bad, because taking the best arguments from each side is the good stuff. It could have elevated the first half of the book.

The book is primarily in two parts. Part one dealing with the conflict with FOE and the politics of the probe. Part two being in space and maneuvering. I thoroughly enjoyed part two. I just ate up all that space jargon and orbital physics, even if it was science dense like I prefer.

In the end, it’s an old book. A little time capsule of what we thought at the time and what we predicted the future to be like. Technologically it may be a wash, but morally we seem to be doing better.

The treatment of his son, in particular, seems so repugnantly wrong in a way the author likely didn’t intend. It reflects a different paradigm of how intellectual disability was understood. It is still sad that this is only how far we have come, but hopeful that the trend is directionally correct.

I’ll be generous and give it 3 space probes out of 5.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 2 out of 5]

The massive investments in space exploration and habitation have come to the attention of the more rabid elements of the new Friends Of The Earth (FOE) who feel the money should be better spent on the poor and hungry, ignoring all the employment, spinoffs and circulation of money that new technology makes. Harold Hentson, head of a large space corporation intends to send a mission to a newly discovered interstellar probe which is the first contact with aliens, but even that is seen by the more radical members of FOE (like the female leader Sarcoma) as counterproductive to Gaea. Hentson plans to use a computer overlay of his dead father on the mind of his idiot son to pilot the one-way suicide mission. (Let’s not examine too closely the appalling insensitivity it takes to sacrifice a son with the mind of a two-year old). Anyhoo, the rendezvous happens despite opposition at launch but Sarcoma manages to hijack a second ship and pilot with the aim of stopping the return of the alien ship and its technology. Pretty much a straw man argument against antitechnologists (who deserve much of the treatment here) but none of the characters generate any sympathy. An average and heavy-handed effort from Joseph Green.

[Jules Jones]

[2010-01-22] Astronomers discover alien space probe heading towards Earth. Fanatical environmentalists who have already killed off most of the space programme decide they have to stop any attempt to make contact with the probe, lest the people be seduced into wasting time and money on space research and high technology, when they could be fixing the problems on Earth. Wealthy space entrepreneur Henson, owner of the only private enterprise in space, sees the opportunity the probe presents, and is determined to bring the benefits to mankind.[return][return]This one was a Did Not Finish for me within the first five pages, and the next five didn't rescue it. I was just too irritated by the apparent attitude that all environmentalists are violent fanatics who are anti-technology. I can certainly find Green Puritans annoying, but this seemed to be presenting the extreme fringe as the norm. Now it's more than possible that I'm grossly misjudging the book and will find that it does address this further on; and I say that mindful of a "bailed after the first chapter" review I read recently that demonstrated exactly that problem. In fact, a quick glance at the last couple of pages suggests that it's a lot less black and white by the end. But I have a TBR mountain that's going to take me a couple of years to get through, and no particular reason to give this book another 25 pages to get my attention (unlike a couple of other books with similar annoyances which I've read). This one's going in the Oxfam box, unless the next book by this author in the TBR mountain gives me a reason to retrieve it.[return][return][Later: checking on LibraryThing, I find that I liked the author's short story in New Writings in SF 10, and the tone of that one suggests that the annoying tone of this one is an opening gambit. The book gets a reprieve, but I'll read it some other time when I'm feeling more receptive.][return][return][return]http://julesjones.livejournal.com/361...

[SciFiOne · Rating 4 out of 5]

1987 grade B-

[Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly plotted with missed opportunities in characterization and technological exploration.

[Marko]

I have the german edition: Invasion aus dem Nichts