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The Electric Crocodile
In 1933, the physicist Kapitza ordered, for the facade of his new laboratory, a crocodile's head, in steel.
The Crocodile of science.
The crocodile cannot turn its head. Like science, it must always go forward with all-devouring jaws. The inevitable logic of discovery marches to inescapable conclusions.
But must it? Can the future be manipulated?
At the Colindale Institute they knew that control was possible. By the Institute. But only if the fact of control and the techniques of control were kept absolutely secret.
The Crocodile of science.
The crocodile cannot turn its head. Like science, it must always go forward with all-devouring jaws. The inevitable logic of discovery marches to inescapable conclusions.
But must it? Can the future be manipulated?
At the Colindale Institute they knew that control was possible. By the Institute. But only if the fact of control and the techniques of control were kept absolutely secret.
222 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
5 people are currently reading
235 people want to read
About the author
D.G. Compton
47 books36 followersDavid Guy Compton has published science fiction as D.G. Compton. He has also published crime novels as Guy Compton and Gothic fiction as Frances Lynch.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
December 25, 2015
Written around 1970, this excellent novel is about the coming world of omnipresent surveillance and centralized computing. The science fiction content is minimal; really this is a novel of ideas about the end of the Enlightenment which we are seeing play out all the time in 2015.
Here we have a terrorist plot to destroy the Bohn, an artificial intelligence computer with a mandate to sabotage technological advances that humanity is not yet ready for. The elite scientists of a technology think tank called Colindale have decided to harness the power of the Bohn to guide technological advancement away from being a "steel crocodile", science as an unstoppable, devouring force, and into a logical, rational, greatest good development.
Of course deciding the greater good is left to these great men, and the greater good must be decided via intrusive surveillance, ever more powerful computing and even the occasional assassination.
The female lead is a religious catholic, who senses the inherent potential for evil in the Colindale scheme. Her husband Matthew is an acclaimed sociologist recently brought in to the elite group, and her brother Paul is a dedicated terrorist against the project. Humanity, technology, religion, social science and fanaticism all collide in this unknown, unread humdinger. Recommended; my first Compton and will certainly not be the last.
Here we have a terrorist plot to destroy the Bohn, an artificial intelligence computer with a mandate to sabotage technological advances that humanity is not yet ready for. The elite scientists of a technology think tank called Colindale have decided to harness the power of the Bohn to guide technological advancement away from being a "steel crocodile", science as an unstoppable, devouring force, and into a logical, rational, greatest good development.
Of course deciding the greater good is left to these great men, and the greater good must be decided via intrusive surveillance, ever more powerful computing and even the occasional assassination.
The female lead is a religious catholic, who senses the inherent potential for evil in the Colindale scheme. Her husband Matthew is an acclaimed sociologist recently brought in to the elite group, and her brother Paul is a dedicated terrorist against the project. Humanity, technology, religion, social science and fanaticism all collide in this unknown, unread humdinger. Recommended; my first Compton and will certainly not be the last.
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June 15, 2018Social sci-fi about the struggle between the soulless tendencies of the modern technocratic state against individual idiot’s right to self-determination. Strong, basically well written, Compton has a legit talent for swiftly modeling complex social dynamics, not generally a common feature of sci-fi stories. Downside is a lot of it has to do with computers, which, if you’ve ever read anything about computers before the development of the personal computer, depicts a vision of the future so gloriously inaccurate that it’s kind of hard to take seriously. The fear of an omnipresent media desperate for any sort of emotional provocation which Compton deals with in Continous Katherin Mortenhoe seems much more on point.
January 12, 2016
Hard to find and under appreciated, I rather enjoyed this odd duck.
Set in a not too distant future England, ensconced in a Post-Industrial, Pan-European hegemony. The story follows a class conscious young married couple Matthew and Abigail. He is a rising star of Academia (Sociology) and she the dutiful Catholic wife making tea and tending the garden.
By this time most diseases are cured and no one works more than twenty hours a week. It appears that actually few people have jobs and are quite indolent. So much so that it leads to a quaint sort of Anarchist underground that wants to return to the time when you got your hands dirty and were allowed to be sad.
Everyone is watched, and seldom seems to mind. I wonder if this was foreshadowing of the CCTV surveillance industry of today's England.
Matthew is offered a new job working for a nebulous organization with a big computer that seems to worry the Anarchists and the Civil Liberties Committee.
I think Compton "stuck the landing" and the bits in the middle were well done also. It appears that the editor was asleep at the wheel for this one and there are a number of mix-ups in the text.
For it's time it was quite prescient, if not for the technology, more so for the societal changes and problems of the European Union.
I plan on tracking down other Compton books in the future.
Set in a not too distant future England, ensconced in a Post-Industrial, Pan-European hegemony. The story follows a class conscious young married couple Matthew and Abigail. He is a rising star of Academia (Sociology) and she the dutiful Catholic wife making tea and tending the garden.
By this time most diseases are cured and no one works more than twenty hours a week. It appears that actually few people have jobs and are quite indolent. So much so that it leads to a quaint sort of Anarchist underground that wants to return to the time when you got your hands dirty and were allowed to be sad.
Everyone is watched, and seldom seems to mind. I wonder if this was foreshadowing of the CCTV surveillance industry of today's England.
Matthew is offered a new job working for a nebulous organization with a big computer that seems to worry the Anarchists and the Civil Liberties Committee.
I think Compton "stuck the landing" and the bits in the middle were well done also. It appears that the editor was asleep at the wheel for this one and there are a number of mix-ups in the text.
For it's time it was quite prescient, if not for the technology, more so for the societal changes and problems of the European Union.
I plan on tracking down other Compton books in the future.
March 26, 2016
The first few pages painted an interesting premise, setting up a dystopian police-state in which reality is ever so slightly out of whack (22 hours in a day, etc). The problem is, then it shifts to covering the life of what turn out to be the central couple, both of whom are immensely, tediously, dull, and, though I am sure their lives are very splendid, I really don't need to know about their rather slow-moving domestic activities. So, in spite of it all, I just couldn't summon up sufficient interest to want to finish the thing...
March 21, 2023
Dit is een boek onder de vlag science-fiction maar ondertussen is dat science noch fictie. Het is achterhaald en voorbijgestreefd en door ChatGPT dat nu de voorpagina's haalt is het toch weer super aktueel. Al moet gezegd, het boek toont vooral hoe de auteur vreesde dat de toekomst door computers zou gedomineerd worden. Computers die zo geavanceerd zouden worden dat ze konden gebruikt worden om de wereld te domineren.
En hij zat er compleet naast. De computer die beschreven wordt noemen we nu een zakrekenmachine met beperkte mogelijkheden. Maar de achterliggende gedachte van het bepalen van wat men mag en zelfs moet denken... ja, dat zijn nu de sociale media met hun linkse censuur, facebook en google op kop. Inderdaad, zij beïnvloeden als masters of the universe het wereld gedachtengoed en worden door politieke partijen gebruikt en misbruikt. Artificial Intelligence staat nog maar in zijn kinderschoenen, quantum computing hint nog maar op toekomstige mogelijkheden en ze zorgen al voor onnoemelijk veel controverses. Door hun beperkingen en mogelijkheden tot misbruik. Ook in die zin is dit boek een onschuldig kinderverhaaltje dat door de tijd achterhaald en gevaarlijk voorbijgestreefd is.
Geschikt voor wie zich in de geschiedenis (via scifi!) van de huidige technologische evolutie wil verdiepen. De voordelen zijn gekend, de gevaren bestaan ook.
En hij zat er compleet naast. De computer die beschreven wordt noemen we nu een zakrekenmachine met beperkte mogelijkheden. Maar de achterliggende gedachte van het bepalen van wat men mag en zelfs moet denken... ja, dat zijn nu de sociale media met hun linkse censuur, facebook en google op kop. Inderdaad, zij beïnvloeden als masters of the universe het wereld gedachtengoed en worden door politieke partijen gebruikt en misbruikt. Artificial Intelligence staat nog maar in zijn kinderschoenen, quantum computing hint nog maar op toekomstige mogelijkheden en ze zorgen al voor onnoemelijk veel controverses. Door hun beperkingen en mogelijkheden tot misbruik. Ook in die zin is dit boek een onschuldig kinderverhaaltje dat door de tijd achterhaald en gevaarlijk voorbijgestreefd is.
Geschikt voor wie zich in de geschiedenis (via scifi!) van de huidige technologische evolutie wil verdiepen. De voordelen zijn gekend, de gevaren bestaan ook.
September 12, 2023
In einem Polizeistaat. Der Protagonist wird von einem alten Freund überredet, einen Job in einem mysteriösen Institut anzunehmen. Seine Untergrundorganisation will rausfinden, was da vorgeht. Dann wird er ermordet.
Hört sich spannend und rasant an, aber es war recht langweilig. Es geht eher um den Protagonisten und seine Partnerin und ihr Alltagsgeplänkel. Das ist nicht gerade fesselnd. Ich musste leider abbrechen.
Hört sich spannend und rasant an, aber es war recht langweilig. Es geht eher um den Protagonisten und seine Partnerin und ihr Alltagsgeplänkel. Das ist nicht gerade fesselnd. Ich musste leider abbrechen.
July 21, 2023
The "steel crocodile" is a reference to the supposed fact that crocodiles cannot turn their heads. I don't know if that's actually true of crocodiles. Regardless, it works reasonably well as a metaphor for a kind of tunnel vision and, perhaps, reckless forward movement in scientific pursuits and a fetish for linearly-concatenated experiences as the basis for ultimate truth.
Ultimately, it seems a little unfair to suppose that science is the "steel crocodile" in this case, but maybe there is a case for applying the metaphor to the AI that becomes the focus of the book. Many of us now accept as true that in our algorithmic culture created by media technology, assistive information technologies, and artificial intelligence (increasingly) the biases and shortcomings of the designers and the creators of the algorithms gets baked into the systems they design. A similar theme shows up in this book in the design of the Bohn AI by the Colindale think tank.
Overall, this is an odd little book about the tension between science and religion. On that score, the book is not really very different or any more insightful than other books tackling similar themes. However, the writing was pretty solid and sophisticated and the ideas had some depth of concept and treatment.
Ultimately, it seems a little unfair to suppose that science is the "steel crocodile" in this case, but maybe there is a case for applying the metaphor to the AI that becomes the focus of the book. Many of us now accept as true that in our algorithmic culture created by media technology, assistive information technologies, and artificial intelligence (increasingly) the biases and shortcomings of the designers and the creators of the algorithms gets baked into the systems they design. A similar theme shows up in this book in the design of the Bohn AI by the Colindale think tank.
Overall, this is an odd little book about the tension between science and religion. On that score, the book is not really very different or any more insightful than other books tackling similar themes. However, the writing was pretty solid and sophisticated and the ideas had some depth of concept and treatment.
March 30, 2022
DG Compton wrote science fiction from the mid-60s to the late 90s, but I was only aware of him when I was a young teen and read his 1968 novel Synthajoy. There was something austere, clinical, and “grown-up” about the novel that I appreciated and never forgot. Hence, I re-read the book in 2017 and again admired those same aspects I detected in my youth, but I was now more aware that by “grown-up” I meant Compton was dealing with emotions and tensions around sexual relationships with a muted, English staidness.
Since re-reading Synthajoy, I’ve read three other Compton novels, and most enjoyed Chronocules for its elliptical, convoluted time-travel plot. Two unread Compton novels have sat on my shelves for a while, and I finally plucked out The Steel Crocodile. This novel’s story of a near-future England where a bomb is planted at the state’s symbolic source of power, the Colindale Institute, reminded me of Joseph Conrad’s similarly placid “thriller”, The Secret Agent, and of Guy Fawkes’ ill-fated attempt to explode Parliament in 1605. In Conrad’s novel, the indolent communist agent Verloc is called on to do something stirring for the cause, and he chooses to blow up the Greenwich Observatory, with little to no effect other than to kill his own son.
There’s more at stake in The Steel Crocodile than simply rousing the populace and causing official embarrassment: the Colindale Institute is officially and secretly metering and controlling the flow of information/knowledge/invention throughout the European alliance to ensure stability and the greatest good. To further improve quality of life in Europe, members of the institute conclude they need to inject into the world a new religious/demagogic enthusiasm, and they seek to use its supercomputer to identify the perfect messiah. What appears to be a glitch in the computer’s output turns out to be the computer’s convoluted reference to itself as an “I” entity, that it is in fact recommending itself as the world’s next great religious leader.
That the Colindale computer has “awakened” is only one of the novel’s many themes. The primary irritant to the underground Civilian Liberties Committee (CLC) is the enforced “good life” that citizens are supposed to accept. What galls many is that they have no purpose and no avocation, and instead of a daily job they are adrift in the freedom of their leisure, all the while surveilled and catered to. Essential professions are maintained, but only a small percentage have such responsibilities (eg, the scientists at Colindale). There is growing discontent with life so easily and so emptily lived, and the CLC infiltrates Colindale to throw a sabot in the machinery.
The human interest in this sketchily-drawn world is Matthew Oliver, a sociologist, and his wife Abigail, a devout Catholic. Matthew is to be hired on at Colindale, and he is at the same time urged by the CLC to spy for them. Abigail’s father is old and healthy but wants to die, feeling useless, and her younger brother is part of the CLC’s updated gunpowder plot to bring down the false hegemony of scientific Benthanism. While in love, Matthew and Abigail are intellectually divided, and they remain haplessly at odds with one another, little able to reveal their feelings and intentions about Colindale.
While Conrad’s secret agent and Guy Fawkes were unsuccessful in destroying their targets, the CLC’s agent does damage to the Colindale computer—which leads to the deaths of Matthew, the director, and Abigail’s brother—but there is suggestion that this destruction is more nuisance than revolution. At novel’s end, Abigail survives—innocent but complicit, officially institutionalized/penalized—and anticipates her faith will sustain and guide her. Compton’s concerns are wide-ranging, but there is schematic quality to the depiction of context and characters, and the story ends up more cerebral than felt, more intriguing than moving.
The novel’s title is alluded to by Colindale’s director, when he describes the inclusion of a crocodile design on the façade of a lab built in 1933 for the physicist Pyotr Kapitza, because, the director explains, “The crocodile cannot turn its head. Like science, it must always go forward with all-devouring jaws.” By extension, the “steel crocodile” would be even more implacable… (And maybe that’s true about the crocodile’s inability to look around and behind, but my own delving into the “crocodile of science” bit revealed this: Kapitza was a young colleague of Ernest Rutherford, the New Zealand-born British physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics. Kaptiza admired Rutherford and favorably compared his approach to science as crocodilian, hence the crocodile on his laboratory: tribute to his mentor and friend.)
Since re-reading Synthajoy, I’ve read three other Compton novels, and most enjoyed Chronocules for its elliptical, convoluted time-travel plot. Two unread Compton novels have sat on my shelves for a while, and I finally plucked out The Steel Crocodile. This novel’s story of a near-future England where a bomb is planted at the state’s symbolic source of power, the Colindale Institute, reminded me of Joseph Conrad’s similarly placid “thriller”, The Secret Agent, and of Guy Fawkes’ ill-fated attempt to explode Parliament in 1605. In Conrad’s novel, the indolent communist agent Verloc is called on to do something stirring for the cause, and he chooses to blow up the Greenwich Observatory, with little to no effect other than to kill his own son.
There’s more at stake in The Steel Crocodile than simply rousing the populace and causing official embarrassment: the Colindale Institute is officially and secretly metering and controlling the flow of information/knowledge/invention throughout the European alliance to ensure stability and the greatest good. To further improve quality of life in Europe, members of the institute conclude they need to inject into the world a new religious/demagogic enthusiasm, and they seek to use its supercomputer to identify the perfect messiah. What appears to be a glitch in the computer’s output turns out to be the computer’s convoluted reference to itself as an “I” entity, that it is in fact recommending itself as the world’s next great religious leader.
That the Colindale computer has “awakened” is only one of the novel’s many themes. The primary irritant to the underground Civilian Liberties Committee (CLC) is the enforced “good life” that citizens are supposed to accept. What galls many is that they have no purpose and no avocation, and instead of a daily job they are adrift in the freedom of their leisure, all the while surveilled and catered to. Essential professions are maintained, but only a small percentage have such responsibilities (eg, the scientists at Colindale). There is growing discontent with life so easily and so emptily lived, and the CLC infiltrates Colindale to throw a sabot in the machinery.
The human interest in this sketchily-drawn world is Matthew Oliver, a sociologist, and his wife Abigail, a devout Catholic. Matthew is to be hired on at Colindale, and he is at the same time urged by the CLC to spy for them. Abigail’s father is old and healthy but wants to die, feeling useless, and her younger brother is part of the CLC’s updated gunpowder plot to bring down the false hegemony of scientific Benthanism. While in love, Matthew and Abigail are intellectually divided, and they remain haplessly at odds with one another, little able to reveal their feelings and intentions about Colindale.
While Conrad’s secret agent and Guy Fawkes were unsuccessful in destroying their targets, the CLC’s agent does damage to the Colindale computer—which leads to the deaths of Matthew, the director, and Abigail’s brother—but there is suggestion that this destruction is more nuisance than revolution. At novel’s end, Abigail survives—innocent but complicit, officially institutionalized/penalized—and anticipates her faith will sustain and guide her. Compton’s concerns are wide-ranging, but there is schematic quality to the depiction of context and characters, and the story ends up more cerebral than felt, more intriguing than moving.
The novel’s title is alluded to by Colindale’s director, when he describes the inclusion of a crocodile design on the façade of a lab built in 1933 for the physicist Pyotr Kapitza, because, the director explains, “The crocodile cannot turn its head. Like science, it must always go forward with all-devouring jaws.” By extension, the “steel crocodile” would be even more implacable… (And maybe that’s true about the crocodile’s inability to look around and behind, but my own delving into the “crocodile of science” bit revealed this: Kapitza was a young colleague of Ernest Rutherford, the New Zealand-born British physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics. Kaptiza admired Rutherford and favorably compared his approach to science as crocodilian, hence the crocodile on his laboratory: tribute to his mentor and friend.)
May 15, 2023
I've been thinking a lot recently about how seriously one should take their pleasure and if one enjoys their hobbies more if they're more discerning and analytical in regards to them. How does this concern us Goodreaders? Well, do we enjoy our fiction more if we are more critical of it? Will putting thought into the quality of the text result in gleaning more satisfaction out of it? I say yes, and I think it's because of that principle that my like of this book is greater than the level of pure enjoyment that I got from it. Conversely, I think it's why I liked the book I read after this less than the level of pure enjoyment I got out of it, but you can read my review of *Invaders From the Infinite* for those ramblings. For now, let's apply a rather conventional reviewing approach - summary, characters and plot, prose, themes, etc - to a rather unconventional story which has the honor of being my first D. G. Compton novel.
Compton throws us headfirst into this world where our main character (Oliver), a sociologist, is meeting up with an old friend who asks him to spy on the non-profit (the Colindale Institute) that recently offered him a mysterious position. He goes home to discuss both the job offer and the spying offer with his wife, Abigail, before a couple police officers show up and question Oliver; apparently his old friend was killed shortly after their meeting adjourned. Nonetheless, after Abigail meets with her brother Paul (who asks for some money since he's taking a trip to Africa), and some other little things happen that I don't recall, Oliver and Abigail move to the Colindale Institute so the former can start working as the head sociologist. The director of the program what the Institute really does, which explains why the Civil Liberties Council wanted someone to spy on it: they have ...
The two things I struggle with the most in New Wave fiction are the plot and the characters. I often feel like the plot is an afterthought and that the characters act like they're from an alternate universe with mannerisms and motivations out of sync with our own. I felt both of these things in the opening sequences of the book, but as it went on, I found our main characters - the husband and wife - and their religious differences to be very real and relatable, albeit unresolved because the plot shied away from the most interesting (and most science fictional) parts of the narrative. I thought that they were surprisingly well-drawn by the end, and that for all of the crap that I'm giving the plot, different characters weave in and out of the story in a really effective way and, in hindsight, it appears Compton competently understood where the book would end up from the get-go.
I tend to appreciate the prose of the British SF writers of the 60s and 70s (if not their stories), and Compton is no exception. He writes with good flourish and a good balance of dialogue, descriptions, and action. It just felt... right to read his prose. I don't think I got everything out of it that I could've because I read this over my college finals week and had expected fun British pulp instead of a serious and literary thought experiment, but I still enjoyed the ride and how he conveyed it.
The focal point of this novel is probably its themes. This story deals with belief in higher powers and what right (if any) that humans have to play God and all of these fantastic things that I love in my science fiction. Religion is just so interesting, and while many science fiction writers don't understand all of the glorious baggage that comes with it, Compton does. And the whole allegory of a crocodile statue representing that science can only look forwards, and the implications that marinate in this, just... God, so good. Some of this book at its subject matter even reminds me of *1984* because of its surveillance. That being said, the surveillance in *The Steel Crocodile* is more flippant and, well, British than it was to George Orwell; when Oliver deals with the cops, they accusingly remind Oliver that he evaded his tail and flushed the tracking device they put on him. Oliver's response? "It was well within my rights."
All of those things about the great subject matter being said, I don't think that *The Steel Crocodile* lived up to the gargantuan image and appraisal I have of its religious subject matter. It's hard to explain exactly what I'm feeling - maybe this whole review just seems like a winding rant - but I think the book focused too much on its domestic crisis in comparison to the really big, world-fate-deciding questions it almost asked. There's just so much epic potential here, but it was kind of washed away by the New-Waveyness of it all. My opinion might be in the minority, but that's what I felt upon finishing this book. I think that I owe it a reread a year or two down the line when I'm not so stressed about life and I might be able to appreciate it for all that it is a little bit more.
Even though I think I need a reread to wholly appreciate this book, I still had a good time with it and think that it fills a sparse niche in science fiction; I'll give it a 7.5/10. When I was reading some parts I wondered if an 8.5 was on the table, especially since I want to love this book, but now, I don't think I could even consider that until I give this book another go. Until then, it will exist in this weird mental purgatory in my library, but I'll try to fill that gap with some other Compton novels. We'll see if the used-book-hunting gods are gracious enough to let me find some. Until then, I'll be reading science fiction of the more and less conventional types. Here's hoping that next time I stumble upon religious SF, it's as good and thoughtful as this.
Compton throws us headfirst into this world where our main character (Oliver), a sociologist, is meeting up with an old friend who asks him to spy on the non-profit (the Colindale Institute) that recently offered him a mysterious position. He goes home to discuss both the job offer and the spying offer with his wife, Abigail, before a couple police officers show up and question Oliver; apparently his old friend was killed shortly after their meeting adjourned. Nonetheless, after Abigail meets with her brother Paul (who asks for some money since he's taking a trip to Africa), and some other little things happen that I don't recall, Oliver and Abigail move to the Colindale Institute so the former can start working as the head sociologist. The director of the program what the Institute really does, which explains why the Civil Liberties Council wanted someone to spy on it: they have ...
The two things I struggle with the most in New Wave fiction are the plot and the characters. I often feel like the plot is an afterthought and that the characters act like they're from an alternate universe with mannerisms and motivations out of sync with our own. I felt both of these things in the opening sequences of the book, but as it went on, I found our main characters - the husband and wife - and their religious differences to be very real and relatable, albeit unresolved because the plot shied away from the most interesting (and most science fictional) parts of the narrative. I thought that they were surprisingly well-drawn by the end, and that for all of the crap that I'm giving the plot, different characters weave in and out of the story in a really effective way and, in hindsight, it appears Compton competently understood where the book would end up from the get-go.
I tend to appreciate the prose of the British SF writers of the 60s and 70s (if not their stories), and Compton is no exception. He writes with good flourish and a good balance of dialogue, descriptions, and action. It just felt... right to read his prose. I don't think I got everything out of it that I could've because I read this over my college finals week and had expected fun British pulp instead of a serious and literary thought experiment, but I still enjoyed the ride and how he conveyed it.
The focal point of this novel is probably its themes. This story deals with belief in higher powers and what right (if any) that humans have to play God and all of these fantastic things that I love in my science fiction. Religion is just so interesting, and while many science fiction writers don't understand all of the glorious baggage that comes with it, Compton does. And the whole allegory of a crocodile statue representing that science can only look forwards, and the implications that marinate in this, just... God, so good. Some of this book at its subject matter even reminds me of *1984* because of its surveillance. That being said, the surveillance in *The Steel Crocodile* is more flippant and, well, British than it was to George Orwell; when Oliver deals with the cops, they accusingly remind Oliver that he evaded his tail and flushed the tracking device they put on him. Oliver's response? "It was well within my rights."
All of those things about the great subject matter being said, I don't think that *The Steel Crocodile* lived up to the gargantuan image and appraisal I have of its religious subject matter. It's hard to explain exactly what I'm feeling - maybe this whole review just seems like a winding rant - but I think the book focused too much on its domestic crisis in comparison to the really big, world-fate-deciding questions it almost asked. There's just so much epic potential here, but it was kind of washed away by the New-Waveyness of it all. My opinion might be in the minority, but that's what I felt upon finishing this book. I think that I owe it a reread a year or two down the line when I'm not so stressed about life and I might be able to appreciate it for all that it is a little bit more.
Even though I think I need a reread to wholly appreciate this book, I still had a good time with it and think that it fills a sparse niche in science fiction; I'll give it a 7.5/10. When I was reading some parts I wondered if an 8.5 was on the table, especially since I want to love this book, but now, I don't think I could even consider that until I give this book another go. Until then, it will exist in this weird mental purgatory in my library, but I'll try to fill that gap with some other Compton novels. We'll see if the used-book-hunting gods are gracious enough to let me find some. Until then, I'll be reading science fiction of the more and less conventional types. Here's hoping that next time I stumble upon religious SF, it's as good and thoughtful as this.
May 18, 2020
More compelling, intelligent, well-written science fiction from Compton. His books are either great or awful, there seems to be no in-between. This one's as solid as "Synthajoy" and "The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe."
March 24, 2024
In the future, do we want a super-computer to give us the schematic for Finally Peace on Earth, with part of the scenario being that the birth, care, and info-feeding of the computer is done by one small group of well-meaning scientists? I was immediately dubious of wanting what’s on display here as my future, because the peace program would involve concocting a belief system - a new religion, presumably with charismatic leader (sometimes I have a hard time understanding what the heck they’re feeding into the AI and what is supposed to come out…but this works very well for instilling the sense that either what is beyond me, or what is being kept from me by use of jargon and genius-speak, is in fact not fully to be trusted!) - and no matter what computer tries to push me around on world peace and how to taste, I’m not sure this premise gets us there…
But then again, it’s my doubts about any of this being a swell idea, mixed with my belief that this or some off-god-full variation of this just could be how we go in the future, that had me hooked from the opening chapters making it all instantly suspect of crash-and-conflagration. This is easily my favourite book by Compton, a writer I tend to struggle with, in terms of his entire bag of tricks; pace, style, character, plot, mood, conclusions, total effect…he has not emerged as a favourite, while at the same time I’ve always been curious to have another go. This is the one for me.
I love that the AI domination fears are completely paired off with worrying about a select group of males controlling the computer. Newcomer to the project, Matthew Oliver - who is replacing someone who died mysteriously- seems just as dubious as me the reader about the Colindale project, even before he gets to pass through the doors that lead to the top secrets. All the scientists he’ll be working with or for just glow with confidence that it’s all for the Earth’s best, no rotten apples here, for sure, we’re the ones who can do this right. But a mysterious death that may have happened to quell dissent, suggests an ends justifies the means/we know best nothing can stop us attitude, makes me wonder how horrible this quest for peace could get. Rotten apples in a holey basket? For better or worse, Matthew and his wife Abigail have links to an underground organization that would not hesitate this kind of thing apart, even through violence, but security is apparently so tight on the grounds of the Colindale project - everyone works and lives there - that even if Matthew decides to turn against the project, it would be hard to get help.
Actually, the book suggest a ‘surveillance state’ future, with the Think Tank enclave being the epitome of this aspect of daily life. At first, I thought the novel was a bit two-faced when necessary, when it comes to this part of the story and environment - surveillance culture is not the main concern of the story, I would say, but even though Compton does not hit us over the head with a menacing approach to eyes and ears everywhere, it’s clear that privacy is tough to come by. Matthew and Abigail have to accept microphones throughout the new home, and an assigned person tailing each of them when they, uh, move.
Then the plot requires that one of them be able to shake a tail and ditch surveillance, and as I realized this is where the story was going, I felt that the book was being a bit floppy in its rules. If a non-expert like Matthew or Abigail can slough off this level of paranoid surveillance so the story can take its next turn…well, I just started thinking of the James Bond film Die Another Day. Specifically, the invisible car- which tries to work on the Conveniently Works/Conveniently Busted rule. We put an invisible car in, because it’s cool. We have James Bond show off the uses for an invisible car a couple of times because it’s cool. However, up comes the car chase. Well what the hell can you do with an invisible car in a car chase? What a stupid, boring car chase, if we can’t see one of the cars! So, of course the invisibility function fails, just for the car chase. But then, the invisibility function comes back online just at the very second Bond needs it to, to take out a villain with a spectacular trick. All very cool. No, not really. We’ve just been manipulated by contrived, sloppy writing moves the goal posts anywhere it wants (and what’s an invisible car doing in a Bond movie anyway, and what’s with all the awful CGI).
Anyway, I feared something similar with Compton’s build-up of constant, paranoid, unbreakable surveillance only to have amateurs breaking it left, right, and off-center into a sudden blind spot (!?), but without giving anything away, the Die Another Day comparison thankfully doesn’t quite hold up, as Compton handles even this potentially tricky part of this excellent novel very well.
This novel clutched and squeezed me, start to finish. First time with Compton I didn’t feel a bit detached. Initially, I thought of a book called The Sand Men by Christopher Fowler - or even Super-Cannes by Ballard - but I had a better time with this one, whereas Ballard and Fowler, at least with those specific books, did detach me from what was happening. The Steel Crocodile is not perfect, but it is relevant, and compelling, still.
But then again, it’s my doubts about any of this being a swell idea, mixed with my belief that this or some off-god-full variation of this just could be how we go in the future, that had me hooked from the opening chapters making it all instantly suspect of crash-and-conflagration. This is easily my favourite book by Compton, a writer I tend to struggle with, in terms of his entire bag of tricks; pace, style, character, plot, mood, conclusions, total effect…he has not emerged as a favourite, while at the same time I’ve always been curious to have another go. This is the one for me.
I love that the AI domination fears are completely paired off with worrying about a select group of males controlling the computer. Newcomer to the project, Matthew Oliver - who is replacing someone who died mysteriously- seems just as dubious as me the reader about the Colindale project, even before he gets to pass through the doors that lead to the top secrets. All the scientists he’ll be working with or for just glow with confidence that it’s all for the Earth’s best, no rotten apples here, for sure, we’re the ones who can do this right. But a mysterious death that may have happened to quell dissent, suggests an ends justifies the means/we know best nothing can stop us attitude, makes me wonder how horrible this quest for peace could get. Rotten apples in a holey basket? For better or worse, Matthew and his wife Abigail have links to an underground organization that would not hesitate this kind of thing apart, even through violence, but security is apparently so tight on the grounds of the Colindale project - everyone works and lives there - that even if Matthew decides to turn against the project, it would be hard to get help.
Actually, the book suggest a ‘surveillance state’ future, with the Think Tank enclave being the epitome of this aspect of daily life. At first, I thought the novel was a bit two-faced when necessary, when it comes to this part of the story and environment - surveillance culture is not the main concern of the story, I would say, but even though Compton does not hit us over the head with a menacing approach to eyes and ears everywhere, it’s clear that privacy is tough to come by. Matthew and Abigail have to accept microphones throughout the new home, and an assigned person tailing each of them when they, uh, move.
Then the plot requires that one of them be able to shake a tail and ditch surveillance, and as I realized this is where the story was going, I felt that the book was being a bit floppy in its rules. If a non-expert like Matthew or Abigail can slough off this level of paranoid surveillance so the story can take its next turn…well, I just started thinking of the James Bond film Die Another Day. Specifically, the invisible car- which tries to work on the Conveniently Works/Conveniently Busted rule. We put an invisible car in, because it’s cool. We have James Bond show off the uses for an invisible car a couple of times because it’s cool. However, up comes the car chase. Well what the hell can you do with an invisible car in a car chase? What a stupid, boring car chase, if we can’t see one of the cars! So, of course the invisibility function fails, just for the car chase. But then, the invisibility function comes back online just at the very second Bond needs it to, to take out a villain with a spectacular trick. All very cool. No, not really. We’ve just been manipulated by contrived, sloppy writing moves the goal posts anywhere it wants (and what’s an invisible car doing in a Bond movie anyway, and what’s with all the awful CGI).
Anyway, I feared something similar with Compton’s build-up of constant, paranoid, unbreakable surveillance only to have amateurs breaking it left, right, and off-center into a sudden blind spot (!?), but without giving anything away, the Die Another Day comparison thankfully doesn’t quite hold up, as Compton handles even this potentially tricky part of this excellent novel very well.
This novel clutched and squeezed me, start to finish. First time with Compton I didn’t feel a bit detached. Initially, I thought of a book called The Sand Men by Christopher Fowler - or even Super-Cannes by Ballard - but I had a better time with this one, whereas Ballard and Fowler, at least with those specific books, did detach me from what was happening. The Steel Crocodile is not perfect, but it is relevant, and compelling, still.
March 20, 2021
Dit is een van die romans waar je met lange tanden aan begint en er dan achter komt dat je het eigenlijk een heel leuk verhaal vind. Waarom lange tanden? Geen idee eigenlijk, misschien omdat ik er een flink aantal bladzijden over moest doen om er echt in te komen. De hele roman bestaat voornamelijk uit dialoog en de gedachten die de twee hoofdpersonen hebben bij alles wat wordt gezegd en wat gebeurt en vooral over elkaar.
Waar gaat het over? Een belangrijk wetenschapper krijgt een baan bij een prestigieus instituut waar de grootste computer van die tijd staat. Wat daarmee gedaan wordt uiterst geheim gehouden en dus ook door mij, het is leuker om zelf uit te vinden wat die wetenschappers daar in dat instituut aan het uitbroeden zijn. Je ziet het in ieder geval niet van verre aankomen, maar blijkt wel allemaal heel netjes in elkaar te passen achteraf. Hij gaat met zijn vrouw Abigail op de campus wonen wat een gouden kooi blijkt waar het de inwoners aan niets ontbreekt, maar de repressie en surveillance nog verder gaan dan in de buitenwereld. Tegelijk is zijn voorganger op een akelige manier vermoord en zijn de schuldigen nog niet opgespoord.
Dit boek zit niet alleen knap in elkaar, maar het is ook vanuit de 60s een akelig accurate voorspelling van zowel de technologische als de maatschappelijke ontwikkelingen die we momenteel doormaken. Compton is geen technofan en beschrijft de wereld zoals die zich aan de gemiddelde bewoner zal voordoen, daardoor blijft het geschetste beeld geloofwaardiger dan in de romans waar een concreter beschrijving van de technologie wordt gegeven. Vooral de manier waarop de surveillance in het leven van de hoofdpersonen doordringt kan ik één op één in de huidige tijd verplaatsen. Meerdere keren heb ik mij verbaasd dat thema's en observaties uit dit boek nog steeds actueel zijn. Zoals het niet meer terugdraaien van bevoegdheden van overheden die onder de mantel van een noodtoestand zijn toegekend.
Het boek is achteraf beschouwd, Qua plot heel netjes opgebouwd. Je ziet de twist niet aankomen terwijl het achteraf duidelijk is dat alle draadjes netjes in elkaar geweven zijn. Dat maakt het einde, dat niet echt happy is, of een echte climax heeft, wel heel erg bevredigend.
Waar ik mij oorspronkelijk aan de dialogen tussen Matthew en Abigail en hun innerlijke gedachten ergerde, wordt het juist daardoor duidelijk dat ze in een paar dagen volledig uit elkaar groeien. Dat het zaad van die verwijdering eigenlijk al langer geleden gezaaid is wordt allengs duidelijk. De overlappende tijdsramen en verschillende belevingen van dezelfde gebeurtenissen worden zelfs iets waar je naar verloop van tijd aan went en naar uitkijkt. Door de wispelturigheid en opvlammende emoties van beiden zo minitieus in kaart te brengen en ook door de scherpe observatie van de schrijver hoe mensen zichzelf voor de gek kunnen houden komen Matthew en Abigail over als echte mensen in een waanzinnige wereld.
Ik kende D.G. Compton niet als een grote naam in SF hoewel ik zijn boek al meer dan 30 jaar in de kast heb staan en in het enkele interview dat ik online kon vinden blijkt ook dat hij zichzelf nooit als een echte SF auteur beschouwt heeft. Hij vindt zichzelf eigenlijk een soort door de SF gemeenschap geadopteerde broodschrijver. Hij klinkt min of meer verbaast dat hij SF geproduceerd bleek te hebben. Compton wijkt voor zover ik kan zien in die zin van de typische SF schrijver af, dat hij klinkt als een echt mens die op papier ook geloofwaardige mensen weet te produceren. Ik zal proberen ook zijn andere boeken te lokaliseren en te lezen. Compton is wat mij betreft zeer de moeite waard gebleken.
Waar gaat het over? Een belangrijk wetenschapper krijgt een baan bij een prestigieus instituut waar de grootste computer van die tijd staat. Wat daarmee gedaan wordt uiterst geheim gehouden en dus ook door mij, het is leuker om zelf uit te vinden wat die wetenschappers daar in dat instituut aan het uitbroeden zijn. Je ziet het in ieder geval niet van verre aankomen, maar blijkt wel allemaal heel netjes in elkaar te passen achteraf. Hij gaat met zijn vrouw Abigail op de campus wonen wat een gouden kooi blijkt waar het de inwoners aan niets ontbreekt, maar de repressie en surveillance nog verder gaan dan in de buitenwereld. Tegelijk is zijn voorganger op een akelige manier vermoord en zijn de schuldigen nog niet opgespoord.
Dit boek zit niet alleen knap in elkaar, maar het is ook vanuit de 60s een akelig accurate voorspelling van zowel de technologische als de maatschappelijke ontwikkelingen die we momenteel doormaken. Compton is geen technofan en beschrijft de wereld zoals die zich aan de gemiddelde bewoner zal voordoen, daardoor blijft het geschetste beeld geloofwaardiger dan in de romans waar een concreter beschrijving van de technologie wordt gegeven. Vooral de manier waarop de surveillance in het leven van de hoofdpersonen doordringt kan ik één op één in de huidige tijd verplaatsen. Meerdere keren heb ik mij verbaasd dat thema's en observaties uit dit boek nog steeds actueel zijn. Zoals het niet meer terugdraaien van bevoegdheden van overheden die onder de mantel van een noodtoestand zijn toegekend.
Het boek is achteraf beschouwd, Qua plot heel netjes opgebouwd. Je ziet de twist niet aankomen terwijl het achteraf duidelijk is dat alle draadjes netjes in elkaar geweven zijn. Dat maakt het einde, dat niet echt happy is, of een echte climax heeft, wel heel erg bevredigend.
Waar ik mij oorspronkelijk aan de dialogen tussen Matthew en Abigail en hun innerlijke gedachten ergerde, wordt het juist daardoor duidelijk dat ze in een paar dagen volledig uit elkaar groeien. Dat het zaad van die verwijdering eigenlijk al langer geleden gezaaid is wordt allengs duidelijk. De overlappende tijdsramen en verschillende belevingen van dezelfde gebeurtenissen worden zelfs iets waar je naar verloop van tijd aan went en naar uitkijkt. Door de wispelturigheid en opvlammende emoties van beiden zo minitieus in kaart te brengen en ook door de scherpe observatie van de schrijver hoe mensen zichzelf voor de gek kunnen houden komen Matthew en Abigail over als echte mensen in een waanzinnige wereld.
Ik kende D.G. Compton niet als een grote naam in SF hoewel ik zijn boek al meer dan 30 jaar in de kast heb staan en in het enkele interview dat ik online kon vinden blijkt ook dat hij zichzelf nooit als een echte SF auteur beschouwt heeft. Hij vindt zichzelf eigenlijk een soort door de SF gemeenschap geadopteerde broodschrijver. Hij klinkt min of meer verbaast dat hij SF geproduceerd bleek te hebben. Compton wijkt voor zover ik kan zien in die zin van de typische SF schrijver af, dat hij klinkt als een echt mens die op papier ook geloofwaardige mensen weet te produceren. Ik zal proberen ook zijn andere boeken te lokaliseren en te lezen. Compton is wat mij betreft zeer de moeite waard gebleken.
September 19, 2017
On a scene-by-scene level, generally very well written. It has more literary pretension than most Science Fiction of its era and the most compelling part of the book is when scenes are re-told from a different character's point of view. At the center of the story are a loving husband and wife, and it's nice to see how sometimes an argument is not an argument to both parties and how they react differently to other characters.
The hardest part of the story for me were the cultural assumptions. I /think/ they were implying one character was gay? Or just really randy? I'm so not sure because the characters skip over any direct references to such things and I think if I were a person of the late 60s I would "get it".
Although considerable effort and nuance is given to the lead female character, UGH the sexism is not charming. After pointing out again and again that there are women working all over the place, we meet a man and a man and a man and a man and a man and then finally, eventually, there's one scientist who is a woman and after she is introduced we are told "Equality at last!" Dearheart? One out of 90 is not 50%. Kiss kiss. I think it would be less egregious if the author hadn't hung a lampshade on it?
And the Euro-centricism! Oh Your God. There is a point where they mention doing research on religions, but of course mostly Judeo-Christian, with the implication that there AREN'T SOURCES for other religions. Mmm hmmm. And don't get me started with the throwaway, colonial references to Africa.
It's not the worst offender I've read, but as this book came out in 1970 not 1940 I expected better.
Also, I'm afraid the ending is depressing and sad, one of those where the actions of the characters are ultimately pointless. I suspect we're supposed to have some sort of opinion on religion to make it feel like it mattered?
The hardest part of the story for me were the cultural assumptions. I /think/ they were implying one character was gay? Or just really randy? I'm so not sure because the characters skip over any direct references to such things and I think if I were a person of the late 60s I would "get it".
Although considerable effort and nuance is given to the lead female character, UGH the sexism is not charming. After pointing out again and again that there are women working all over the place, we meet a man and a man and a man and a man and a man and then finally, eventually, there's one scientist who is a woman and after she is introduced we are told "Equality at last!" Dearheart? One out of 90 is not 50%. Kiss kiss. I think it would be less egregious if the author hadn't hung a lampshade on it?
And the Euro-centricism! Oh Your God. There is a point where they mention doing research on religions, but of course mostly Judeo-Christian, with the implication that there AREN'T SOURCES for other religions. Mmm hmmm. And don't get me started with the throwaway, colonial references to Africa.
It's not the worst offender I've read, but as this book came out in 1970 not 1940 I expected better.
Also, I'm afraid the ending is depressing and sad, one of those where the actions of the characters are ultimately pointless. I suspect we're supposed to have some sort of opinion on religion to make it feel like it mattered?
July 27, 2022
I had never heard of this book or its author before running across it at the used bookstore; research tells me that it was a Nebula nominee the year before I was born, but then it pretty much disappeared with little presence in ensuing years.
Against the backdrop of its obscurity, I can declare this the best novel I've "discovered" with no inkling of its pedigree.
Written right when the furor of the late '60s made predicting the near future absolutely impossible, it nevertheless does that, positing a Britain a couple of decades after its publishing date -- one in which higher-education demonstrations and riots had changed the face of society, in which the government had taken to itself various "emergency" powers of surveillance which of course never expired (how resonant), and in which the public dole had removed everyone in society of blue-collar or lower class.
But it's also the personal world of our two protagonists, man and wife, he a sociologist invited to participate in a think-tank whose very existence annoys the tiny core of libertarianism in his mind, she a Catholic always trying to resolve the world she lives and the husband she loves to her faith.
Because of the latter, it's a "Christian" novel in the same sense that it's a "British" novel -- not that it's meant only for that audience or that it explicitly supports and promotes that worldview, but in that the flavor of that subject matter permeates it. It might be the most wholly Christian and British science fiction novel since C.S. Lewis' THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH, with a healthy dollop of "1984 prequel."
Highly recommended, but you can't borrow my copy.
Against the backdrop of its obscurity, I can declare this the best novel I've "discovered" with no inkling of its pedigree.
Written right when the furor of the late '60s made predicting the near future absolutely impossible, it nevertheless does that, positing a Britain a couple of decades after its publishing date -- one in which higher-education demonstrations and riots had changed the face of society, in which the government had taken to itself various "emergency" powers of surveillance which of course never expired (how resonant), and in which the public dole had removed everyone in society of blue-collar or lower class.
But it's also the personal world of our two protagonists, man and wife, he a sociologist invited to participate in a think-tank whose very existence annoys the tiny core of libertarianism in his mind, she a Catholic always trying to resolve the world she lives and the husband she loves to her faith.
Because of the latter, it's a "Christian" novel in the same sense that it's a "British" novel -- not that it's meant only for that audience or that it explicitly supports and promotes that worldview, but in that the flavor of that subject matter permeates it. It might be the most wholly Christian and British science fiction novel since C.S. Lewis' THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH, with a healthy dollop of "1984 prequel."
Highly recommended, but you can't borrow my copy.
July 27, 2017
I enjoyed The Steel Crocodile. That being said, one must take into account what I term the British reserve. This is not in any way a shoot-em-up, slam-bang action thriller, even though there are killings and bombings.
The story deals with a computer that has access to all knowledge, but can also "predict" according to the inputs of unrelated fields, where the next little while will lead and its consequences. Now the problem is not so much the machine and its predictions, but the brain-trust behind the secret cabal, that has control over how to use the information. These people are playing God with the whole European establishment.
The story revolves around Matthew and his wife Abigail being selected to join this elite group. This involves moving, as the entire group live under, pretty much, lock and key. They find that there home is bugged, they have people tailing them wherever they go, all in the name of security for this project. This struck home as I compared it to a lot of events that are happening in today's world. This novel is from 1970.
D. G. Compton gives you characters that you can relate to and feel for. He turns up the tension until the explosive finale. I will be reading more from Mr. Compton.
The story deals with a computer that has access to all knowledge, but can also "predict" according to the inputs of unrelated fields, where the next little while will lead and its consequences. Now the problem is not so much the machine and its predictions, but the brain-trust behind the secret cabal, that has control over how to use the information. These people are playing God with the whole European establishment.
The story revolves around Matthew and his wife Abigail being selected to join this elite group. This involves moving, as the entire group live under, pretty much, lock and key. They find that there home is bugged, they have people tailing them wherever they go, all in the name of security for this project. This struck home as I compared it to a lot of events that are happening in today's world. This novel is from 1970.
D. G. Compton gives you characters that you can relate to and feel for. He turns up the tension until the explosive finale. I will be reading more from Mr. Compton.
March 3, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"D. G. Compton’s novel The Steel Crocodile (1971) is a thoughtful yet ultimately unspectacular exploration of the intersection of religion and science. Although the work is nowhere near the level of Compton’s masterpieces (Synthajoy, The Unsleeping Eye), it infinitely surpasses the later The Missionaries (1972) which attempted to explore similar themes. I find his strong female characters extremely welcome in comparison to the standard misogyny tinged 60s/70s fare. They often surpass [...]"
"D. G. Compton’s novel The Steel Crocodile (1971) is a thoughtful yet ultimately unspectacular exploration of the intersection of religion and science. Although the work is nowhere near the level of Compton’s masterpieces (Synthajoy, The Unsleeping Eye), it infinitely surpasses the later The Missionaries (1972) which attempted to explore similar themes. I find his strong female characters extremely welcome in comparison to the standard misogyny tinged 60s/70s fare. They often surpass [...]"
August 30, 2020
A short sci-fi novel in the tradition of Frankenstein. It's a "domestic weepy" about the threat of technological development and the human beings who "unwittingly" engender those developments. It is perhaps not completely successful as either literary realism in a science fiction trope, or as a taut psychological technothriller, but it is worth seeking out. The ebook is cheap for now....
September 9, 2023
Don't think the concept of predictive neural networks had yet been suggested or coined, but the societal impact of such predictive power and how it might be employed is basically what this early 1970s science fiction novel explores. Small scale but highly thoughtful, I was slightly disappointed in the abruptness of the ending but otherwise enjoyed this quick, engagingly grounded SF read.
April 6, 2024
A surreal SF novel that predicts the rise of hostile AI systems, albeit in a 1960s way, with spools and tapes and other vintage tech, set in a paranoid company compound where previous doubters and leakers end up murdered. The novel itself focuses more on the domestic drama between the scientist and his perturbed wife and is an interesting if inessential study in alienation and opaquely defined dystopia.
Read
July 30, 2022Ich habe das Buch auf deutsch gelesen. Es war angenehm zu lesen, auf eine gewisse Art spannend und es waren ein paar wichtige Gedanken für mich drin. Es war definitiv das Lesen wert und ich werde mehr dieser alten Science Fiction lesen.
March 12, 2025
4 stars: An austere, subtle infusion of tension. Like tea that tastes like soil.
Although, in all honesty I'm not sure if the success of this tone was planned, or if it is just because the author is super British.
Although, in all honesty I'm not sure if the success of this tone was planned, or if it is just because the author is super British.
June 15, 2018
Erratic writing, with abrupt point-of-view shifts and bad, unlabeled dialogue.
February 9, 2024
One of the better contemplations of the advent of (potential) AI and the social ramifications. A bit dated in certain ways, but nothing to derail the modern reader, and surprisingly (like most Compton novels) sophisticated in its portrayals.
May 16, 2012
A sci-fi book published in the early 70s it encapsulated some of the social mores and cold war era elements that one would expect. There are some mistakes and phrasing that should have been picked up by the editor that were jarring/annoying enough to interrupt the reading pleasure. On the other hand, the theme of moral guidance of science in conjunction with the ethics of scientists is well handled and still pertinent.
In fact it made me want to re-read Frankenstein.
I liked that there were subversive radical elements in the population of this imagined future - so few sci-fi writers seemed to believe that Orwell might be right and we would turn out to be such placid drones cheaply paid -off with entertainments and sweetened food.
Recommended to SF buffs who enjoy historical snapshots. No spaceships. No unicorns.
In fact it made me want to re-read Frankenstein.
I liked that there were subversive radical elements in the population of this imagined future - so few sci-fi writers seemed to believe that Orwell might be right and we would turn out to be such placid drones cheaply paid -off with entertainments and sweetened food.
Recommended to SF buffs who enjoy historical snapshots. No spaceships. No unicorns.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews