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Sector General #2
Космически лечители
Гигантска станция се върти в космоса и там болните от всички раси и от всички светове идват да бъдат лекувани. Сега за първи път самата болница е заплашена — от същества твърде различни, за да разберат предназначението й. Но и достатъчно могъщи, за да предизвикат истински хаос.
„Галактическа болница“ беше първата от изумителните книги на Джеймс Уайт за болницата в небето. „Космически лечители“ разказва за битката на Галактическата болница за оцеляване!
„Галактическа болница“ беше първата от изумителните книги на Джеймс Уайт за болницата в небето. „Космически лечители“ разказва за битката на Галактическата болница за оцеляване!
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
6 people are currently reading
454 people want to read
About the author
James White
94 books134 followersLibrarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
James White was a Northern Irish author of science fiction novellas, short stories and novels. He was born in Belfast and returned there after spending some early years in Canada. He became a fan of science fiction in 1941 and co-wrote two fan magazines, from 1948 to 1953 and 1952 to 1965. Encouraged by other fans, White began publishing short stories in 1953, and his first novel was published in 1957. His best-known novels were the twelve of the Sector General series, the first published in 1962 and the last after his death. White also published nine other novels, two of which were nominated for major awards, unsuccessfully.
White abhorred violence, and medical and other emergencies were the sources of dramatic tension in his stories. The "Sector General" series is regarded as defining the genre of medical science fiction, and as introducing a memorable crew of aliens. Although missing winning the most prestigious honours four times, White gained other awards for specific works and for contributions to science fiction. He was also Guest-of-Honour of several conventions.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
James White was a Northern Irish author of science fiction novellas, short stories and novels. He was born in Belfast and returned there after spending some early years in Canada. He became a fan of science fiction in 1941 and co-wrote two fan magazines, from 1948 to 1953 and 1952 to 1965. Encouraged by other fans, White began publishing short stories in 1953, and his first novel was published in 1957. His best-known novels were the twelve of the Sector General series, the first published in 1962 and the last after his death. White also published nine other novels, two of which were nominated for major awards, unsuccessfully.
White abhorred violence, and medical and other emergencies were the sources of dramatic tension in his stories. The "Sector General" series is regarded as defining the genre of medical science fiction, and as introducing a memorable crew of aliens. Although missing winning the most prestigious honours four times, White gained other awards for specific works and for contributions to science fiction. He was also Guest-of-Honour of several conventions.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
August 17, 2024
Хареса ми доволно и тази втора част от историята на чудната междузвездна организация - Галактическата болница. Тя вече е изградена като хомогенен роман.
Срещаме се отново с монитора-психолог О'Мара и доктора-чудак Конуей и заедно с тях ще проследим опасните времена, застигнали ненадейно щурото им работно място.
При желание, тази книга може да се прочете самостоятелно.
Срещаме се отново с монитора-психолог О'Мара и доктора-чудак Конуей и заедно с тях ще проследим опасните времена, застигнали ненадейно щурото им работно място.
При желание, тази книга може да се прочете самостоятелно.
June 15, 2022
Star Surgeon is the second novel in the Sector General Series. Compared to the first one, Hospital Station, it is a lot more streamlined. The book still is somewhat episodic in nature, but there is a consistent story arc, following Dr. Conway and his associates trough medical, social, and in the end even military crises. It was originally published in two parts 1961 and 1962 in New Worlds, and while it has aged well, the age does show through occasionally.
The premise of the series is that of a a giant, multi-species space hospital, operated by the Galactic Federation, which has a lot in common with Star Trek's United Federation of Planets - but with real aliens. In this book, the Federation makes contact with a (comparatively small) empire, resulting in a not-so-small war. However, the focus is not on the series of space battles around the hospital, but rather on the endless stream of wounded soldiers from both sides that need treatment.
The romance of Dr. Conway and Nurse Murchison is somewhat cringeworthy from a modern perspective (she is "well endowed with shock-absorbing equipment", and the couple is once broken up by the robot concierge pointing out that they "have been in close juxtaposition for a period of two minutes forty-eight seconds", in violation of "Regulation Twenty-one, Sub-section Three regarding the entertaining of visitors in DBDG Nurses’ Quarters").
There are more, and less funny, instances of 1960s gender perception in the book ("the girls", i.e. human nurses, apparently cannot upload physiology tapes - brain recordings of alien specialists, used by doctors to quickly acquire specialised knowledge - because "their pretty little brains" would suffer "severe mental damage"). Another area where the age is visible is the computer technology. While the (single) computer of Sector General can translate between different human and alien languages, it apparently cannot do word processing or text replication. Reports are still being distributed on paper, and, if needed, copied by a writer.
Anyways, these quirks do not really distract from what is an excellent story, told well, and with a lot of humanity (if that is the right word ;-). Highly recommended. With regard to the sexism: If I remember correctly, Nurse Murchison will not only marry Dr. Conway, but will also become a doctor in her own right (and presumably learn how to handle physiology tapes in her "pretty little brain") in future volumes of the series, so this is really just a sign of the time.
The premise of the series is that of a a giant, multi-species space hospital, operated by the Galactic Federation, which has a lot in common with Star Trek's United Federation of Planets - but with real aliens. In this book, the Federation makes contact with a (comparatively small) empire, resulting in a not-so-small war. However, the focus is not on the series of space battles around the hospital, but rather on the endless stream of wounded soldiers from both sides that need treatment.
The romance of Dr. Conway and Nurse Murchison is somewhat cringeworthy from a modern perspective (she is "well endowed with shock-absorbing equipment", and the couple is once broken up by the robot concierge pointing out that they "have been in close juxtaposition for a period of two minutes forty-eight seconds", in violation of "Regulation Twenty-one, Sub-section Three regarding the entertaining of visitors in DBDG Nurses’ Quarters").
There are more, and less funny, instances of 1960s gender perception in the book ("the girls", i.e. human nurses, apparently cannot upload physiology tapes - brain recordings of alien specialists, used by doctors to quickly acquire specialised knowledge - because "their pretty little brains" would suffer "severe mental damage"). Another area where the age is visible is the computer technology. While the (single) computer of Sector General can translate between different human and alien languages, it apparently cannot do word processing or text replication. Reports are still being distributed on paper, and, if needed, copied by a writer.
Anyways, these quirks do not really distract from what is an excellent story, told well, and with a lot of humanity (if that is the right word ;-). Highly recommended. With regard to the sexism: If I remember correctly, Nurse Murchison will not only marry Dr. Conway, but will also become a doctor in her own right (and presumably learn how to handle physiology tapes in her "pretty little brain") in future volumes of the series, so this is really just a sign of the time.
February 1, 2025
Three and al half stars.
I’m starting directly with the second in the series. An optimistic and somewhat silly medical space opera, perhaps because it was conceived as a young adult novel avant la lettre.
I’m starting directly with the second in the series. An optimistic and somewhat silly medical space opera, perhaps because it was conceived as a young adult novel avant la lettre.
January 24, 2024
More fluid storytelling than the previous one, as far as I can remember it. I like Conway better as well, he comes across less stuffy. Ok, yes, there is still no decent female main character. Women are still mostly helpers, objects and „girls“.
The first case, a very ill octopoid, introduces an almost immortal alien race. Being immortal comes with its own set of disadvantages and problems. Interesting case. Very Dr. House.
I won‘t summarize the next two distinct plots, because it would be too much of a spoiler. However, the writing is a little impersonal, not an very involved and emotional account of what happened, even when Conway looses it. I don’t know if that is typical for SF from the 60s. I guess I will have to read more of the SF classics to have an informed opinion about that. I lacked an emotional connection with Conway.
Apparently people in the 60s loved eating meat and thought that eating salad was the devil, with starvation right around the corner. The physicians uploading medical knowledge through the memories of alien physicians is a pretty neat concept. Which led, besides other things, to the devilish consumption of green produce, yuck. And to Conway doing some pretty strenuous multitasking. Too bad that the „girls“ weren’t able to help, as their pretty little brains would have been unable to cope. WTF.
Points for imaginative aliens that were well developed and easy to visualize. Deduction of points for the misogyny.
Read as part of the omnibus Beginning Operations. The individual parts seem to be collections of novellas and shorter works, that were bundled into longer books. I will continue with the last book of the omnibus, as I am interested to see how the author and his style will develop. Hopefully there will be a more enlightened view of women.
Read: Hospital Station, copyright © 1962 | My review
Still to read: Major Operation, copyright © 1971.
The first case, a very ill octopoid, introduces an almost immortal alien race. Being immortal comes with its own set of disadvantages and problems. Interesting case. Very Dr. House.
I won‘t summarize the next two distinct plots, because it would be too much of a spoiler. However, the writing is a little impersonal, not an very involved and emotional account of what happened, even when Conway looses it. I don’t know if that is typical for SF from the 60s. I guess I will have to read more of the SF classics to have an informed opinion about that. I lacked an emotional connection with Conway.
Apparently people in the 60s loved eating meat and thought that eating salad was the devil, with starvation right around the corner. The physicians uploading medical knowledge through the memories of alien physicians is a pretty neat concept. Which led, besides other things, to the devilish consumption of green produce, yuck. And to Conway doing some pretty strenuous multitasking. Too bad that the „girls“ weren’t able to help, as their pretty little brains would have been unable to cope. WTF.
Points for imaginative aliens that were well developed and easy to visualize. Deduction of points for the misogyny.
Read as part of the omnibus Beginning Operations. The individual parts seem to be collections of novellas and shorter works, that were bundled into longer books. I will continue with the last book of the omnibus, as I am interested to see how the author and his style will develop. Hopefully there will be a more enlightened view of women.
Read: Hospital Station, copyright © 1962 | My review
Still to read: Major Operation, copyright © 1971.
November 24, 2013
This novel is okay, mostly, although it clearly is weaker than the first book. It's quite entertaining, with a couple of nice twists (the charity scam gets gold), and great star battle scenes. However, there are problems: I might suspect that the author was simply trying new things with a book that is a proper novel (sort of), not a collection of stories, but many of the flaws seem more like lazy writing:
- compared to the previous book (and as far as I know, the rest of the series), the novel is annoyingly human-centred, and after all the betentacled alien craziness, the human-like (and similarly cultured) Etlans stink of cardboard props and brown ridges on foreheads.
- this novel makes one seriously ask how a writer, who manages to imagine great and many alien races, so badly fails at introducing women anywhere? This was already noticeable in 'Hospital Station', but in 'Star Surgeon' it reaches in-your-face levels. All women in the novel are horridly flat (not in that sense), and are only there for eye-candy. Murchison is the only moderately prominent female character, and she is nothing but a rubber doll for Conway to have schmaltzy romance with.
- There are a few plot-related annoyances, like the rather weak demise of Lonvellin (probably the best and most interesting character in the novel, I really hoped for him not to turn out dead), and the rushed ending — it is fine on its own, but it is introduced way too early.
- compared to the previous book (and as far as I know, the rest of the series), the novel is annoyingly human-centred, and after all the betentacled alien craziness, the human-like (and similarly cultured) Etlans stink of cardboard props and brown ridges on foreheads.
- this novel makes one seriously ask how a writer, who manages to imagine great and many alien races, so badly fails at introducing women anywhere? This was already noticeable in 'Hospital Station', but in 'Star Surgeon' it reaches in-your-face levels. All women in the novel are horridly flat (not in that sense), and are only there for eye-candy. Murchison is the only moderately prominent female character, and she is nothing but a rubber doll for Conway to have schmaltzy romance with.
- There are a few plot-related annoyances, like the rather weak demise of Lonvellin (probably the best and most interesting character in the novel, I really hoped for him not to turn out dead), and the rushed ending — it is fine on its own, but it is introduced way too early.
Read
September 18, 2016Part of the omnibus
April 10, 2019
In a time when a lot of sci-fi was just naval adventures ported into a spacefaring setting, this pacifist author told fascinating stories about a galactic hospital tasked with treating any and all species, no matter how alien.
This is a collection of short stories with the same setting and main character. In each one, Doctor Conway must decipher an unfamiliar alien's physiology, figure out what ails it, and save its life, all without the benefit of a common language or culture. These are puzzles of advanced anatomy, pathology, psychology. But they're more than intellectual challenges: in every case, the fate of the hospital, or the outcome of a war, hangs in the balance.
While reading, one is rarely aware that these stories are about 50 years old -- aside from the occasional, startling bits of sexism that pass through the text, unremarked upon by the characters. The writing is adept and not too stylized. Overall: recommended for readers in the 21st century.
I read the omnibus edition that collected Sector General books 1-3, but I'm reviewing them separately so that I get credit for 3 books in my reading challenge :) This is the second book.
This is a collection of short stories with the same setting and main character. In each one, Doctor Conway must decipher an unfamiliar alien's physiology, figure out what ails it, and save its life, all without the benefit of a common language or culture. These are puzzles of advanced anatomy, pathology, psychology. But they're more than intellectual challenges: in every case, the fate of the hospital, or the outcome of a war, hangs in the balance.
While reading, one is rarely aware that these stories are about 50 years old -- aside from the occasional, startling bits of sexism that pass through the text, unremarked upon by the characters. The writing is adept and not too stylized. Overall: recommended for readers in the 21st century.
I read the omnibus edition that collected Sector General books 1-3, but I'm reviewing them separately so that I get credit for 3 books in my reading challenge :) This is the second book.
February 24, 2025
Working at Sector General – the sprawling, multi-species hospital in outer space – often means solving complex problems and dealing with inscrutable beings. And for Senior Physician Conway, his latest patient embodies both, as he finds himself attempting to diagnose the malady of a member of a previously unknown species. Reputedly immortal, its massive body is suffering from a skin condition that not only resists medication, but seems almost to be fighting to retain its disease. And even if it is cured, there is the possibly related issue of the crime of which it is accused, one that is abhorrent to every intelligent species in the Federation. Because Conway is asked as well to determine whether the illness might have been a factor in why the half-ton creature ate the other member of its crew, a missing being who was the entity’s physician.
It is with this premise that James White starts the second book in his Sector General series. Unlike the previous volume, Hospital Station, this one is not a fix-up of several short stories in the same setting, but of a single short story and a novella. This makes narratively for a more seamless work than his inaugural effort, as no sooner does Conway deal with his troublesome case then he finds himself assigned as a result of it to determine the medical issues plaguing an entire planet, one that is a member of an enigmatic “Empire” in an uncharted part of the galaxy. The revelation of the source of these problems is used by White to introduce a new element to his imagined universe: an armed conflict for which the peaceful Federation that sponsors Sector General is unprepared.
Thanks to its prominence, the Sector General station quickly becomes the focal point for the fighting. This allows the author to offer his own particular take on the wartime setting so common to space operas. With much of its staff and its eclectic collection of patients evacuated, Sector General becomes a battlefield hospital for the Monitor Corps, the Federation’s gendarmerie, as it resists the Empire’s attacks on the station. For Conway and the other doctors, nurses, and orderlies who remained, this means treating a seemingly endless flow of wounded survivors of space battles. Though White’s writing falls short of the greats of the genre, the pages of the book describing the staff’s efforts to cope with the problems with which they are confronted are more than effective enough to keep the reader moving through it.
While the resolution of the novel is abrupt and more than a little idealistic, it is one that is perfectly in keeping with the author’s pacifistic ideals. This element is what makes his series such a unique contribution to the space opera genre, and more than offsets some of the other issues with his work. As with his previous book, White’s vision of a multi-species galactic society embracing its diversity can be oddly schizophrenic to modern-day readers when contrasted with the gender roles in it that are more reflective of the times in which it was written rather than the ones in which it is set. Conway’s mid-novel mission is also a little eyebrow-raising, as it echoes the sort of foreign development projects popular in White’s day that subsequently became targets of criticism for their efforts to impose Western values on local communities. Admittedly the absence of such criticism within these pages is part of the book’s charm, as it allows it to radiate the sort of postwar optimism that can make the series such enjoyable reading. Much like Gene Roddenberry’s contemporary Star Trek series, it offers a hopeful vision for the people we might become in the future.
It is with this premise that James White starts the second book in his Sector General series. Unlike the previous volume, Hospital Station, this one is not a fix-up of several short stories in the same setting, but of a single short story and a novella. This makes narratively for a more seamless work than his inaugural effort, as no sooner does Conway deal with his troublesome case then he finds himself assigned as a result of it to determine the medical issues plaguing an entire planet, one that is a member of an enigmatic “Empire” in an uncharted part of the galaxy. The revelation of the source of these problems is used by White to introduce a new element to his imagined universe: an armed conflict for which the peaceful Federation that sponsors Sector General is unprepared.
Thanks to its prominence, the Sector General station quickly becomes the focal point for the fighting. This allows the author to offer his own particular take on the wartime setting so common to space operas. With much of its staff and its eclectic collection of patients evacuated, Sector General becomes a battlefield hospital for the Monitor Corps, the Federation’s gendarmerie, as it resists the Empire’s attacks on the station. For Conway and the other doctors, nurses, and orderlies who remained, this means treating a seemingly endless flow of wounded survivors of space battles. Though White’s writing falls short of the greats of the genre, the pages of the book describing the staff’s efforts to cope with the problems with which they are confronted are more than effective enough to keep the reader moving through it.
While the resolution of the novel is abrupt and more than a little idealistic, it is one that is perfectly in keeping with the author’s pacifistic ideals. This element is what makes his series such a unique contribution to the space opera genre, and more than offsets some of the other issues with his work. As with his previous book, White’s vision of a multi-species galactic society embracing its diversity can be oddly schizophrenic to modern-day readers when contrasted with the gender roles in it that are more reflective of the times in which it was written rather than the ones in which it is set. Conway’s mid-novel mission is also a little eyebrow-raising, as it echoes the sort of foreign development projects popular in White’s day that subsequently became targets of criticism for their efforts to impose Western values on local communities. Admittedly the absence of such criticism within these pages is part of the book’s charm, as it allows it to radiate the sort of postwar optimism that can make the series such enjoyable reading. Much like Gene Roddenberry’s contemporary Star Trek series, it offers a hopeful vision for the people we might become in the future.
May 1, 2017
Star Surgeon starts off with Conway treating an alien of a sort he’s never seen or heard of before. It turns out that his newest patient’s species is seen as somewhat godlike by those aliens that know of them. They’re purported to be immortal, and they have a habit of gradually making themselves the supreme ruler of a world, solving its problems (I was left with so many questions), and then leaving. They are always accompanied by a companion of a different species.
Conway’s efforts to treat his patient, Lonvellin, impress it so much that it later insists he help it and the Monitor Corps with a problem it’s having on the planet Etla, which is part of a larger Empire made up of several planets. Etla used to have a thriving population before it was hit by one horrible illness after another. To make matters worse, Etla’s natives are deeply suspicious of beings that look different from them, so they refuse to accept help from anyone except the Empire’s Imperial Representative, who rarely stops by. Earth humans and Etlans just happen to look very much alike, so Conway and the Monitor Corpsmen are able to sneak in, assess the situation, and try to help. Unfortunately, the situation is much worse than anyone realizes and deteriorates to such a degree that Sector General finds itself caught up in an interstellar war.
I think this is my second full-length Sector General novel, although I’ve read a bunch of Sector General short stories. So far it looks like one of the nice things about the full-length novels is that they gave the author the time and space to show readers things that weren’t directly related to solving medical mysteries. Star Surgeon shows readers one of Sector General’s recreational areas (as Conway tries to convince Murchison to take their relationship from “friends, sort of” to “dating and maybe even having sex”), and I learned that there are apparently 218 human (or at least DBDG) women at Sector General, not that we ever learn the names of any of them besides Murchison.
Unfortunately, Star Surgeon turned out to be less focused on medical mysteries and more of a war book. Lonvellin’s medical issues were dealt with fairly quickly, and Etla’s problems were revealed to be less medical and more political (and absolutely horrifying). That left the interstellar war, with Sector General at its heart.
This book’s tone and message reminded me strongly of the story “Accident,” available in the Sector General omnibus Alien Emergencies. The specifics of how Sector General was evacuated were fascinating - in addition to concerns about moving sick or injured patients, every species’ general physical needs (gravity, atmosphere, temperature, and more) also had to be taken into account.
Unfortunately, Sector General’s evacuation and the events that happened afterward were also a bit emotionally draining. Sector General was intended to be a hospital capable of catering to any and every alien species. The evacuation and Sector General’s transformation into “what amounted to a heavily armed military base” (104) were both painful.
Once again, I can’t help but wonder about the economics of the Sector General universe. Money still seems to exist and be necessary, because it took great gobs of money to build Sector General in the first place. The damage Sector General sustained during the battle and the hospital’s evacuation and repurposing should probably have financially wrecked it. And yet it apparently recovered just fine, because there are many Sector General stories and books that come after this one.
As much as I like the idea behind the Sector General series, the books and stories have several recurring problems. One of those problems kept rearing its ugly head in Star Surgeon: sexism. Since the series is usually careful not to assign a gender to any of its aliens, except in one instance where a particular alien species cycles through genders during the course of its life, that means that most of the more blatant sexism involves Murchison, the series’ only named human woman (that I know of).
If Murchison ever appeared on-page without some mention of her appealing physical form or features, it was rare. Also, just like in Star Healer, Murchison requested to be allowed to use an educator tape, only to be shot down by O’Mara.
And then there was this, said by Murchison to Conway:
Am I the only one who thinks that explanation sounds uncomfortably sexual? At any rate, while I’m thankful that at least one Sector General fix fic exists, it doesn’t stop the burst of anger I feel whenever I come across things like this in the original books and stories.
Well, even though I hate the series’ sexism, I love its “doctors in space” focus. Unfortunately, this particular book was grimmer and had less in the way of medical mysteries than I preferred. It wasn’t a bad entry in the series, but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for when I started reading.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
Conway’s efforts to treat his patient, Lonvellin, impress it so much that it later insists he help it and the Monitor Corps with a problem it’s having on the planet Etla, which is part of a larger Empire made up of several planets. Etla used to have a thriving population before it was hit by one horrible illness after another. To make matters worse, Etla’s natives are deeply suspicious of beings that look different from them, so they refuse to accept help from anyone except the Empire’s Imperial Representative, who rarely stops by. Earth humans and Etlans just happen to look very much alike, so Conway and the Monitor Corpsmen are able to sneak in, assess the situation, and try to help. Unfortunately, the situation is much worse than anyone realizes and deteriorates to such a degree that Sector General finds itself caught up in an interstellar war.
I think this is my second full-length Sector General novel, although I’ve read a bunch of Sector General short stories. So far it looks like one of the nice things about the full-length novels is that they gave the author the time and space to show readers things that weren’t directly related to solving medical mysteries. Star Surgeon shows readers one of Sector General’s recreational areas (as Conway tries to convince Murchison to take their relationship from “friends, sort of” to “dating and maybe even having sex”), and I learned that there are apparently 218 human (or at least DBDG) women at Sector General, not that we ever learn the names of any of them besides Murchison.
Unfortunately, Star Surgeon turned out to be less focused on medical mysteries and more of a war book. Lonvellin’s medical issues were dealt with fairly quickly, and Etla’s problems were revealed to be less medical and more political (and absolutely horrifying). That left the interstellar war, with Sector General at its heart.
This book’s tone and message reminded me strongly of the story “Accident,” available in the Sector General omnibus Alien Emergencies. The specifics of how Sector General was evacuated were fascinating - in addition to concerns about moving sick or injured patients, every species’ general physical needs (gravity, atmosphere, temperature, and more) also had to be taken into account.
Unfortunately, Sector General’s evacuation and the events that happened afterward were also a bit emotionally draining. Sector General was intended to be a hospital capable of catering to any and every alien species. The evacuation and Sector General’s transformation into “what amounted to a heavily armed military base” (104) were both painful.
Once again, I can’t help but wonder about the economics of the Sector General universe. Money still seems to exist and be necessary, because it took great gobs of money to build Sector General in the first place. The damage Sector General sustained during the battle and the hospital’s evacuation and repurposing should probably have financially wrecked it. And yet it apparently recovered just fine, because there are many Sector General stories and books that come after this one.
As much as I like the idea behind the Sector General series, the books and stories have several recurring problems. One of those problems kept rearing its ugly head in Star Surgeon: sexism. Since the series is usually careful not to assign a gender to any of its aliens, except in one instance where a particular alien species cycles through genders during the course of its life, that means that most of the more blatant sexism involves Murchison, the series’ only named human woman (that I know of).
If Murchison ever appeared on-page without some mention of her appealing physical form or features, it was rare. Also, just like in Star Healer, Murchison requested to be allowed to use an educator tape, only to be shot down by O’Mara.
"'As for the girls [he means the nurses],' [O'Mara] went on, a sardonic edge in his voice, 'you have noticed by this time that the female Earth-human DBDG has a rather peculiar mind. One of its peculiarities is a deep, sex-based mental fastidiousness. No matter what they say they will not, repeat not, allow alien beings to apparently take over their pretty little brains. If such should happen, severe mental damage would result.'" (132)
And then there was this, said by Murchison to Conway:
"'I...I asked him to give me [an educator tape], earlier, to help you out. But he said no because...' She hesitated, and looked away. '...because he said girls are very choosey who they let take possession of them. Their minds, I mean...'" (141)
Am I the only one who thinks that explanation sounds uncomfortably sexual? At any rate, while I’m thankful that at least one Sector General fix fic exists, it doesn’t stop the burst of anger I feel whenever I come across things like this in the original books and stories.
Well, even though I hate the series’ sexism, I love its “doctors in space” focus. Unfortunately, this particular book was grimmer and had less in the way of medical mysteries than I preferred. It wasn’t a bad entry in the series, but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for when I started reading.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
September 3, 2017
Зарязана на 50тата страница , тъй като твърде много ми дойде фантастичния елемент
November 18, 2018
Not as entertaining as the first novel and seems repetitive at times. But still worth reading and fits well in the series.
May 2, 2024
Overall, it's a good novel. Of course, the quality is lower than in Hospital Station, and generally for this setting and this idea, at least from my perspective, a few separate short stories (episodes, if you will), work better than one long narrative.
What I also found a bit questionable was the way the conflict between the Empire and the Hospital has been established. It felt somehow rushed, inconsistent and not so logical.
Apart from that, the novel is not bad, we meet again a few characters we are familiar with, and the concept of an enormous hospital floating in space, is still fascinating.
What I also found a bit questionable was the way the conflict between the Empire and the Hospital has been established. It felt somehow rushed, inconsistent and not so logical.
Apart from that, the novel is not bad, we meet again a few characters we are familiar with, and the concept of an enormous hospital floating in space, is still fascinating.
May 21, 2025
I had a good time with this one, was more of a full story than the previous but i preferred the first one….
Now we follow dr. O’ cana as he finds himself in middle of intergalactic war and sector general hospital becomes the major mark that each side is trying to capture…. Forcing them to consider shutting down….what will their patients do? What about the staff?
Now we follow dr. O’ cana as he finds himself in middle of intergalactic war and sector general hospital becomes the major mark that each side is trying to capture…. Forcing them to consider shutting down….what will their patients do? What about the staff?
August 19, 2012
The second in a short series of Doctor in Space stories by James White. The strength of the stories overall is one of problem-solving. The Doctor faces some strange, alien-related medical problem, and comes up with an obvious or not-so-obvious solution. The first problem faced in this book is a good example of this - unconscious, possibly criminal alien appears to be dying of minor skin infection, but seems to automatically defend against any attempt to cure it. Main character Conway thinks outside the box, and comes up with a solution.
Yeah, it's House in space, with aliens.
This particular story goes off the rails halfway through, losing the interest of the puzzle-solving while retaining the more general problems of the books. The galaxy of widely diverse species has a 'monitor corps' made up entirely of humans, for a start. The role of women is to be hot, or to be nurses (Conway, of course, is romantically involved with the hottest nurse). No female doctors are sighted at all, and where the doctors are alien gender isn't mentioned (the only mentions of alien gender in this book is one genderless friend of Conway's, and a female nurse). At one point the nurses are told not to worry "their silly little heads" about something.
Conway is ridiculously valorised in this book - he figures out what's up before the genius, demi-god alien whose lifelong purpose is meddling with the motives of other races. The book ends after a cringeworthy "oh shucks" scene where everyone is standing around telling Conway how wonderful he is.
Other books in the series are stronger for sticking to the short story puzzle solving format. If you're going to read one of this short series of books, this is definitely the one to avoid.
Yeah, it's House in space, with aliens.
This particular story goes off the rails halfway through, losing the interest of the puzzle-solving while retaining the more general problems of the books. The galaxy of widely diverse species has a 'monitor corps' made up entirely of humans, for a start. The role of women is to be hot, or to be nurses (Conway, of course, is romantically involved with the hottest nurse). No female doctors are sighted at all, and where the doctors are alien gender isn't mentioned (the only mentions of alien gender in this book is one genderless friend of Conway's, and a female nurse). At one point the nurses are told not to worry "their silly little heads" about something.
Conway is ridiculously valorised in this book - he figures out what's up before the genius, demi-god alien whose lifelong purpose is meddling with the motives of other races. The book ends after a cringeworthy "oh shucks" scene where everyone is standing around telling Conway how wonderful he is.
Other books in the series are stronger for sticking to the short story puzzle solving format. If you're going to read one of this short series of books, this is definitely the one to avoid.
June 18, 2018
I've got a few of these Sector General novels or collections, and they've been a fixture in my "fun read" collection. In many ways, they resemble the classic puzzle stories in early science fiction (think Asimov's robot stories), except with a medical background. Our protagonist Conway is always trying to work out a medical mystery and does so at the last minute with some unorthodox thinking.
This volume starts with a puzzle story and then moves to an interstellar war involving the space station hospital. I found the whole thing pretty readable, although White's conclusion happens a little too quickly for me.
One note: this book reflects the sexism of the early 1960's. All the doctors, administrators, and soldiers are male. The only human females are nurses, and only one (Murchison, Conway's romantic interest) is dealt with in any detail. Murchison is highly competent and professional, but she's also described in almost every appearance as doing a good job of filling out her outfit. (White's not that crude, but the emphasis got tiring.) And there's some romantic dialogue near the end that's highly cringe-worthy.
This volume starts with a puzzle story and then moves to an interstellar war involving the space station hospital. I found the whole thing pretty readable, although White's conclusion happens a little too quickly for me.
One note: this book reflects the sexism of the early 1960's. All the doctors, administrators, and soldiers are male. The only human females are nurses, and only one (Murchison, Conway's romantic interest) is dealt with in any detail. Murchison is highly competent and professional, but she's also described in almost every appearance as doing a good job of filling out her outfit. (White's not that crude, but the emphasis got tiring.) And there's some romantic dialogue near the end that's highly cringe-worthy.
November 2, 2018
Guerra e cure
White ci riporta tra le corsie della sua stazione ospedale, unico e straordinario centro per la cura delle infinite specie che popolano l'universo, caratterizzato dalla competenza dei suoi medici e infermieri nell'adottare soluzioni differenti a seconda del caso clinico da affrontare.
Questa volta, però, oltre all'onere di un lavoro sempre al limite dell'urgenza, le loro vite stanno per essere sconvolte da una guerra imminente causata da alcune trame politiche stanate casualmente, trasformando di fatto il centro in un ospedale da combattimento.
Il messaggio pacifista e umanitario di White, così come la sua ironia, servono a bilanciare una trama debole e veloce che adombra l'interesse verso la valida idea che sta alla base del lavoro dell'autore; in questo, Stazione Ospedale riesce meglio.
White ci riporta tra le corsie della sua stazione ospedale, unico e straordinario centro per la cura delle infinite specie che popolano l'universo, caratterizzato dalla competenza dei suoi medici e infermieri nell'adottare soluzioni differenti a seconda del caso clinico da affrontare.
Questa volta, però, oltre all'onere di un lavoro sempre al limite dell'urgenza, le loro vite stanno per essere sconvolte da una guerra imminente causata da alcune trame politiche stanate casualmente, trasformando di fatto il centro in un ospedale da combattimento.
Il messaggio pacifista e umanitario di White, così come la sua ironia, servono a bilanciare una trama debole e veloce che adombra l'interesse verso la valida idea che sta alla base del lavoro dell'autore; in questo, Stazione Ospedale riesce meglio.
July 2, 2012
Re-reading this book for the first time since I was a teenager, I'm remembering how much I loved it then. It's still wonderful. It instilled in me the basic concept that just because people are different, there's no reason to treat them with anything less than respect, and what looks like bizarre behaviour is often perfectly explicable if you take the time to see their view of the world. It was probably why I became an anthropologist: there weren't any jobs studying aliens, so I had to study humans.
December 31, 2014
Определено не завиждам на ГБЛЕ при операция над ЖИЛЕ , и сестра ФРУТ. Проблема идва от там че ГБГЖ не се харесват много ДРКТ и нещата не си идват на мястото. Все пак добре е че БЕКР и ГКРТ да оправят положението!
June 5, 2015
1983 grade B+
2005 grade B
series book SG2
2005 grade B
series book SG2
October 14, 2022
The Sector General books have been on my bucket list for about as long as I've been reading sci-fi. Now I'm finally taking the time to read these goofy vintage sci-fi books. I found Hospital Station, the first book, to be a bit underwhelming. It had great imagination (AKA great aliens) and some enjoyable writing, but I don't feel that the characters were handled well from story to story and something was just... missing. I probably shouldn't have gone in with five years' worth of hopes and dreams. A couple months later, does Star Surgeon have what its predecessor lacked?
Yes and no. This is a full novel instead of a short story collection, although it still feels like a couple stories in one. I don't know if I like this more or less than the short stories; it loses a bit of its constant wit but has better characters throughout. But now that I'm on book two, I almost feel like I'm becoming part of the world. It's like watching a TV show with a cast of characters you know and love. For example for me, Frasier, or Deep Space Nine during its later seasons. You can watch any episode and feel instantly connected with the characters. That's what I feel with Conway and O'Mara and Priscila and Mannon. It's a good crew that I enjoy returning to. The book refreshes our memory about what Sector General is, how alien races are designated, how the alien tapes work, and all the other cool things that make this world tick. The aliens are as clever and fun as ever, and in general, I'm really enjoying the (albeit laissez-faire) world James White built.
Alright, now that I've rehashed myself, let's rehash this book. It starts like a story out of Hospital Station - an unknown alien is brought into the hospital with a mysterious disease. This pear-like alien's ailment turns out to be . Throughout the healing process Conway discovers that his patient is from the "other galaxy," because apparently cross-galaxy travel is about as uncommon as white vans handing out candy. (This is all in the opening part of the book). The alien, who is immortal and god-like, has a habit of running to random worlds and uplifting their 'savage inhabitants.' The world that he chooses to upstage in our galaxy has a few problems, so he calls his old buddy Conway to help solve them. This third of the book is like an old episode of Star Trek The Next Generation, where Picard and co must discover the dark secret behind constant planetwide disease. The answer? . After that, the last third of the book turns into .
Now that I've spent ten minutes rehashing the entire book... was it good? Yes, I think so. The characters were colorful and not horribly fleshed out, but enjoyable. The final act of the book got slightly drawn out, but it wasn't tedious in the slightest. It's a short book, after all. Was James White's writing good? I enjoyed his prose in Second Ending and Hospital Station, but I feel like it lost me a couple times here. I was sent back scrounging through the pages to find something that I'd missed, only to find out that I hadn't missed anything. Was this my fault of White's fault? I'm not sure, but I'm leaning to White... but, once again, I could have just been a distracted reader.
So what's my final rating? I've been bouncing between 7 and 7.5 for the last few days. I can't make up my mind, and I won't let myself become so indecisive that I rate it 7.25. That would be setting a bad precedent for a review-obsessed nerd like myself... I think I'll go for 7.5, although I reserve the right to edit this review in the future. These are just genuinely good comfort sci-fi books for me; they're not the most well-written or most engaging books I'll ever read, but it's just a really cool world that I like to visit. There's nothing quite like Sector General, and I'm glad I have the omnibus so I can read the next one soon. Then I have to cough up the money for the second omnibus... but have no fear, I'll do it! Money is optional, but books are not... okay, I think I have to go to therapy now. I'll be back here on Goodreads soon.
Yes and no. This is a full novel instead of a short story collection, although it still feels like a couple stories in one. I don't know if I like this more or less than the short stories; it loses a bit of its constant wit but has better characters throughout. But now that I'm on book two, I almost feel like I'm becoming part of the world. It's like watching a TV show with a cast of characters you know and love. For example for me, Frasier, or Deep Space Nine during its later seasons. You can watch any episode and feel instantly connected with the characters. That's what I feel with Conway and O'Mara and Priscila and Mannon. It's a good crew that I enjoy returning to. The book refreshes our memory about what Sector General is, how alien races are designated, how the alien tapes work, and all the other cool things that make this world tick. The aliens are as clever and fun as ever, and in general, I'm really enjoying the (albeit laissez-faire) world James White built.
Alright, now that I've rehashed myself, let's rehash this book. It starts like a story out of Hospital Station - an unknown alien is brought into the hospital with a mysterious disease. This pear-like alien's ailment turns out to be . Throughout the healing process Conway discovers that his patient is from the "other galaxy," because apparently cross-galaxy travel is about as uncommon as white vans handing out candy. (This is all in the opening part of the book). The alien, who is immortal and god-like, has a habit of running to random worlds and uplifting their 'savage inhabitants.' The world that he chooses to upstage in our galaxy has a few problems, so he calls his old buddy Conway to help solve them. This third of the book is like an old episode of Star Trek The Next Generation, where Picard and co must discover the dark secret behind constant planetwide disease. The answer? . After that, the last third of the book turns into .
Now that I've spent ten minutes rehashing the entire book... was it good? Yes, I think so. The characters were colorful and not horribly fleshed out, but enjoyable. The final act of the book got slightly drawn out, but it wasn't tedious in the slightest. It's a short book, after all. Was James White's writing good? I enjoyed his prose in Second Ending and Hospital Station, but I feel like it lost me a couple times here. I was sent back scrounging through the pages to find something that I'd missed, only to find out that I hadn't missed anything. Was this my fault of White's fault? I'm not sure, but I'm leaning to White... but, once again, I could have just been a distracted reader.
So what's my final rating? I've been bouncing between 7 and 7.5 for the last few days. I can't make up my mind, and I won't let myself become so indecisive that I rate it 7.25. That would be setting a bad precedent for a review-obsessed nerd like myself... I think I'll go for 7.5, although I reserve the right to edit this review in the future. These are just genuinely good comfort sci-fi books for me; they're not the most well-written or most engaging books I'll ever read, but it's just a really cool world that I like to visit. There's nothing quite like Sector General, and I'm glad I have the omnibus so I can read the next one soon. Then I have to cough up the money for the second omnibus... but have no fear, I'll do it! Money is optional, but books are not... okay, I think I have to go to therapy now. I'll be back here on Goodreads soon.
Read
November 5, 2013This is the edition I have, and like all well-loved books, it's chipped, cracked, and worn. Halfway through I had to mount a search for the back cover and reattach it. But it's still legible, and you can turn the pages without them flaking off in your hands, so it's in good enough condition.
This one book in the series is in the Ballantine 'Bal-Hi' series. This means, I gather, that it's intended to be a cheap edition, aimed at people who are not very literate. Well, it's cheap all right. It's very poorly proofread (so that, at one point, a reference to o'Mara as being inexhaustible, short only of 'metal fatigue' is significantly reduced in poignance by the addition of an extraneous 'n': we're all of us subject to mental fatigue, after all). As for being aimed at people with limited literacy, I have my doubts. The very first patient is, after all, suffering from 'epithelioma'.
The Introduction (titled 'a note to teachers and parents', as if those were the only people involved in a child's learning) can be safely skipped. It's clear from context that the person who wrote the introduction had never encountered the series before, and really didn't understand it.
As with most of White's books, this one is episodic. In a sense, there are only two episodes in this one: but since one acts as a prequel, and the other is many chapters long, it's worth treating them as if this were multiple short stories, stitched together into sequential and parallel continuity by a common narrative thread.
SECTION I (CHAPTERS 1-5)
A new patient, mysteriously unconscious from a minor skin cancer, is described by the newly arrived Ian doctors as a god, although the more cynical and world-weary of the two dragonflies qualifies this. Then it's just a matter of resolving the patient's quarrel with its personal physician...
SECTION II (CHAPTERS 5-8)
After Lonvellin leaves the hospital to continue its mission (still carrying its personal physician--and don't lose track of that physician, by the way), things return to bizarre normal, until Lonvellin realizes that the medical problem is beyond its solo resolution. It's a mistake to impress VIPs, if you want a quiet life. Lonvellin demands the aid of Conway and the Monitors. This is the episode, btw, in which a frustrated Conway, escorting newbies around the hospital, directs them to several places other than the exit).
SECTION III (CHAPTERS 8-12)
On Etla The Sick, Conway and his Monitor colleagues try to convince themselves that they just have nasty, suspicious minds. Even for the Monitors, this isn't particularly likely. The Etlan Empire is pretty seriously (and obviously) implicated in the problem from the start. This is the point where Conway is informed that if you genuinely mean well, it's easy to act as a spy, because you won't act suspiciously.
SECTION IV (CHAPTERS 12-18)
Realizing that though the Etlan Empire can't find the Federation (too diffuse) without coordinates, but they CAN find Sector General, the Monitor Corps prepare to evacuate and fortify the hospital for a siege. This involves removing the patients and the doctors who know the coordinates of Federation worlds. This chapter includes a discussion of why people will do the most suicidal things rather than disappoint their friends. Prilicla, as usual, hits the nail on the head by arguing that, if its friends would not think it was cowardly, it would be on the second transport out. Asked why the second, Prilicla explains "I am not completely without valor".
SECTION V (CHAPTERS 18-24)
In general, communications problems at Sector General are evaded by the rather nebulously defined 'Translator computer'. It's anything but a universal translator, but even with its flaws and failures, it's essential for communications: and it takes up a large part of the computing power of the hospital. So when it fails...Conway eventually has to abandon medicine, using seven Educator Tapes for translation. Because the other Senior Physicians and all the Diagnosticians are out of action for one reason or another (many of the Diagnosticians had to leave because they knew the coordinates for Federation planets, installations, etc. Others, like Thornnastor, are injured), Conway effectively becomes the only Diagnostician in the hospital.
The defenders and the field medics wonder, at first, why the Etlan Empire don't just try to destroy the hospital, rather than try to capture it. But they figure out, eventually, that the corrupt Imperial officials have to have a Triumph/Show Trial, to justify the war. This means that the Federation forces have a better chance of mounting a defense, but it also means that there are many more casualties: and the wards and medical staff are significantly overwhelmed. I should point out, by the way, that I hope nobody ever DOES develop a weapon as fearsome as the 'rattler' described herein.
EPILOGUE (CHAPTERS 24-25)
It's been obvious from the beginning how this has to end. The problem has always been how to bring the necessary ending about. The Monitors insist that if the late Lonvellin (whom they describe as a 'talented amateur') hadn't meddled, they'd have achieved the same end by more subtle, longer-term measures. In fact, they argue, the Etlans would eventually have resolved the matter themselves. But in the event, if Conway hadn't ignored Commander Dermod's unacceptable advice, the matter would likely not have been resolved before the Etlans succeeded in capturing the hospital. I never have thought much of Dermod.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
I should include two points which most readers seem to miss. One is the never really explained argument that the Monitor Corps recruits almost solely from Earth-human DBDGs. This isn't comprehensible in any way. The Federation was founded by DBDGs, from Earth and Orligia. But other species (most NOT DBDGs), joined with their colony worlds very early on. If the ships are almost always Tralthan designed and built, why wouldn't Tralthans, for one, be included in their crews?
Second, there's the question of sex roles. Most people, reading fairly casually, (it's easy to decide to skip the expository bits, which are identical from story to story: but they should be read carefully at least once, because they're critical to the plots), tend to assume that there are no females on staff--or if there are, that they're confined to subordinate roles. In fact, among species which are bisexual in their reproductive patterns (meaning, in this case, not the Hudlars, who change sex with every child, so that the mother of the first child is the father of the second...), the evidence is that female staff members are about equal the number of males. This isn't obvious, because ets are deliberately not referred to with sexed pronouns. The stated rationale for this is to avoid embarrassing misattributions. This doesn't really hold water, because the term 'it' isn't much better. One would think that in developing the 'Universal' languages that are used for communication in the absence of Translators, a personal, nonsexed pronoun would have been included. A major oversight, especially since doctors must awkwardly balance empathy and objectivity when dealing with patients...
There is one exception. In this book as in several others, it is stated without evidence or attribution that females of any species cannot use the Educator Tape system, because they cannot adapt to sharing their minds with the donor minds. This is never justified, it is simply stated axiomatically.
I put this on more or less the same level as the assertion that Monitors are all (or almost all) Earth-human DBDGs, because of some supposed mental traits that make only them able to do the work. I'd like to see some more research, if you please, and parse it thoroughly before I accept any such assertions.
One other quirk, which White eventually more or less phased out: the members of the various species are often casually referred to as 'races'. To the extent that the term 'race' EVER had any biological validity, it wouldn't apply here. The Kelgians, for example, are not a 'race': they're a SPECIES, and no other term should be used.
This one book in the series is in the Ballantine 'Bal-Hi' series. This means, I gather, that it's intended to be a cheap edition, aimed at people who are not very literate. Well, it's cheap all right. It's very poorly proofread (so that, at one point, a reference to o'Mara as being inexhaustible, short only of 'metal fatigue' is significantly reduced in poignance by the addition of an extraneous 'n': we're all of us subject to mental fatigue, after all). As for being aimed at people with limited literacy, I have my doubts. The very first patient is, after all, suffering from 'epithelioma'.
The Introduction (titled 'a note to teachers and parents', as if those were the only people involved in a child's learning) can be safely skipped. It's clear from context that the person who wrote the introduction had never encountered the series before, and really didn't understand it.
As with most of White's books, this one is episodic. In a sense, there are only two episodes in this one: but since one acts as a prequel, and the other is many chapters long, it's worth treating them as if this were multiple short stories, stitched together into sequential and parallel continuity by a common narrative thread.
SECTION I (CHAPTERS 1-5)
A new patient, mysteriously unconscious from a minor skin cancer, is described by the newly arrived Ian doctors as a god, although the more cynical and world-weary of the two dragonflies qualifies this. Then it's just a matter of resolving the patient's quarrel with its personal physician...
SECTION II (CHAPTERS 5-8)
After Lonvellin leaves the hospital to continue its mission (still carrying its personal physician--and don't lose track of that physician, by the way), things return to bizarre normal, until Lonvellin realizes that the medical problem is beyond its solo resolution. It's a mistake to impress VIPs, if you want a quiet life. Lonvellin demands the aid of Conway and the Monitors. This is the episode, btw, in which a frustrated Conway, escorting newbies around the hospital, directs them to several places other than the exit).
SECTION III (CHAPTERS 8-12)
On Etla The Sick, Conway and his Monitor colleagues try to convince themselves that they just have nasty, suspicious minds. Even for the Monitors, this isn't particularly likely. The Etlan Empire is pretty seriously (and obviously) implicated in the problem from the start. This is the point where Conway is informed that if you genuinely mean well, it's easy to act as a spy, because you won't act suspiciously.
SECTION IV (CHAPTERS 12-18)
Realizing that though the Etlan Empire can't find the Federation (too diffuse) without coordinates, but they CAN find Sector General, the Monitor Corps prepare to evacuate and fortify the hospital for a siege. This involves removing the patients and the doctors who know the coordinates of Federation worlds. This chapter includes a discussion of why people will do the most suicidal things rather than disappoint their friends. Prilicla, as usual, hits the nail on the head by arguing that, if its friends would not think it was cowardly, it would be on the second transport out. Asked why the second, Prilicla explains "I am not completely without valor".
SECTION V (CHAPTERS 18-24)
In general, communications problems at Sector General are evaded by the rather nebulously defined 'Translator computer'. It's anything but a universal translator, but even with its flaws and failures, it's essential for communications: and it takes up a large part of the computing power of the hospital. So when it fails...Conway eventually has to abandon medicine, using seven Educator Tapes for translation. Because the other Senior Physicians and all the Diagnosticians are out of action for one reason or another (many of the Diagnosticians had to leave because they knew the coordinates for Federation planets, installations, etc. Others, like Thornnastor, are injured), Conway effectively becomes the only Diagnostician in the hospital.
The defenders and the field medics wonder, at first, why the Etlan Empire don't just try to destroy the hospital, rather than try to capture it. But they figure out, eventually, that the corrupt Imperial officials have to have a Triumph/Show Trial, to justify the war. This means that the Federation forces have a better chance of mounting a defense, but it also means that there are many more casualties: and the wards and medical staff are significantly overwhelmed. I should point out, by the way, that I hope nobody ever DOES develop a weapon as fearsome as the 'rattler' described herein.
EPILOGUE (CHAPTERS 24-25)
It's been obvious from the beginning how this has to end. The problem has always been how to bring the necessary ending about. The Monitors insist that if the late Lonvellin (whom they describe as a 'talented amateur') hadn't meddled, they'd have achieved the same end by more subtle, longer-term measures. In fact, they argue, the Etlans would eventually have resolved the matter themselves. But in the event, if Conway hadn't ignored Commander Dermod's unacceptable advice, the matter would likely not have been resolved before the Etlans succeeded in capturing the hospital. I never have thought much of Dermod.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
I should include two points which most readers seem to miss. One is the never really explained argument that the Monitor Corps recruits almost solely from Earth-human DBDGs. This isn't comprehensible in any way. The Federation was founded by DBDGs, from Earth and Orligia. But other species (most NOT DBDGs), joined with their colony worlds very early on. If the ships are almost always Tralthan designed and built, why wouldn't Tralthans, for one, be included in their crews?
Second, there's the question of sex roles. Most people, reading fairly casually, (it's easy to decide to skip the expository bits, which are identical from story to story: but they should be read carefully at least once, because they're critical to the plots), tend to assume that there are no females on staff--or if there are, that they're confined to subordinate roles. In fact, among species which are bisexual in their reproductive patterns (meaning, in this case, not the Hudlars, who change sex with every child, so that the mother of the first child is the father of the second...), the evidence is that female staff members are about equal the number of males. This isn't obvious, because ets are deliberately not referred to with sexed pronouns. The stated rationale for this is to avoid embarrassing misattributions. This doesn't really hold water, because the term 'it' isn't much better. One would think that in developing the 'Universal' languages that are used for communication in the absence of Translators, a personal, nonsexed pronoun would have been included. A major oversight, especially since doctors must awkwardly balance empathy and objectivity when dealing with patients...
There is one exception. In this book as in several others, it is stated without evidence or attribution that females of any species cannot use the Educator Tape system, because they cannot adapt to sharing their minds with the donor minds. This is never justified, it is simply stated axiomatically.
I put this on more or less the same level as the assertion that Monitors are all (or almost all) Earth-human DBDGs, because of some supposed mental traits that make only them able to do the work. I'd like to see some more research, if you please, and parse it thoroughly before I accept any such assertions.
One other quirk, which White eventually more or less phased out: the members of the various species are often casually referred to as 'races'. To the extent that the term 'race' EVER had any biological validity, it wouldn't apply here. The Kelgians, for example, are not a 'race': they're a SPECIES, and no other term should be used.
April 11, 2018
Really a 4.5. Overall, I really got drawn into this book, and kept reading it frantically through the last half, wanting to know how it would turn out despite the incredibly sexist overtones of some of it.
The tension really ramped up in this book, compared to the previous book that was more lackadaisically paced and broken up into several novella-sized episodes. This book had an overarching plot, followed by a nail-biting siege of the hospital by a fanatical enemy force. It's very obvious that the author had a good handle both on war-time psychology and on the touching determination of medical staff to treat and protect their patients. The science and psychology seems solid, with some rather dated exceptions (no use of anything involving DNA sequencing, for instance, which is understandable given how old this series is, and under-use of wireless communication or personal technology). The pacing is good, and overall it was just SOLID.
Only one thing really kept it from a 5-star rating for me: holy sexism, Batman! What had been hinted at in the first book (lack of female doctors, occasional discussion of pretty nurses) was just...made very explicit here. The worst example revolves around the training tapes. The training tapes are a way that doctors of one race can learn quickly how to treat another race: it's a download of an alien doctor's memories, which lets them use that expertise. It's revealed in this book that females can't take memory tapes. That something sex-based about their "pretty little heads" won't allow it. There's no science behind this, no real reason. This is just the author's decision: there can never be a female physician or Diagnostician because they can't use the major learning method because Female Minds Are Inferior.
Ugh. UGH!
There's other examples. The main character is dating a nurse, and for pretty much the whole book she utterly fails to pass the Lampshade Test: she is a goal and an object to be pursued, protected, and pulled into rough embraces when convenient, with very little care for or discussion of her own feelings on the matter. She is also written very...coyly? Neither the MC nor she are honest about what they feel for much of the book, being cool or harsh with each other to express displeasure at their treatment of each other rather than talking like adults. She comes across as inscrutable, vacillating wildly between coolness and "I was so worried for you" and between "No, now's not the time" and "Oh, i don't want you mad at me, just tell me what to do!" It's all very, very dated. It was no doubt a common view of women for the time period the book was originally published, but it was just incredibly sad to read now, because it seems like such crappy characterization in the middle of an otherwise excellent book.
The tension really ramped up in this book, compared to the previous book that was more lackadaisically paced and broken up into several novella-sized episodes. This book had an overarching plot, followed by a nail-biting siege of the hospital by a fanatical enemy force. It's very obvious that the author had a good handle both on war-time psychology and on the touching determination of medical staff to treat and protect their patients. The science and psychology seems solid, with some rather dated exceptions (no use of anything involving DNA sequencing, for instance, which is understandable given how old this series is, and under-use of wireless communication or personal technology). The pacing is good, and overall it was just SOLID.
Only one thing really kept it from a 5-star rating for me: holy sexism, Batman! What had been hinted at in the first book (lack of female doctors, occasional discussion of pretty nurses) was just...made very explicit here. The worst example revolves around the training tapes. The training tapes are a way that doctors of one race can learn quickly how to treat another race: it's a download of an alien doctor's memories, which lets them use that expertise. It's revealed in this book that females can't take memory tapes. That something sex-based about their "pretty little heads" won't allow it. There's no science behind this, no real reason. This is just the author's decision: there can never be a female physician or Diagnostician because they can't use the major learning method because Female Minds Are Inferior.
Ugh. UGH!
There's other examples. The main character is dating a nurse, and for pretty much the whole book she utterly fails to pass the Lampshade Test: she is a goal and an object to be pursued, protected, and pulled into rough embraces when convenient, with very little care for or discussion of her own feelings on the matter. She is also written very...coyly? Neither the MC nor she are honest about what they feel for much of the book, being cool or harsh with each other to express displeasure at their treatment of each other rather than talking like adults. She comes across as inscrutable, vacillating wildly between coolness and "I was so worried for you" and between "No, now's not the time" and "Oh, i don't want you mad at me, just tell me what to do!" It's all very, very dated. It was no doubt a common view of women for the time period the book was originally published, but it was just incredibly sad to read now, because it seems like such crappy characterization in the middle of an otherwise excellent book.
December 19, 2024
This is one I picked up secondhand after fond memories of reading James White’s work many, many years ago. It was enjoyable, but hasn’t aged well. James White was an SF author, originally from Northern Ireland, best known for his novels and stories set in a gigantic space hospital called Sector General, and starring a Doctor Conway – a human physician in a medical environment that includes a dazzling array of wonderful extraterrestrials, all living in a milieu that’s peaceful and cooperative. Conway’s special friend is a Dr Prilicla, a grasshopper-like creature from a low-gravity world constructed so delicately that it might be crushed by a pithily-worded comment — which is unfortunate as Dr Prilicla is strongly empathic. Star Surgeon, first published in 1963, is the second such adventure, after Hospital Station, but each can be read alone. In this story the hospital comes under attack from a vengeful power due to a series of misunderstandings, and the ever-resourceful Conway has to solve the various problems that come up. It’s a ripping yarn, but it is strange that in a setting in which the riotously diverse extraterrestrials are treated as human beings rather than as monsters, the same enlightened attitude isn’t extended to other members of the human contingent. All the humans are white (as far as one can tell), and all the important ones are male. The human doctors are all male — the human nurses all female, and are referred to as ‘girls’ who shouldn’t ‘worry their pretty little heads’ about anything consequential. To be sure, one could dismiss this as typical of the times. But darn it, it kept tripping me up and spoiled what might have been a stellar reading experience.
August 2, 2018
This is a fun series so far. The first book read like a cross between E.R. and Star Trek. This second one has more of a "MASH in Space" feel to it.
I like the characters. They're nicely old-fashioned and don't go off into a dramatic frenzy every time someone dies. They're also not too deep. I hate deep characters. Real people don't have 20,000 layers you have to peel back like an onion before you get to their "inner self". You can tell this was written in simpler times. Better times, if you ask me.
Although this book centers on the hospital, the glimpses we get of the world outside is upbeat. There are lots of different aliens around and they live peacefully with humans. Very Star Trek!
The plot was good and it moved along fast enough. For such a small book there was plenty of story.
There were a few things I didn't care for:
* At a minimum I would have liked it acknowledged that knowing the locations of the Empire worlds gave the good guys the option of striking back. Just the threat of orbital bombardments on the Empire's home world should have been able to turn this hot war cold.
* I didn't get why the doctors, nurses and patients thought they needed guns to persuade the commander to negotiate a cease-fire. At that point, there wasn't much else he could do!
* The relationship between the doctor and the nurse didn't seem to go anywhere. There was never much time for them to have a good talk and at the end I still had no idea if he was wasting his time with her. She didn't seem to be playing hard to get, she was playing impossible to get.
I like the characters. They're nicely old-fashioned and don't go off into a dramatic frenzy every time someone dies. They're also not too deep. I hate deep characters. Real people don't have 20,000 layers you have to peel back like an onion before you get to their "inner self". You can tell this was written in simpler times. Better times, if you ask me.
Although this book centers on the hospital, the glimpses we get of the world outside is upbeat. There are lots of different aliens around and they live peacefully with humans. Very Star Trek!
The plot was good and it moved along fast enough. For such a small book there was plenty of story.
There were a few things I didn't care for:
* At a minimum I would have liked it acknowledged that knowing the locations of the Empire worlds gave the good guys the option of striking back. Just the threat of orbital bombardments on the Empire's home world should have been able to turn this hot war cold.
* I didn't get why the doctors, nurses and patients thought they needed guns to persuade the commander to negotiate a cease-fire. At that point, there wasn't much else he could do!
* The relationship between the doctor and the nurse didn't seem to go anywhere. There was never much time for them to have a good talk and at the end I still had no idea if he was wasting his time with her. She didn't seem to be playing hard to get, she was playing impossible to get.
October 16, 2020
[Star Surgeon] is the second of the Sector General series.
Sector General is a hospital space station with an amazing variety of non-humanoid doctors treating a huge variety of non-humanoid patients.
In the first part of the book, the station, under the direction of hero protagonist Dr Conroy, must treat an alien that is so huge, long lived and powerful that it is thought of as god-like by the species that know it.
After the alien, whose name is Lonvellin, goes on its way, it contacts the station about a totally new uncontacted confederation of beings. There are a wide variety of treatable diseases on the planet Lonvellin visits. It contacts Sector General to send a crew to make contact and help the inhabitants.
What follows turns into an intergalactic war with a fascist empire lying about the motives of Sector General. Its citizens believe that they are doing the right thing by destroying the hospital ship and the destruction they wreak is terrible.
This one hits a bit close to the bone with a lying government and people happily falling into line to give their lives to defend it.
There is quite a bit of sexism in this novel; not uncommon for SF written in the early 1970’s. There are no women doctors or women in other leadership positions, although females of all species are wonderfully competent nurses and sexy love interests.
In many ways, it’s like stepping back in time fifty years – the good guys are impeccable, the women beautiful.
Still it’s an entertaining feel-good series and I plan to go on with it.
Sector General is a hospital space station with an amazing variety of non-humanoid doctors treating a huge variety of non-humanoid patients.
In the first part of the book, the station, under the direction of hero protagonist Dr Conroy, must treat an alien that is so huge, long lived and powerful that it is thought of as god-like by the species that know it.
After the alien, whose name is Lonvellin, goes on its way, it contacts the station about a totally new uncontacted confederation of beings. There are a wide variety of treatable diseases on the planet Lonvellin visits. It contacts Sector General to send a crew to make contact and help the inhabitants.
What follows turns into an intergalactic war with a fascist empire lying about the motives of Sector General. Its citizens believe that they are doing the right thing by destroying the hospital ship and the destruction they wreak is terrible.
This one hits a bit close to the bone with a lying government and people happily falling into line to give their lives to defend it.
There is quite a bit of sexism in this novel; not uncommon for SF written in the early 1970’s. There are no women doctors or women in other leadership positions, although females of all species are wonderfully competent nurses and sexy love interests.
In many ways, it’s like stepping back in time fifty years – the good guys are impeccable, the women beautiful.
Still it’s an entertaining feel-good series and I plan to go on with it.
May 15, 2020
White, James. Star Surgeon. Sector General No. 2. 1963. Del Rey, 1970.
If there was ever a series to buck you up during a pandemic, it is James White’s Sector General stories that appeared off and on from the early 1960s through the 1990s and in reprints and combo editions in this millennium. It does not matter that most of the humans on far future space station hospital catering to aliens from all over two galaxies are for all purposes twentieth-century Anglo-Irish or that all the sex, even the alien sex, so tame it would not make it on Gray’s Anatomy. What makes the series such a perennial favorite is its unabashed faith in scientific ingenuity to solve the most mysterious and intractable medical and social problems. The multispecies hospital is the perfect answer to the question, “Can’t we all just get along?” In Star Surgeon, Dr. Conway has to keep the hospital running when an alien bombardment takes out most of the senior staff. Can he use mind tapes from six different species at once and set up a ward in the oxygen-breather’s dining hall? You betcha. The first book in the series is Hospital Station. You should read it first.
If there was ever a series to buck you up during a pandemic, it is James White’s Sector General stories that appeared off and on from the early 1960s through the 1990s and in reprints and combo editions in this millennium. It does not matter that most of the humans on far future space station hospital catering to aliens from all over two galaxies are for all purposes twentieth-century Anglo-Irish or that all the sex, even the alien sex, so tame it would not make it on Gray’s Anatomy. What makes the series such a perennial favorite is its unabashed faith in scientific ingenuity to solve the most mysterious and intractable medical and social problems. The multispecies hospital is the perfect answer to the question, “Can’t we all just get along?” In Star Surgeon, Dr. Conway has to keep the hospital running when an alien bombardment takes out most of the senior staff. Can he use mind tapes from six different species at once and set up a ward in the oxygen-breather’s dining hall? You betcha. The first book in the series is Hospital Station. You should read it first.
November 17, 2024
I continue to love Sector General: the casually hopeful tone, the central characters and their strong personalities, the many imaginative and detailed alien life forms, and the way all of the above come together, often clashing but ultimately cooperative. This is an establishment that believes in coming together across the most extreme differences imaginable, which turns out to be a wonderful escape.
The writing delights me, too, especially when it’s slyly humorous. (“Come hell, high water or interstellar war, Conway thought warmly as he headed for his wards, while there was a reputation to blacken or a leg to pull, Mannon would be there with the latest scandal and prepared to exert traction on the limb question until it threatened to come off at the acetabulum.”)
My only dips in enjoyment came when the author’s garden-variety 1960s misogyny showed itself. Mostly this happened in the context of Murchison and Conway’s relationship, which wasn’t my jam anyway. Thankfully it doesn’t take up much space.
The writing delights me, too, especially when it’s slyly humorous. (“Come hell, high water or interstellar war, Conway thought warmly as he headed for his wards, while there was a reputation to blacken or a leg to pull, Mannon would be there with the latest scandal and prepared to exert traction on the limb question until it threatened to come off at the acetabulum.”)
My only dips in enjoyment came when the author’s garden-variety 1960s misogyny showed itself. Mostly this happened in the context of Murchison and Conway’s relationship, which wasn’t my jam anyway. Thankfully it doesn’t take up much space.
June 1, 2018
I didn't like it quite as much as the first book. The sexism of the 1960s showed through pretty strongly and soured the book. Examples:
- All the doctors are male and all the nurses are female, even in a future that includes mind-bogglingly massive sociological, medical, and technological progress
- The nurses are called girls, even though they have clearly reached an adult age
- Nurse Murchison is continually sexually harassed by her boss, Dr. Conway, including unwanted physical touching
- Nurse Murchison's wishes to keep the relationship professional and platonic are disregarded by Dr. Conway, and he repeatedly tries to manipulate her into a sexual relationship
- Continuous references to Nurse Murchison's huge tits throughout the book
It may be a book about various advanced lifeforms set in the far future, but it was written by a human male in the 1960s and has some hack writing to prove it.
- All the doctors are male and all the nurses are female, even in a future that includes mind-bogglingly massive sociological, medical, and technological progress
- The nurses are called girls, even though they have clearly reached an adult age
- Nurse Murchison is continually sexually harassed by her boss, Dr. Conway, including unwanted physical touching
- Nurse Murchison's wishes to keep the relationship professional and platonic are disregarded by Dr. Conway, and he repeatedly tries to manipulate her into a sexual relationship
- Continuous references to Nurse Murchison's huge tits throughout the book
It may be a book about various advanced lifeforms set in the far future, but it was written by a human male in the 1960s and has some hack writing to prove it.
April 20, 2019
A fun and generous jaunt through White's morally and intellectually engaging Sector General world. White shows clear possession of novel structure, although the third act just kind of peters out and an important character vanishes far too early, and his clear, precise prose is very readable. There are jarring elements, mainly some gobsmacking moments of hateful sexism (that speak to a deeper problem that White's universe is boringly human- and male-oriented) and over-lionisation of the impossibly competent protagonist, that undermine the quality by going against the core of what's being presented here (empathy and compassion for disparate peoples). Overall, this series appears to be an overlooked classic of sf, and this (the first true novel in the series) is a good place to start.
September 7, 2022
Not a bad book, but not a great one. It's rather episodic in nature, and less interesting than many of the author's "Sector General" short stories. The main sub-plot, having to do with Dr. Conway's love interest, Nurse Murchison (I don't think we ever learn her first name!) is rather underdeveloped, but then. so is her character. An interstellar war sweeps up Sector General Hospital, making a lot of trouble for the various aliens under care there, and even more trouble for the belabored physicians and nurses stationed therein. A decent read as long as you're not expecting too much. I may have read the previous book, HOSPITAL STATION, but if so, I don't remember it. White wrote better books -- LIFEBOAT may be his best -- but this one is an okay time-passer.
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