Sentiment, Inc.

by Poul Anderson

This book was converted from its physical to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Audiobook

52 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 1953

About the author

Pseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.

Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.

Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]

Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.


Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novella well narrated & free from Librivox, this was a treat due to the timing. It questions free will in one of the ways addressed by Harari in Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow which I just finished reading. Anderson gets into the science just enough to make it hard SF, but doesn't date it too much. Overall the story is dated simply by folks using pay phones & smoking, but that's not too bad.

Well worth reading, especially for free. It IS FREE! Don't be fooled by the latest scam which is various companies publishing these on Amazon. Most of the other editions shown here on GR are published on Amazon & are raking in the money for both them & the scammers. You can get this story in multiple ebook formats from Gutenberg.org free here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37653
or as a well narrated audio book from Librivox here:
https://librivox.org/sentiment-inc-by...

Support these organizations, not the scammers!

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story gets in to the ethics of mind control, a popular trope for science fiction. Is it wrong if no real harm is done? If only a little harm is done, which can be compensated for to the person done the harm, but it serves the greater good? Now that would be a real dilemma, worthy of a story.

Unfortunately, the harm done here didn't serve the greater good, only two people's interests. So the protagonist of the story has a clear target to fight. We root for him to succeed and the story devolves into a simple good versus evil type plot. It could (should) have been more.

The story writing was well paced, easy to follow, and straightforward, perfectly manageable if listening to it as an audio book. Four stars only because it was entertaining but not intellectually engaging.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sentiment, Inc. is a Poul Anderson short story published in 1953 when the author was only 27. If I did not know better, I would have guessed that it was an early Philip K. Dick story, dealing as it does with subtle mind control and paranoia. A good story, but one on which Anderson would build upon, growing as he would into a much better writer. I do recognize in this what seems to be a recurring theme in his works, that of an epiphany leading to the denouement.

[Norma · Rating 3 out of 5]

( Format : Audiobook )
"I was going to change the world..."
An early Paol Aderson short story about conditioning, free will and paranoia which is now rather stilted and predictable, but worth reading as a solid part of S.F. history. And beyond the rather jerky narration by Michael Goodrick, it is a quick and easy read. Paul Anderson definitely helped put the science into science fiction.
I received this Audiobook as a freely gifted complimentary copy, at my reqjest, through FABC. Thank you.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting listening 🎶🔰
Another will written fantasy Sci-Fi adventure thriller short story by Poul Anderson about a doctor who is effecting people's lives and acting as a spy. He is found out and returns the people back to normal. The spies are found. His machine is destroyed. I read this as part of the First Science Fiction Megapack. Give this novella a try. Enjoy the adventure of novels 👍🔰 and books 📚. 2022

[Marco De La O · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Sentiment, Inc." by Poul William Anderson is a captivating science fiction novel that explores the impact of a corporation's technology on emotions and humanity. With engaging writing and suspenseful twists, the story raises important questions about the ethics of artificial intelligence and the nature of being human. The well-developed characters and thought-provoking themes make it a must-read for sci-fi fans.

[Kat Hooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

will review at www. fantasyliterature.com

[Gr1972 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 out of 5

[Drasko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never, ever give up!

[Sharon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story went nowhere, so I don't know why they printed it.

[Finlay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book that I read for free on Project Gutenberg. It's a short story, but approaching novella length, about psychiatrists, with a sci-fi bent and some intrigue. Importantly, it's the first time I understood the slang "shrink" is short for "headshrinker".

I'm still not completely sold on Poul Anderson, although I liked this. I just remember his other novel Tau Zero, which I read a few years ago and found pretty dry.

[Vitor Frazão · Rating 2 out of 5]

Caso não seja mais que óbvio, como sempre, as estrelas são para gosto pessoal não qualidade. Ou seja, sendo honesto a narrativa tem a qualidade de um 3 sem sombras de dúvida e tenho a certeza que na altura que foi escrito teria muito mais impacto, mas tendo já gramado com estória deste género e "afluentes" não consigo apreciá-la além de um 2. Isso e o facto do casal protagonista ser aqueles mesma padrão gasto sem nada que os destaque.

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have no memory of listening to this book...and I'm not trying to be witty when I write that. I can't remember the story at all.

[Jon Norimann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very thin story about a man trying to save his family.

[Norman Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A chilling look at psychiatry.

[Courtney Cox]

tedious

[Carol Spears · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting enough read.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was in a Dick/Asimov/Bradbury/Gibson mood, and I needed a quick fix. Anderson did the trick just fine. I actually wonder why a full-fledged movie hasn't been derived from this, when more has been done with less. Satisfying ending too.