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Ability Quotient
Wen the Asian Wars were over Major Bert Alshuler had few prospects, until Mid-West University asked him to take part in an 'educational experiment' that would test the effect of certain drugs on his I.Q.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1975
3 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Mack Reynolds
508 books42 followersDallas McCord "Mack" Reynolds was an American science fiction writer. His pen names included Clark Collins, Mark Mallory, Guy McCord, Dallas Ross and Maxine Reynolds. Many of his stories were published in "Galaxy Magazine" and "Worlds of If Magazine". He was quite popular in the 1960s, but most of his work subsequently went out of print.
He was an active supporter of the Socialist Labor Party; his father, Verne Reynolds, was twice the SLP's Presidential candidate, in 1928 and 1932. Many of MR's stories use SLP jargon such as 'Industrial Feudalism' and most deal with economic issues in some way
Many of Reynolds' stories took place in Utopian societies, and many of which fulfilled L. L. Zamenhof's dream of Esperanto used worldwide as a universal second language. His novels predicted much that has come to pass, including pocket computers and a world-wide computer network with information available at one's fingertips.
Many of his novels were written within the context of a highly mobile society in which few people maintained a fixed residence, leading to "mobile voting" laws which allowed someone living out of the equivalent of a motor home to vote when and where they chose.
He was an active supporter of the Socialist Labor Party; his father, Verne Reynolds, was twice the SLP's Presidential candidate, in 1928 and 1932. Many of MR's stories use SLP jargon such as 'Industrial Feudalism' and most deal with economic issues in some way
Many of Reynolds' stories took place in Utopian societies, and many of which fulfilled L. L. Zamenhof's dream of Esperanto used worldwide as a universal second language. His novels predicted much that has come to pass, including pocket computers and a world-wide computer network with information available at one's fingertips.
Many of his novels were written within the context of a highly mobile society in which few people maintained a fixed residence, leading to "mobile voting" laws which allowed someone living out of the equivalent of a motor home to vote when and where they chose.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 22, 2020
Q: "Have you ever considered how few persons really study what they should, or even what they would like?" (c)
Q: How many geniuses can we afford? (c)
Learning the machine way. But not exactly.
The token female 'resting' character. Gosh. How bad could that've gotten?
Nicely dated.
Q:
"The one thing I learned in the army that was worth learning was never to volunteer." (c)
Q:
Today we still utilize an upgraded form of the I.Q. tests but we also test for verbal ability, verbal fluency, numerical ability, spatial ability, perceptual ability, memory, speed of reflexes, accident proneness, digital dexterity, analogizing power, mechanical aptitude, clerical aptitude, emotional maturity, veracity, tone discrimination, taste sensitivity, even natural charm, color blindness, accuracy, persistence, drive, neurosis, powers of observation, health and a few others. (c)
Q:
"You mean machines are going to decide if I become a doctor, an engineer, a lawyer, a—"
"Yes."...
"No thanks. I may be silly but not that silly. I'm willing to allow my faculty adviser, or whatever you call him, to advise me on my courses but I'll be damned if I'm going to have a punch card machine breathing down my neck every time I decide something like whether I want pica or elite size type on my voco-typer." (c)
Q:
"Listen, if this project of yours involves people who don't know how to handle guns, I'd like to put it on the record that it makes me nervous." (c)
Q:
He was getting fed to the gills with all this razzle. (c)
Q:
If I want to bow out, I want to bow out, not be finished off. (c)
Q:
Q: How many geniuses can we afford? (c)
Learning the machine way. But not exactly.
The token female 'resting' character. Gosh. How bad could that've gotten?
Nicely dated.
Q:
"The one thing I learned in the army that was worth learning was never to volunteer." (c)
Q:
Today we still utilize an upgraded form of the I.Q. tests but we also test for verbal ability, verbal fluency, numerical ability, spatial ability, perceptual ability, memory, speed of reflexes, accident proneness, digital dexterity, analogizing power, mechanical aptitude, clerical aptitude, emotional maturity, veracity, tone discrimination, taste sensitivity, even natural charm, color blindness, accuracy, persistence, drive, neurosis, powers of observation, health and a few others. (c)
Q:
"You mean machines are going to decide if I become a doctor, an engineer, a lawyer, a—"
"Yes."...
"No thanks. I may be silly but not that silly. I'm willing to allow my faculty adviser, or whatever you call him, to advise me on my courses but I'll be damned if I'm going to have a punch card machine breathing down my neck every time I decide something like whether I want pica or elite size type on my voco-typer." (c)
Q:
"Listen, if this project of yours involves people who don't know how to handle guns, I'd like to put it on the record that it makes me nervous." (c)
Q:
He was getting fed to the gills with all this razzle. (c)
Q:
If I want to bow out, I want to bow out, not be finished off. (c)
Q:
June 22, 2012
Words cannot begin to describe how bad this book was. Mack Reynolds has perhaps the smallest vocabulary of any writer in history. One wonders if he's ever actually heard two human beings converse before with the way he writes dialogue. The book is riddled with really bad typos. And to top it off, the twist ending and conclusion are ridiculous and a bit repulsive. At moments there were elements of story which might have been salvageable, but only if written by someone else. It was a quick read. That's all it had going for it.
June 13, 2024
This book definitely had a cool premise, but way too much happened in the last chapter. The ending felt rushed.
November 21, 2020
The bad reviews made love it more. I loved the simple language. I loved the step back in time looking forward. I love the ending!
April 29, 2021
This story has a tremendously good concept that people would do well to think about today when running an over populated modern technological society. Everyone should be making their living today from doing what their ability quotient says they should be doing... and Not wasting their lives and their talents doing mundane or ridiculous jobs just because that’s the way a badly run society operates... a a bad society that forces people to make money anyway they can just to get by.
July 17, 2019
2.5. Read somewhat like a Raymond chandler novel (closest I can think of). I like some of the ideas and certainly was an easy read. I though the wrap up was very rushed. First book by this author, will see.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews