The Man Who Counts

Future History of the Polesotechnic League

by Poul Anderson

Nicholas Van Rijn: Interstellar Merchant Prince one moment, barbarian chattel the next. Marooned half a world and an ocean away from the sole human outpost on a planet whose very water is poisonous to humans; captured by winged barbarians in the midst of a brutal war of extermination, somehow 'Old Nick' must scheme, conspire, wrangle and battle his way to survival.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Space Opera, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Collections, Classics

209 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1958

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

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a 1978 paperback edition of the 1958 Poul Anderson publication War of the Winged Men. In a new introduction, Anderson commented on the release of this book from a distance of a couple of decades and dozens more publications in between. First of all, the title of the edition I read was The Man Who Counts and Anderson conceded that the original title had not been of his choosing, and even called War of the Winged Men as a title “ludicrous”.

To be sure, this book is not so much about a war between avian aliens as it is a character study of Polesotechnic hero Nicholas van Rijn. Anderson demonstrates his more than capable knowledge of politico-economic principles to good effect in describing the merchant prince’s machinations, in a subtle re-telling of Gulliver’s Travels.

Two recurring successes that a Poul Anderson reader recognizes throughout his collection, whether it is time travel, hard science fiction or fantasy are 1) excellent and entertaining characterizations and 2) exceptional world building.

War of the Winged Men bears witness, once again, to both of these Poul Anderson qualities. Blending soundly explained hard science fiction elements with a story about one of Anderson’s most roguishly likable and compelling characters, van Rijn, War of the Winged Men is also one of his most fun to read novels.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Man Who Counts is notable in that this was Anderson's first serious venture into planet building, as well as the first full scale appearance of his recurring character Nicholas Van Rijn. He lays out some rich, intriguing alien world building, well grounded in science as one would expect. Van Rijn is in rare form, thoroughly bombastic and chafing, yet sly and clever enough to solve the hairiest of problems in the most obtuse manner. In this case it's a conflict between two societies of flying humanoids competing for scare planetary resources.

Sound plotting all around, but a bit dry where Anderson goes overboard into sociological and anthropological minutiae. Anderson's choice of the older, rotund and constantly griping Van Rijn as a central figure in this and so many other stories is a very odd one, but he certainly keeps things spicy. Unfortunately he doesn't appear as frequently as he could or should in this one.

[Stephen Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Devils and dandruff!

2/5 • This short novel has been sitting on my bookshelves, unread, for many years. I’m not sure why it’s taken so long to read it (although I suspect I may have started and abandoned it at some point in the past) but I have now rectified the situation. It hasn’t been the best of experiences. First published in 1958, WotW-M hasn’t stood the test of time very well, and, to be honest, doesn’t shape up well against the output of many of the author’s contemporaries. I’ve read numerous novels and short stories from the Golden Age of SF and this does not rank highly among them. Perhaps I’m being too harsh but this reads like a Boys Own Adventure, by Jove! Aside from the unfortunate and anachronistic sexism and racism (albeit aimed at a fictional alien race), this is not an interesting book, and is a pulp too far for my tastes. I get that this kind of fiction was popular back in the day but honestly I found this rather dull. In fairness this is the only Anderson I’ve read and maybe his other works are better, but based on this piece I have no great desire to find out.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

War of the Wing-Men is a good character study featuring Nicholas Van Rijn, one of Anderson's most iconic characters. Three humans are stranded on an alien planet, a typical pretty girl, a typical space opera action hero guy, and overweight and middle-aged Van Rijn, who solves problems with his brain instead of through action, and always with an eye on his account book; the wing-men war from the title is mostly just infrastructure to support Van Rijn's clever repartee. The novel was serialized in issues of John W. Campbell's Astounding sf magazine from February through April in 1958 under the title The Man Who Counts. Ace released it in somewhat abridged form as half of one of their Double volumes later that year, bound with another Anderson novel, The Snows of Ganymede. They printed it as a single volume periodically through 1976 and then with the original title restored beginning in 1978, causing people like me to buy a second copy of the same book with another title... but I'll probably get it over it eventually. It's a good 1950's adventure, featuring a different kind of hero than the traditional space cadet.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good satire of traditional Burroughs type sci-fi.

Trio of space cadet, girl, and middle aged merchant are stranded on a hostile planet, and the merchant guy triumphs.

Sort of like Flash Gordon, if Zarkov was the hero.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the equivalent of "comfort food" for old school sci fi readers like myself. They don't write them like this anymore. At 160 pages it's a quick read and at times it was impossible to put the book down. Poul Anderson was a "hard" science Fiction writer. The story's main protagonist is one of Anderson's heroes that he liked to return to often named Nicholas Van Rijn. He is like an old Renaissance Dutch tycoon, middle aged and rotund, transplanted to the future. A merchant prince of the Polesotechnic League of Poul Anderson's future. He and two companions find themselves stranded on Diomedes, a planet of winged creatures in the midst of a war. It is twice the size of earth but is a low density planet with no metals. This is part of the explanation for the native creatures having wings and being able to fly. On one side of this war is a tribe called Drak'ho who live on the vast ocean on large sailing rafts. They have migrated to the home of the Lannachska, a much smaller tribe that migrates to and from their ancestral lands to birth their children each year. Upon their return they have discovered the Drak'ho in their home because they have been following a type of fish that has been their food source.
Nicholas Van Rijn and his companions' own food source is about to dry up in a few weeks as they can only be sustained on their own human food. Everything on Diomedes is poisonous to them. Van Rijn devises a way to assist the underdog Lannachska in order to bring about peace and save his own skin in the process. I highly recommend this book. Van Rijn can be a hoot at times although I prefer Mr Anderson's character Dominic Flandry, I still enjoy reading any adventures starring the clever and at times whimsical Van Rijn.

[Xabi1990 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leído en 2003.
7/10. Media de los 14 libros leídos del autor: 6/10.
Otro autor clásico bastante prolífico y cuyas novelas, en general, entretienen.
Esta supera la media con un 7 (otras seis tuvieron la misma nota). Y las que más me gustó fue "Tiempo de fuego", con 8/10.

[Vladimir Ivanov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Образцовый planetary romance от раннего - но уже очень крепкого! - Пола Андерсона.
Земной звездолет терпит крушение на далекой планете, выживают только работяга-инженер, пассажирка-аристократка и торговец. Планета почти полностью покрыта океаном, высшая форма жизни здесь - крылатые гуманоиды, разумные, но недалеко ушедшие от неолитического уровня.
Местные белки для землян смертельны, так что по окончании бортовых запасов пищи всех троих ждет мучительная смерть от голода.
Единственный шанс на спасение - сообщить о себе на земную научную станцию, но есть нюанс, станция находится в тысячах миль от места крушения, а местные дикарив целом не враждебны, но отправлять экспедицию за океан ради непонятных бескрылых существ не намерены, им не до того, у них племенные войны.
И тут за дело берется старый толстый ван Рийн. А ван Рийн - это тот самый аморальный торгаш из анекдота, который "всех продаст, купит и снова продаст, но уже дороже". Он абсолютно беспринципен, ради прибыли он готов пойти на ложь, предательство, даже на убийство. Но в итоге именно махинации ван Рийна спасают и землян, и два племени крылатых людей, обреченных на вечную войну по нелепому в сущности поводу.
Продуманный мир, абсолютно логичное повествование, яркие характеры, закрученные интриги, эпичные бои (битва ледяных кораблей против деревянного флота, с напалмом, катапультами и паровым пулеметом безусловно повлияла на последующее творчество Филипа Фармера) - короче, Андерсон делает planetary romance, каким он должен быть.

[Tomasz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Książkę czytałem lata temu, za dzieciaka (jakoś podstawówka). Podkradziona starszemu bratu sprawiała nie lada radochę świeżo zafascynowanemu SF 13-latkowi. Wtedy widziałem w niej głównie świetne opisy starć, oryginalny pomysł na wojnę na obcej planecie i nieziemsko ciekawego bohatera - gwiezdnego kupca żywcem wyjętego z XVII-wiecznej Holandii lub średniowiecznej Hanzy.

Przeczytana po latach wciąż jest fajną powieścią, choć widzę w niej teraz o niebo więcej. Anderson zawarł w swoim dziele świetny obraz obcej rasy (choć, zgodnie z kanonem ówczesnej SF, humanoidalnej i dość ludzkiej). Pojawiają się tu wierzenia, wątki antropologiczne i społeczne, próbę pokazania, jak warunki na planecie wpływają na kształtowanie się obrzędów, zachowań prokreacyjnych etc. A to przecież książka z 1958 roku!

Wciąż bawi.

[Carlex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and half stars

[Rick English · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun book to read. I had read many books by this author when I was a teenager. And it was nice to get back to him at least for a little while.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it as part of The Earth Book of Stormgate. . .

Stranded on a planet where they are biochemically incompatible with the native life -- and food -- Nicholas van Rijn, trader; Sandra, a genuine princess; and Wade, an engineer in van Rijn's employ have no way to contact humanity and be rescued, though they are taken aboard the rafts of a winged intelligent race, the Drak’ho -- who are at war with another set of winged intelligent beings, this one migratory, the Lannachska. (The Lannachska mate after their migration, in a wild frenzy; the Drak’ho live in marriages and families much like human. At one point, a Drak’ho thinks about how, for the migratory ones, the father of your child is no one to you the rest of the year, if you even know who he is; at another, a Lannachska talks of how the raft mate all the time -- like fish. (shudder)).

So van Rijn set out to wangle their way home, punctuated with many invocations to St. Dismas. Told mostly from Wade's point of view, though not tightly. Involves a low-class member of the Drak’ho who's risen and even married a member of the highest class, tricking Lannachska into thinking something they do is not work, and insights into alien psychology by van Rijn.

[Mark Horne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three humans find themselves stranded on a planet of (surprise!) warring winged men (and women) and have to find a way to get off before their food runs out.

While some allowance can be given for cliché and cultural attitudes in a science fiction book written in the fifties, the clunky narrative, dull 'action' and tediously symbolic characters are not so easily forgiven.

One for Poul Anderson completists only.

[Astrades · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wojna skrzydlatych to powieść amerykańskiego Poula Andersona, która otwiera cykl książek o Nicholasie van Rijnie. Miał on zostać wydany w Polsce, ale ostatecznie przetłumaczono tylko tą niedługą powieść. Fabułą nie obfituje w mnogość zdarzeń, ale za to naprawdę solidna ilość miejsca poświęcona jest na ekspozycję. Bohaterowie często całymi stronami mówią, myślą, albo nawet narrator wykłada informacje o planecie, na której dzieje się akcja oraz jej mieszkańcach. Choć kreuje to szczegółowy obraz planety, ekspozycje czasami za bardzo się ciągną. Sam główny bohater, van Rijn nie jest typem do lubienia, choć to, że jego niewyparzona gęba oraz cwaniactwo korespondują z dziwacznym jak na erę lotów kosmicznych wyglądem jest na swój sposób urocze. Powiedzmy, że jego możliwości są zdrowo przesadzone i wszystkie pomysły Holendra okazują się sukcesem. Strasznie mnie to irytowało. Inne postaci są okej, tak ludzie, jak i przedstawiciele miejscowych. Podobały mi się sceny batalistyczne, tu szczegółowość opisów działa dobrze, a finałowa bitwa osiąga wręcz epicki rozmach. Jednakowoż mimo że to sci-fi, nie ma tu prawie laserów i innych takich wynalazków. Wojownicy biją się kamiennymi toporami, maczugami i ostrzeliwują łukami. Sporo tu też fachowego słownictwa z zakresu… żeglugi. Powieść nie jest doskonała, ani długa, a van Rijn potrafi irytować, ale bogactwem opisów powieść pozwala się wyobraźnią przenieść na obcą planetę pomiędzy obce istoty, a wszelkie bitwy opisano naprawdę zacnie. Uważam, że to książka całkiem dobra, ale powoduje zgrzyty przy czytaniu.

Pełna recenzja na: https://galliuszowafantastyka.wordpre...

[Joe Santoro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't been much of a fan of Anderson in the past.. but this one has a really cool cover (and in fact, depicts the actual first scene from the book) and seemed like a pretty straight 'Sword and Planet' adventure.

Turns out to be FAR better than that... while it looks like the standard 50s set up.. action hero, girl in distress, old mentor type... it breaks the mold quite a bit. Nicholas van Rijn is a fantastic character, and sneaks up on you as the hero.

The world is much more complicated than most as well. Unlike Big Planet, where the different peoples and races meant where just thrown together and meant to be small obstacles, here we have to developed rival cultures at war, with neither clearly good or evil.

It can be amazing what some of the old masters can do in a small number of pages... good world building doesn't have to be epic it seems to be thorough and effective. Highly Recommended.

[Kathy KS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicholas Van Rijn appears again as his ship crashes on a planet and three of the party are rescued. Unfortunately, the food on this planet is poisonous to humans, so they have only a limited supply to last until they can somehow reach help. Oh, and fall into a war between two factions of the native population.

I realized, part way through, that Van Rijn's appeal is the way he seems to be many steps ahead of others and can lead toward using imaginative solutions to problems. In this way he reminds me of Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan. Don't get me wrong, Miles is sooo much more interesting and is one of my favorite all-time fictional characters. Van Rijn will not be one of my favorites, but these similarities are what make the book more interesting. He's just not as likable. When making comparisons to other science fiction characters, I also realized that Van Rijn's viewpoints on capitalism and it's importance is also akin to the Ferengis from the Star Trek universe (especially DS9).

The world-building is interesting for this planet and provides the main storyline here.

[Alex Bergonzini · Rating 1 out of 5]

Una historia bastante floja, donde el desenlace ya estaba claro desde el principio. Ha sido bastante cansado leer la batalla entre las dos tribus, ya que se ha hecho larga y pesada, cuando se podía haber zanjado en un sencillo capítulo. La moraleja final sobraba, ya se habían explicado las razones dentro del libro.

Me ha dejado un mal sabor de boca esta historia y aunque el escenario que describe es bastante potente y puede dar mucho de si, ya lo hemos visto con anterioridad en otras obras. Este es un libro que se puede dejar pasar.

[Alien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nachdem der Händler von Rijn mit seiner adligen Lady und dem Kapitän Wace auf der Rückseite eines Primitivplaneten Raumschiffbruch erlitten haben, werden sie zwar von fliegenden Intelligenzwesen gerettet. Diese wollen sie aber nur ausnutzen. Wie können die Menschen sich zur Handelsmission auf der anderern Seite des Planeten retten?

Ich musste leider feststellen, dass die deutsche Ausgabe (wieder mal) brutal gekürzt wurde. Am Ende fehlen etliche wichtige Absätze, die für die Aufklärung und den Abschluss der Handlung wichtig gewesen wären. Es ist wirklich eine Frechheit.

[William Crosby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of fighting among winged people who have primitive technology (compared with the people whose spaceship crash-landed on the planet). An earthling merchant asserts his weight and manipulates people. The three earthlings must resolve their problems with the natives so that they can get to where they can call for help and find edible food (all of the planet's natural food is poison to them).

Themes: disrespect of culture, mockery, speciesm.

[Baron Greystone · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fun. I remember reading something about van Rijn many years back. He's a funny character, and I like watching him solve problems with gusto. On the other hand, I don't actually *like* him as a character, so I can't give the book five stars. Maybe in another story. But in that respect he comes in second to Dominic Flandry. We don't even get any background at all on "The League" or whatever the precursor to the Empire is called. I'll keep poking around.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun setup, enjoyable action that steadily declines as it becomes clear just how much of a Marty Stu the van Rijn character is and how sincerely Anderson wants you to see him as cool. He’s ok as a protagonist, but more interesting as an artifact- a bunch of whig history tropes about early modern Dutch and other non-English Protestant cultures as received by a midcentury futurian nerd made into both an omnipotent protagonist/author substitute and a standing dialogue joke. Weird!

[David Bradley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Looks like I'm not much of a Poul Anderson fan. I keep hearing about his wonderful books, but so far I'm underwhelmed. And this is the worst of the bunch. I guess it was supposed to be funny....? Again with the purposefully unpronounceable character names, again with the witty repartee (not), again with the clumsy world-building. Not sure I want to try anymore Anderson. DNF

[Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

A frantic, strange tale of three earthlings marooned on an alien planet. The action was fast but confusing, and the guy you didn't want to like became the hero in the end. All in all, a good afternoon's read.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun and imaginative adventure, and Van Rijn is a very entertaining lead character. I also enjoyed the world building of the planet and alien societies, and how these elements tied directly into the story. Recommend.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun and imaginative adventure, and Van Rijn is a very entertaining lead character. I also enjoyed the world building of the planet and alien societies, and how these elements tied directly into the story. Recommend.

[James Rickett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicolas Van Rinj at his bombastic best.

[Andres Restrepo · Rating 4 out of 5]

bien escrito , temas exoticos

[Gr1972 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 out of 5

[Tell Tale Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

-Gregory Kerkman

[D.w. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicholas Van Rijn is a larger than life character from the classic age of Science Fiction and as such should be in every fan of SF's collection.

That should be enough, but perhaps you want more. Based on Falstaff, with other elements thrown in, Anderson delves into world building to make the central plot work, and work well. Our hero is not even Van Rijn, but an aide of his who gives us the human point of view, we never getting into Van Rijn's perspective until he tells us, through our hero Wace, at the end of the tale, all that he is about.

Still, that is secondary to our introduction to this fabulous character that Anderson explores several times across his novels, and whom all come to see as a great work of character development along with the ability to make a plausible world come alive. A world with real problems based on biology, sociology, plate teutonics, evolution at its best.