The World of Null-A

Null-A #1

by A.E. van Vogt

Catarina Garcia, born and raised in Dallas Texas, never dreamed she would have the chance to travel to London on a two week vacation. London is everything she'd ever imagined and more. Jax Blair, the epitome of Tall, Dark, and Handsome, has decided to take her under his wing and show her the sights. However, Catarina finds herself falling in love with the elusive stranger.

Bachelor Jax Blair, a self made millionaire, agrees to show Catarina the London life, but has no idea cupid has different plans for his heart. Somehow Catarina has broken through the barrier Jax worked a lifetime to build around his heart. When Catarina runs away in the middle of the night to return to the States, Jax decides to follow her. After all, she had no right to leave without saying "Goodbye."

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

221 pages

First published January 1, 1945

About the author

Alfred Elton van Vogt was a Canadian-born science fiction author regarded by some as one of the most popular and complex science fiction writers of the mid-twentieth century—the "Golden Age" of the genre.

van Vogt was born to Russian Mennonite family. Until he was four years old, van Vogt and his family spoke only a dialect of Low German in the home.

He began his writing career with "true story" romances, but then moved to writing science fiction, a field he identified with. His first story was "Black Destroyer", that appeared as the front cover story for the July 1939 edition of the popular Astounding Science Fiction magazine.

Reviews

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 5 out of 5]

A WONDER! Here's the complete audiobook...

https://youtu.be/vIan9Ajykqg
***

We ALL live in a Null-A World now. Where the good old Aristotelian values have begun to be TRASHED.

Virtues such as doing good, and being kind in our acts were always retained as necessary to our self-preservation - through accelerated conditioning - and began to be put foremost after WWIII, all part of van Vogt's vision.

But Gilbert Gosseyn stumbles upon a plot in high places to trash universal world peace, so that Evil may again rule!

Just so, in my retirement years, my pet project is to keep Goodness alive -

Even in This Brave New World of a new evil Null-A.
***
Pardon me for asking, but aren’t we ALL - in this happy clan of GR omni-readers - becoming little Null-A Pioneers?

For like Gilbert Gosseyn - no matter how he slices and dices this big old Multiverse we now call home - the whole thing just keeps getting, as Alice said deep down in the rabbit hole... “Curiouser and curiouser!”

I know, I haven't finished the book. I'm catching up now. But does that disqualify me?

You see, living mostly in the twentieth century, I wanted to resign from the Whole Rat Race when I retired at the beginning of this twenty-first.

It was all just getting too fast and crazy for little old slowpoke me. I felt just like poor Gilbert!

I wanted to retreat into my own shell...

But now even THAT’s getting curiouser and curiouser, because now in my seventies I find if I stop for plenty of pit stops in my little shell, I can Eventually complete the current lap of this race to cope.

Whew (gasp, gasp)...

Dead last of course, but The End’s in Sight!

So now, it’s the “curiousest” of all...

Because if old Gil can get promoted at the midpoint of the book to the Ruling Party of the Universe - maybe there’s some little hope in it all for me... though I cringe at the thought.

So, when this book begins, Planet Earth is preparing for the great Universal Olympic Games, having long since clambered up atop the ruins of World War III to rebuild a United Ultramodern Earth - and after that, a United Federation of The Solar System.

Gilbert Gosseyn is a youthful, gung-ho competitor in the Games - until his identity is stolen and he falls precipitously into an identical but weirdly different Universe of Evil.

Nothing will henceforth be the same for him, for the entire Galaxy has fallen on its head.

And he’s a fugitive from the official world of the Big Brain - which controls everything now. Ugly stuff.
***
So it’s a fantastically woke romp through an utterly schizoid Future!

And the nonstop action just doesn’t QUIT.

Now, I’m an old guy, still thriving primarily because of his efficient hypertension meds...

And this wildly enervating three-ring circus warned my ancient heart that a “man cannot bear too much (UN)reality!”

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastically colourful and complex, and masterfully well-written yarn. But the Future it portrays is just “no country for Old Men!”

No sirree.

If you’re a young - a YA especially - reader, though, I think you’ll LOVE it. Even though it was written at the outset of the Golden Age of Sci-fi, in the 1940’s, its informing theories are Absolutely in sync with 21st century physics - as far as this layman can tell.

And it would make a rollicking good tale to get wrapped up in, as you lazily lounge in a comfy recliner, sipping on a hot toddy, this winter - watching the hurried world go by!

Guaranteed.
***
But fiction, folks, is just fiction, and enough is enough.

Because there’s no real value here. Value is ersatz in such an evil world.

So let’s remember the Creator in all our possible worlds:

INCLUDING the old Aristotelian Values that make us want to worship our God and thank him for our VALUES!

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

An extremely strange occurrence. Many years ago, when I was in my early teens, I read A.E. van Vogt's World of Null-A, which is about as good as most of A.E. van Vogt's oeuvre - that is to say, not very good at all. I was however struck by his preface, where he boasted that this novel, all by itself, had more or less established the French SF market. Even at age 14, I was puzzled. Why?

Much later, I discovered that van Vogt's unimpressive book had in fact been translated by Boris Vian, author of the immortal L'Ecume des Jours, and a friend of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Perhaps some Vian scholar has found out why he did it (money trouble?) and if so I would be interested to hear the story! Whatever the explanation, this is one of those very rare occurrences where the translation is better than the original - the writing is perfectly OK, and even goodish in places. Since the original plot was in fact quite interesting (A.E. van Vogt always had ideas, he just couldn't write them down), the final result is a decent piece of work, and my 35 year old curiosity about how this could have been such a success was finally satisfied.

Vian had a wicked sense of humour, and loved teasing people. It's little short of miraculous that Sartre, at least according to what I've read, wasn't offended by the "Jean-Sol Partre" character in L'Ecume des Jours and appreciated the joke. I have this fantasy of Vian giving his translation of van Vogt to some lion of the French literary world as a Christmas present, just to see how they would react. "Here you are, Albert, I thought you would like it!" "Oh, thank you, it's... ah... quite different from the things I usually read, but I'm sure I will!" Probably never happened though :)

_________________________________

For people (I am a typical example of the species) who require at least one bit of useless trivia each day, I will reveal that this book is referenced in Georges Perec's La Disparition, under a transparent pseudonym. Page 220 of the French edition:

Un roman? Anton Voyl n'avait-il pas dit un jour qu'un roman donnait la solution? Un flot brouillon, tourbouillonant d'imaginations s'imposa soudain à lui: Moby Dick? Malcolm Lowry? La Saga du Non-A, par Van Vogt?

La Saga du Non-A... geddit?

[Denis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this three times now. Every time I do, it feels like I'm reading it for the first time. So weird, yet I really like it. It is such a strange book; like reading a standard classic from a parallel universe. "Is this what a great novel is like in your world?" In mine it's all wrong; sloppy disjointed, illogical, but if you put yourself in that other world (van's world), it is a master piece of scifi literature.

It is inspired by the pseudoscience work "Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics" (1933) by Alfred Korzybski' of the theory of General Semantics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General... Yet, Van Vogt does not bog the story down on theory, but rather merely uses the system as a vehicle to anchor his story to, the same way PKD used 'Game Theory' for his 1955 novel "Solar Lottery".

I love this novel. I really do. And Players of Null-A, its sequel, for some reason, is even better. Really.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 stars. One of the better novels by A. E. Van Vogt and certainly one of his most famous. Big ideas, cool concepts and a fast paced plot. Above average science fiction from the Golden Age.

Nominee: Retro Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction novel.

[Sue Burke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel, written in 1945, shows its age. This goes beyond imagining Venus as a damp forest of huge trees, or that people in the year 2650 will still be placing personal ads in paper newspapers. The world itself is smaller, pretty much all white men, in a conformist society. The science itself, such as what can be done with atomic power or plastics, gets stretched beyond all possibility.

Still, A.E. van Vogt is famous for ideas, and he has one that powers this novel: What if a highly rational non-Aristotelian philosophy guided the behavior of the best men and women of their time? Unfortunately, van Vogt doesn’t explain this philosophy in great depth. It seems to compel the protagonist to act without a lot of forethought or long-term goals.

Van Voght has more ideas: a computer game that decides the participants’ futures, a “legal holiday” during which no laws are enforced, a minor kind of immortality, a huge galactic war that aims to conquer Venus and Earth....

The plot involves a man trying to find out who he is. Eventually he finds out. In the process a lot of people die.

This book is considered a classic, possibly one of van Vogt’s best, and it’s worth reading if only to watch ideas whiz past like scenery on a highway. There’s nice countryside out there, but the man at the wheel of the car isn’t about to slow down. He also won’t ask for directions, so the trip gets a bit lost toward the end. This is how we used to travel in science fiction. Serious fans will find the trip worth their while, but if you’re new to the genre, don’t start here.

By the way, how about the cover art on the 1948 edition? Wow.

[Charles Dee Mitchell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Science fiction writer A. E. van Vogt liked big ideas. In the 1950's he became head of fellow sf writer L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics Institute, the secular precursor to the Church of Scientology. When Hubbard's institute failed within a year, van Vogt and his wife formed their own institute and kept it going for the entire decade.

Earlier, the big idea that captivated van Vogt was the Gerneral Semantics program of the Polish count Alfred Korzybski, a program defined in the count's 800 page self - published book Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics.(1933). This was a grand system intended to make people think more clearly, reach better decisions, and create a better world. Much of General Semantics seems like common sense, but the insistence on its "science" is shaky and always prompted as many detractors as followers. Van Vogt was enthusiastically among the latter. Martin Gardner is among those who dismiss the enterprise as "pseudo-science," but there is a still an Institute of General Semantics in Chicago. Of course there is also an International Center of Theosophy, and London is home to the Swedenborg Foundation. Sorry to sound dismissive but I am.

True Believer van Vogt used Kozybski's ideas as the underlying philosophy of his breakthrough novel The World of Null A and two sequels, one of which has only been published in France. (Van Vogt, while not as popular as Jerry Lewis, is highly regarded in France.) The story originally appeared serialized in 1945 in Astounding Stories and was published, in hardback and to general acclaim, in 1948. Van Vogt revised the novel again and wrote a new introduction in 1980.

"Null A" is shorthand for non-Aristotelian, and in his 1980 introduction van Vogt lays out how integral Korsybki's ideas are to the novel. I will have to take his word for it. The novel reads like a dated sf adventure story involving an intergalactic plot to take over the Sol System. Our hero, Gilbert Gosseyn has lost his identity but is somehow central to the saving the earth. Clunky prose does nothing to help the storytelling. In his introduction, van Vogt makes a statement that is either poorly phrased or breathtaking in its hubris:

I cannot at the moment recall a novel written prior to Null-A that had a deeper meaning than that which showed on the surface.

A. E. van Vogt earned Grand Master status from the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1996, but his reputation has always had significant detractors. Damon Knight wrote a blistering evaluation of van Vogt in the 1950's that some say finished his career. Other writers, like Harlan Ellison and Philip K. Dick, write about how significant van Vogt was to the own, early immersion in science fiction. Perhaps today van Vogt is of "historical interest only," but I will not make so sweeping a judgment based on this one book. I am certain he earned his Grand Master status, but I am not tempted to delve deeper into his work.

[Manny · Rating 1 out of 5]

An extremely strange occurrence. Many years ago, when I was in my early teens, I read A.E. van Vogt's World of Null-A, which is about as good as most of A.E. van Vogt's oeuvre - that is to say, not very good at all. I was however struck by his preface, where he boasted that this novel, all by itself, had more or less established the French SF market. Even at age 14, I was puzzled. Why?

Much later, I discovered that van Vogt's unimpressive book had in fact been translated by Boris Vian, author of the immortal L'Ecume des Jours, and a friend of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Perhaps some Vian scholar has found out why he did it (money trouble?) and if so I would be interested to hear the story! Whatever the explanation, this is one of those very rare occurrences where the translation is better than the original - the writing is perfectly OK, and even goodish in places. Since the original plot was in fact quite interesting (A.E. van Vogt always had ideas, he just couldn't write them down), the final result is a decent piece of work, and my 35 year old curiosity about how this could have been such a success was finally satisfied.

Vian had a wicked sense of humour, and loved teasing people. It's little short of miraculous that Sartre, at least according to what I've read, wasn't offended by the "Jean-Sol Partre" character in L'Ecume des Jours and appreciated the joke. I have this fantasy of Vian giving his translation of van Vogt to some lion of the French literary world as a Christmas present, just to see how they would react. "Here you are, Albert, I thought you would like it!" "Oh, thank you, it's... ah... quite different from the things I usually read, but I'm sure I will!" Probably never happened though :)

[Carrie Poppy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, I certainly read this book.

[Drew Perron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tell me if this sounds like a modern-day young adult novel:

In the City of the Machine, the Games take place. For a month, there are no laws and no police, as the participants in the Games make their way through dozens of tests of their mental abilities. Success in the Games unlocks a good life. Those who make it through the first week are guaranteed well-paying jobs, and the further you go, the better it gets. But only the winners get the ultimate prize - going to the mysterious planet Venus.

Perfect YA dystopia, right? Only it's a utopia, or a world becoming one, published in a serious philosophical science fiction novel from 1948. It's a novel that doesn't really manage to accomplish any of its serious, Change The World goals, but does some fascinating, forward-thinking things seemingly by complete accident.

In terms of its failures, number one is probably the fact that this "let me tell you about how the world should be run" novel doesn't really manage to actually explain the philosophy of null-A (or non-Aristotleanism) in a meaningful way at any point. The story itself literally skips over chances to explain it in detail - there's one point where the main character literally has to demonstrate that he understands null-A, and the narrative just tells us that he finished in about twenty minutes. And it doesn't come out meaningfully in the story - I understood that it involved abstraction, favoring spectrums of meaning over simple binaries, and understanding that every thing in the universe was different from every other thing, but I didn't get any sense of how these ideas worked together, or how they were supposed to allow people to reprogram their brains into unifying the logical side and the emotional side. My copy has a preface, added decades after publication, that makes some of this clear - the idea that identity is memory, and that every observer experiences something different - but it's explained in a rather muddled, roundabout way, and we don't get to see this as a coherent philosophy, let alone one that could uplift humanity.

As an aside, I looked up General Semantics, and it does seem to have been a meaningful thing back in the day that influenced later philosophical and scientific thought. (It certainly cleared up ideas I'd seen mentioned in other SF novels.) But this book kind of assumes that you can take those principles and stop there - that you just need this one "don't be like Aristotle" realization, and that automatically opens up the truths of the universe to you. It doesn't realize that there are a lot of philosophies that might be described as "non-Aristotlean" - especially, you know, outside of Western culture (and especially when galactic empires get mixed in).

The book's more interesting parts, though, are in the story itself. Gilbert Gosseyn is a is the standard Two-Fisted Man Who Is Driven By Philosophy And Purpose, not too far from one of Heinlein's. But he's constantly put in situations where this isn't enough; where his finely-trained mind is shown to be flawed or undeveloped, where he's captured and then freed by the actions of others, where he's driving purposefully towards a goal and then stopped and shown that that goal wasn't worth accomplishing. It's a remarkably forward-thinking way to frame a protagonist, and I have to wonder if it was part of the philosophy the author was trying to express. Similarly, the world is a utopian ideal - but the plot is centered on the exact weaknesses such a world would have, and its vulnerability to subversion from outside. It feels more like the YA novels I spoke of at the beginning, that use a certain philosophy as a backdrop for a story, rather than using the story as a backdrop to talk about how awesome the philosophy is. I don't think it's intentional, but there it is, all the same.

It's a weird book. It was never going to be the culture-changer it claims to be, but it has its fans - people who have done "memory is identity" stories better and more thoughtfully than he did, and expanded upon these ideas interestingly, themselves creating the kind of change in attitudes that the author of this novel couldn't. That seems worthwhile to me.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The World of Null-A is a mixed bag. All too frequently I found myself having to stop and re-read sections to figure out basic plot points (and this was generally because of a basic lack of clarity in key scenes, not because of a particularly advanced concept) and found it difficult to integrate the two major drives of the book, one toward political thriller regarding interplanetary and galactic war and one toward speculation about human and social evolution.

These two drives are definitely related through the basic plot, but they do not feel related; it is a major shift to go from one element of the novel to the other as one is focused on the protagonist, Gosseyn, and his attempts to discover who he is and to survive the warfare and politicking going on around him, and the other deals with the larger picture of null-A society (based on non-Aristotelian, non-Newtonian, and non-Euclidian logic), Venus and its null-A inhabitants, and the politics of the galactic community.

This is really a shame, too, because the novel does contain some interesting speculation about the future evolution of the human species as well as human society (not to mention some fast-paced adventure sequences which make it great fun to read at times). Van Vogt lays out the potential future of mankind in Gosseyn's description of the overall situation:

"We...have witnessed a greedy interstellar empire trying to take over another planetary system, in spite of the disapproval of a purely Aristotelian league. It's all very childish and murderous, an extreme example of how neurotic a civilization can become when i fails to develop a method for integrating the human part of man's mind with the animal part. All their thousands of years of additional scientific development have been wasted in the effort to achieve size and power when all they needed was to learn to cooperate" (169).

What's more, van Vogt provides a model for how this cooperation would work in the Venusian null-A society, which is described as an "ultimate democracy":

"There is no president of Venus, no council, no ruling group. Everything is voluntary; every man lives to himself alone, and yet conjoins with others to see that the necessary work is done. But people can choose their own work. You might say, suppose everybody decided to enter the same profession. That doesn't happen. The population is composed of responsible citizens who make a careful study of the entire work-to-be-done situation before they choose their jobs" (67).

This description provides an interesting counter to Edward Bellamy's description of a utopian society in Looking Backward , which is designed and maintained from the top down, through government regulation (authoritarian), rather than from the bottom up, through the decision-making processes of a group of responsible individuals (anarchist). It's too bad that van Vogt does not develop this society and its implications further. Null-A society is clearly meant to be seen as utopian and as achievable, but the novel is more political thriller (a la The Bourne Identity) than utopian novel or political novel (with a coherent argument to be made).

[Ira (SF Words of Wonder) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Check out my full, spoiler free/spoiler, video review HERE.

Van Vogt wrote this science fiction novel with the idea of general semantics, or null A thinking, in mind. Humanity has more or less embraced this philosophy, and games are held by a supercomputer with the prize being a trip to Venus to live in a utopia of pure null A thinkers. Gosseyn is the main character, and we find out very early that he is either suffering from amnesia or he’s had false memories implanted in his head. He gets wrapped up in a big conspiracy and ends up dying, only to show back up on Venus in a fresh body, adding to the mystery. Van Vogt keeps introducing new characters and plot threads throughout the novel, creating a complex and convoluted story. The reveals at the end were pretty good but it was difficult for me to think back and see if everything actually made sense. This was a reread and I enjoyed it a bit more than my first time, but it still has many flaws, mostly due to the convoluted and inconsistent plot. It was a good idea but maybe suffered from a lack of polish and editing.

[Buck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very strange book. I had read that it influenced some of the great science fiction writers of the golden age, including Philip K Dick. I guess I can believe it. It's very dickian. At times it is disjointed, confusing, even incomprehensible. I attribute that to the authorship of van Vogt. It could have been much better written. There is virtually no character development, and the motivations and loyalties of the characters is confusing.

The World of Null-A. Null-A means non-Aristotelian, but it's never clear what it is. Is it a philosophy? A religion? An alternate view of reality? Null-A flowed through this novel, but it has virtually no impact on the story. The novel could have been virtually the same if Null-A had never been mentioned.

I had read that van Vogt was into dianetics with L. Ron Hubbard, who later founded the church of Scientology. I thought maybe Null-A had something to do with that. I still don't know.

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 2 out of 5]

ENGLISH: As a sci-fi novel, it's not bad, although a little absurd. As a declaration of faith in General Semantics (a pseudo-science, according to Martin Gardner, which Van Vogt considers the future) I take exception. The author himself changed his mind later, and went from General Semantics to another pseudo-science (Dianetics).

ESPAÑOL: Como novela de ciencia ficción, no está mal, aunque es un poco absurda. Como declaración de fe en la Semántica General (una pseudociencia, según Martin Gardner, que Van Vogt cree que tiene futuro), no me gusta. El propio autor cambió de opinión más tarde, y pasó de la Semántica General a otra pseudociencia (la Dianética).

[David Agranoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was on an SFF audio podcast panel about this book. Link here:

https://www.sffaudio.com/the-sffaudio...

Some times a book, a film or a band is more important for who they inspired, and I went into this book for that reason. Of course, Van Vogt was a name I had seen on spines on the shelf as a Science Fiction reader/shopper many times but I am sad to say I never read him before this. My original inspiration to buy the book was our Philip K Dick podcast. PKD himself credited Van Vogt as his biggest influence even going as far as to say that his debut novel Solar Lottery was derivative of Null-A. That made me curious. Since then I was invited to be on a panel for the SFF Audio podcast about This book. I will add a link when that is available. Keep in mind it was Van Vogt at a convention that told PKD in the fifties "You ain't gettin' nowhere writing short stories kid." I am sure he didn't sound like Jimmy Cagney or call him kid but I like to believe that he said it that way.

The history of this novel is interesting, it was published in Astounding magazine August through October of 1945, starting the month that the first atomic bombs were dropped on Japan and finishing a month after they surrendered. That means that the Canadian author was writing this novel during the events of World War II and at a time when the events were still in doubt. The novel I read now had been revised in both 1948 and slightly again in 1970 but when the book is filled with Roboplanes and weapons called the Vibrator it is clear that the novel maintains the wonderfully 40s ness at the heart.

It is the story of Gilbert Gosseyn (pronounced go sane) who wakes up in his second body on the eve of the Machine Games, this is a lawless month when players compete in various ways to earn a spot living on a Venus colony. That colony you see has grown into The Null-A system - a lawless utopia that sounded like an anarchist activist's idea of post-civil war Spain. The plot is complicated, something as a reader of PKD I am used to. The story on the surface looks to be like The Purge or Hunger Games but it goes into immortals and space opera later. There are wars with Galatic empires, massive AI's and lots of crazy weird elements.

You see the influence in the paranoid 'who and what am I?' nature of Gosseyn. He has died and is not sure who he is and finds out there are more copies of him running around. It was written for Campbell in the 40s so there is a supermen plot, Gosseyn, and his foes wonder if he can keep moving his mind and became immortal. That is not all the novel,, it is a vehicle to explore political ideas that was clearly an influence not just on PKD but the genre as a whole.

Van Vogt has said that the serial version published in 1945 was flawed and that each edition he was more comfortable with. He also admitted during this time he was writing the novel similar to the style to how PKD wrote High Castle. He didn't consult the IChing, but in the same way he let his dreams dictate the direction of the story. This prompted the criticism of author Damon Knight in his critical study of the genre to say that Null- A "abounds in contradictions, misleading clues, and irrelevant action...It is [van Vogt's] habit to introduce a monster, or a gadget, or an extra-terrestrial culture, simply by naming it, without any explanation of its nature."

The World of Null-A is a flawed novel by today's standards but you can't into reading a genre novel that is almost 80 years and not give it a certain amount of leeway. Considering when it is written it is delightfully weird. In many ways, it is all over the place. I think it is important to remember the science fiction novel as we think of it was not nearly as established. For decades still, novels from even giants in the field were still being serialized in magazines.

This is a must-read for true scholars of the field because the influence it had was so intense and deep. Is it a timeless masterpiece? No, but it is a great example of the evolution of the genre. It also has a great ending, fun action, crazy twists and most importantly tons of weird ideas that are made weirder by how out of date it is. Thumbs up from me.

[Kaiju Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

The World of Null-a is a fascinating and strange book. The style is somewhat matter of fact, very much in line with its many contemporary pulp bretheren. The main character, Gosseyn, doesn't really drive the story so much as the story just happens to him. He almost comes across as a kind of Mr. Magoo character, stumbling around in a world that he believes to understand, but doens't. But there is a delightful quality to the dangers and adventures he happens through. I found myself feeling a sense of wonder, not unlike reading my first fanatasy and science fiction tales as a kid. It didn't really matter that I didn't know what was going on, because Gosseyn didn't know what was going on either. At the end, yeah, it bothered me. There's a moment where Gosseyn suddenly seems to 'get it', but I was still in the dark. - - -But let me back up a bit here: the edition I read has a forward by the author essentially defending the novel's merits. He boasts grandly (and unjustly?) about its importance. After I finished the novel, I had to go back and reread this forward, which opened the door to a little more digging. In fact, the history of this book's reception is more dramatic and interesting than the book itself! While the book is a fun, almost comic pulp adventure, its reception rumpled some heady feathers. Without revealing too much, I'll say that some of the most important writers of the time absolutely hated the book, while many writers just then coming of age may have been shaped by it. I can't say whether everyone will enjoy it or not, it's a crap shoot, but I don't think any lover of science fiction antiquity and history can justly do without reading it.

[prcardi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Storyline: 3/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing Style: 1/5
World: 5/5

This was my first A.E. van Vogt experience. I can see why Philip K. Dick was inspired by the mysterious, incoherent ideas of Null-A. I can also see why Damon Knight named it "one of the worst allegedly adult science fiction stories ever published." The two are not mutually exclusive. I was initially enchanted by what Null-A meant and the world crafted by Vogt. I was thereafter continually frustrated and pained by the writing and development. Null-A might be the most ambitious idea I've encountered in science fiction, and Vogt, perhaps, writes with the least clarity of any author I've read. I'd give this more credit had Vogt been the originator of general semantics or had he been successful in explicating it through the medium of the novel.

Reminds me of The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling

[Peter Kazmaier · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a hard time deciding between two stars and three stars for this novel. In the end, I decided on two stars. I found the definition of non-Aristotelian (Null-A) thought an ill-defined and incoherent concept. From my perspective Null-A seemed to imbue the adherents with super-human mental acuity completely disconnected from "integrating animal (thalamus) and human (cortex) parts of the brain.

In the Foreword the author tried to shed some light on Null-A. He says: "In World, we have the Null-A (non-Aristotelian) man, who thinks gradational scale, not black and white—without, however, becoming a rebel or cynic, or a conspirator, in any current meaning of the term." I was hoping after reading the book I would understand what A. E. van Vogt meant.

[Jason]

Continuing this year in my exploration of classic SF I thought I would take a look at a famous novel by van Vogt. It turns out that van Vogt was a Canadian from a Mennonite community in Manitoba. He was an amazingly prolific author who moved to LA right after the war. There he became quite interested in the concepts of General Semantics or non-Aristotelian logic (Null-A). I'm no logician but from what I understand Aristotelian logic assumes binary states for a statement (e.g. The dog is a collie). Null-A logic assumes there are three or more values for every statement. This can all get highly semantic and we are here to review a book so...

van Vogt popularized these concepts in a series of Null-A books of which The World of Null-A was the first. In the year 2650 humans live in a vast and comforting utopian society. Individuals train to think in a non-Aristotelian pattern so that they may compete in the Game which is run by an immense machine. Those that succeed will advance to higher positions in life and the best will be allowed to go live on Venus where all is idyllic. The hero, Gilbert Gosseyn (pronounce it "go sane"), appears to be a man trying to follow this path. He attempts to enter the Game but finds himself caught up in a vast conspiracy where his identity is suspect and where ultimately he may hold the balance of power for the entire universe.

The novel is complex but entirely readable. Even though the book is from the 1940's there are some really compelling SF situations that make for an interesting novel.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book brings back to me the 1950s. Names like Eldred Crang and Hari Seldon (this from Isaac Asimov's Foundation series), Intergalactic wars. Highly advanced devices with tubes like an old Emerson TV set. Planets in our solar system that could sustain life. Take, for instance, this description of Venus:

Gosseyn said, "Doctor, what is Venus like -- the cities, I mean?"

The doctor rolled his head sideways to look at Gosseyn, but did not move his body.

"Oh, much like earth cities, but suited to the perpetually mild climate. Because of the high clouds, it never gets too hot. And it never rains except in the mountains. But every night on the great verdant plains, there's a heavy dew. And UI mean heavy enough to look after all the luxuriant growth...."

One of the side-effects of space exploration is the death of dreams of life on the Moon, on Mars, and on Venus.

As a teeneager, I loved A E Van Vogt, and I loved novels like The World of Null-A, Slan, The Empire of the Atom, and The War Against the Rull. I do plan to re-read more of him, because I could see the young me at every turn, following the story with rapt attention and belief.

Now the belief is gone, but what remains is a well written and conceived story. The fact that I could never quite believe, however, does remove a star or two from my rating.

No matter. I am rediscovering myself and rather enjoy the experience.

[Иван Величков · Rating 4 out of 5]

Много любим автор и един от най-добрите от старата генерация в личната ми ранг листа. Книгата разгръща една космическа опера в която разликите между планетните общества се базират изцяло на етични различия, преминали в цялостни социални структури и правещи разбирателството между културите, макар да са човеци, в пъти по-невъзможно от това между хора и друга раса.
Джилбърт Госейн разбира, че някой му е насадил фалшиво минало, но не знае с каква цел. Докато се опитва да открие себе си се оказва замесен в мащабна междупланетна конспирация, чиято цел е присъединяване на слънчевата система към определена междугалактическа фракция. За да се изпълни схемата, обаче трябва да се извърши геноцид над заселниците на Венера, защото идейният им строй не може да работи при външна експанзия. Госейн е единственият неизвестен фактор, който може да спре нашествието.
Романът (а и продължението му) повдига десетки етично-философски въпроси, като започнем от човек, личност и възприемане на околния свят и стигнем до междудържавни, междупланетни и междугалактически отношения.
Много силно препоръчвам произведението в частност и автора като цяло на всички любители на жанра. Ван Вогт е изпреварил времето си с поне 20 години, задълбавайки сериозно в социалната фантастика под приключенско-научната маска на произведенията си.
Голям.

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frankly, I think ‘The World of Null A’ by A. E. Van Vogt was without any heart, and partially because of that, no drama of the sort that captivates me. I also could not understand what was so groundbreaking or dramatic in the Null A philosophy where it appeared. The main character, Gilbert Gosseyn (pronounced Go Sane), frequently attempts to calm himself and plan a response to bewildering and dangerous situations with Null A teachings. I was mystified by whatever Null A philosophy was, which of course, dropped me right out of the world of the book until I was able to uncross my eyes. While the descriptions of the semantics, irony meant, of Null A philosophy were inept, I recognized some of its concepts. Many of these Null A ideas are part of today’s pop culture but under different names. Not that I follow pop culture as I consider myself a serious person. Thick lenses in my heavy-frame glasses, weak chin and everything.

So. I took a deep calming breath through my nose, and then let out my breath slowly. I emptied my mind, concentrated on being in the moment, letting past and future worries drift off, my brain becoming silent, silent. I read on….

*ahem*

That done, I remembered‘The World of Null A’ is considered a Golden Age of Science Fiction Must Read. It was first printed in 1945, and I am assuming many of the gadgets (some completely in the realm of fantasy, not scientific as van Vogt believed) and ideas were new to readers of that time. There is a lot of action and some mystery, but I could not engage with any character and the plot appeared to be there primarily to preach certain ideas that are designed to improve how folks think with lightly described or not-at-all described meditations to access undeveloped talents of the human brain. Later, when I used Wikipedia hoping for illumination, I discovered this was a plot written in order to promulgate the author’s passion for a new philosophy in that World War II era called “General Semantics’.

The author apparently adored the philosophy which was in vogue at the time with some intellectuals. The teachings are stated to be “non-Aristotelian”. Thus the name Null A. Aristotle’s ideas were considered to be dogmatic, black and white, and General Semantics was antithetical to dogmatism, being about integrating the perceptions of the entire mind. Something like that. Words power logic. Yes!

Anyway.

I have included a Wikipedia link to “General Semantics“ philosophy.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General...


My copy of the book is from 1948, picked up at the Salvation Army in a used book bin. The title of my copy has a bar over the A. When I first looked up the book on Goodreads, I was confused by the Null A name. I have learned Null A was part of the new title starting in 1953 reprints. Believe it or not, I have dragged this book with me in boxes wherever I moved to without ever having read it. I was in elementary school when I picked it up. I am in my seventh decade of life. I figured I had best get to reading my older owned books now.

If one is usually offended by the depiction of women in these early science fiction novels, this one is not as awful as some I’ve read. But women are definitely (literally) seen mostly in beds waiting for their men. No sex, though.

I copied the book blurb:

”The classic novel of non-Aristotelian logic and the coming race of supermen.

It is the year 2650 and Earth has become a world of non-Aristotelianism, or Null-A. This is the story of Gilbert Gosseyn, who lives in that future world where the Games Machine, made up of twenty-five thousand electronic brains, sets the course of people's lives. Gosseyn isn't even sure of his own identity, but realizes he has some remarkable abilities and sets out to use them to discover who has made him a pawn in an interstellar plot.

Science Fiction Grandmaster A. E. van Vogt was one of the giants of the 1940s, the Golden Age of classic SF. Of his masterpieces, The World of Null-A is his most famous and most influential. Published in 1949 it was the first major trade SF hardcover, and has been in print in various editions ever since.

The entire careers of Philip K. Dick, Keith Laumer, Alfred Bester, Charles Harness, and Philip Jose Farmer were created or influenced by The World of Null-A, and so it is required reading for anyone who wishes to know the canon of SF classics.”

I know the blurb says the publishing date was in 1949, but my book clearly says first published in 1945. Since my name is written in pink in my best elementary school handwriting on the inside, I believe I can vouch for the date in my old book with the barred A as the right one.

For me, the book was two and a half stars in enjoying the read. I do not enjoy many books designed to showcase a philosophy. Especially one which I found confusing. But I know many readers won’t really notice the preaching as much as I did. What they will notice is how many of the science fiction elements, as well as what are considered fantasy elements today, have been “honored”as a tribute appropriation by later authors. When I read ‘The Voyage of the Space Beagle’, a book I liked better than this one, I noticed a lot of its plot points have been used by Star Trek, for example. I highly recommend ‘The Voyage of the Space Beagle’.

For some reason, I keep thinking of The Shadow now. I don’t know why. I suppose its the whole pseudoscientific mind training bit of General Semantics.


https://youtu.be/l0lbmUaooSw?si=XdKK1...

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really seems to polarise peoples opinions of it. I found it after seeing it discussed online as one of the most important 20th century scifi books. This book and its author inspired some of the greatest scifi writers of the 2nd half of last century, notably Philip K. Dick.

Although the technology ideas in the book are now extremely dated, the overall story is fascinating and I found myself glued to it.
The writing style can be confusing and the author doesn't bother to explain every detail presented during the course of the story but I did find it extremely readable and enjoyable. Although I will freely admit that I am still pretty confused about exactly what non-Aristotelian (null-A) logic/philosophy is.

[Jc · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a terrible book: boring and pretentious. The fact it is a “classic” is not an excuse. Asimov wrote around the same time and it is still a great read. Here we have plenty of leads that could have been interesting but Van Vogt does not follow any of them. Instead we have a confused story that leads nowhere, leaving a lot of issues unanswered and peppered with pseudo philosophical mumbo jumbo.

[Laurent Guillemard · Rating 1 out of 5]

This must have been one of the first sci-fi books I ever read in my teenage and I had some very good memories of it which just shows that I had crappy book tastes as a teenager. This is really an awful book in pretty much every possible way. Unpleasant cardboard characters, meaningless slow moving plot, deus ex machina galore, terrible writing, the whole thing is just a catastrophe.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in my Junior High years, hence the 5 star rating reflecting my reaction to it at the time. Gilbert Gosseyn has to stop a galactic plot against Earth and Venus.

[David Johnston · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads about as well as you expect from a book where the premise is that logic is a force for evil.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can tell how this guy was a big influence on Philip K. Dick, but the bizareness of his ideas is upstaged by the lack of his skill in storytelling.

[Piotr Stasiewicz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeah, I know van Vogt was a bad writer, but this one is bad beyond belief. Every word Damon Knight said about this novel is true. In fact, it may be even worse...

[Regina Watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic pulp fiction that basically inspired Philip K Dick's whole career. You can't go wrong with this one.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Right from the outset this is a mind-bending, roller coaster ride of twists and turns. Don't expect detailed world building and character development, that is not what Van Vogt is all about. He is instead concerned with exploring his crazy ideas and plot twists.

In the opening chapter we discover that the protagonist, Gilbert Gosseyn, is not who he thinks he is as his memories are proven false. Gosseyn (and the reader) are then thrown into a state of confusion which lasts throughout the book. A little later Gosseyn is killed, only to awaken in the next chapter in a brand new copy of his body, on Venus. But all this makes sense, as far as the author is concerned, because he is trying to make clear his point that our identity is our memories, whether true or false, whether everything else is changes or not.

"Null-A" stands for Non-Aristotelian and this book describes a world in which this new pholosophy and logic have superceded the Aristotelian philosophy and logic that dominates our thinking today. Those who have best integrated this way of thinking into their lives go on to do all the important jobs in society and the cream of the crop go on to live in a utopian society on Venus populated with like minded people. All this is coming under threat however as forces of the old Aristotelian order are attempting a coup, seeking to overthrow this new order. Somehow Gosseyn is in the middle of all this and is the key to stopping it but he doesn't know how and appears to be a mere pawn in someone elses game.

As the author states in the last sentence of chapter 14: "It was all quite incomprehensible.". Yes, that sums it up quite succinctly. Van Vogt just flies off the handle a little too much here, the plot developments just too crazy and unbelievable but it's still quite an enjoyable read.