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The Man Who Awoke
Norman Winters puts himself into suspended animation for 5,000 years at a time. The stories detail his ensuing adventures as he tries to make sense of the societies he encounters each time he wakes.
170 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1933
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
February 8, 2016
This is one of those pioneering SF novels, more of interest to the aficionado than to the general reader. It is episodic in nature, and was serialised in one of the old magazines which Isaac Asimov cut his milk teeth on. In fact, I initially read the first episode of this novel in Asimov's Before the Golden Age: A Science Fiction Anthology of the 1930s, and was delighted to see the full novel at a charity sale.
The premise is interesting, though the science is a bit wonky. The banker Winters manages to put himself in suspended animation in a lead-lined coffin beneath the earth, and programmes himself to wake up after 3000+ years (in the year 5000 A.D.)using the effect of "cosmic rays" from radioactive material (don't raise your eyebrows - I told you that the science was eccentric). In subsequent chapters, he wakes up in uniform intervals of 5000 years, up to 25000 A.D.
The character of Winters is a sort of Gulliver of the future who travels through time, and is just a plot device for the author to speculate on weird human societies (we have a tribal society, people controlled by a computer, modern-day Lotus-Eaters who sleep their life away, an anarchic society of individuals and finally, immortality). Even though the imagination is fantastic, the stories are simplistic to the extreme and the writing leaves much to be desired - a reader of today will find most of the stories outright silly.
However, three stars for a pioneering effort and genuine flights of imagination.
The premise is interesting, though the science is a bit wonky. The banker Winters manages to put himself in suspended animation in a lead-lined coffin beneath the earth, and programmes himself to wake up after 3000+ years (in the year 5000 A.D.)using the effect of "cosmic rays" from radioactive material (don't raise your eyebrows - I told you that the science was eccentric). In subsequent chapters, he wakes up in uniform intervals of 5000 years, up to 25000 A.D.
The character of Winters is a sort of Gulliver of the future who travels through time, and is just a plot device for the author to speculate on weird human societies (we have a tribal society, people controlled by a computer, modern-day Lotus-Eaters who sleep their life away, an anarchic society of individuals and finally, immortality). Even though the imagination is fantastic, the stories are simplistic to the extreme and the writing leaves much to be desired - a reader of today will find most of the stories outright silly.
However, three stars for a pioneering effort and genuine flights of imagination.
January 6, 2026
The Man Who Awoke is a fix-up novel of five stories that were first published almost a century ago in Hugo Gernsback's Wonder Stories magazine. It tells the episodic adventures of Norman Winters, who puts himself into suspended animation for five-thousand years at a time to visit the future of humanity. Isaac Asimov included the first story in his landmark 1974 anthology Before the Golden Age, and Ballantine collected all five the following year in this volume with a terrific Dean Ellis cover. (Which incidentally reflects the influence H.G. Wells had on the work.) Manning was a pretty prolific writer in the genre from 1930-'35 but then cut his career short for some reason. (He passed in 1972, so sadly missed the revival of interest in his work.) His pulpy prose is not elegant by modern standards, nor his depiction of character, but he was a terrific big-idea kind of writer, and his observations in this one about the importance of ecology may have been the first in the genre. The differences and contrasts in society in the five-thousand-year jumps were fascinating, too.
May 12, 2019
Norman Winters es un banquero que decide dormir de 5000 en 5000 años para observar los avances de la Humanidad. Para ello, crea una especie de habitáculo revestido de plomo que le permitirá mantenerse hibernado y despertar en un momento dado miles de años en el futuro. En el primer despertar, conocerá una sociedad donde los recursos naturales ya se han acabado, y que vive básicamente de lo que proporcionan los árboles, conociéndose el siglo XX como el Gran Despilfarro. Así, despertar tras despertar, sabremos de las aventuras de Winters.
‘El hombre que despertó en el futuro’ (The Man Who Awake, 1933), del canadiense Laurence Manning, está formado por cinco relatos que se publicaron en la revista Wonder Stories, para formar posteriormente la presente novela. Me han gustado bastante las historias, con ese gusto de la Edad de Oro de la ciencia ficción, pero además con ciertas especulaciones bastante avanzadas para la época en que fueron escritas.
‘El hombre que despertó en el futuro’ (The Man Who Awake, 1933), del canadiense Laurence Manning, está formado por cinco relatos que se publicaron en la revista Wonder Stories, para formar posteriormente la presente novela. Me han gustado bastante las historias, con ese gusto de la Edad de Oro de la ciencia ficción, pero además con ciertas especulaciones bastante avanzadas para la época en que fueron escritas.
July 3, 2012
This is my all time favourite science fiction work. I discovered this as a teenager. Lawrence Manning only ever wrote this, originally serialised on magazines, and then "retired". A simple premise which results in an epic journey. So many modern sci-fi concepts are born here. This is the ONE book I have kept from my teenage years.
June 5, 2016
Wow, I'm geniunely impressed that so many people know and love this book. Although, I must admit to being ashamed of my reasons for reading this. Lawrence Manning was my great-grandfather. I enjoyed this story, yet did not love it. It's sad that I find complete strangers with a greater connection to it than me, but nonetheless I'm proud his work is still remembered. I hope people will continue reading and remembering much longer.
January 2, 2016
One of the great underrated 'classics' of early science-fiction. I first discovered the work of Laurence Manning in a big anthology edited by Isaac Asimov that was called Before the Golden Age. This anthology was devoted to stories that the young Asimov recalled being particularly impressed by when he was reading pulp SF magazines in the 1930s. His anthology includes Manning's story 'The Man who Awoke' and I found this to be one of the most interesting tales in the collection.
I knew from Asimov's preliminary note that this story was only the first in a series. So I sought out the others. There are five in total. The conceit is that an elderly scientist by the name of Norman Winters puts himself into a drug-induced sleep in a lead-lined chamber deep underground with a mechanism designed to awaken him periodically throughout the future.
He first awakens in 5000 AD and thereafter after five millennium gaps. His first awakening is the story that appeared in Asimov's anthology, here re-titled 'The Forest People'. It's an utterly remarkable work that has as its basis ecology and the waste of natural resources. In this respect, Manning was years ahead of his time as a writer.
In fact, the four stories that follow are equally superb. Manning was surely one of the best (perhaps the best) science-fiction writer of the 1930s. The five linked adventures that form this book deal with such themes as: artificial intelligence, virtual reality, eugenics, atomic energy, the transmutation of matter, politics, ethics, philosophy. My favourite of the five tales is probably 'The Individualists' which moves at a breakneck pace.
These stories were published in 1933 and one wonders if Manning had read Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men because that earlier masterwork (published in 1930) is the only book comparable to the grand fictional scheme worked out here. The Man who Awoke is an incredible book that deserves to be better known.
I knew from Asimov's preliminary note that this story was only the first in a series. So I sought out the others. There are five in total. The conceit is that an elderly scientist by the name of Norman Winters puts himself into a drug-induced sleep in a lead-lined chamber deep underground with a mechanism designed to awaken him periodically throughout the future.
He first awakens in 5000 AD and thereafter after five millennium gaps. His first awakening is the story that appeared in Asimov's anthology, here re-titled 'The Forest People'. It's an utterly remarkable work that has as its basis ecology and the waste of natural resources. In this respect, Manning was years ahead of his time as a writer.
In fact, the four stories that follow are equally superb. Manning was surely one of the best (perhaps the best) science-fiction writer of the 1930s. The five linked adventures that form this book deal with such themes as: artificial intelligence, virtual reality, eugenics, atomic energy, the transmutation of matter, politics, ethics, philosophy. My favourite of the five tales is probably 'The Individualists' which moves at a breakneck pace.
These stories were published in 1933 and one wonders if Manning had read Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men because that earlier masterwork (published in 1930) is the only book comparable to the grand fictional scheme worked out here. The Man who Awoke is an incredible book that deserves to be better known.
December 10, 2016
Putting aside the science of suspended animation,wrong,this is a interesting and valuable tale.
A man after a long suspended animation in order to see how the human society evolves in the long time (a doubtful option seeing the today world ) awakes in a world that is a near utopic society,living in small comunities with direct democracy,a sustainable explotation of resources and with advanced tecnology that leaves the people a lot of spare time for leisure,hobbies ,study or investigation (it remembers me the short novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley : The Climbing Wave ),yet this society is not wholly utopic ,threre are conflicts in the intergenerational solidarity in the use of resources.
It is also a striking and visionary tale for 1933, because this new society blames the ancient world society for to squander the natural resources and burning without control the fossil fuels ,disregarding future human generations.
In the end the man resumes his suspended animation wishing to see the next stage of human society evolution.
A already mature,modern,rather visionary SF tale.
This tale was published in March of1933 in "Wonder Stories"
A man after a long suspended animation in order to see how the human society evolves in the long time (a doubtful option seeing the today world ) awakes in a world that is a near utopic society,living in small comunities with direct democracy,a sustainable explotation of resources and with advanced tecnology that leaves the people a lot of spare time for leisure,hobbies ,study or investigation (it remembers me the short novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley : The Climbing Wave ),yet this society is not wholly utopic ,threre are conflicts in the intergenerational solidarity in the use of resources.
It is also a striking and visionary tale for 1933, because this new society blames the ancient world society for to squander the natural resources and burning without control the fossil fuels ,disregarding future human generations.
In the end the man resumes his suspended animation wishing to see the next stage of human society evolution.
A already mature,modern,rather visionary SF tale.
This tale was published in March of1933 in "Wonder Stories"
April 11, 2017
Qué libro más impresionante, que haya sido escrito en 1933, no me lo puedo creer. Es tan... creativo y valiente, el autor tiene tantos cojones, hace preguntas que yo nunca haría en un libro (creo) porque no tendría idea de cómo responderlas, preguntas que no solo hace, ¡sino que también contesta! O sea, este libro al final básicamente dice cuál es el sentido de la existencia y de la humanidad, jaja. No digo necesariamente que tenga razón, pero lo hace, y de que vale la pena leerlo, lo vale.
Y no solo por eso: está bien escrito, es entretenido, es sorprendente (tiene giros que yo no vi venir ni por si acaso), es provocativo y tiene mucho pero mucho sentido común. Otra vez, NO PUEDO CREER que lo hayan escrito en 1933, y no lo digo solo por la parte futurista y por las tecnologías entonces inexistentes que ya profetiza, sino que por lo poco que hemos cambiado los seres humanos. Somos iguales a entonces, en el carácter. Probablemente lo seamos también en el futuro. Podemos mejorar, claro, en muchas cosas, pero hay una naturaleza inicial y me da la impresión de que Manning la capta bien y de que, además, sabe narrarla con cierta compasión, cierta ternura, pese a las limitaciones que también tenemos.
En fin, que me impresionó muchísimo. Qué imaginación la del autor y qué certeza. Lo recomiendo con creces, pero no a cualquiera ni para cualquier momento, porque es ciencia ficción, que por algún motivo es un género impopular (no para mí, a mí me hace soñar), y porque hace pensar harto. O sea, no es un libro para descansar, aunque esté escrito de un modo supuestamente coloquial y fácil. Yo tuve que dejarlo un par de veces para exclamar para mis adentros.
Y una cosa más. Es muy elegante. El autor nunca se da por vencido, nunca dice "ya, dije lo esencial, chao". No hay costuras, cierres mal hechos. Hasta el final, inconcluso (a propósito) aparece perfecto. Nunca desinfla, nunca se descuida. Fue tan astuto al terminar el libro que hasta me sacó una mini carcajada. Daría la cita exacta pero me da lata buscarla, y además no quiero echar a perder la sorpresa. Laurence Manning tejió su libro como un verdadero artesano.
Comentarios con spoiler en http://galgata.cl/fonola/hombredelfut...
Y no solo por eso: está bien escrito, es entretenido, es sorprendente (tiene giros que yo no vi venir ni por si acaso), es provocativo y tiene mucho pero mucho sentido común. Otra vez, NO PUEDO CREER que lo hayan escrito en 1933, y no lo digo solo por la parte futurista y por las tecnologías entonces inexistentes que ya profetiza, sino que por lo poco que hemos cambiado los seres humanos. Somos iguales a entonces, en el carácter. Probablemente lo seamos también en el futuro. Podemos mejorar, claro, en muchas cosas, pero hay una naturaleza inicial y me da la impresión de que Manning la capta bien y de que, además, sabe narrarla con cierta compasión, cierta ternura, pese a las limitaciones que también tenemos.
En fin, que me impresionó muchísimo. Qué imaginación la del autor y qué certeza. Lo recomiendo con creces, pero no a cualquiera ni para cualquier momento, porque es ciencia ficción, que por algún motivo es un género impopular (no para mí, a mí me hace soñar), y porque hace pensar harto. O sea, no es un libro para descansar, aunque esté escrito de un modo supuestamente coloquial y fácil. Yo tuve que dejarlo un par de veces para exclamar para mis adentros.
Y una cosa más. Es muy elegante. El autor nunca se da por vencido, nunca dice "ya, dije lo esencial, chao". No hay costuras, cierres mal hechos. Hasta el final, inconcluso (a propósito) aparece perfecto. Nunca desinfla, nunca se descuida. Fue tan astuto al terminar el libro que hasta me sacó una mini carcajada. Daría la cita exacta pero me da lata buscarla, y además no quiero echar a perder la sorpresa. Laurence Manning tejió su libro como un verdadero artesano.
Comentarios con spoiler en http://galgata.cl/fonola/hombredelfut...
December 26, 2010
Recommended on I Heart Chaos, I found it on PaperBackSwap and decided to pick it up.
This is possibly the most interesting sci-fi novel from the 30's that you will ever read. Manning's writing shows its age in places, but his visions are truly advanced and interesting. Although he wrote in a time long before the term Posthumanism had been defined, his writing shows a real understanding of the concept. Truly an excellent sci-fi book that I'd recommend to anyone who has an eye toward reading older sci-fi of value.
This is possibly the most interesting sci-fi novel from the 30's that you will ever read. Manning's writing shows its age in places, but his visions are truly advanced and interesting. Although he wrote in a time long before the term Posthumanism had been defined, his writing shows a real understanding of the concept. Truly an excellent sci-fi book that I'd recommend to anyone who has an eye toward reading older sci-fi of value.
January 13, 2009
I first read this when I was in my 1st year at uni (1996) sitting in a park with a bag-of-beer. it was a beautiful experience. this is one of the few books that I have read more than three times, I know I will always return to this this book, time and time again.
September 12, 2024
This is one of a bunch of books that a stranger gave to me outside a used bookstore after the store refused to take them. These were mostly books by authors I haven't read before, like Paul Preuss, Keith Laumer, George O. Smith, Mack Reynolds, Charles Dye, Theodora DuBois, John Faucette, and D.F. Jones. This is the first of this batch that I'm giving a try.
I’d never heard of this Laurence Manning, and the cover looks pretty camp, like another of those War or the Worlds knock-offs, and it was first published in serial form in 1933, all of which suggests pulp fiction. On this basis I might have given this a miss if it hadn’t been given to me.
The Man Who Awoke is about Norman Winters, a man who embarks on a grand project to one-way-time-travel himself into the future via hibernation in the hopes of finding humanity’s enlightened age. He wakes up in the year 5000, then goes back under again and again for 5000 year sleeps, and wakes up each time to find a new dystopian future - until he doesn’t.
I though it was an amazing read - as if Olaf Stapledon had inspired H. G. Wells to write something about the destiny of humanity. It’s possible that Stapledon's Last and First Men inspired this, as it came out 3 years earlier, but Starmaker etc. all came out later. I think the writing is much more accessible what what I've read of Stapledon so far. If this novel isn’t already in the Gollancz SF Masterworks lineup, it really should to be - it's every bit as good as good as what I've come to expect from that line.
There's a bio at the back of the book, uncredited but maybe by one of the Del Reys. It tells us that Laurence Manning only wrote 2 SF novels before calling it quits, though he went on to other fame. He was born and raised in St John, New Brunswick, and later became an American citizen. It also credits him with being an early pioneer in terms of vision and quality of writing, which seems about right to me.
I’d never heard of this Laurence Manning, and the cover looks pretty camp, like another of those War or the Worlds knock-offs, and it was first published in serial form in 1933, all of which suggests pulp fiction. On this basis I might have given this a miss if it hadn’t been given to me.
The Man Who Awoke is about Norman Winters, a man who embarks on a grand project to one-way-time-travel himself into the future via hibernation in the hopes of finding humanity’s enlightened age. He wakes up in the year 5000, then goes back under again and again for 5000 year sleeps, and wakes up each time to find a new dystopian future - until he doesn’t.
I though it was an amazing read - as if Olaf Stapledon had inspired H. G. Wells to write something about the destiny of humanity. It’s possible that Stapledon's Last and First Men inspired this, as it came out 3 years earlier, but Starmaker etc. all came out later. I think the writing is much more accessible what what I've read of Stapledon so far. If this novel isn’t already in the Gollancz SF Masterworks lineup, it really should to be - it's every bit as good as good as what I've come to expect from that line.
There's a bio at the back of the book, uncredited but maybe by one of the Del Reys. It tells us that Laurence Manning only wrote 2 SF novels before calling it quits, though he went on to other fame. He was born and raised in St John, New Brunswick, and later became an American citizen. It also credits him with being an early pioneer in terms of vision and quality of writing, which seems about right to me.
March 17, 2021
Me alegra haber encontrado este libro, la historia me atrapó completamente, la ciencia ficción del siglo xx es mi favorita.
Norman Winters encuentrá la forma de viajar al futuro, despierta en distintos momentos para conocer la vida que lleva la humanidad, y en ocasiones intervendrá para salvarlos de la extinción. Al final de su aventura, seguirá buscando el sentido de la existencia y logrará comprender parte de la misma luego de haber vivido miles de años.
Norman Winters encuentrá la forma de viajar al futuro, despierta en distintos momentos para conocer la vida que lleva la humanidad, y en ocasiones intervendrá para salvarlos de la extinción. Al final de su aventura, seguirá buscando el sentido de la existencia y logrará comprender parte de la misma luego de haber vivido miles de años.
November 16, 2008
Really 3.5 stars. It was definitely an enjoyable read and a fun romp through time. It felt to me more fantasy-like in a sense though (its not really a fantasy though) as no technology was explained nor did any of it really seem like it could ever happen. Manning's storytelling within these made-up "worlds" was cool enough though. Its a quick fun read that I would recommend to people with an extra day or so on hand to take in.
Read
August 31, 2018I've been searching for this book for years but couldn't remember the author or title and gave away my copy when I moved from college. I found it today by chance on Wiki's history of time travel books page. I was thrilled. I read this as a teenager and college student. It's one of the best sci-fi books I've read. Now it's time to buy another copy!
December 13, 2009
I really enjoyed this book and would read it again if I had it in my collection.
November 13, 2024
Buenísimo.
July 19, 2021
Pues... pues
Dejó mucho que desear.
Al inicio la idea me gustó bastante de un hombre que pudo despertar miles de años en el futuro para ver lo que sucedió con la humanidad. Hasta ahí todo bien, pero cuando veo que en el primer despertar pasa un arco que posiblemente pudo haber tomado forma, decide que no es lo suyo y vuelve a dormir. Al despertar y ve un mundo medio utópico o distópico como que no da mucho trasfondo de lo que sucede y de un momento a otro se vuelve el salvador de la humanidad así sin nada más, pero decide que no es lo suyo y vuelve a dormir y vuelve a despertar y creo que aquí es el mejor arco del libro donde el objetivo de la humanidad era un tipo "Inception", pero igual como que fue medio cuajado y decide que no y vuelve a dormir y así dos veces más que fueron las más flojas del libro.
Lo rescatable de la historia es poner en perspectiva como la humanidad siempre ha sido y será su propia enemiga y el artífice de su propia destrucción. El enemigo natural del humano es otro humano y aquí lo demuestra como, según el autor, a pesar de los milenios, los humanos siempre tendrán conflictos, desacuerdos y peleas por su propia naturaleza, en principio. Aunque también quiere poner sobre la mesa el tema de la búsqueda insaciable de ¿Por qué estamos aquí? ¿Cuál es nuestro objetivo en la vida? Y eso se ve medio reflejado en el último arco pero se me hace tan sacado de la manga todo (por así decirlo) que como que no convence.
Ya se que es ciencia ficción y que el libro es de 1933 pero aún así, como que tenía muchas ideas y no terminó de desarrollar ninguna el autor y todo fue al aventón y cuando juega su carta del cuestionamiento de la existencia como que se le terminó el papel y lo compactó todo en 10 páginas. Hubiera prescindido del penúltimo arco y no hubiera afectado nada porque realmente esa parte no aporta nada ni a la historia ni al mensaje que trata de dar, solo es relleno. Aunque haya historia real igualmente de relleno en la humanidad, en un libro al menos que valga la pena que leer o que aporte algo.
En síntesis, Norman Winters desde un inicio trata de viajar al futuro por el hambre de conocimiento de saber que pasa, como avanza la tecnología y el razonamiento humano y al final esa hambre se convierte en cuestionamientos al tener todo el tiempo en sus mano y poder buscar más allá de las limitaciones de la vida, peeeeero una cosa es la idea y otra que te lo aviente todo de sopetón en los últimos 2 capítulos pues no.
Hasta siento que el autor tenía como idea primero escribir una novela así X con sus toques de ciencia y al final como que él mismo se empezó a cuestionar hasta que punto puede llegar el humano si tuviera inmortalidad, que esta bien, pero el cambió brusco de ideas de una página a otra como que saca de onda.
Se me hizo digerible al inicio, hasta pensé que iba a ser una novela pasable, pero después del tercer despertar como que se vuelve medio tediosa y aburrida y la verdad me tardé muchísimo en leerla aunque sea un librito, más que nada porque ya ni relacionaba los capítulos, era como leer una compilación de narraciones. Y eso de la máquina que hace mil maravillas donde sacan comida, materiales y combustible de donde sea si se me hizo muy "deus ex machina". Pero para ser el 1933 pueees, puedo decir que Verne lo ha hecho un poquito mejor y más realista.
Dejó mucho que desear.
Al inicio la idea me gustó bastante de un hombre que pudo despertar miles de años en el futuro para ver lo que sucedió con la humanidad. Hasta ahí todo bien, pero cuando veo que en el primer despertar pasa un arco que posiblemente pudo haber tomado forma, decide que no es lo suyo y vuelve a dormir. Al despertar y ve un mundo medio utópico o distópico como que no da mucho trasfondo de lo que sucede y de un momento a otro se vuelve el salvador de la humanidad así sin nada más, pero decide que no es lo suyo y vuelve a dormir y vuelve a despertar y creo que aquí es el mejor arco del libro donde el objetivo de la humanidad era un tipo "Inception", pero igual como que fue medio cuajado y decide que no y vuelve a dormir y así dos veces más que fueron las más flojas del libro.
Lo rescatable de la historia es poner en perspectiva como la humanidad siempre ha sido y será su propia enemiga y el artífice de su propia destrucción. El enemigo natural del humano es otro humano y aquí lo demuestra como, según el autor, a pesar de los milenios, los humanos siempre tendrán conflictos, desacuerdos y peleas por su propia naturaleza, en principio. Aunque también quiere poner sobre la mesa el tema de la búsqueda insaciable de ¿Por qué estamos aquí? ¿Cuál es nuestro objetivo en la vida? Y eso se ve medio reflejado en el último arco pero se me hace tan sacado de la manga todo (por así decirlo) que como que no convence.
Ya se que es ciencia ficción y que el libro es de 1933 pero aún así, como que tenía muchas ideas y no terminó de desarrollar ninguna el autor y todo fue al aventón y cuando juega su carta del cuestionamiento de la existencia como que se le terminó el papel y lo compactó todo en 10 páginas. Hubiera prescindido del penúltimo arco y no hubiera afectado nada porque realmente esa parte no aporta nada ni a la historia ni al mensaje que trata de dar, solo es relleno. Aunque haya historia real igualmente de relleno en la humanidad, en un libro al menos que valga la pena que leer o que aporte algo.
En síntesis, Norman Winters desde un inicio trata de viajar al futuro por el hambre de conocimiento de saber que pasa, como avanza la tecnología y el razonamiento humano y al final esa hambre se convierte en cuestionamientos al tener todo el tiempo en sus mano y poder buscar más allá de las limitaciones de la vida, peeeeero una cosa es la idea y otra que te lo aviente todo de sopetón en los últimos 2 capítulos pues no.
Hasta siento que el autor tenía como idea primero escribir una novela así X con sus toques de ciencia y al final como que él mismo se empezó a cuestionar hasta que punto puede llegar el humano si tuviera inmortalidad, que esta bien, pero el cambió brusco de ideas de una página a otra como que saca de onda.
Se me hizo digerible al inicio, hasta pensé que iba a ser una novela pasable, pero después del tercer despertar como que se vuelve medio tediosa y aburrida y la verdad me tardé muchísimo en leerla aunque sea un librito, más que nada porque ya ni relacionaba los capítulos, era como leer una compilación de narraciones. Y eso de la máquina que hace mil maravillas donde sacan comida, materiales y combustible de donde sea si se me hizo muy "deus ex machina". Pero para ser el 1933 pueees, puedo decir que Verne lo ha hecho un poquito mejor y más realista.
March 10, 2025
(9 March, 2025)
A strange novel, very early 20th century centric (how could it not?). Norman Winters is more sleeper than actual time traveller (but, then again, are we not all time travellers?). He seldom changes with the times, applying his ideas - cultural, political and existential - to all eras. He sees examples (and extremes) of many ethical frameworks and civic ideologies, sometimes drastically changing the course of human history, sometimes not.
An interesting premise and discussion of grandiose ideas are a great start, with much to contemplate but, as often is the case, the execution is lacking. It feels mostly half-assed and aimless. Winters is also much too unexceptional to be a compelling protagonist and the forever English is irritating as heck.
The ending can definitely leave the reader with an ick feeling inside, could Manning not leave that part of human history in the distant past?
A fun, albeit erratic, trek through time.
A strange novel, very early 20th century centric (how could it not?). Norman Winters is more sleeper than actual time traveller (but, then again, are we not all time travellers?). He seldom changes with the times, applying his ideas - cultural, political and existential - to all eras. He sees examples (and extremes) of many ethical frameworks and civic ideologies, sometimes drastically changing the course of human history, sometimes not.
An interesting premise and discussion of grandiose ideas are a great start, with much to contemplate but, as often is the case, the execution is lacking. It feels mostly half-assed and aimless. Winters is also much too unexceptional to be a compelling protagonist and the forever English is irritating as heck.
The ending can definitely leave the reader with an ick feeling inside, could Manning not leave that part of human history in the distant past?
A fun, albeit erratic, trek through time.
April 1, 2020
Joined this site just to write a short "review"of this book.
Originally printed in 1933 this is my all time favourite SciFi novel. I cannot think of another book or even author that is even vaguely as foresighted as this book. I don't think the entire works of H.G.Wells contain as many nuggets as this one book. Closest thing I've ever read to prophesy and it's all laid out in such an appealing narrative!
Ok so we don't have suspended animation yet but we do have atomic clocks, atomic bombs, Virtual reality, computers, Artifical intelligence, organ transplants/ artifical organs, 3D printing, throw away society and the green/environmental movement. 1933! These are just some of the things that Manning talks about in this book, which I believe, was years ahead of its time. For years I've been baffled as to why the book does not receive more recognition for its amazing predictions.
Originally printed in 1933 this is my all time favourite SciFi novel. I cannot think of another book or even author that is even vaguely as foresighted as this book. I don't think the entire works of H.G.Wells contain as many nuggets as this one book. Closest thing I've ever read to prophesy and it's all laid out in such an appealing narrative!
Ok so we don't have suspended animation yet but we do have atomic clocks, atomic bombs, Virtual reality, computers, Artifical intelligence, organ transplants/ artifical organs, 3D printing, throw away society and the green/environmental movement. 1933! These are just some of the things that Manning talks about in this book, which I believe, was years ahead of its time. For years I've been baffled as to why the book does not receive more recognition for its amazing predictions.
October 20, 2018
This is a really great classic sci-fi novel from even before the golden age. It seems to have aged really well. It's a more obscure author, but probably because he didn't write much aside from this, but I would put it up there with some of the best classic books. It follows Norman Winters, so invents a drug that will allow him to sleep for thousands of years at a time in an underground chamber. He resurfaces every 5,000 years to see what the future has in store. Oftentimes he is confronted with societal decay and hostility and must race back to his slumber to awaken 5,000 years later. It's a good and fairly quick read and well worth it.
May 26, 2020
Loved this book!! But and there is always a butt, the ending was strange and confusing it almost seemed like the author did such a great job of telling his story no matter what he did the ending would not satisfy us or him. I was on the edge of my seat every time he awoke and looked upon the earth and how it changed. I just wished he could have ended it with the same feeling the rest of the book left me. But I have read this several times so I guess I will live with it. Now i just end my reading just before the end and I dont get disappointed.
August 2, 2022
Viajar hacia adelante en el tiempo sin posibilidades de retorno al momento original sonaba como un buen gancho. Norman Winters duerme por un periodo de 5 mil años, casi como Fray de Futurama para encontrarse con distintas sociedades y así, de cinco mil en cinco mil recorre la tierra donde alguna vez el también vivió.
Creo que en su tiempo, la lectura pudo resultar fascinante aunque creo, ha envejecido un poco mal pues no ahonda en la psique de los personajes ni describe con profundidad los nuevos tiempos.
Creo que en su tiempo, la lectura pudo resultar fascinante aunque creo, ha envejecido un poco mal pues no ahonda en la psique de los personajes ni describe con profundidad los nuevos tiempos.
December 17, 2023
This story, originally serialized in Wonder Stories in the 1930s, is a very entertaining picaresque romp through projected future eons by a (then) contemporary traveler. Similar to “The Time Machine” and “The Sleeper Awakes” in theme, Manning stuns the reader with very prescient themes and predictions scattered amongst the usual tropes of such stories.
To my knowledge, this is the first iteration of an explicitly “Matrix”- type premise where humanity is enslaved, yet dreams through their lives in a nigh-perfect virtual reality.
Loved it!
To my knowledge, this is the first iteration of an explicitly “Matrix”- type premise where humanity is enslaved, yet dreams through their lives in a nigh-perfect virtual reality.
Loved it!
March 17, 2022
Creo que el libro debería conservar el título original "The Man Who Awoke", porque en realidad muestra el despertar de un hombre a cuestiones propias a todo ser humano. Una lectura filosófica, a la vez que de ciencia ficción que te transporta realmente a los mundos que atraviesa su protagonista, y te hace pensar en cómo pensarías si lo que ocurre a él te pasase a a ti. Un clásico poco conocido por el público en general, y que llegó a mi por casualidad. Lo recomiendo sin lugar a dudas.
July 25, 2024
I saved up and bought this book from the elementary school book fair in 1975, while in 5th grade. I recently found it while unboxing books that had been in storage while I was overseas, and it was a pleasure to reread. While the writing, plot and characters are not what modern readers are used to, it is a good tale well-told, and sheds light on the days of pulp SF, the impact of the First World War, and the yearning of a better world, even if unattainable.
August 28, 2024
This book deserves five stars for the ideas that contains, the imagination who composed it, the vision of the future questions and issues that addresses so early in its time and most important, the fun that proportionate.
Maybe the science is not accurate, maybe some scenes and conclusions are way out there, perhaps, but never mind that and enjoy this short read from 1933, it will make you think and entertain you at the same time.
Maybe the science is not accurate, maybe some scenes and conclusions are way out there, perhaps, but never mind that and enjoy this short read from 1933, it will make you think and entertain you at the same time.
April 6, 2021
Mi estreno como lector del género de ciencia ficción. Un libro ameno, de lectura entretenida y, por momentos, hasta emocionante, en una historia con un arranque original y un desarrollo interesante y sorprendente. Lo peor, para mi gusto, es el afán descriptivo del autor. Por ese lado se me hizo un poco pesada. Aún así, la acabé y la disfruté.
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January 1, 2026I read this book in high school and had forgotten the title. I finally figured it out with some extensive searching. The third of five major chapters has remarkable similarity with The Matrix yet was written in 1933! Apparently the first was sophisticated for the time in its environmental themes as well, and the second anticipated AI themes a decade before the first modern computer was built!
March 20, 2023
Muy buena sorpresa.
Osea, el primer cuento salió en 1933 y se lee muy a gusto en este año del señor 2023.
Siento que el autor tiene cosas que decir más allá del divertimento como es el caso de otros cuentos de la época.
Recomendado.
Osea, el primer cuento salió en 1933 y se lee muy a gusto en este año del señor 2023.
Siento que el autor tiene cosas que decir más allá del divertimento como es el caso de otros cuentos de la época.
Recomendado.
May 26, 2022
Started out great but towards the end I was so bored.
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