Adaptation

by Mack Reynolds

Hardly had man solved his basic problems on the planet of his origin than he began to fumble into space. Barely a century had elapsed in the exploration of the Solar System than he began to grope for the stars. And suddenly, with an all but religious zeal, mankind conceived its fantasy dream of populating the galaxy. Never in the history of the race had fervor reached such a peak and held so long. The question of why was seemingly ignored. Millions of Earth-type planets beckoned and with a lemming-like desperation humanity erupted into them. But the obstacles were frightening in their magnitude. The planets and satellites of Sol had proven comparatively tractable and those that were suited to man-life were quickly brought under his dominion. But there, of course, he had the advantage of proximity. The time involved in running back and forth to the home planet was meaningless and all Earth's resources could be thrown into each problem's solving. ...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks, Short Stories

139 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 17, 2007

About the author

Dallas McCord "Mack" Reynolds was an American science fiction writer. His pen names included Clark Collins, Mark Mallory, Guy McCord, Dallas Ross and Maxine Reynolds. Many of his stories were published in "Galaxy Magazine" and "Worlds of If Magazine". He was quite popular in the 1960s, but most of his work subsequently went out of print.

He was an active supporter of the Socialist Labor Party; his father, Verne Reynolds, was twice the SLP's Presidential candidate, in 1928 and 1932. Many of MR's stories use SLP jargon such as 'Industrial Feudalism' and most deal with economic issues in some way

Many of Reynolds' stories took place in Utopian societies, and many of which fulfilled L. L. Zamenhof's dream of Esperanto used worldwide as a universal second language. His novels predicted much that has come to pass, including pocket computers and a world-wide computer network with information available at one's fingertips.

Many of his novels were written within the context of a highly mobile society in which few people maintained a fixed residence, leading to "mobile voting" laws which allowed someone living out of the equivalent of a motor home to vote when and where they chose.

Reviews

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I wrote in my review of A.J. Budrys's The Barbarians , I gave myself a task to read Golden Age SF for craft and technique, one of which was Mack Reynolds's Adaptation.
First, historians should read this book. It's basically the USSR versus the USA in deep space, although not in open armed conflict. The battlefield involves the creation of working economies on two different worlds. What's even better, the aboriginals on both worlds get involved in a big (and to me, satisfying) way.
The story has craft and technique in abundance. The actual story is a bit trite when read in 2020, however the storyline is still superb. Reynolds uses lots of historical reference to earth civilizations and their economic systems in order for each side to make their case, and the story shows no favorites.
A suggested read, and for more than technique and craft, this.

[Selina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Currently one of my favourite books! A little short, if anything, and with a very unexpected ending.

[Steve Chisnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start by saying there is a lot "wrong" with this book some 60-odd years after its publication. Reynolds is a major figure in a different era of science fiction. His all-male cast postures about itself, beating their intellectual chests at each other, oblivious to their own ironic impetuousness. The debates they have across the book, clearly timely in their day, are sophomoric and idealized representations of complex theories represented here in brief spats. And the arguments themselves obliviously ignore the academic work that had already long been established in anthropology, race politics, and economic and sociopolitical thought.

This "crack" team of star explorers sets out to bring two "primitive" worlds of people up to a level of development suitable for joining a new human federation of planets. Yet they set out and make it most of the way through their voyage only to exclaim that none of them have yet considered how they will do it!

Okay, so that seems like enough reasons to attack the work. Let's take a moment and set all that aside (not an easy task!) to talk a bit about what Reynolds is up to. He has set up a thought experiment, a theoretical political question of capitalism vs collectivism, and decided to conduct it in a narrative simulation. If you could conjure a world almost hypothetically a blank slate, which method (in the grand scheme) would "raise" society more effectively? For its time, the posing of the question alone is intriguing.

But Reynolds is not done, even so. This is a short work, so I won't spoil the ending. Instead I will speculate that this very thought experiment is itself a guise to what he actually has in mind.

The story, clearly, is far from flawless. At times, the hypothetical focus that should dominate our discussion is diverted by needless and distracting detail. (Does it matter, for instance, across a fast 50 year history, that a particular valley had a chokehold that allowed a single battle to shift?) But . . . But . . . when the book is over, the "scientific method," empiricism under glass, is a subject more relevant still. And for this, fairly fun.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining space listening 🎶🔰

Another will written fantasy Sci-Fi space opera adventure thriller short story by Mack Reynolds about colonization of planets over a thousand years. Then a spaceship is sent too speed up the process. I would recommend this novella to readers of fantasy space novels 👍🔰. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶 to Alexa as I do because of health issues. 2022 👑👒😮

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

An overall interesting read. I don’t get why a thousand years was waited before anything was done for these planets instead of say like a hundred years. Everything that happened on the planets was predictable. Even the “twist” at the end was not a huge surprise. It could be gleaned from certain things said throughout the story.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but thoroughly engrossing . Enjoyed the ending.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the elaborate setting of two planets and a fight of egos. The twist in the end was unexpected but wonderful.

[McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a delight. I don’t think there were any women in the entire thing, but it was a good read.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing chilling book!

[Joey Schafer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf; pretty dated in its cultural approaches

[Krystelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

While disjointed in places, there is definitely still something to be said for the golden age of science fiction. Before we had advanced our technology so far it became a hellscape, the commentary is somehow more open-air and optimistic, even when dealing with sordid or depressing themes.

I found this book really interesting. As a character study, it doesn’t work too well, but conceptually, it definitely has some pluses. There’s a lot here to appreciate, and it’s well worth the read even if it’s just to get across the classic nature of the whole piece.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always find the potential futures discussed in sci-fi fascinating, and this book combines societies from the past, with intervention from the future. There are some parts I found to be unrealistic (with reference to human behaviour) but overall a good read.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

So rare that I give a 5 star rating to a short story, not sure I've ever done it to be honest, but this little book deserves it. Not only was I completely enthralled with this, I want to read other things by this writer and am actually recommended this book to several friends.

[Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been many years since I have read anything by Reynolds. Great author. Interesting twist at the end. Mankind is adaptable -beyond what some think.