A for Andromeda

Andromeda #1

by Fred Hoyle, John Elliot

A new radio telescope picks up from the constellation of Andromeda a complex series of signals which prove to be a programme for a giant computer. After the computer is built it begins to relay information from Andromeda. Scientists find themselves possessing knowledge previously unknown to mankind, knowledge that could threaten the security of human life itself.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Aliens, Fantasy, Classics, Artificial Intelligence

176 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1962

About the author

Professor Sir Fred Hoyle was one of the most distinguished, creative, and controversial scientists of the twentieth century. He was a Fellow of St John’s College (1939-1972, Honorary Fellow 1973-2001), was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1957, held the Plumian Chair of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy (1958-1972), established the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy in Cambridge (now part of the Institute of Astronomy), and (in 1972) received a knighthood for his services to astronomy.

Hoyle was a keen mountain climber, an avid player of chess, a science fiction writer, a populariser of science, and the man who coined the phrase 'The Big Bang'.

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although published in 1962, I first heard of this novel only a few years ago and thought I would like to try it at some point. The author, astronomer Fred Hoyle, was reasonably well known in the UK in his day, unusually so for a scientist.

For those unfamiliar with the story, this is an “alien contact” novel, but rather than the foetus-like creatures of the X-Files, in this scenario scientists pick up a signal on a radio telescope, identified as having originated from the direction of the Andromeda constellation. Once deciphered, the signal is revealed as providing instructions for advanced computer technology (at least, more advanced than humanity had in 1962).

Hoyle set the novel a few years into the future, which for him meant the late sixties. He envisaged a world in which the Western democracies were threatened by enemies with superior missile/rocket technology. Looking back this seems an unlikely scenario, but the book was written when the USSR was ahead in the Space Race, so it probably didn’t seem outlandish at the time. Anyway, it lends a degree of plausibility to when, in the novel, the NATO countries decide to build the computer, desperate as they are to catch up with their rivals. Of course, this being a sci-fi novel we know the intentions of the aliens are not as altruistic as they appear, and the reader is left mentally rehearsing a shout of “IT’S A TRAP!”

Although this is classed as sci-fi, and I’ve described it as such, hardcore sci-fi fans might not find it to their taste. Most of the action takes place within a military base in the Scottish Highlands, where the Andromedan machine is being constructed, and the plot might be summarised as one in which a Cassandra-type scientist tries to warn the military/industrial complex about the dangers of their course of action. Parts of the book are a little dated now. The 1960s idea of future computer technology is laughable today (I was reminded of the ship’s computer in the original Star Trek series). The story does feature female scientists, but this is a long time before “Me Too” and the younger female characters are treated in a very condescending way. They do though have the traditional redress of giving a slap to the face. There’s a minor plotline involving a romance between two of the characters, and the dialogue between them came over as clumsy and even cringeworthy.

I’ve made the novel sound unattractive, but despite what I’ve said, I found it reasonably diverting. I thought the premise was excellent, it’s an interesting period piece, and of course with Fred Hoyle as the author there’s a really strong scientific base to the story. The storyline wasn’t edge of the seat stuff but there was enough of a “thriller” aspect to keep me interested. I’ve also finally satisfied my long-standing curiosity about it.

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was just phenomenal, mostly. I learned of it through Richard Dawkins, who recommend it as a great and realistic alien-contact novel and it turned out to be just that. The story is dominated by believable characters (scientist!) who are trying to make sense of an alien message received through though a new massive radio telescope. It also highlights the greed of human leaders for technological advances without thinking of the possible consequences for humanity as a whole. The plotline was just marvelous, my only complaint is the underlying misogyny that permeates the story. While this is lamentably understandable for a novel written in the 1960s it is still cringe-worthy to see a male physicist teach a human-alien woman hybrid about emotions by forcefully kissing her repeatedly. So, given those caveats, this would still rank as one of the best sci-fi novels I’ve read.

[Andrej Karpathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

You know how Fred Hoyle's Black Cloud is a fantastic and interesting hard scifi book? This is nothing like that. It is a sloppy, boring, linear and shallow disaster that reeks of missed opportunities and dubious ideas about artificial intelligence and alien life.

I can't imagine a less exciting portrayal of receiving intelligible communication from a different galaxy. Any sciency details (which I've enjoyed the most in Black Cloud) and descriptions of the nature of the code or how it is decrypted, how the computer works, details of the communication protocol, any deeper conversations with the computer -- all missing. There are so many missed opportunities everywhere that it literally hurts in my chest to think about it.

Some Spoiler Alerts below:
By far the biggest disappointment was Fred's portrayal of the artificially intelligent computer which seems anything but intelligent. It appears to experience emotions such as anger (seriously, Fred?), it consistently makes clearly suboptimal decisions (such as killing people early - wouldn't it try to be very friendly to lure humans into false sense of security?), and it supposedly doesn't understand emotions. I would expect an AI as the one described to have a very good understanding of emotions and why they are there in biological bodies evolved through natural selection, as they could be perfectly logically understandable as evolutionary heuristics for successful survival and reproduction. I would have expected more deeper insights from Fred Hoyle but was consistently disappointed with how shallow and mainstream his ideas were. The super-intelligent alien thing in the end is stupefied by the power of love and rebels against its master - are you f*** kidding me? Did a 6-year-old come up with these ideas after reading Galaxy Zack: Monsters in Space? I half expected the alien body to be green, have tentacles and antennas.

There are many other problems with the plot line, various logical inconsistencies and the terrible and unintelligible writing, but I'll just stop here.

Just awful.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A for Andromeda is a tantalizing cocktail nibble for everyone’s inner nerd: a high-calorie concept wrapped in just enough story to get hold of.

Chew on this: the bugaboo with space conquest is distance. How does any sentient being go to or from, say, a planet in the constellation Andromeda, 200 light years away, and arrive in any kind of shape to conquer the local populace? First, even at the speed of light, you have to be on the battle wagon for 200 years. Life expectancy and logistics issues here. Second, that’s 200 years if you travel at the speed of light. Even the most Zorba-esque of wild-haired physicists are stumped by how to pull that one off.

Much science fiction addresses the 200 year time-in-transit issue with cryogenics and robot travelers that can live forever. As for that pesky speed-of-light thing: black holes, warp speed and teleporters come in handy.

But how about this: instead of suspending disbelief with time and speed work-arounds – instead of Tom Swift and his Amazing Intergalactic Space Jeep -- what if adventurous Earthlings or outer space meanies, send, not sentient beings, but information? What if would-be Masters of the Universe send not phalanxes of space conquistadors searching for worlds to subjugate, but instead beam out to the whole universe an endlessly looping message that beguiles its recipients into following instructions to build friendly-looking robots that will eventually enslave them? Bit by bit, as planets that can support life reach the stage where their life forms can receive the beamed information and act on it, the tentacles of domination spread.

Pretty cool, huh? Nibble, nibble.

[SciFiOne · Rating 4 out of 5]

1986 grade B+
2019 grade B-

Series novel A1. With John Elliot.

Although the story starts with a hard SciFi premise, it is 90% or more about politics, bureaucracy, the military, and espionage. It is a good book and story but tiring, and it took me a while to read. In addition, I did not find the conclusion satisfactory. Basically, it is rather out of date in both the story and writing style.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fred Hoyle was a great astronomer who wrote popular science books and science fiction on the side. The popular science books were very good. The science fiction is mixed.

Science fiction is supposed to be fiction. That means not only that it is not true, a story, but that it has characters that seem real, grab your interest, and act in ways that you identify with. They have lives you care about and face human problems. In the other books by Hoyle that I have read (The Black Cloud, October the First is Too Late) such characterization is sorely lacking. But here the situation is much better -- maybe because television producer John Elliot is coauthor, perhaps the principal author.

It is Britain, 1970. A new radio telescope, designed by the young scientists John Fleming and Dennis Bridger under the supervision of Professor Reinhart, has been built at Bouldershaw Fell. Shortly before its official opening, the telescope picks up a signal from the direction of the Andromeda Nebula. It seems to be a communication from an intelligence, not a natural phenomenon. Fleming soon realises that the signal is a computer program. (How he could do that is not clear.)

Fleming uses the computer facilities at the London Institute of Electronics, where he is aided by young and attractive Christine. Using the computer to decode the message, Fleming realises that the message contains a set of instructions to build a far more advanced computer. (It doesn't really make sense that it would be possible to figure all that out, but let it go.) The message also contains another program for the new computer to run, and data for it.

There are many other characters: technicians, various government officials, an American general, and a young woman public relations officer named Judy. Actually Judy is sort of a spy for higher-ups keeping tabs on the operation. When Fleming figures that out, there develops a kind of love-hate relationship with Judy. Meanwhile, Bridger has in fact sold out to an international conglomerate called Intel, and he has seceret meetings with an Intel agent named Kaufmann.

After a lot of discussion, the British government decides to build the computer at a military base in Thorness, Scotland. The scene shifts to there. It is run by Dr. Geers and security officer Quadring. (There are a lot of characters in this book!) Soon Reinhart's old friend Prof. Madeleine Dawnay joins the group. She's a biochemist, which is fortuitous because once the super computer is built, it begins instructing them to build something organic - a living creature! Should they do it?

The plot becomes quite involved. Some of the characters die. The computer becomes an active conscious agent. The scientists cooperate with it in the creation of a very human-like creature that is a clone of one of the main characters. Will the computer and its clone take over the military base? And then the whole Earth?

I really liked this book. The basic theme sounds a lot like Carl Sagan's "Contact". But this book is more like authentic "hard" science fiction, with no nods to popular culture and extraneous aspects of society. I wonder if this book was not an inspiration for "Contact"?

There are maybe too many characters. There is a lot of good character development. The ending was a bit disappointing.

The book seems very current, with its description of super computers, cloning, and DNA manipulation.

I have trouble believing that Fleming and the other scientists could decipher the message from Andomeda, build the super computer, and then follow its directions to create a human-like life form.

But this is a good book, well worth reading. I rate it 7 out of 10.

Main characters:

John Fleming, chief scientist.
Dennis Bridger, colleague of Fleming.
Prof. Reinhart, older boss of Fleming and Bridger.
Judy Adamson, young woman "press officer".
Christine Flemstad, assistant to Fleming.
Madeleine Dawnay, professor of chemistry.
Dr. F. T. N. Geers, director of Thorness base.
Major Quadring, security head at Thorness.

[yellowbird · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love vintage sci-fi, especially when the story is placed in some indefinite future, but has the poor humans using archaic, outdated technology (in this case computers that use punch cards{Kids, if you don't know what a computer punch card is, Google it}) to defeat their powerful alien enemies.
This is a good science fiction story, as it uses both technology and human nature to resolve a problem. The characters are believable (not too knowledgeable and not too stupid) and act like real people would, character flaws and all. Even the aliens are believable, and their plot to take over the Earth is very original.
But now I have an axe to grind, so let's take off the rose-colored glasses and put our safety goggles on. Fred Hoyle is an okay writer, but he gets way too much press as 'one of the most knowledgeable science fiction writers'. His scientific theories were not well regarded even by the other scientists of those early days, and yet he was the one who coined the phrase 'Big Bang Theory', because he wanted to poke fun at what he called 'creationist science'. A little humility would be nice, even at this late date. Robert Forward doesn't have a team of cheerleaders, and he writes science fiction that is extremely heavy on the accurate science. So let's all just relax and enjoy the stories, scientific flaws and all, and not get so upset when our favorite writers aren't being taken seriously enough for our tastes.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A for Andromeda is a now-lost television series from the fifties. It was re-made a few years in an interesting BBC adaptation, which, in spite of some pedestrian interims between scenes, managed to capture many of the ideas of Fred Hoyle and John Elliot's work.

Briefly, the story involves a message from outer space, which is deciphered by a talented, but temperamental British scientist, Fleming. It provides the researchers with the blueprint to build a computer and even an organic life-form (humanoid, of course).

Everyone is delighted with the results and the potential to develop new technology and scientific discoveries, but Fleming begins to rue his discovery. He speculates suspiciously on why an alien race would give us this information and expect nothing in return. He fears that this is part of a subtle mission to learn more about us, with plans for a future takeover.

What the book shows is that Hoyle is a better scientist than an artist. He is no great shakes as a writer, even with the help of a scriptwriter. However, the basic ideas offered in the book are fascinating, and keep us interested until the end, as we wait to find out what will happen.

I personally think that A for Andromeda works better when brought to life on a television screen. The book is worth a read, but I advise watching the modern BBC adaptation too. Here is my blog looking at the television version: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress...

[Arwen56 · Rating 2 out of 5]

L’ho letto per curiosità, avendo visto, tanti anni fa, lo sceneggiato della RAI, con Paola Pitagora e Luigi Vannucchi. Ero ragazzina e l’avevo trovato, allora, piuttosto appassionante. Oggi appare alquanto datato e, inoltre, la traduzione non è granché. Ad esempio, a un certo punto, uno dei protagonisti, Fleming, invita Judy, altra protagonista, a “fare una partita a bocce”. Ohibò, mi sono detta, da quando in qua gli inglesi giocano a bocce? Oddio, magari qualcuno ci sarà anche, ma raro come un Gronchi rosa. Infatti, di seguito, dalla descrizione si evince chiaramente che giocano a bowling. :-D

Due stelle, più per il piacevole ricordo che non per l’effettivo valore del romanzo.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned about Fred Hoyle from reading George Gamow's work on cosmology as a kid and, being a science fiction fan, picked up those of Hoyle's books I'd find at used bookstores.

Hoyle is not a great writer, his prose being pedestrian and his characterizations weak. His books are more vehicles for his scientific speculations than works of literature.

Of the Hoyle novels I've read, A for Andromeda is one of the better ones. I have never seen the television serial.

[David Layton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a surprisingly good novelization of the BBC TV serial "A for Andromeda" aired in 1961. Astronomer Fred Hoyle originated the plot and central ideas, but this time instead of going it alone, worked with a professional writer and producer, John Elliot. Whereas Hoyle's previous solo works of science fiction were interesting, though clumsily written, this one is more polished. Characterizations and motivations are more realistic, and the dialogue less technically oriented. The story itself is very interesting, and has surprising relevance to contemporary concerns regarding fears of an AI takeover. Radio astronomers pick up a repeated message coming from the Andromeda Galaxy, and decode it. The message includes instructions for building a sophisticated computer. A running question develops, are the humans in charge of the computer or is the computer leading humanity down the bridal path to extinction? Most the scientists and politicians fall for the computer's bait and switch, but lone rogue scientist John Fleming is convinced that the computer is the true puppet master. The big question at the heart of the story is this: What happens when we get a super artificial intelligence that has its own goals separate from human goals? The novel includes several of Hoyle's signature social concerns. Set in the near future at the time (late 1960s), the novel depicts a world still on the brink of nuclear war, but now with a third actor making matters even worse. This actor is mega corporations, represented by the European corporation Intel. An Intel executive, a German named Kaufmann, is the closest thing to a villain in the novel, a man who buys off scientists to get technological secrets that Intel can develop and sell to either side of the cold war. An additional concern of Hoyle's is the way that scientific developments get co-opted by government entities and turned to military purposes. Hoyle definitely believes that science should be left on its own to go wherever the data lead. Hoyle detests politics, and though he tries to characterize politicians individually as men (which they almost exclusively were in the 1960s) trying to do their best, the politicians are in general either greedy for power and fame, or, if honest, ineffectual. What really makes "A for Andromeda" superior to Hoyle's previous novel of interstellar contact, "The Black Cloud," is that he (and perhaps this is partly the influence of Elliot) characterizes scientists more realistically, not as all unified in dedication to scientific truth, but as, in fact, territorial about their work and theories, and prone to the same sorts of professional jealousies that affect non-scientists. With that said, there are some elements of the novel that are clearly dated. One is the computer technology. In the 1960s, a super computer must be super big, with big flashing lights. The transistor and digital revolutions had not yet hit. If done today, the supercomputer would be much different. There is also a bit of typical 1960s sexism, with well-meaning but ineffectual professional women, and what would be considered today patronizing men to give them a pat on the head (thankfully, not on the behind), and a paternal kiss to make them feel all better. These elements do not get too much in the way, and in all, "A for Andromeda" is swift techno-thriller attached to an important and prescient scientific premise.

[Marije · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5

[Richard Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exciting and plausible sci-fi gem from the early days of space exploration and the Cold War.

I probably should more correctly give this four and half stars but as that option isn’t available, good old Sir Fred can have all five for this cracking little tale about our first contact with the aliens.

Distant messages from outer space lead to the construction of a super computer with potentially catastrophic consequences. Ok it’s no longer the most original idea out there and it’s very much a product of its time (remember punch cards, anyone? Thought not), but it really is a gripping story with some great characters - stereotypes perhaps, but ones which push the narrative along perfectly well.

And how’s this for a quote from nearly 60 years ago, prophesying the rise of AI:

“I can foresee a time when we’ll create a higher form of intelligence to which, in the end, we’ll hand over. And it’ll probably be an inorganic form, like that one. But it’ll be something we’ve created ourselves and we can design it for our own good, or for good as we understand it.“

This is a true classic of the genre, and still thoroughly enjoyable all the way to the genuinely tense and climactic finale.

[Sahishnu Majumdar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Expected STAR WARS and what I got was all about the evolution of Human Relations. Sir Fred Hoyle, through the charachters of the story, shows that nothing can be bigger or greater than the emotional bond between two individuals. That ultimately even machines evolve into humans by developing FEELINGS which are so very human. So may be our species is one of the most evolved living specimens in the universe and all Machines however technically advanced they may be - if they have to evolve into higher beings they must (and the author shows they can) develop Human Feelings and emotions. The ability to laugh and love, to cry and kiss, to jump with joy, to scream with anger - are maybe the highest peaks of the evolution graph. It also reminds me of the short story we had in our 9th Standard English text - The Trojan Horse written by J V Narlikar. It was a about a surprise gift that arrives on earth from an Alien Civilization. Strong Parallels with A for Andromeda, and why not, after all Narlikar was a student and then colleague of Sir Fred Hoyle

[Glen Hendler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nihilistic. Superficial and unlikable characters with no understanding of why they do anything. Like trying to empathize with the balls in a pinball machine.

The fundamental science fiction vehicle is acceptable and reminded me of Sagan's Contact. I like to think that was Hoyle's contribution. The pretentious British sensibilities made it feel like a stage play and I presume that's Elliot's contribution.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting science fiction, not so compelling storytelling. I coincidentally read it immediately after a reread of Contact, and it's surprising how similar the beginnings are - I think Contact takes the initial premise and develops it in a far more interesting way.

[Vajnis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really good. Gave me a kind of warm feeling.
A scifi-thriller in sepia. No James Bond, just human heroes in a parallell reality. I liked it like 3,5-4.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately this novel hasn't aged particularly well. I'm giving it an extra star to reflect that, at the time, the central 'macguffin' of the story was probably more interesting to speculate on. The blueprints for a powerful computer doesn't hold a candle to Hoyle's novel The Black Cloud, which was a fascinating exploration of what alien life could look like.

We're not given any insight into the motive behind the signal's origin, but the novel isn't really about that. It asks some interesting questions about how different sectors of society perceive new technology and react to it, whether to assume malicious intent or benevolence. One aspect I found most interesting was the analogue to the development of generative AI in recent years. It was quite easy to match the novel's characters with the various players in the AI 'revolution', from those trying to educate about the potential dangers of the AI singularity, those using it for legitimate functional reasons, and those using it for profit.

At its core the novel doesn't really explore these themes in much detail, and is a fairly rote political thriller with a dash of technological speculation and misogyny thrown in for good measure (as was the style at the time). I think it probably suffered from being written as an accompaniment to an existing TV show, which limited its scope.

[Charlotte Havercroft · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book like A for Andromeda is a reminder that perhaps it is nothing but luck that we haven't blundered into our own oblivion by now, with or without instructions from the stars.

Whilst slightly slow at the beginning, after I was into it, I couldn't put it down!

[Hugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent science, but rather dull fiction, in this tale of bizarre first contact which spends altogether too much time dithering about its Cold War espionage and forcing the characters through the same narrative hoops over and over. There's a great story here, but it's rather buried.

[Andres · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Science-fiction novel written in the 1960's, about an alien-contact situation which seems more possible than the alien contact stories we used to read and watch right now. In this story, a group of researchers got a signal from the outer space, with a set of instruction to build a machine. This machine tries to identify our way of life and based on the results, give more instruction to build more things, until a human is replicated. Scared of the future consequences of an alien machine, the people in the project starts to worry, trying to undo what they just created. This story had a lot potential for a longer story.

[Henri Moreaux · Rating 5 out of 5]

A for Andromeda was originally a television series made and broadcast by the BBC in 1961. It was written by cosmologist Fred Hoyle, in conjunction with author and television producer John Elliot, in May 1961 Souvenir Press contacted the BBC interested in producing a novelisation of the series, they Hoyle & Elliot were formally commissioned to write the novelisation in July 1961 and delivered the manuscript in September of the same year with publication in the February of following year by Souvenir Press, it is this edition of the book I was lucky enough to stumble across.

A for Andromeda is about a group of scientists who upon commissioning a brand new advanced radio telescope detect a radio signal from another galaxy that contains instructions for the design of an advanced computer. Following this they begin interactions with the computer which learns about them and issues instructions some of which lead one of the scientists to believe the intelligence behind the signal may not be acting in the interests of humanity.

Enter conflict between the military who want to take over the project for their own means, politicians interested in advancing their own goals and solely that of their own country rather than humanity as a whole and the scientists who struggle to maintain control of the project and its direction.

I found it was a rather enthralling book, whilst the computers described where quaint by today's standards I didn't think this took anything away from the story. Overall it was an enjoyable read and I shall now seek out the follow up book Andromeda Breakthrough to continue the story and might also see if I can find the modern 2006 television remake of the original series.

Would recommend for fans of vintage scifi and scifi stories in general.

[Taksya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Era il 1972 quando la Rai trasmise lo sceneggiato in 5 puntate "A come Andromeda", basato sull'omonimo sceneggiato trasmesso nel 1961 dalla BBC, realizzato da una sceggiatura di Fred Hoyle e John Elliot, autori della successiva novellizzazione.
Vidi lo sceneggiato Rai ad una delle sue repliche (nel '72 avevo 5 anni ed ero di certo troppo piccola per ricordarlo) e lessi poco dopo il libro... almeno due volte.
Da allora non ho più rivisto lo sceneggiato (che ho in DVD) o riletto il libro (che ho sia in italiano che in inglese). Colpa la solita sfida di lettura ho tentato la sorte e, come altri romanzi adorati nel periodo giovanile, ho trovato anche questo datato e poco scorrevole... per non parlare di certe perle nella traduzione che, adesso, farebbero tuonare molti lettori.
A come Andromeda non si svolge in un periodo ben preciso, non viene citato il secolo ma l'atmosfera è tutta intrisa di paranoia da Guerra Fredda.
Il segnale dallo spazio captato per caso, il mega calcolatore e i due esseri creati seguendo le indicazioni del codice binario sono elementi forti e senza età. I dialoghi piatti (forse per colpa dell'origine telefilmica) e l'azione divisa malamente tra i vari personaggi, oltre all'ambientazione che descrive un futuro per noi troppo simile al passato appena trascorso, non aiutano ad entrare e godere appieno della storia.
Il finale non aiuta a lasciarsi in buoni rapporti con il libro, mentro lo ricordavo potente in video.
Dovro arrischiarmi e rivedere lo sceneggiato... di solito i prodotti Rai di quegli anni sono delle piccole perle.

[Mark White · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written, unevenly paced, terribly dated in both language and attitudes and with stilted action sequences this isn't a very good book. On the other hand it is a landmark as the first occurrence of many science fiction themes that have since been endlessly recycled. It is also I believe the first SF novel adaptation from a TV series.

The story: A signal from outer space contains the plans for a fantastic machine (Carl Sagan's Contact, anyone?). It is a computer that when fed the accompanying data set starts spitting out the formula to construct a 'human' being. The girl created - the titular Andromeda - becomes the eyes and ears of the computer. There are hints that the computer is planning world domination and we are only saved by one of the scientists smashing the computer and Andromeda, now released from its thrall, burning the plans. Conveniently the signal from space has stopped so it can't be rebuilt. Girl dies, end of story.

Then there are the loose ends and inconsistencies galore. The computer hints that it plans the elimination of Homo sapiens (Skynet?) but it's never really explored. It also hints that it may be planning to help humanity out of its destructive obsessions. The novel also ignores the possibility that the mysterious Eastern block nations have recorded the signal (perhaps that's a separate story) or that their vastly superior missiles (like the interceptors Andromeda helps create) might have sprung from a similar interstellar inspired computer.

To sum up then, an interesting curiosity but not great reading.

[El-Duderino · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Idea presented in this book is quite brilliant and is probably the most logical way in which advanced civilizations will choose to contact their neighbors. That being said, the execution is just bad. Characters are flat, horrendously boring and fail to create any sympathy or interest. The plot is barley moving throughout the book, and at times I've forced myself into the next chapter even though parts of it were down right excruciating. The fact that this book was written in 1961 (!) makes the concept even more amazing and smart, but unfortunately it lacks in every other parameter that makes a book enjoyable to read. If you like these type of sci-fi genre - you might as well stick with Carl Sagen's Contact.

[Michael O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing dates so quickly as predictions of the future. Originally published in 1962 and shows some of the concerns of the age - distant alien invaders plus the risk of nuclear war on Earth .

Some elements are quaintly of its time: input to The Computer is by punch card and output is from a printer. Some of the attitudes towards women are also very much of the time, although not in a scantily-clad woman carried off by a bug eyed-monster sort of way (although the cover of my edition isn't too far off that).

The characters are believable and the intricacies of the meetings and politicians show that some things don't change.

[Julio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesante, sin impresionar. La historia de un código recibido de una lejana estrella que permite la construcción de una compleja computadora, la cual a su vez empieza a generar instrucciones para crear… algo. Algo que aprende, tiene una forma humana y puede encerrar más amenazas que promesas. A veces, hay que desconfiar de los regalos demasiados buenos para ser ciertos. Una variante en CF del caballo de Troya, en la cual sin embargo la herramienta misma puede descubrirse reacciones insospechadas.

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A for Andromeda falls into a class I'd call British (science) Fiction. The writing style and storytelling are obviously British in tone and how the story is developed. The story is also from the 1960s or so, so the science is a bit dated and the political bias is evident. That aside, it's still a good read.

[Nadim · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the man who coined the phrase "Big Bang" in derision of the theory that faced off the Steady State theory of the universe, I did like this book - I suspect it influenced Carl Sagan when he wrote "Contact".

[Emily Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Asked great questions about what it means to be human. good action, complex characters, and a lot of interesting political drama. For full review visit https://youtu.be/AOeEfVuWA2M?si=fgJ75...