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Brainrack
Paperback in good condition. General shelf and handling wear, including creasing and wear to edges, corners and folds of cover, light tanning and discolouration. Pageblock is tanned, leading into page edges. Within, pages are tightly bound, and content is unmarked. CN
- GenresScience FictionFiction
237 pages, Paperback
First published February 14, 1974
36 people want to read
About the author
Kit Pedler
29 books6 followersChristopher Magnus Howard "Kit" Pedler was a British medical scientist, science fiction author and writer on science in general.
He was the head of the electron microscopy department at the Institute of Ophthalmology, University of London, where he published a number of papers. Pedler's first television contribution was for the BBC programme Tomorrow's World.
In the mid-1960s, Pedler became the unofficial scientific adviser to the Doctor Who production team. Hired by Innes Lloyd to inject more hard science into the stories, Pedler formed a particular writing partnership with Gerry Davis, the programme's story editor. Their interest in the problems of science changing and endangering human life led them to create the Cybermen.
Pedler wrote three scripts for Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet, The Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen. He also submitted the story outlines that became The War Machines, The Wheel in Space and The Invasion.
Pedler and Davis devised and co-wrote Doomwatch, a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme which ran on BBC One for three seasons from 1970 to 1972 (37 50-minute episodes plus one unshown) covered a government department that worked to combat technological and environmental disasters. Pedler and Davis contributed to only the first two series.
Pedler and Davis re-used the plot of the first episode of the series, The Plastic Eaters, for their 1971 novel Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters.
His non-fiction book The Quest for Gaia gave practical advice on creating an ecologically sustainable lifestyle, using James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis.
He died of a heart attack at his home in Doddington, Kent, while completing production of Mind Over Matter, a series for Thames Television on the paranormal that he presented with Tony Bastable.
Pedler is buried at All Saints' Church in the Kent village of Graveney, where he lived before moving to nearby Doddington.
His daughter is novelist Carol Topolski
He was the head of the electron microscopy department at the Institute of Ophthalmology, University of London, where he published a number of papers. Pedler's first television contribution was for the BBC programme Tomorrow's World.
In the mid-1960s, Pedler became the unofficial scientific adviser to the Doctor Who production team. Hired by Innes Lloyd to inject more hard science into the stories, Pedler formed a particular writing partnership with Gerry Davis, the programme's story editor. Their interest in the problems of science changing and endangering human life led them to create the Cybermen.
Pedler wrote three scripts for Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet, The Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen. He also submitted the story outlines that became The War Machines, The Wheel in Space and The Invasion.
Pedler and Davis devised and co-wrote Doomwatch, a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme which ran on BBC One for three seasons from 1970 to 1972 (37 50-minute episodes plus one unshown) covered a government department that worked to combat technological and environmental disasters. Pedler and Davis contributed to only the first two series.
Pedler and Davis re-used the plot of the first episode of the series, The Plastic Eaters, for their 1971 novel Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters.
His non-fiction book The Quest for Gaia gave practical advice on creating an ecologically sustainable lifestyle, using James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis.
He died of a heart attack at his home in Doddington, Kent, while completing production of Mind Over Matter, a series for Thames Television on the paranormal that he presented with Tony Bastable.
Pedler is buried at All Saints' Church in the Kent village of Graveney, where he lived before moving to nearby Doddington.
His daughter is novelist Carol Topolski
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 16, 2021
La coppia Pedler&Davis, già sceneggiatori di successo per ‘Dottor Who’, fornirono anch’essi tre Urania nell’affollato biennio 74/75: oltre a questo, il catastrofico ‘Lebbra antiplastica’ e ‘Dynostar’.
Scordatevi dinosauri in questo romanzo, in originale ‘Brainrack’: li ha inventati il titolista italiano, citando un concetto del romanzo, e maestro Thole si è adeguato. Si tratta di un interessante romanzo su un’altra, una delle tante, angosce degli anni Settanta: il crollo dei sistemi per troppa complessità, cavallo di battaglia anche dell’ing. Vacca nel ‘Crollo di Megalopoli’; qui affrontato con vera e propria tecnofobia: l’industria viene inizialmente accusata di far andare i calcolatori troppo veloci..
Il limite del romanzo è che diventa presto un buon romanzo di spionaggio, senza approfondire più di tanto gli aspetti intrinsecamente tecnologici e/o psicologici del decadimento del rapporto uomo/macchina, come forse avrebbe fatto Vacca; poi si evolve in romanzo d’azione, evocando un altro dei grandi spauracchi dei Settanta, ovvero il disastro nella centrale atomica, in questo caso situata nell’affascinnte cornice delle Orcadi, davanti a Scapa Flow; per concludersi con una serrata ricerca scientifica che individuerà il colpevole del prolema tecnologico in un terzo spauracchio, che non anticipo, ma che ci affligge ancor oggi.
Tutto sommato un piacevole romanzo d’evasione; anche l’edizione è buona, senza evidenti tagli o buchi nella trama, solo qua e là frasi un po’ troppo ‘asciugate’ (troncate, in poche parole) e qualche refuso; anche se non riesco a non citare una svista nella traduzione: per un guasto ai sistemi di controllo dei voli, ‘viene accusata la società di sistemi di controllo Shoddy’, ma ‘shoddy’ significa ‘sciatto, malfatto’..
Conclude il numero uno dei piacevolissimi articoli divulgativi di Asimov: in questo caso, la storia della misura della velocità della luce.
Scordatevi dinosauri in questo romanzo, in originale ‘Brainrack’: li ha inventati il titolista italiano, citando un concetto del romanzo, e maestro Thole si è adeguato. Si tratta di un interessante romanzo su un’altra, una delle tante, angosce degli anni Settanta: il crollo dei sistemi per troppa complessità, cavallo di battaglia anche dell’ing. Vacca nel ‘Crollo di Megalopoli’; qui affrontato con vera e propria tecnofobia: l’industria viene inizialmente accusata di far andare i calcolatori troppo veloci..
Il limite del romanzo è che diventa presto un buon romanzo di spionaggio, senza approfondire più di tanto gli aspetti intrinsecamente tecnologici e/o psicologici del decadimento del rapporto uomo/macchina, come forse avrebbe fatto Vacca; poi si evolve in romanzo d’azione, evocando un altro dei grandi spauracchi dei Settanta, ovvero il disastro nella centrale atomica, in questo caso situata nell’affascinnte cornice delle Orcadi, davanti a Scapa Flow; per concludersi con una serrata ricerca scientifica che individuerà il colpevole del prolema tecnologico in un terzo spauracchio, che non anticipo, ma che ci affligge ancor oggi.
Tutto sommato un piacevole romanzo d’evasione; anche l’edizione è buona, senza evidenti tagli o buchi nella trama, solo qua e là frasi un po’ troppo ‘asciugate’ (troncate, in poche parole) e qualche refuso; anche se non riesco a non citare una svista nella traduzione: per un guasto ai sistemi di controllo dei voli, ‘viene accusata la società di sistemi di controllo Shoddy’, ma ‘shoddy’ significa ‘sciatto, malfatto’..
Conclude il numero uno dei piacevolissimi articoli divulgativi di Asimov: in questo caso, la storia della misura della velocità della luce.
December 28, 2024
One of the worst novels I've ever had the misfortune to read.
Grateful only that it wasn't drawn out any further.
Avoid.
Grateful only that it wasn't drawn out any further.
Avoid.
November 11, 2020
Bought a copy of this off ebay so I could revisit this classic, shame it is not available on Kindle. It was an ex-library book and for all I know the very copy I read way back in 77, in fact I know precisely when I finished it first time around. Argh was it really January 78 amid the grim weather and post-NY gloom?
Anyway it is November 2020 now and about as gloomy given prevailing confinement of one and all as the UK confronts a continuing threat. Perhaps this was prescient of Mr P, the populous having to confront an invisible agent of our own creation intent on our dissolution in furtherance of its own survival. No, that is silly, it could not happen could it, we have a responsive leadership to rely on. But just like in Pedler's UK of the 70s the protagonist spends much of the book in a state of frustration with his government. Only after a catastrophe as depicted on the cover shown here but not mine, do they sit up and listen - sound familiar? Soon enough as the pages run out the plot gets wrapped up but not in some pretty bow, no, this is dystopia of a different cut. In fact it kind of echoes the Mad Cow Disease we had in the 90s, massive casualties but not actual deaths to overload the underfunded health system.
A competent tale from the author who gave us many other treats such Doomwatch Mutant 59 the Plastic Eaters.... and The Cybermen!
My final comment for now is that it is quite laboured at times and could well have been under 200 pages rather than nearer 300 (another reason this would have been nice to have on the Kindle than a smelly library book).
Now for a warning bit so do not read past here if you want to get the most from the book.
I know this was written nearly half a century ago but had they not considered catalytic converters on everyday cars etc? Catalysis was advanced back then and it would have had to be the economics and legislation that would have come into play before we all had them. This would surely fix the problem so the contentious world without personal transport powered by petrol cars would not arise. Electric motor vehicles were also about such as milk floats. So too Shell and co could have changed the recipe for petrol so there were solutions in the cupboard. For this and other reasons I found this novel rather less satisfying than Mutant 59.
Anyway it is November 2020 now and about as gloomy given prevailing confinement of one and all as the UK confronts a continuing threat. Perhaps this was prescient of Mr P, the populous having to confront an invisible agent of our own creation intent on our dissolution in furtherance of its own survival. No, that is silly, it could not happen could it, we have a responsive leadership to rely on. But just like in Pedler's UK of the 70s the protagonist spends much of the book in a state of frustration with his government. Only after a catastrophe as depicted on the cover shown here but not mine, do they sit up and listen - sound familiar? Soon enough as the pages run out the plot gets wrapped up but not in some pretty bow, no, this is dystopia of a different cut. In fact it kind of echoes the Mad Cow Disease we had in the 90s, massive casualties but not actual deaths to overload the underfunded health system.
A competent tale from the author who gave us many other treats such Doomwatch Mutant 59 the Plastic Eaters.... and The Cybermen!
My final comment for now is that it is quite laboured at times and could well have been under 200 pages rather than nearer 300 (another reason this would have been nice to have on the Kindle than a smelly library book).
Now for a warning bit so do not read past here if you want to get the most from the book.
I know this was written nearly half a century ago but had they not considered catalytic converters on everyday cars etc? Catalysis was advanced back then and it would have had to be the economics and legislation that would have come into play before we all had them. This would surely fix the problem so the contentious world without personal transport powered by petrol cars would not arise. Electric motor vehicles were also about such as milk floats. So too Shell and co could have changed the recipe for petrol so there were solutions in the cupboard. For this and other reasons I found this novel rather less satisfying than Mutant 59.
March 19, 2013
La premisa de “El roecerebros” se antojaba harto interesante: Alexander Mawn, un científico inglés, descubre que la civilización moderna está padeciendo un nuevo y terrorífico síntoma: la pérdida, gradual pero irrevocable, de sus capacidades mentales. Es decir, la humanidad se está volviendo estúpida. Suena interesante, ¿no?
Los autores de esta novela, Kit Pedler y Gerry Davis, se conocieron en el set de la serie “Doctor Who”, a mediados de los sesenta. Posteriormente, trabajaron juntos en la escritura de la serie de televisión de la BBC “Doomwatch”. Además de “El roecerebros”, ambos coescribieron también las novelas “Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters” y “The Dynostar Menace”.
Desconozco totalmente el alcance de las series que elaboraron, así como de las otras novelas que escribieron juntos; pero, la mera verdad, con “El roecerebros” dejan mucho que desear.
El desarrollo de la novela no es malo, el cambio de una investigación científica hacia un “thriller” de vida o muerte no está mal desarrollado; es más, desde el inicio hay homicidios y sospechosos de asesinato. Y, para los ecologistas y detractores de la tecnología, esta obra será de su deleite.
Pero en el plano literario, la novela es muy parca, simple, la narración es llana y nunca llega realmente a cautivar al lector. Asimismo, su propuesta científica no tiene los alcances de las obras de grandes autores como Dick, Lem o Bradbury; es más, ni siquiera compite con obras menores, pero entretenidas, como algunas de Asimov, Silverberg, Clarke o Simak. Una novela simple, para un simple rato.
Los autores de esta novela, Kit Pedler y Gerry Davis, se conocieron en el set de la serie “Doctor Who”, a mediados de los sesenta. Posteriormente, trabajaron juntos en la escritura de la serie de televisión de la BBC “Doomwatch”. Además de “El roecerebros”, ambos coescribieron también las novelas “Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters” y “The Dynostar Menace”.
Desconozco totalmente el alcance de las series que elaboraron, así como de las otras novelas que escribieron juntos; pero, la mera verdad, con “El roecerebros” dejan mucho que desear.
El desarrollo de la novela no es malo, el cambio de una investigación científica hacia un “thriller” de vida o muerte no está mal desarrollado; es más, desde el inicio hay homicidios y sospechosos de asesinato. Y, para los ecologistas y detractores de la tecnología, esta obra será de su deleite.
Pero en el plano literario, la novela es muy parca, simple, la narración es llana y nunca llega realmente a cautivar al lector. Asimismo, su propuesta científica no tiene los alcances de las obras de grandes autores como Dick, Lem o Bradbury; es más, ni siquiera compite con obras menores, pero entretenidas, como algunas de Asimov, Silverberg, Clarke o Simak. Una novela simple, para un simple rato.
April 17, 2016
Una buena premisa que se pierde en una ensalada de lo que son, esencialmente, tres historias obligadas a compartir personajes. El primer tercio del libro es un thriller de espionaje industrial; le sigue una historia de un desastre provocado por el hombre; termina con una intriga política. Cada una de las tres historias podrían sobrevivir por su cuenta. Juntas, se convierten en un Frankenstein confuso y tedioso. Una subtrama romántica nada afortunada (plagada de estereotipos sobre el rol del hombre y la mujer), contribuye a la percepción negativa que me llevo del libro. Dos estrellas por la premisa. Por lo demás... Meh.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
unread-but-acquired
September 26, 2011The authors also created the Cybermen! (Doctor Who)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews