Mechanismo

by Harry Harrison

Mechanismo

Genres: Science Fiction, Art

118 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all I have no idea why the GR preface of this book is in French - true the publisher is Pierrot Publishing but it is most certainly in English and was printed in the UK in 1978.
That said this is a rather strange title as it appears to borrow a lot of material from other publications and in fact films too ( there are images from Starwars and 2001 present) That said its a fascinating read as its loosely set around a theme (or series of them) in the same style as Immortals of science fiction and Realms of fantasy.

And now a confession - I didnt even know this book existed up until a few weeks ago. I was looking up another book in my collection from the fabled Paper Tiger series and I noticed that Pierrot Publishing had a number of similar titles. Then when I started to look at their books I spotted this one - a mash up of various artists works edited and discussed by Harry Harrison - co-author of Planet Story a book which had some of its art borrowed for this book (in fact the cover no less).

So as you can imagine I had to have it - since chances like this are few and far between and never should be ignored. The book itself is a true kaleidoscope of styles and presentations - some I recognise and others I most certainly do not.

And this really is what makes the book so appealing - even in its sadly dilapidated state its still an amazing read and a fun bit of nostalgia - I am glad I didnt spend too much time or resources to tracking it down as its not unique (as I said recycled artwork) however its certainly able to hold its own along side my Paper Tiger collection.

[Matt Mazenauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting pulp scifi picture book from the 70s. It comes in 3 parts: Scifi paintings ranging from realistic cityscapes to fantasy art in the realm of album covers, simple essays about the history of scifi, and a sort of worldbuilding series of short fiction pieces where they take maybe one in 5 of these widely varying unconnected different art pieces and tie them together as though they all belonged to the same universe, including a few cross section/exploded mechanical drawings of some of the artwork.

Basically, it's a bit of light reading soaked in the aesthetic of 70s scifi, with a lot of fondness for spaceships and robots.

[Chris Sudall · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am looking to read every Harry Harrison book. This one is an oddment. A collection of science fiction drawings and stills from movies.
The pictures are separated by some chat about various topics, mostly related to an imaginary future and some descriptions of the pictures.
The pictures aren't all amazing and some are downright odd and the writing in between isn't all that interesting with a very brief scattergun approach.
This is one for the completists only.

[Derelict Space Sheep · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bizarre attempt to apply the notion of ‘fix-up novel’ to the visual medium. Harrison presents a lavish hodgepodge of SF illustrations, artwork and schematics, stitched together with sections of (surprisingly derisive) genre-focussed literary criticism and stultifying excerpts from invented far-future history.

2.5★

[Mhorg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this through Thriftbooks on a recommendation from a Facebook group. I should have saved my money. Too many of the artworks included aren't labeled; the dialogue written by Harry Harrison just isn't that interesting. The book is, at best, so-so. It'll end up either being donated to my local library, or I'll see if I can trade it back to Thriftbooks.

[Mark · Rating 2.75 out of 5]

Would have been 1 star but for the amazing Jim Burns artwork.