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Mesklin #1, 3
Heavy Planet: The Classic Mesklin Stories
Discover MESKLIN - 3g at the equator, 700g at the poles!
Hal Clement is a Grand Master of SF, and the one most associated with the subgenre of hard SF. From his classic stories in Astounding in the 1940s through his novels of the 1950s and on to the recent Half Life , he has made a lasting impression on SF readers, and on writers, too. For many of them, Clement's work is the model of how to write hard SF, and this book contains the reasons why. Here are all the tales of bizarre, unforgettable the classic novel Mission of Gravity and its sequel, Star Light , as well as the short stories "Under"and "Lecture Demonstration." Also included is "Whirligig World," the famous essay Clement published in Astounding in 1953. It describes the rigorous process he used to create his intriguingly plausible high-gravity planet, with its odd flattened shape, its day less than eighteen minutes long, and its many-limbed, noble natives. Come to Mesklin and learn why The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction called Mission of Gravity "one of the best loved novels in SF."
Hal Clement is a Grand Master of SF, and the one most associated with the subgenre of hard SF. From his classic stories in Astounding in the 1940s through his novels of the 1950s and on to the recent Half Life , he has made a lasting impression on SF readers, and on writers, too. For many of them, Clement's work is the model of how to write hard SF, and this book contains the reasons why. Here are all the tales of bizarre, unforgettable the classic novel Mission of Gravity and its sequel, Star Light , as well as the short stories "Under"and "Lecture Demonstration." Also included is "Whirligig World," the famous essay Clement published in Astounding in 1953. It describes the rigorous process he used to create his intriguingly plausible high-gravity planet, with its odd flattened shape, its day less than eighteen minutes long, and its many-limbed, noble natives. Come to Mesklin and learn why The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction called Mission of Gravity "one of the best loved novels in SF."
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
132 people are currently reading
209 people want to read
About the author
Hal Clement
178 books115 followersHarry Clement Stubbs better known by the pen name
Hal Clement
, was an American science fiction writer and a leader of the hard science fiction subgenre.
Further details at Wikipedia.
Further details at Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
November 6, 2021
Mission of Gravity: Four Stars
I read the first entry in this omnibus when I was a teenager, and remember it was quite absorbing. It was probably the first impetus of my search for sci-fi with unusual alien creatures and strange alien worlds. I have a distinct recollection of the centipede-like inhabitants and the stretched shape of the world. I definitely need to read the other stories in the set.
I read the first entry in this omnibus when I was a teenager, and remember it was quite absorbing. It was probably the first impetus of my search for sci-fi with unusual alien creatures and strange alien worlds. I have a distinct recollection of the centipede-like inhabitants and the stretched shape of the world. I definitely need to read the other stories in the set.
December 22, 2018
I first read Mission of Gravity some 40 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. From memory I knocked it over in an afternoon or two, but I found it a little more of a slog this time around. Star Light, the second novel included here, follows the further adventures of the Mesklinites and - pleasant surprise - revisits human characters from Close to Critical, now adult. However, to say Clement's characters are thin is kind. It also misses the point. The true characters in any Clement novel are the physical environments in which the action occurs. This is classic hard SF and this is essential Hal Clement. Still worth five stars.
January 26, 2021
Esta es una de las obras clásicas de la ciencia ficción dura.
Mesklin es un planeta gigante qué rota rápidamente, tiene una atmósfera hidrógeno y metano, y una vuelta la gravedad donde los humanos no pueden sobrevivir, excepto cerca del Ecuador donde la alta rotación del planeta hace que la gravedad sea sólo dos veces más alta que la de la Tierra.
En ese mundo vive una extraña... Extraña desde el punto de vista humano por supuesto, son una especie de crustáceos inteligentes Qué son capaces de vivir en las altas gravedades del planeta.
Cuando una sonda que posee datos muy importantes para los terrícolas se extravía cerca de unos polos, se ven obligados a negociar con los habitantes de mezcla para poderla recuperar.
Esta es la historia del viaje descubrimiento de un grupo de Mesklinitas que desean tener algunos conocimientos de Los terrícolas Y a cambio se lanzan en una arriesgada aventura.
Esta es la primera de dos novelas donde sus habitantes son los protagonistas.
Mesklin es un planeta gigante qué rota rápidamente, tiene una atmósfera hidrógeno y metano, y una vuelta la gravedad donde los humanos no pueden sobrevivir, excepto cerca del Ecuador donde la alta rotación del planeta hace que la gravedad sea sólo dos veces más alta que la de la Tierra.
En ese mundo vive una extraña... Extraña desde el punto de vista humano por supuesto, son una especie de crustáceos inteligentes Qué son capaces de vivir en las altas gravedades del planeta.
Cuando una sonda que posee datos muy importantes para los terrícolas se extravía cerca de unos polos, se ven obligados a negociar con los habitantes de mezcla para poderla recuperar.
Esta es la historia del viaje descubrimiento de un grupo de Mesklinitas que desean tener algunos conocimientos de Los terrícolas Y a cambio se lanzan en una arriesgada aventura.
Esta es la primera de dos novelas donde sus habitantes son los protagonistas.
June 23, 2024
I still have my original paper back from oh so many years ago. It proved to be the inspiration for my love of hard science fiction that I have never given up on. I couldn't pass up obtaining a copy of this expanded universe to see where it might go.
For me, the first half is a solid 4 stars. The entire encounter with an alien civilization on a far away and utterly hostile (to humans) environment was just so well put together and concluded.
But as far as the second part, it seemed to be just a step too far down the academic rabbit hole. I never got the same feeling of discovery. It lost some points and deserved only 3 stars for my tastes.
For new readers I would suggest you just read the first half and skip the second part. But do read Hal Clement. He wrote of so many interesting alternate worlds.
Have a GoodReads.
For me, the first half is a solid 4 stars. The entire encounter with an alien civilization on a far away and utterly hostile (to humans) environment was just so well put together and concluded.
But as far as the second part, it seemed to be just a step too far down the academic rabbit hole. I never got the same feeling of discovery. It lost some points and deserved only 3 stars for my tastes.
For new readers I would suggest you just read the first half and skip the second part. But do read Hal Clement. He wrote of so many interesting alternate worlds.
Have a GoodReads.
October 6, 2024
Really enjoyed reading about trying to live on very high gravity planets and the plucky little alien caterpillars helping human scientists gather vital data. The tiny alien sailors are technologically handicapped but the devious wee merchant skipper manages to overcome his fears and finally outwit the gods from space. A fantastic adventure and voyage of discovery for both races on two exo-planets over two human generations. Good Hard SF from the slide rule era.
September 1, 2021
In the mathematics of infinity, some infinities are bigger than others. Let’s say that there is one Earth-like planet for every one billion planets in the universe. That’s not very many Earths. Yet if it is an infinite universe, a truly infinite universe, then there are also an infinite number of Earth-like planets. There’s still only one for every one billion planets, but there is an infinite number of them. If the idea of one infinity being smaller or larger than another seems confusing, don’t worry, as you probably share that mindset with everyone who doesn’t have a doctorate in mathematics. The point is that, in an infinite universe, there are infinite possibilities, which means that everything that can possibly come to pass will come to pass. At its best, fiction allows us to explore some of those possibilities, even the more outlandish ones that we are unlikely to encounter in reality, at least in our lifetimes.
Like, for instance, lifeforms living on a giant planet with an eighteen minute rotational period, a gravitational pull of some six hundred times that of Earth at the poles, and only about three times that of Earth at the equator. That is Mesklin, the feature of the collection of stories included in Heavy Planet (two novels and a couple of short stories). It was invented because, as Clement says, “there are stories about very high gravity planets, and very low gravity planets, and spinning planets, but there are not stories about very fast spinning planets with extreme changes in gravity between the poles and the equator, and so I created Mesklin.” Its inhabitants are centipede-like creatures with many eyes, many cheela, and an innate acrophobia.
Like their neutron star cousins, the Mesklinites are accustomed to things falling so fast that they are invisible until they hit the ground. Also like their neutron star cousins, these creatures are remarkably human in their civilizations and cultures. In fact, they are frequently described this way, and when the author attempts to convey their more alien attitudes and perspectives, he usually resorts to simply telling the readers that it would be impossible for a human to understand, and so there’s no point in trying to describe the differences. To me, this is the main weakness of these stories. No matter how technically correct such an answer might be – a truly alien creature probably would be indescribable using our language, at least in a reasonable number of words (just look at the number of words we’ve expended over the centuries trying to describe ourselves) – I found it very unsatisfying in the story context.
Despite that, this was an enjoyable read, and had some significant strengths. Aside from the mostly rigorous scientific treatment of the exotic physics and environments involved, the most intriguing aspect of the story, to me at least, might have been the nature of the interactions between the star-faring humans and the pre-industrial Mesklinites. Star Trek may have elevated the concept of non-interference to the level of a Prime Directive, but the idea is prevalent throughout science fiction, as well as sociological and cultural studies and philosophies on more human, less imaginative lines. The assumption, of course, is that an advanced civilization will have necessarily detrimental effects upon a less advanced civilization if technology and knowledge is shared. Heavy Planet does not ignore these ideas, but it does challenge them, and it does so very well. The concept even leads to the interesting story elements in the second novel, where the Mesklinites and the humans are both keeping things from each other, and the Mesklinites are exploring an extreme planet on their behalf in advanced transports with solid-state fusion drives…and rigging like a sailing ship.
As with much of the science fiction of the period, there is the usual, amusing juxtaposition of technologies. On the one hand you have a star-faring human civilization that has made alliances with three alien races, explored a planet as extreme as Mesklin, developed solid-state fusion energy, and comfortably has a twelve year old on an interstellar research station. On the other hand, you have engineers whipping out their slide rules when they need to make a calculation. In other words, we may have access to nearly unlimited energy generation, but we still can’t make a pocket calculator.
I don’t think this was quite as strong a science fiction story as Rocheworld or Inherit the Stars, but it was nonetheless enjoyable. If you’ve enjoyed the other, similar science fiction that we’ve reviewed here on the site, then I would recommend you consider visiting Heavy Planet. Or, alternatively, sending your favorite, pre-industrial, centipede friend to do it for you.
June 26, 2024
4.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews
Summary
Humans are investigating Mesklin, a disklike planet with gravity a crushing 700g at the poles, but only 3g on the equator. With the help of a native centipedal species, they struggle to recover key scientific equipment. Later, Mesklinites help them to explore yet another planet with a human-hostile environment. Includes two novels, some short stories, and the author's detailed explanation of his calculations for Mesklin.
Review
You can’t get much harder in hard SF than Hal Clement’s Mission of Gravity (which makes up the first half of this book). When he casually mentions sitting around with Isaac Asimov, trying to come up with a suitable liquid to use as the base for Mesklin biochemistry, you definitely get the feeling that the burgeoning SFF scene has let something fall by the wayside. Clements’ afterword article, Whirligig World, captures the seriousness with which he took developing his setting, and is open about the liberties he allowed himself.
I read Mission of Gravity when I was in my teens, and I remember being impressed when my high school chemistry teacher told me that Clement was actually Harry Stubbs, also a high school chemistry teacher. I know now that the schools were only 100 miles apart, and I suppose they knew each other. It didn’t occur to me to follow up for an introduction, and I’m just as happy I didn’t; not everything needs to be turned to personal advantage.
I’ve read several of Clements’ other novels, and Mission of Gravity stands out as the best. He seems to have recognized this in saying that he’s happy to let his reputation as a writer rest on it. This edition includes a handful of Mesklin-related short stories, as well as the novel Star Light.
Mission, in the best tradition of hard SF, is an adventure story backed up by credible science. It’s a fun and engaging read that introduces just enough science to make the reader think, but not so much that it becomes an academic exercise. Star Light comes from the opposite side, and reads much more like a science exercise in search of a story and not quite finding it. The short pieces are largely undemanding filler – fine, but not essential.
An oddity is Clements’ treatment of Mesklinite behaviour, and that of Barlennan in particular. In Mission, Barlennan is a relatively honest trader. In Star Light, he becomes substantially more underhanded. While that could have been sold as part of his or his culture’s nature, it feels much more like a theme that Clements considered, partly developed, and then abandoned at the last minute; that whole arc feels unresolved, and the book is poorer for it.
Summary
Humans are investigating Mesklin, a disklike planet with gravity a crushing 700g at the poles, but only 3g on the equator. With the help of a native centipedal species, they struggle to recover key scientific equipment. Later, Mesklinites help them to explore yet another planet with a human-hostile environment. Includes two novels, some short stories, and the author's detailed explanation of his calculations for Mesklin.
Review
You can’t get much harder in hard SF than Hal Clement’s Mission of Gravity (which makes up the first half of this book). When he casually mentions sitting around with Isaac Asimov, trying to come up with a suitable liquid to use as the base for Mesklin biochemistry, you definitely get the feeling that the burgeoning SFF scene has let something fall by the wayside. Clements’ afterword article, Whirligig World, captures the seriousness with which he took developing his setting, and is open about the liberties he allowed himself.
I read Mission of Gravity when I was in my teens, and I remember being impressed when my high school chemistry teacher told me that Clement was actually Harry Stubbs, also a high school chemistry teacher. I know now that the schools were only 100 miles apart, and I suppose they knew each other. It didn’t occur to me to follow up for an introduction, and I’m just as happy I didn’t; not everything needs to be turned to personal advantage.
I’ve read several of Clements’ other novels, and Mission of Gravity stands out as the best. He seems to have recognized this in saying that he’s happy to let his reputation as a writer rest on it. This edition includes a handful of Mesklin-related short stories, as well as the novel Star Light.
Mission, in the best tradition of hard SF, is an adventure story backed up by credible science. It’s a fun and engaging read that introduces just enough science to make the reader think, but not so much that it becomes an academic exercise. Star Light comes from the opposite side, and reads much more like a science exercise in search of a story and not quite finding it. The short pieces are largely undemanding filler – fine, but not essential.
An oddity is Clements’ treatment of Mesklinite behaviour, and that of Barlennan in particular. In Mission, Barlennan is a relatively honest trader. In Star Light, he becomes substantially more underhanded. While that could have been sold as part of his or his culture’s nature, it feels much more like a theme that Clements considered, partly developed, and then abandoned at the last minute; that whole arc feels unresolved, and the book is poorer for it.
Heavy Planet (which perhaps should be Heavy Planets, since there are two) is a handy compendium of Mesklinite stories, and it was fun to read the short pieces I hadn’t previously seen. But the star of the show is very much Mission of Gravity. If you haven’t read that, it’s a true SF classic that I strongly recommend, and this volume is a good way to get it. If you have read Mission but not Star Light, I wouldn’t worry about it.
There’s another book that’s often listed as part of the Mesklin series, Close to Critical. It’s set in the same universe as Mission and Star Light, but I don’t recall that there’s really any connection aside from a few passing references in Star Light.
November 7, 2024
Old-fashioned hard space operas don't get any better than this (especially those not featuring lasers and blasters).
The novel that introduced the Mesklinites, Mission of Gravity, is a simple, linear adventure story, but with adventurers being mostly the caterpillar-like denizens of the richly imagined, unusual planet Mesklin. The worldbuilding is excellent, from the planet itself to the various challenges it offers to our heroes. (Some reviewers label the planet itself the actual protagonist, and they are not far off.) The pacing is a bit slow, even when the resourceful bugs find themselves in a hot mess, but I was not bothered by that. The only little complaint I have is that Mesklinites are far too human in their way of thinking (with the exception of a different set of phobias, brought about by the planet's characteristics, which the author makes very good use of.)
The two short stories included in this book take place on the same planet and follow the same mold.
Star Light, the final ingredient in this book (save for an article by Clement on writing it), takes place on another very unusual planet, equally richly and rigorously imagined as Mesklin. Again, Mesklinites are the explorers, hired by humans and several other barely mentioned spacefaring races for their adaptation to high gravity and atmospheric pressure. Here the plot is somewhat less linear and sedate and includes some scheming by the protagonists, again very human-like. We also see that not all members of the human contingent share the same vision of the project, nor share the same outlook on their bug-like counterparts.
All together, this is a very old-fashioned, undemanding, and pretty feel-good quick read, a nice respite from prevailing post-apocalyptic or social commentary SciFi, good as many of those may be. Of course, the "hard" part is almost endearingly dated (humans jump between stars but still use slide rules, for example), but that did not diminish my enjoyment.
The novel that introduced the Mesklinites, Mission of Gravity, is a simple, linear adventure story, but with adventurers being mostly the caterpillar-like denizens of the richly imagined, unusual planet Mesklin. The worldbuilding is excellent, from the planet itself to the various challenges it offers to our heroes. (Some reviewers label the planet itself the actual protagonist, and they are not far off.) The pacing is a bit slow, even when the resourceful bugs find themselves in a hot mess, but I was not bothered by that. The only little complaint I have is that Mesklinites are far too human in their way of thinking (with the exception of a different set of phobias, brought about by the planet's characteristics, which the author makes very good use of.)
The two short stories included in this book take place on the same planet and follow the same mold.
Star Light, the final ingredient in this book (save for an article by Clement on writing it), takes place on another very unusual planet, equally richly and rigorously imagined as Mesklin. Again, Mesklinites are the explorers, hired by humans and several other barely mentioned spacefaring races for their adaptation to high gravity and atmospheric pressure. Here the plot is somewhat less linear and sedate and includes some scheming by the protagonists, again very human-like. We also see that not all members of the human contingent share the same vision of the project, nor share the same outlook on their bug-like counterparts.
All together, this is a very old-fashioned, undemanding, and pretty feel-good quick read, a nice respite from prevailing post-apocalyptic or social commentary SciFi, good as many of those may be. Of course, the "hard" part is almost endearingly dated (humans jump between stars but still use slide rules, for example), but that did not diminish my enjoyment.
January 27, 2018
1. At some point I thought, wow, this reads like an endless Analog or Astounding Fiction short story instead of a novel.
I should have checked the back cover. It is indeed series of short stories which happen to have the continuity and time scope of a novel, but without much overarching structure. If that's what you're looking for (I was), then it is great and you can let it wash over you, like binging on an episodic TV show. If you're looking for a science-fiction novel like The Mote in God's Eye, then you'll find the pacing and tension random and the conclusion unsatisfying.
2. This is really a high-seas series in which the sailors happen to be centipedes and the oceans are ammonia, methane, etc. The humans and outer space are incidental. It is mashup of 80% The Voyage of the Dawn Treader or The Odyssey and 20% Rendezvous with Rama.
I should have checked the back cover. It is indeed series of short stories which happen to have the continuity and time scope of a novel, but without much overarching structure. If that's what you're looking for (I was), then it is great and you can let it wash over you, like binging on an episodic TV show. If you're looking for a science-fiction novel like The Mote in God's Eye, then you'll find the pacing and tension random and the conclusion unsatisfying.
2. This is really a high-seas series in which the sailors happen to be centipedes and the oceans are ammonia, methane, etc. The humans and outer space are incidental. It is mashup of 80% The Voyage of the Dawn Treader or The Odyssey and 20% Rendezvous with Rama.
February 27, 2023
This was hard to rate. On one hand, there's a really impressive job of world-building. On the other, there's a very nerdy focus on scientific details of chemistry, physics and weather to the exclusion of writing a story that is entertaining. I hate to say it, but I found the struggles of the characters to cope with interminable practical, often life-or-death problems through the use of science rather boring after a while. The second novella, Star Light, was especially tedious. At times, this reminded me of an Isaac Asimov story where the human (and alien) characters are just kind of tacked on afterwards. Not for everyone.
July 16, 2024
This book is #15 from the book "Science Fiction - The 100 Best Novels." This book actually contains two novels; the novel from the above book is "Mission of Gravity." This novel takes place on another planet somewhere and is very much hard science fiction. I like hard science fiction, but this one was a bit boring in places. Since this book came out in 1954, I took into account how old the book is. Yet, I still could not bring myself to go above 3 stars. I started to read the other novel, "Star Light," but I just could not get in to it.
On to the next book, #16, which is titled "A Mirror for Observers," by Edgar Pangborn.
On to the next book, #16, which is titled "A Mirror for Observers," by Edgar Pangborn.
January 12, 2020
"Mission of Gravity" has always ranked among my favorite hard SF tales and probably, in my view, Clement's finest work. This binding collects "Mission of Gravity" along with the sequel, "Star Light", along with two shorts that I'd not read before, "Under" and "Lecture Demonstration". Both are classic Clement, focused as much on the scientific surprise as the characters and story, but I loved them both (though I must confess I still don't quite understand what the physics of the situation in "Under" are supposed to be!)
June 13, 2022
Kitabın önemli bir kısmı, sert bilimkurgu okurlarını bile sıkacak teknik detayların uzun anlatımlarıyla dolu. Sanki bir roman değil de " yüksek yerçekimli ortamlarda yaşanabilecek muhtelif problemlerin çözümü" adlı bir mühendislik kitabıymış gibi hissettiriyor okurken. Istakozumsu, tırtılsı tüccar-denizci Mesklinliler ilgi çekici canlılar olsalar da yazar onları fizyolojileri dışında, çok fazla insansı şekilde betimlemiş. Davranışları, düşünüşleri, zekâları ile dünyamızdaki maceracı denizcilerden farksızlar nerdeyse. Sonuç olarak çok teknik anlatımıyla kuru ve tatsız bir roman olmuş.
January 30, 2020
I like hard sci-fi, but it seems like much of the sci-fi in this book was there simply FOR the hard sci-fi and not as something that improved on the plot.
This book contains the two long Mesklin stories; I kept wishing that the second tale had been located on the same planet as the first which we were already familiar with. That would have allowed the hard details to meld into the background without distracting from the story.
This book contains the two long Mesklin stories; I kept wishing that the second tale had been located on the same planet as the first which we were already familiar with. That would have allowed the hard details to meld into the background without distracting from the story.
December 6, 2017
Overall, the story was intriguing, the science part of 'science fiction' was pretty good. I think I only caught physics being outright wrong once, and most of the characters acted in a believable fashion. The series of mishaps that befell the characters was a tad extreme, and I thought that "starlight" ended rather abruptly.
June 29, 2021
I read Mission of Gravity when I was much younger and it's been one of my favorite novels since then. It's really held up over the years. I did not know until recently that there were a couple short stories and a sequel written about the same characters. I enjoyed those as well as the original novel.
May 20, 2017
Did not finish. Lost interest on the second part of the book.
The first part I did like because of the exploration of an utterlly alien world, with so much gravity that no human could ever step on the planet.
The first part I did like because of the exploration of an utterlly alien world, with so much gravity that no human could ever step on the planet.
March 27, 2018
What does it say about a collection of stories when the most interesting piece in the book is an introduction?
February 27, 2019
Includes essay on how Mesklin's physical properties were worked out.
January 14, 2025
Both the Mesklin novels plus a couple of related short works. Excellent re-reading these novels.
February 24, 2025
Not _bad_—a reasonably clever concept—but it was just too boring somehow.
February 24, 2025
It was not _bad_—the concept was clever—but it was just too boring for some reason.
April 6, 2014
I obtained and read “Mission of Gravity” (see my review) per the “S-F Readers’ Guide.” As is true of many of the books I come across, it appeared that that book became part of a larger work which included two short stories, a novella, and another novel, “Star Bright,” all compiled into “Heavy Planet.” This is “Hard S-F,” closely based in science. “Mission of Gravity” also included a short essay, “Whirligig World,” which describes (complete with diagrams) the unique gravitational and astronomical properties of the planet Mesklin, to which I referred numerous times in my reading of “Mission of Gravity,” and which is also included in “Heavy Planet,” thank God! The other, shorter, works in this book are the following:
“Under” is more a harrowing tale of braving “the river wild” than a strictly S-F story, with the “river” being made of methane and the gravity several hundred times that of Earth. The humans (“Flyers”) are monitoring the action of the Mesklinites from Mesklin’s closest moon, attempting to guide them and provide explanations for some of the phenomena. One of these is an eddy that propels a downed Mesklinite ship underneath a rock formation. The Mesklinites are forced to use sound and touch to get themselves out of the predicament, being cut off from communication with the Flyers. As I have said in my review of “Mission of Gravity,” the story is more about cross-cultural issues and friendships than strictly hard S-f (which this certainly is!) “Lecture Demonstration” has to do with the agreement between Humans and Mesklinintes that the latter will provide access to many of the natural resources on their planet, in return for knowledge that the humans possess. This brief story shows what happens when one is confronted with applying abstract principles “in the field,” which is a pretty unforgiving and hazardous one. Fun little ride.
The second novel in the book, “Star Bright,” tells of an exploration of another heavy planet, Dhrawn, under the sponsorship of humans but carried out by Mesklinites, who are the only ones able to withstand the extreme gravity and water-and-ammonia atmosphere of the planet. Our friends Barlennon and Dondragmer from the “Bree” are back again, in command of the exploration. The main exploration vehicle is the Kwembly, a very large cylindrical-shaped vessel propelled by treaded trucks; there are other vehicles including two helicopters, but they are more peripheral. The plot, as it eventually unfolds, is that the Mesklinites wish to establish bases and their own colonies on Dhrawn, but are keeping that information from the humans. Actually, however, the bulk of the plot has to do with trying to extricate the Kwembly from the frozen ammonia/water mixture. Again, as with “Mission of Gravity,” I found myself bored with lectures on the physical and chemical properties of the atmosphere/water, such that the action somehow got lost. Nonetheless, the story did provide some entertainment, and I liked the interaction, communication and trust issues between the humans and the Mesklinites; I believe that chemists, astronomers and physicists would enjoy it better. So three stars for “Star Light,” and four stars for the compendium.
“Under” is more a harrowing tale of braving “the river wild” than a strictly S-F story, with the “river” being made of methane and the gravity several hundred times that of Earth. The humans (“Flyers”) are monitoring the action of the Mesklinites from Mesklin’s closest moon, attempting to guide them and provide explanations for some of the phenomena. One of these is an eddy that propels a downed Mesklinite ship underneath a rock formation. The Mesklinites are forced to use sound and touch to get themselves out of the predicament, being cut off from communication with the Flyers. As I have said in my review of “Mission of Gravity,” the story is more about cross-cultural issues and friendships than strictly hard S-f (which this certainly is!) “Lecture Demonstration” has to do with the agreement between Humans and Mesklinintes that the latter will provide access to many of the natural resources on their planet, in return for knowledge that the humans possess. This brief story shows what happens when one is confronted with applying abstract principles “in the field,” which is a pretty unforgiving and hazardous one. Fun little ride.
The second novel in the book, “Star Bright,” tells of an exploration of another heavy planet, Dhrawn, under the sponsorship of humans but carried out by Mesklinites, who are the only ones able to withstand the extreme gravity and water-and-ammonia atmosphere of the planet. Our friends Barlennon and Dondragmer from the “Bree” are back again, in command of the exploration. The main exploration vehicle is the Kwembly, a very large cylindrical-shaped vessel propelled by treaded trucks; there are other vehicles including two helicopters, but they are more peripheral. The plot, as it eventually unfolds, is that the Mesklinites wish to establish bases and their own colonies on Dhrawn, but are keeping that information from the humans. Actually, however, the bulk of the plot has to do with trying to extricate the Kwembly from the frozen ammonia/water mixture. Again, as with “Mission of Gravity,” I found myself bored with lectures on the physical and chemical properties of the atmosphere/water, such that the action somehow got lost. Nonetheless, the story did provide some entertainment, and I liked the interaction, communication and trust issues between the humans and the Mesklinites; I believe that chemists, astronomers and physicists would enjoy it better. So three stars for “Star Light,” and four stars for the compendium.
April 29, 2019
Since Mission of Gravity is my favorite fiction novel of all time, you'll probably expect that this collection which includes the sequels to that novel to also receive five stars. You aren't mistaken on that point.
However, the strength of Mission of Gravity depends on the beauty of the setting, the surprise pro-science ending (of which I won't go into detail), and the amazing way that the reader is constantly put into a state where they could theoretically figure out the next step if they were quick enough with remembering scientific principles, but in practice are continually surprised because no one is smart enough to actually figure it out ahead of time. It is, in this way, in the same category as old mystery novels where all the facts are given up front and there are no surprise deus ex machina twists that include things the reader could not possibly know in advance, like most soft science fiction does.
Hal Clement did a sperb job with Mission of Gravity, but the sequels just can't keep up the same level. On their own, they are still quite good, but they are not in the same league as the initial novel, and some of the additions to the universe the bring to light really serve to highlight Clement's general ability to write complex relationships. Clement is a great hard scifi author, and does an excellent job with creating settings, but he has a serious lack of making the relationships between humans seem real. The humans of Mission of Gravity are bland, but they are bland for a justified reason, as they are scientists in the midst of observing a new planet. The humans of the sequels are equally bland, but he has lost the in-universe justification for their blandness.
Nevertheless, the series of stories after Mission of Gravity would still get four stars if I were judging them on their own merits, and simply by the fact that they continue the Mesklinite story, they receive a full five stars in this collection. I highly recommend Heavy Planet to anyone who is into hard science fiction.
However, the strength of Mission of Gravity depends on the beauty of the setting, the surprise pro-science ending (of which I won't go into detail), and the amazing way that the reader is constantly put into a state where they could theoretically figure out the next step if they were quick enough with remembering scientific principles, but in practice are continually surprised because no one is smart enough to actually figure it out ahead of time. It is, in this way, in the same category as old mystery novels where all the facts are given up front and there are no surprise deus ex machina twists that include things the reader could not possibly know in advance, like most soft science fiction does.
Hal Clement did a sperb job with Mission of Gravity, but the sequels just can't keep up the same level. On their own, they are still quite good, but they are not in the same league as the initial novel, and some of the additions to the universe the bring to light really serve to highlight Clement's general ability to write complex relationships. Clement is a great hard scifi author, and does an excellent job with creating settings, but he has a serious lack of making the relationships between humans seem real. The humans of Mission of Gravity are bland, but they are bland for a justified reason, as they are scientists in the midst of observing a new planet. The humans of the sequels are equally bland, but he has lost the in-universe justification for their blandness.
Nevertheless, the series of stories after Mission of Gravity would still get four stars if I were judging them on their own merits, and simply by the fact that they continue the Mesklinite story, they receive a full five stars in this collection. I highly recommend Heavy Planet to anyone who is into hard science fiction.
August 4, 2014
I think all these positive reviews are the result of very idiosyncratic reading tastes. No offence - there's no accounting for taste, after all. This is one of those "classic" sf books that must make people from outside the sf readership scratch their heads and wonder. Who can really like this book, I ask myself? Who is the intended audience for this? People who collect Engineering Specs for the Starship Enterprise? People who read Dune and find themselves most engaged by the exobiology of the planet? This is not a good book, by any standards of literature that I understand. It is a long, dry, scientifically rigorous argument for how an alien planet under such-and-such alien conditions would realistically function. And okay, I'm convinced - Hal Clement has clearly thought about this a great deal, and done his homework. I am completely convinced that this alien planet that does not exist would act in these plausible but nonexistent ways. Bravo. Now where's the story?
Science fiction is not about realistic science. It never has been. And the occasional forays of science fiction into heavy science that have worked as great literature work because there are other great literary qualities present in the text (think Greg Bear, for instance.) But if you think about the great science fiction novels, Frankenstein, The Time Machine, Dune, the Foundation trilogy, Childhood's End, Neuromancer, etc etc etc - they are never interested in the science. Why? Because a scientific treatise is not a story.
This is a "classic" only by the most elastic use of the term, and only within a very distant and forgotten corner of the genre. It was perhaps influential in a subgenre of hard sf that has ultimately created very, very little successful fiction. It will never be remembered or cherished, and is frankly not worth reading at this late date. If you want scientifically rigorous fiction that uses that rigour to tell a fantastic story, start with Greg Bear's Blood Music, and move on from there. This is a historical oddity, and not much more.
Science fiction is not about realistic science. It never has been. And the occasional forays of science fiction into heavy science that have worked as great literature work because there are other great literary qualities present in the text (think Greg Bear, for instance.) But if you think about the great science fiction novels, Frankenstein, The Time Machine, Dune, the Foundation trilogy, Childhood's End, Neuromancer, etc etc etc - they are never interested in the science. Why? Because a scientific treatise is not a story.
This is a "classic" only by the most elastic use of the term, and only within a very distant and forgotten corner of the genre. It was perhaps influential in a subgenre of hard sf that has ultimately created very, very little successful fiction. It will never be remembered or cherished, and is frankly not worth reading at this late date. If you want scientifically rigorous fiction that uses that rigour to tell a fantastic story, start with Greg Bear's Blood Music, and move on from there. This is a historical oddity, and not much more.
October 16, 2018
A fun set of tales that made me wish there were more about Mesklin and the Mesklinites and reminded me how hard science fiction hooked me way back in my youth because it made classroom math, physics, chemistry and biology so much easier to learn and retain by showing me real life uses for them (a Heinlein in-story explanation of plotting interplanetary interception courses and orbits is responsible for me passing high school trigonometry). And I loved the characters of the Mesklinites: Barlennan with his trader's wheeling and dealing and never-let-on-what-you're-really-after approach to his relations with humans, automatically assuming that all humans are doing the same with him (which can work to his, and his people's, benefit ... the University and the opportunity to travel to and explore other worlds) ... but can as easily cause problems (some of the issues on Dhrawn in the last novel that are due to his being a little too devious), and the contrasting personalities of Dondragmer and other members of the Mesklinites; far too often SF (usually the older stuff but it still happens in the new) falls into the lazy convenience of all other species having near identical clone minds/personalities (and, in movies and television, identical appearance/garments/ornaments/hair) rather than individuality. Here I see, alongside the science, some of the psychological/sociological SF I also love.
Also enjoyed the plots of the stories themselves ... everyday practical problem solving and species in the early stages of getting to know each other rather than flashy "Crises!" and "Drama!" ... I appreciate a quiet tale just as much, usually more, than one that skews too much towards being exciting just for excitement's sake.
Now I need to dig up some more classic Clement to enjoy.
Also enjoyed the plots of the stories themselves ... everyday practical problem solving and species in the early stages of getting to know each other rather than flashy "Crises!" and "Drama!" ... I appreciate a quiet tale just as much, usually more, than one that skews too much towards being exciting just for excitement's sake.
Now I need to dig up some more classic Clement to enjoy.
June 19, 2009
Note: This review concerns Mission of Gravity, a 1953 novel which is out of print except for this anthology.
The story concerns a huge planet which spins very fast on its axis; gravity is three times Earth normal at the equator but something like 700 times at the poles. There are some humans visiting, but they are offstage or peripheral for the most part, with the main players being the small centipede-like natives who are perfectly at home in gravity that would crush us. One might assume such creatures would be very strange and alien, but in Clement’s story they play out like humans in disguise. That seemed rather unlikely to me, but this is not a work of great psychological depth. Indeed, many traditional literary elements such as character and style are somewhat underdeveloped; the plot chugs along and unfolds at a steady pace, but it’s all in service to something else, namely, scientific speculation. Clement is mainly interested in high-gravity physics.
This is one of the geekiest books I’ve ever read. (Slide rules are deployed with reckless abandon.) It’s somewhat charming, rather strange, even quaint. While I can’t recommend the novel solely on its merits, I have no reservations recommending it to anyone interested in the history of science fiction. It’s a seminal work. It represents an early effort to distinguish science fiction as something more than adventure fiction with ray guns, something more than space opera. Clement injects a healthy dose of intellectual rigor into the genre. I especially enjoyed his essay “Whirligig World” (included in this volume) which is about the process of writing Mission of Gravity, and reveals his underlying motives.
The story concerns a huge planet which spins very fast on its axis; gravity is three times Earth normal at the equator but something like 700 times at the poles. There are some humans visiting, but they are offstage or peripheral for the most part, with the main players being the small centipede-like natives who are perfectly at home in gravity that would crush us. One might assume such creatures would be very strange and alien, but in Clement’s story they play out like humans in disguise. That seemed rather unlikely to me, but this is not a work of great psychological depth. Indeed, many traditional literary elements such as character and style are somewhat underdeveloped; the plot chugs along and unfolds at a steady pace, but it’s all in service to something else, namely, scientific speculation. Clement is mainly interested in high-gravity physics.
This is one of the geekiest books I’ve ever read. (Slide rules are deployed with reckless abandon.) It’s somewhat charming, rather strange, even quaint. While I can’t recommend the novel solely on its merits, I have no reservations recommending it to anyone interested in the history of science fiction. It’s a seminal work. It represents an early effort to distinguish science fiction as something more than adventure fiction with ray guns, something more than space opera. Clement injects a healthy dose of intellectual rigor into the genre. I especially enjoyed his essay “Whirligig World” (included in this volume) which is about the process of writing Mission of Gravity, and reveals his underlying motives.
February 13, 2017
A fun romp through a 'classic' hard-SF story: Hal Clement's Mesklin which is a super-massive planet with a surface gravity of 700G at the poles but only 3G at the equator due to its enormous spin that not only elongates the planet but also makes it day last only minutes.
We meet the Mesklin sailor, Barlennan, who negotiates with humans at the equator and agrees to a task in return for aid: to travel to the pole to help retrieve a probe that has refused to take off.
The journey is full of fascinating chemical, physical, biological and psychological thoughts (the Mesklins are scared of heights because of the high G. Even the act of lifting heads is alien to them). And at the end Barlennan 're-negotiates' the deal to achieve a more meaningful goal for his race.
The other major story in this collection is 'Star Light' which is set many years later on another super-massive world. Mesklinites are exploring the world with the help of rovers. But the unique ammonia-water nature of this world would prove to be a major obstacle to exploring it. It also has intrigue as both human and Barlennan try to out-manouver each other while cooperating in the explorating.
And for those who want to know more, there is a final, closing, essay by Clement on how he conceived of Mesklin and thought out their bio-chemisty and physical environment.
We meet the Mesklin sailor, Barlennan, who negotiates with humans at the equator and agrees to a task in return for aid: to travel to the pole to help retrieve a probe that has refused to take off.
The journey is full of fascinating chemical, physical, biological and psychological thoughts (the Mesklins are scared of heights because of the high G. Even the act of lifting heads is alien to them). And at the end Barlennan 're-negotiates' the deal to achieve a more meaningful goal for his race.
The other major story in this collection is 'Star Light' which is set many years later on another super-massive world. Mesklinites are exploring the world with the help of rovers. But the unique ammonia-water nature of this world would prove to be a major obstacle to exploring it. It also has intrigue as both human and Barlennan try to out-manouver each other while cooperating in the explorating.
And for those who want to know more, there is a final, closing, essay by Clement on how he conceived of Mesklin and thought out their bio-chemisty and physical environment.
January 26, 2013
This is from an old school of science fiction where the science figures prominently. The original "Mission of Gravity" introduces the Mesklinites, arthropodal aliens from a world so large that polar gravity is 700 times Earth's, but rotating so fast that equatorial gravity is only three times. Humans have landed a probe on the brutally heavy pole to investigate relativity up close and personal and the rocket has failed to lift off and carry its measurements back (why it doesn't radio them back is never explained). Humanity has established contact with the natives, who prefer gravity in the 200-400 times Earth's regions, to journey to the pole and retrieve the information. The aliens have designs of their own.
Most interesting is the psychology of a people to whom a fall of a few inches can kill even their resilient bodies, who have a tremendous fear of heights and of being under anything.
The other two novellas tend to get bogged down in passing obstacles and in the chemistry of ammonia-water atmosphere and will be hard to follow for people who don't know about eutectics and other chemistry.
Most interesting is the psychology of a people to whom a fall of a few inches can kill even their resilient bodies, who have a tremendous fear of heights and of being under anything.
The other two novellas tend to get bogged down in passing obstacles and in the chemistry of ammonia-water atmosphere and will be hard to follow for people who don't know about eutectics and other chemistry.
January 26, 2015
I'm sorry. That's how I'd like to begin, I apologise to all those people who rave about this book. Don't get me wrong, the concept is wonderful; the logic (and science!) that goes into all and every explanation is well thought out. But that's the thing, everything is explained... in detail. It gets tedious. On the other hand, I can't feel I relate to any of the characters (Mesklinites and Humans alike), so that's always harder on me when I want to get into the story.
Then again, the way this book was thought out truly is amazing: Let's take something improbable and make it work... and I mean actually work we can't just say the sky is green because it's green, there has to be a reason for it, and it has to make sense. That's wonderful and awe-worthy. I can totally see a Physics teacher leaving some chapters for his students to read as homework, I'd be more likely willing to learn these concepts if they'd been presented like this.
Then again, the way this book was thought out truly is amazing: Let's take something improbable and make it work... and I mean actually work we can't just say the sky is green because it's green, there has to be a reason for it, and it has to make sense. That's wonderful and awe-worthy. I can totally see a Physics teacher leaving some chapters for his students to read as homework, I'd be more likely willing to learn these concepts if they'd been presented like this.
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