What a treat to have so many reviews this week! Really enjoyed your ‘rant’ about NASA, technology and our loss of optimism and accessibility to space. Never really thought about how pivotal 1986 was to our future. Reading ‘of its time’ SF books is reading an alternate future history. So fun! Thanks for your thoughts.
@@B0BsBooks This conversation reminds me of the alternate history TV series “For All Mankind”. The current fourth season has the common class workers on Mars trying to unionize and a billionaire who is trying to shake things up. It is an interesting series and definitely nurtures an optimistic view of space travel.
Aw thank you. I am just lucky both my parents worked for NASA at the time so I have a little more information than the average person and I try to keep the current events and social climate at the time in kind when I read these vintage pieces. It is very good so I do hope you get to it.
This year I’m focusing on all the unread books on my shelves and I’m pretty sure Man Plus is on there. Good to hear it’s got so much going for it. Looking forward to it. 😃
Years ago Fred Pohl gave a series of talks at Georgia Tech on the Cernobyl disaster. It was fascinating, and Fred was a fascinating person. The information in these talks were part of what he researched to write the novel Chernobyl - (a novelization of the disaster).
I actually finished reading this in October (wow time really flew by there), and just got to reviewing it. Testament to the writing I remember so much of it now, and even more you remember it 15 years later!
Man+ is a great book, and your review honors it. Thanks for it! :) As for the sad state of space exploration, I don't think the Challenger disaster was the main turning point, when things went bad and people lost their seat in space. By that time, the NASA budget had been in decline for more than 15 years (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA), that decline in budget an the loss of interest in space by the administrations helped creating the conditions for the disaster itself. Yes, the Challenger opened everybody's eyes to how risky it is for astronauts, but it was another drop (a big one, admittedly) on a glass that had been filled up over the years.
I think it was the final nail in the coffin for public interest and it’s sad. The amount of everyday items that we enjoy now that came from research performed at NASA is much greater than the general public realizes, and I cannot imagine how many more creature comforts or tech we would have if NASA still had its 1950s or 60s budget.
I've been throwing myself into books to escape what's been going on, also I have a bunch I read in 2023 that I didn't film a video review, for the same reason, so there will be daily content on here for a bit, now that I'm not doing it on my other channel.
Read 'Man Plus' long time ago. Guess I must have read when I lived in Greece. Might have sold it with many other books to pay for my ticket back to the UK.
Interesting review! I happen to own the same edition of "Man Plus" when I found a lot of 8 Frederik Pohl HC a while back for a very friendly price... some of which are 1st editions and some HC ombinus editions like the "Starchild Trilogy" he wrote with Jack Williamson. I read "The Space Merchants" recently but haven't read "Man Plus" yet, but it sounds like I need to pick that up some time as well.
Thank you for watching! It was a great read and one that stuck with me which sometimes, these vintage SF don’t. The intrigue, optimism and theme kept me into it and was entertaining.
Fabulous review . The only phol I read is the space merchants I really enjoyed and recommend. Have to read man plus. I’m interest in the history of space race of that time.
There is but it was written a lot later than the original and with another author. I actually have a copy of Space Merchants, maybe I need to move that up in the tbr.
What a treat to have so many reviews this week! Really enjoyed your ‘rant’ about NASA, technology and our loss of optimism and accessibility to space. Never really thought about how pivotal 1986 was to our future. Reading ‘of its time’ SF books is reading an alternate future history. So fun! Thanks for your thoughts.
It’s just sad that it went from space is for the people, to now our only hope of space is a handful of billionaires sharing information and resources.
@@B0BsBooks This conversation reminds me of the alternate history TV series “For All Mankind”. The current fourth season has the common class workers on Mars trying to unionize and a billionaire who is trying to shake things up. It is an interesting series and definitely nurtures an optimistic view of space travel.
I LOVE your comparison of "then vs. now" with Space Exploration. You just bumped this up on my TBR.
Aw thank you. I am just lucky both my parents worked for NASA at the time so I have a little more information than the average person and I try to keep the current events and social climate at the time in kind when I read these vintage pieces. It is very good so I do hope you get to it.
This year I’m focusing on all the unread books on my shelves and I’m pretty sure Man Plus is on there. Good to hear it’s got so much going for it. Looking forward to it. 😃
I hope you get to it and I’m doing a similar goal. Hopefully both of us can whittle our tbr down.
Years ago Fred Pohl gave a series of talks at Georgia Tech on the Cernobyl disaster. It was fascinating, and Fred was a fascinating person. The information in these talks were part of what he researched to write the novel Chernobyl - (a novelization of the disaster).
It always pays off when an author does the research for a book.
I think about this book alot since I read it 15 years ago. It did stick with me. I love Pohl's books.
I actually finished reading this in October (wow time really flew by there), and just got to reviewing it. Testament to the writing I remember so much of it now, and even more you remember it 15 years later!
Thanks for the recommendation. Loving the daily reviews this week. 😻
I got so used to it on the other channel I don’t know what to do with myself.💕
Man+ is a great book, and your review honors it. Thanks for it! :)
As for the sad state of space exploration, I don't think the Challenger disaster was the main turning point, when things went bad and people lost their seat in space. By that time, the NASA budget had been in decline for more than 15 years (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA), that decline in budget an the loss of interest in space by the administrations helped creating the conditions for the disaster itself. Yes, the Challenger opened everybody's eyes to how risky it is for astronauts, but it was another drop (a big one, admittedly) on a glass that had been filled up over the years.
I think it was the final nail in the coffin for public interest and it’s sad. The amount of everyday items that we enjoy now that came from research performed at NASA is much greater than the general public realizes, and I cannot imagine how many more creature comforts or tech we would have if NASA still had its 1950s or 60s budget.
Fantastic review was so excited to see another review so quickly. I will definitely be on the look out for Man Plus😊💐
I've been throwing myself into books to escape what's been going on, also I have a bunch I read in 2023 that I didn't film a video review, for the same reason, so there will be daily content on here for a bit, now that I'm not doing it on my other channel.
Read 'Man Plus' long time ago. Guess I must have read when I lived in Greece. Might have sold it with many other books to pay for my ticket back to the UK.
Well worth it to get home. 💕
Interesting review! I happen to own the same edition of "Man Plus" when I found a lot of 8 Frederik Pohl HC a while back for a very friendly price... some of which are 1st editions and some HC ombinus editions like the "Starchild Trilogy" he wrote with Jack Williamson. I read "The Space Merchants" recently but haven't read "Man Plus" yet, but it sounds like I need to pick that up some time as well.
Thank you for watching! It was a great read and one that stuck with me which sometimes, these vintage SF don’t. The intrigue, optimism and theme kept me into it and was entertaining.
Fabulous review . The only phol I read is the space merchants I really enjoyed and recommend. Have to read man plus. I’m interest in the history of space race of that time.
There is a sequel I heard called Mars plus.
There is but it was written a lot later than the original and with another author. I actually have a copy of Space Merchants, maybe I need to move that up in the tbr.
@@B0BsBooks space merchants seconded