- Hardcover
- Publisher: Gollancz; First Edition edition (1989)
- ISBN-10: 0575043520
- ISBN-13: 978-0575043527
- ASIN: B002PDFFGY
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This collection is an excellent introduction to Cordwainer Smith's work, but a quick word of warning: there are actually two Smith books out there called 'The Rediscovery of Man'. This short story collection is the right place for beginners to start, but more ardent Smith fans may want to track down the NEFSA Press volume with the same title. The latter contains the _complete_ short fiction of Cordwainer Smith, including the non-Instrumentality short stories. If you get the NEFSA version and 'Norstrilia' you'll have all of Smith's science fiction in only two volumes.
And for what it's worth, I think 'A Planet Named Shayol' is one of the most extraordinary short stories ever written in any genre.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In this collection of 12 short stories Paul Linebarger, aka Cordwainer Smith, has introduced me to the most warming, heart-wrenching, soulful and imaginative sci-fi it has ever been my pleasure to encounter.
When it comes to spirituality in fantasy and sci-fi Cordwainer Smith is often praised in the same breath that mentions C S Lewis and J R R Tolkien. And in this word spirituality they mean the very essence of humanity and what it means to live as a human. Love, fear, self-sacrifice; all have biblical connotations, all are essential to humanity, and all are sensitively dealt with in this collection.
From 'The Lady Who Sailed The Soul' a story where an unexpected love conquers doubt, time, space, and perhaps even death itself, to 'The Dead Lady of Clown Town' where the dog girl D'joan gives her own life lovingly in order to conquer hate and prejudice, Smith invites us to ponder an insight into what it is to be human that, once experienced, we realise that we could never have done without.
He tells a story well. Draws you in. Everything is in abundance yet nothing is superfluous. The prose is lyrical and charged with empathy. Smith enchants with titles such as 'Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons' and 'The Game of Rat and Dragon' so that we know he took pleasure in pre-bewildering us with such obscure and, lets face it, amusing sequences and phrases.
Just to whet your appetites:
Cats are used whilst travelling in space in a symbiotic, telepathic defense against dragon/rat spirit/ghosts that live beneath space and attack life forces. The bond is so strong that the relationship between cat-defender and human-defender that one protagonist has is so intense that he can love no one else.
Animals from 'Old Earth' or 'Manhome' have been bred into human form so that they are indistinguishable from humans in every way. They are treated as an underclass and frivilously put to death upon a whim. Several stories deal with their inherant soulful nature, often greater than that of mankind, their emancipation, and a love affair between a Lord of the Instrumentality and the cat woman C'mell.
A conscious and intelligent planetary life force telepathically forms a connection with a man who lives in a lawless state deep underground 'Old Earth' who forms a religious cult and bewitches people by using Congohelium, a metal that is made from the conflicting forces surrounding anti-matter and matter, and creates a music that is new in the universe.
That's enough for now.
This man had an unparalleled love of life and is unrivaled in this type of science fiction. I really do urge you to get a hold of a copy of this and read it. Whilst it is not the complete set of short stories it is his selected best. His only novel set in this fictional universe is 'Norstrilia' which is out of print but available 2nd hand here on amazon. I'm off to buy a copy now myself.
When it comes to spirituality in fantasy and sci-fi Cordwainer Smith is often praised in the same breath that mentions C S Lewis and J R R Tolkien. And in this word spirituality they mean the very essence of humanity and what it means to live as a human. Love, fear, self-sacrifice; all have biblical connotations, all are essential to humanity, and all are sensitively dealt with in this collection.
From 'The Lady Who Sailed The Soul' a story where an unexpected love conquers doubt, time, space, and perhaps even death itself, to 'The Dead Lady of Clown Town' where the dog girl D'joan gives her own life lovingly in order to conquer hate and prejudice, Smith invites us to ponder an insight into what it is to be human that, once experienced, we realise that we could never have done without.
He tells a story well. Draws you in. Everything is in abundance yet nothing is superfluous. The prose is lyrical and charged with empathy. Smith enchants with titles such as 'Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons' and 'The Game of Rat and Dragon' so that we know he took pleasure in pre-bewildering us with such obscure and, lets face it, amusing sequences and phrases.
Just to whet your appetites:
Cats are used whilst travelling in space in a symbiotic, telepathic defense against dragon/rat spirit/ghosts that live beneath space and attack life forces. The bond is so strong that the relationship between cat-defender and human-defender that one protagonist has is so intense that he can love no one else.
Animals from 'Old Earth' or 'Manhome' have been bred into human form so that they are indistinguishable from humans in every way. They are treated as an underclass and frivilously put to death upon a whim. Several stories deal with their inherant soulful nature, often greater than that of mankind, their emancipation, and a love affair between a Lord of the Instrumentality and the cat woman C'mell.
A conscious and intelligent planetary life force telepathically forms a connection with a man who lives in a lawless state deep underground 'Old Earth' who forms a religious cult and bewitches people by using Congohelium, a metal that is made from the conflicting forces surrounding anti-matter and matter, and creates a music that is new in the universe.
That's enough for now.
This man had an unparalleled love of life and is unrivaled in this type of science fiction. I really do urge you to get a hold of a copy of this and read it. Whilst it is not the complete set of short stories it is his selected best. His only novel set in this fictional universe is 'Norstrilia' which is out of print but available 2nd hand here on amazon. I'm off to buy a copy now myself.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Cordwainer Smith brings depth, richness, and above all an amazing sense of a true alternative reality to SF with this brilliantly imagined series of stories.
Like Clockwork Orange, but without the pseudo-new-made-up-language, Smiths universe is one to be experienced in totality - and you can only really appreciate each story when you have finished the lot.
Whilst these stories only skim the surface of what was surely one of the most complete SF universes ever to grace the page, the multitude of small glimpses they offer gives far more sustenance than digesting many a weighty space opera multi-parter!
If this isn't on your bookshelf, you havent got a true context against which to measure anyone from Asimov to Gibson.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Delighted to have discovered this author at long last!
Usually after reading a book I give it away. A small number I keep for myself because I know I'll want to re-read them in the future. This volume belongs to the second category. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Rhys Hughes
sci-fi for thinkers
One of the great collections of sci-fi tales, written by an absolute master of the genre. I bought it because I had searched for the amazing The Game of Cat and Dragon. Read more
Published 15 months ago by P. STACE
One of the greats of Science Fiction
A selection of stories from a wild and wonderful but more or less coherent future history.
Published on 8 April 2010 by R. Court
Some nice ideas but somehow not very compelling
As others have noted and reviewed, this is a collection of 12 short stories from Smith's 'Instrumentality' vision of the future. So far I've read 6 of them. Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2010 by R. Murphy
The Glory That Was Cordwainer
Cordwainer Smith was unique. Although the contents of this volume represent almost half of his entire science-fictional output, what he lacked in quantity he made up for in superb... Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2009 by Patrick Shepherd
Wonderful
Just to weigh in with all the other reviewers, these stories are quite amazing, in fact I've not really ever found anything like them.
Read them!
Read them!
Published on 31 July 2009 by Dr Enoch
One of the best collections of Sci-Fi short stories ever written
Simply put, I can't praise the work of Cordwainer Smith highly enough. No one else has yet come close to matching his erudite and morally focussed writing and this, whilst not as... Read more
Published on 29 Aug 2007 by Ed F
One of science fiction's most important achievements
In this and "Norstrilia" Cordwainer Smith succeeded in producing a near-perfect set of myths, drawing on a deep understanding of the form. Read more
Published on 4 Jan 2002 by Melmoth
Fantastic!!!
This book really surprised me. Not only was the background colourful and insightful, the stories really do tie together really well. Read more
Published on 16 Nov 2000 by Mr S Robb
Listmania!
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