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Stand On Zanzibar (Paperback)

by John Brunner (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 650 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz; S.F. Masterworks edition (12 Aug 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1857988361
  • ISBN-13: 978-1857988369
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 4.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 91,692 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #1 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > B > Brunner, John

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Thirty-year old predictions have a habit of going stale, but not John Brunner's startling panoramic view of the year 2010. Even where he got the future we almost inhabit wrong, he understood where things were oing--"Conincidence You weren't paying attention to the other half of what was going on"--and his world of Artificial Intelligence, gene-engineering, psychedelics, government-sponsored murder and brainwashing is frighteningly enough like our own. Constantly panning from a few individuals and their stories to the chatter of the media and sudden chunks of crucial text, Stand on Zanzibar was a ground-breaking novel in which Brunner broke wide open the stylistic and narrative conventions of SF, and set the agenda for the next decades. Packed with memorable characters--the computer Shalmaneser, the incestuous racist Clodard family, Presidents and newscasters--and sudden flashes of insight from rebel sociologist Chad Mulligan. "Rumour Believe all you hear. Your world may not be a better one than the one the blocks live in but it'll be a sight more vivid." Stand on Zanzibar is a masterpiece of speculative sociological SF, which some have described as a nightmare vision and others as a possible world better than what we are likely to get. --Roz Kaveney


Product Description

There are seven billion-plus humans crowding the surface of 21st century Earth. It is an age of intelligent computers, mass-market psychedelic drugs, politics conducted by assassination, scientists who burn incense to appease volcanoes ... all the hysteria of a dangerously overcrowded world, portrayed in a dazzlingly inventive style.
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Customer Reviews

18 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A dark future prophecy, 15 Mar 2005
Over-population threatens Earth, political struggles and conspiracy movements sprout, people are turning into terrorists out of pure boredom... TV does its best to keep people alienated in an artificial reality...

Written in Brunner's characteristic style, the book is witty, sarcastic and really really bitter.
If you're into dark humor and pessimistic bitter views of reality (as I am) this is the book to read.

One of the (undeservedly) forgotten great classics of SF.

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Stand on Zanzibar - totally worth the effort., 16 Oct 2002
This review is from: Stand on Zanzibar (Paperback)
This has to be one of the all time classics of the sci-fi genre, and has certainly earned its place in the Masterworks collection, though it is perhaps not as well known as other classics like The War of The Worlds or The Chrysalids. There is a reason for this of course, Stand On Zanzibar is not an 'easy' book. It's very easy to read the first few pages and give up - in fact, this is what I did the first time my father recommended it to me. All the same, I now consider it to be high up in my top ten books of all time.

The thing that deters one is that Brunner's style here is like no other you have ever encounted, although one can trace its influence to modern science-fiction works like Otherland. Brunner is painting for us the picture of an entire society - a complete and vibrant vision of the future, and to do so he weaves together the complex threads of individual unconnected lives; the messages sent out by the media; greater world plot; and insightful comments on how people are effected by living in such a society given through the guise of Chad C. Mulligan - an eminent and enigmatic socioligist in the book.

Like many visions of the future created decades ago one can find fault with predictions that have not happened, and easily declaire that this will not be the way of the world in 2010; however, the truth is, some of those predictions are surprisingly accurate, and even if the situation has not gone as far yet as Brunner predicted, one can see evidence of it heading that way. His discussion of the pressures imposed on man by over-population, and the progress, or lack thereof, in the developing world is interesting, and his comments on the effect of our genetics on social prejudice must be relivant today.

Besides being exceedingly clever and insightful, however, this is above all a good read! With believable and colourful characters as well as a wonderful dry sense of humour, you cannot help but become gripped by this book, and once you have become accustomed to the style you will wonder why you ever found it difficult in the first place.

I thoroughly recommend this book.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Hyped, 29 Mar 2003
Stand On Zanzibar is a very good book - but complex. With an incredibly unique style it is very engaging and intriguing but unfortunately, too many people marvel on this rather than the story. While Brunner's predictions are impressive and his prose somewhat stylish, his story is laborious. When reading this book I found that I just wanted to get this whole ordeal over and done with. There are pages devoted to futuristic adverts and, just as I do when watching television, I found that all I wanted was a cup of tea and the program to begin again. However, this form is very intelligent and defines the world in which this book is based more accurately. For the casual reader this book isn't mainstream enough, but for the person with patience a truly good thing will come to the one who waits.
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5.0 out of 5 stars The best example of a future dystopia!!
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4.0 out of 5 stars Dated but still a great story
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5.0 out of 5 stars A truly important piece of Science Fiction
In "Stand on Zanzibar" John Brunner explores the social human condition in an entertaining and thought provoking way. Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars A truly important piece of Science Fiction
In "Stand on Zanzibar" John Brunner explores the social human condition in an entertaining and thought provoking way. Read more
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