Reviews for Chance for the Future

The average rating for Chance for the Future based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-10-02 00:00:00 Michael J. Chapinski This was an interesting book to read. Pulp sci-fi written in 1961 and reprinted dozens of times. First in a successful and long running series. My copy comes from the late 80s when it was selling very well. The main points of interest for me were how poor a prediction of future technology it was, and how badly sci-fi was written 55 years ago. The Stainless Steel universe has the 'standard' many-times-faster-than-light travel, instant communication (via psychic telephone men this time), and highly intelligent robots. A strange distinction is made between robots and computers. The robots have 'robot brains' and can do complex jobs like being policemen. (some run on coal!) Computers on the other hand do bugger all. You feed them navigation instructions on tape. They take anything from 1o seconds to several minutes to search modest databases. And that's pretty much it. Files are held in filing cabinets on paper. Our hero spends a fair time rustling his way through dusty heaps of files. Currency is paper and coin. Our hero (a thief who turns policeman) steals money in bags and carries it to other planets hidden in his luggage. So in short, the laws of physics are overturned at will with not even a two-word description of the engines or principles involved, and the computer revolution goes unanticipated. The story is a rather silly one about chasing a murderous female criminal who Slippery Jim falls in love with in a deeply unconvincing 1950s movie kind of way. The plot is pretty thin and involves a bunch of face-changing and unlikely guesswork. The world/universe building are very basic and rather uninspired. I found the book's only saving grace to be that the first person narrator, Jim, has a strong, lively voice with a measure of humour to it. Given that the sci-fi 'failings' were pretty common to most (all?) of the sci-fi around at the time I guess the strong voice accounts for the books' popularity. Essentially this work was 'of its time' and has dated badly. Fortunately it's a very short book, perhaps only 50,000 words or so. Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #prizes …..

Review # 2 was written on 2012-10-02 00:00:00 Bama Boy To understand the unique brilliance and enduring popularity of the Stainless Steel Rat, it's important to understand the world in which these stories take place. It is the far future and genetic manipulation and controls have bred the "malcontent" or "criminal" gene out of humanity...all but a few anyway. Society is sterile, homogenous and lifeless. Shattering the status quo is James Bolivar DiGriz (aka The Stainless Steel Rat) and his roguish, adventure-filled criminal schemes. He is an exciting anomaly in a BOREfically milquetoasty galaxy filled with MEH. As DiGriz himself explains early on in the novel: My life is so different from that of the overwhelming majority of people in our society...They exist in a fat, rich union of worlds that have almost forgotten the meaning of the word crime. There are few malcontents. The few that are born...are caught early and the aberration quickly adjusted.Some don't show their weakness until they are adults, they try their hand at a petty crime -burglary, shoplifting or such. They get away with it for a week or two...but sure as atomic decay...the police reach out and pull them in. That is almost the full extent of crime in our organized, dandified society. Ninety-nine percent of it, let's say. That [last] one percent is me and a handful of men scattered around the galaxy. Theoretically, we can't exist...but we do. We are the rats in the wainscoting of society - we operate outside of their barriers and outside of their rules. Society had more rats when the rules were looser, just as old wooden buildings have more rats than concrete buildings. But there are rats in the building now as well. Now that society is all ferroconcrete and stainless steel there are fewer gaps between the joints and it takes a smart rat to find them. A stainless steel rat is right at home in this environment. The worldview described above gives the actions of the Stainless Steel Rat a context that I find very compelling. He is an adventuress spirit who in an earlier time would have been a treasure seeker or a soldier of fortune. In this deeply constrained society, however, DiGriz's options for personal expression are so limited that he gave society the finger and decided that master criminal (with a heart of gold) sounded like fun. And fun he has. This story is like a needle full of liquid happy and will take the hard edge off just about any bad day. The writing is light-hearted but smart and DiGriz's sardonic, witty narration is just awesome. The plot is clever and well thought out. As for DiGriz, he will endear himself to you faster than a sad-eyed puppy. He is truly one of the great characters of science fiction and this first adventure of the Stainless Steel Rat is carting bags of smiles and are a sure fire cure for the blues. 4.0 stars. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED