Identify About Books The Inverted World
| Title | : | The Inverted World |
| Author | : | Christopher Priest |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 310 pages |
| Published | : | May 28th 1974 by Harper & Row (NYC) (first published May 1974) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction. Dystopia |
Christopher Priest
Hardcover | Pages: 310 pages Rating: 3.91 | 6703 Users | 616 Reviews
Explanation Toward Books The Inverted World
The city is winched along tracks through a devastated land full of hostile tribes. Rails must be freshly laid ahead of the city & carefully removed in its wake. Rivers & mountains present nearly insurmountable challenges to the ingenuity of the city's engineers. But if the city does not move, it will fall farther & farther behind the optimum & into the crushing gravitational field that has transformed life on Earth. The only alternative to progress is death. The secret directorate that governs the city makes sure that its inhabitants know nothing of this. Raised in common in creches, nurtured on synthetic food, prevented above all from venturing outside the closed circuit of the city, they're carefully sheltered from the dire necessities that have come to define human existence. Yet the city is in crisis. People are growing restive. The population is dwindling. The rulers know that, for all their efforts, slowly but surely the city is slipping ever farther behind the optimum. Helward Mann is a member of the city's elite. Better than anyone, he knows how tenuous is the city's continued existence. But the world he's about to discover is infinitely stranger than the strange world he believes he knows so well.Declare Books In Pursuance Of The Inverted World
| Original Title: | Inverted World |
| ISBN: | 0060134216 (ISBN13: 9780060134211) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Helward Mann |
| Literary Awards: | Hugo Award Nominee for Best SF Novel (1975), Locus Award Nominee for Best Novel (1975), British Science Fiction Association Award for Best SF Novel (1974) |
Rating About Books The Inverted World
Ratings: 3.91 From 6703 Users | 616 ReviewsWrite Up About Books The Inverted World
The Inverted World is a cold book. Most of Priest's books are told in a stiff and remote mode, which frequently suits the alienated subject matter. It's not the case here.Faults:1 - The sterile environment depicted is reflected in the unemotional natures of the characters and of their relationships with one another: Helwood vs his wife Victoria and Helwood vs his father; 2 - The dialog is very stilted and stiff; it barely pretends to achieve more than information exchange. And as a result, it isReads like a simple adventure story, but with an unexpected level of cleverness and complexity, both of underlying concept and usefulness as cautionary fable. I can't entirely speak for some of the underlying physics (some "hard" sci-fi what-ifs mix well with social concerns here), but its terribly interesting and seems well-thought-through enough that I have no complaints.Starting simply but intriguingly with a city that must constantly move through an uncertain and perhaps threatening world on
Some science fiction books are written just to entertain, some are depiction of the authors vision of the future, and some are for conveying the authors philosophical or political ideas. Occasionally I come a across sci-fi books that are pure thought experiments, where the authors sets out to explore some outlandish idea to its logical conclusion. For all I know Christopher Priest had some other intent for the book but clearly thought experimentation appears to be the primary purpose.Inverted
I read this in 1981 - and thinking back so many years, I realise that it was the book that kindled my love for physics based science-fiction, and how we might have to adapt if we lived under different laws of physics. It is a gem, and has hardly aged after so many years. The protagonists are well rounded, their society well portrayed, and the extrapolation of the implications of a different physics have been carefully thought through. It is obvious that this is a work that was several years in
With Inverted World Christopher Priest has written a work that is beautiful, powerful and profound. These are the words of critic, scholar and science fiction writer Adam Roberts. Equally important, at least for me as someone unacquainted with science fiction, is that Mr. Priest has written an accessible and enjoyable novel. And part of the enjoyment was having my imagination challenged and expanded - I felt like I do after finishing a rigorous workout, only, in this case, my mind had the
This novel is actually all kinds of amazing when it comes to the exploration of a few core ideas and more than very decent when it comes to exploring humanity, perception, and irreconcilable differences.The story is ostensibly a coming of age story, an acceptance of one's world, and then, eventually a deep dissent without a true solution, but it comes across so easily, so effortlessly, that I'm truly unsurprised that this was nominated for the Hugo in '75 and won the British SF award in the
I've enjoyed an ongoing debate for a few years with a friend about the role of characters in literature. My friend argues that great characterization is more than just a hallmark of great writing. According to him, it's kind of the whole point. I disagree. In the main he's right, but there are exceptions. Borges comes to mind immediately. And also this novel by Christopher PriestWhen I first read Inverted World some thirty years ago, it made a huge impression on me. It might make an impression
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