Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Hodder & Stoughton Ltd (1979), Paperback, 192 pages
Description
A boy's struggle to grasp the forbidden truth about his world...Michael was quite young when he discovered that some of his playmates bled if they cut themselves, and some didn't. For a long time he didn't think about it. Nor did it seem strange to see Zeppelins being attacked by jet fighters above London's force field, or glimpse Queen Victoria walking with Winston Churchill in the Mall. Not at first.But later he thought about these things - he couldn't help it. The world was real, and yet unreal. It was all desperately worrying. So Michael and his friends formed a society to investigate the world around them.Despite the terrible things they discovered, things that made some of them insane, they never actually guessed the truth about the Overman culture. Until Mr Shakespeare told them.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member isabelx
The children growing up in a wartime London that is protected by a dome shaped force field-covered London don't know that history is askew and that Winston Churchill was not actually prime minister during Queen Victoria's reign. But they do gradually come to realise that their parents, teachers and
I hadn't heard of the author before picking this book from a book table at a BookCrossing Unconvention, but I found the characters growing suspicions and attempts to evade the "drybones" and explore the city very readable. It reminded me of "Idlewild" by Nick Sagan, although this book was written a lot earlier so the solution to the mystery was different.
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most of their classmates do not bleed when they are cut and that they can only trust 'fragiles' like themselves.I hadn't heard of the author before picking this book from a book table at a BookCrossing Unconvention, but I found the characters growing suspicions and attempts to evade the "drybones" and explore the city very readable. It reminded me of "Idlewild" by Nick Sagan, although this book was written a lot earlier so the solution to the mystery was different.
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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
A boy is not like the others, and the world he lives in is very strange to those of us based in the presently acceptable one. There are many contrasts but the story is decently conducted to the author's conclusions.
LibraryThing member sundowneruk
This took a lot longer to read than I ever anticipated. I guess life took over instead of my usual reading times these last few days. Anyway a thoroughly enjoyable read and a very different take on total annihilation of the species.
Almost from the opening paragraph I was hooked and wanted to learn
The whole premise of annihilation is one that seems to uppermost in everyone’s mind this week so I guess it was a fortuitous read for me.
At least the outcome of this book gives us all hope that something better will arrive for humanity one of these days.
Almost from the opening paragraph I was hooked and wanted to learn
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more about the characters, this book could have been twice as long and still not had enough detail for me. For all that it has enough to fill in any gaps that occur.The whole premise of annihilation is one that seems to uppermost in everyone’s mind this week so I guess it was a fortuitous read for me.
At least the outcome of this book gives us all hope that something better will arrive for humanity one of these days.
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LibraryThing member majackson
This is a fairly brief story of the Earth, long after civilization has destroyed itself. Reminiscent of Arthur Clark's 'City and the Stars' & 'Against the Fall of Night" duo this book deals with the discontent of the few who want to find out why their world is circumscribed so narrowly, if there is
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anything more beyond the city walls, and, if so, what and why. If you don’t mind British intellectualism then you can play the game of “what would I’d do in their circumstances” and enjoy critiquing Cooper’s choices. I admit that I was surprised at the author’s choices of thought processes and actions for children who have grown up being taught to enjoy themselves and not to think beyond the needs of the moment. Even still, the action flows smoothly, strange things happen (that don’t make much sense even after you finish the book), and it does raise some interesting questions. But the bottom line is that AI computers need humans more than we need them—because only we can supply them with a sense of “purpose”. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1971
Physical description
192 p.; 17.2 cm
ISBN
0340178604 / 9780340178607
Local notes
Omslag: Ikke angivet
Omslag: Chris Foss
Omslaget viser en besynderlig konstruktion med fire kupler anbragt på en slags stilkej
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Omslag: Chris Foss
Omslaget viser en besynderlig konstruktion med fire kupler anbragt på en slags stilkej
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
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Pages
192
DDC/MDS
| 823.9 |