4 ms·

OMG. Gateway is one of my all-time favourite books. So brilliant. The Space Merchants is great as well. He finally hitched that Heechee ride.

elliottcarlson 13y ago
If you never played the Gateway game, I recommend it too: http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/540 http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/540
- speeder 13y ago
  I first head of Mr. Pohl work by playing that game (and its sequel) And indeed, it is really impressive and interesting! Lots of food for thought on them. And considering a game cannot have much story as a book, it is only a glimpse of Mr. Pohl full body of work, but it still is really, really impressive and awesome.
fsniper 13y ago
Heechee Saga is a wonderful piece of science fiction, making humans think of many controversial themes. Especially likes of us, Hackers, Scientists, IT workers. Some of these themes are; - What happens after you die? - If possible would you record your consciousness into a computer? - If some kind of human recordings and/or simulations are possible what happens to the source person's inheritance/belongings? - How would consciousness cope with energy outages? - What of human - computer love affairs? - Can we correctly analyse Extra Terrestrial artefacts? - How would science and society behave in rationing possible synthetic food in case of global famine or drought? - If we ever build synthetic body parts that's absolutely compatible with human bodies and can replace old/defect ones who can reach these? I'm very sorry about Mr.Pohl's death. If a human recording was possible he was someone worthy of binary encoding. (edit styling)
- JoeAltmaier 13y ago
  I loved his work. It was about expanding our horizons. But sometimes the narrative would suffer. Why could super-intelligent energy lifeforms not conceive that matter-based creatures were intelligent, but human science fiction writers could imagine that energy-creatures could be? Do 10^17 super-intelligences inside a black hole have no science fiction writers at all among them?
  - fsniper 13y ago
    They were non fiction intelligences. Also they were so afraid of the upcoming doom so they locked themselves in a blackhole and lost track of time outside. (U.S. see the resemblence?). But of course some matters are mind tingling :-) This can't soil his brilliance.
    - JoeAltmaier 13y ago
      No,not soil certainly. But I remember my great disappointment when the entire Heechee series' ultimate mystery turned out to be - that superintelligent beings couldn't conceive of something a science fiction author could.
      - fsniper 13y ago
        by the way universe is amazing. In many many ways :)
satori99 13y ago
Indeed. It is one of all time my favourite hard sci-fi novels.
NikolaTesla 13y ago
Agreed...it's the ultimate lottery ticket...what a brilliant writer!
adamc 13y ago
While I enjoyed the Heechee stories, my favorite of his is an oldie he wrote with Kornbluth, "The Space Merchants".

elliottcarlson 13y ago

If you never played the Gateway game, I recommend it too: http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/540 http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/540

speeder 13y ago
I first head of Mr. Pohl work by playing that game (and its sequel) And indeed, it is really impressive and interesting! Lots of food for thought on them. And considering a game cannot have much story as a book, it is only a glimpse of Mr. Pohl full body of work, but it still is really, really impressive and awesome.

fsniper 13y ago

Heechee Saga is a wonderful piece of science fiction, making humans think of many controversial themes. Especially likes of us, Hackers, Scientists, IT workers. Some of these themes are; - What happens after you die? - If possible would you record your consciousness into a computer? - If some kind of human recordings and/or simulations are possible what happens to the source person's inheritance/belongings? - How would consciousness cope with energy outages? - What of human - computer love affairs? - Can we correctly analyse Extra Terrestrial artefacts? - How would science and society behave in rationing possible synthetic food in case of global famine or drought? - If we ever build synthetic body parts that's absolutely compatible with human bodies and can replace old/defect ones who can reach these? I'm very sorry about Mr.Pohl's death. If a human recording was possible he was someone worthy of binary encoding. (edit styling)

JoeAltmaier 13y ago
I loved his work. It was about expanding our horizons. But sometimes the narrative would suffer. Why could super-intelligent energy lifeforms not conceive that matter-based creatures were intelligent, but human science fiction writers could imagine that energy-creatures could be? Do 10^17 super-intelligences inside a black hole have no science fiction writers at all among them?
- fsniper 13y ago
  They were non fiction intelligences. Also they were so afraid of the upcoming doom so they locked themselves in a blackhole and lost track of time outside. (U.S. see the resemblence?). But of course some matters are mind tingling :-) This can't soil his brilliance.
  - JoeAltmaier 13y ago
    No,not soil certainly. But I remember my great disappointment when the entire Heechee series' ultimate mystery turned out to be - that superintelligent beings couldn't conceive of something a science fiction author could.
    - fsniper 13y ago
      by the way universe is amazing. In many many ways :)

satori99 13y ago

Indeed. It is one of all time my favourite hard sci-fi novels.

NikolaTesla 13y ago

Agreed...it's the ultimate lottery ticket...what a brilliant writer!

adamc 13y ago

While I enjoyed the Heechee stories, my favorite of his is an oldie he wrote with Kornbluth, "The Space Merchants".