Book Rating
Rated 3 (Highly Recommended) by: 2 people
Rated 2 (Recommended) by: 3 people
Rated 1 (Suggested) by: 1 person
Rated 0 (Reviewed) by: nobody
Total Votes: 6 people
Average Rating: 2.17 (Recommended)
Score: 1.30 (Suggested)

The godson of Sun Yat Sen. A professor of Eastern studies at Johns Hopkins University by day. A consultant to the CIA and U.S. military intelligence by night (including authoring Psychological Warfare, the definitive work on the subject, under his real name, Paul Linebarger.) A writer of some of the most elegant, poetic science fiction ever. Period. And a committed Christian. While Tolkien rules the fantasy genre, in the (sometimes not so) humble opinion of Ross Pavlac, no one touches Cordwainer Smith in the science fiction genre. You want to see uncompromising top quality SF with a no-nonsense Christian theme underlying the action? No one did it better than Cordwainer Smith.

Note that you may see other titles by Cordwainer Smith in bookstores. [Norstrilia and The Rediscovery of Man] are his complete works – if you own them, you will own all of his science fiction output.

This is the restoration into a single whole of the novels The Planet Buyer and The Underpeople, which were originally published separately. Smith's only SF novel, this is the heart of his Lords of the Instrumentality series.

Other Comments:

I read both The Rediscovery of Man and Norstrilia based on Ross's recommendation on this reading list, and enjoyed both greatly. No heavy handed preaching, but a positive portrayal of Christianity and Christian values. – Ron Oakes