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Title: In the Country of the Blind by Michael Flynn ISBN: 076534498X Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 2003 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75
Rating: 4
Summary: A terrific "thinking man's" novel . . .
Comment: One of the usually less successful types of science fiction story (in my opinion) is the "secret history" story, in which the plot turns on events that most of us don't know about -- things we aren't *supposed* to know about, secret things that allow some individual or group to (usually) rule the world. Generally, the key events or relationships that give the secret group its power are a little too pat, a little too coincidental, and the stories usually are not believable. Asimov's Foundation trilogy was an exception, up to a point, and so was Wilson & Shea's Illuminati triology. And now, so is this novel.
The early 19th century was a time of amateur gentleman scholars who thought that if you could only gather enough information, enough data, about people and society at large, you could work out policies that would improve everyone's lot in life. According to Flynn, a small group of those do-gooders in New England (1) managed to develop a mathematical approach to social engineering, (2) got Babbage's engine to work, and (3) began to do something about the state of the world. And they've been at it ever since. Only, they're really not very good at it.
Flynn has a real knack for the language and he seems to know his history. The "fulcra" he selects, the points where a small change might tip the course of events in quite a different direction, are quite reasonable, and he'll tell you exactly why. The characters are believable and three-dimensional and often sympathetic, even the bad guys. And coincidence is kept to a minimum. There's lots of juicy quotes in this one, too. This book was recommended to me by a friend several years ago, but I've only just gotten around to reading it -- and now I have to go see what else Flynn has written!
Rating: 5
Summary: Between Generas
Comment: Michael Flynn is one of the people (along with Lois McMaster Bujold and Spider Robinson) that I consider the sucessor to Robert A. Heinlein (and yes, it takes at least three people to fill Heinlein's shoes). I was very glad to see that his first novel, In the Country of the Blind, was going to be back in print (will his short story collection, Werehouse, be following I hope I hope I hope).
This novel never got the respect it deserved when first published. It fell "between the cracks" of science fiction and a mainstream thriller. The Babbage Society believes they can mathmatically model the future. If they are correct, the book is Science Fiction. If they are delusional, but still willing to kill to protect their worthless secret, it's a contemporary mainstream thiller. Either way makes no difference to the plot, well-developed characters hold and express both opinions, and the book rides a quantum function without resolving itself into one or the other.
So why didn't it become a crossover hit, popular with fans of both generas? I don't know. Possibly too speculative for the mainstream, not speculative enough for hard SF fans?
Both groups have cheated themselves out of a fantastic read. If you like near-future (now near-past) science fiction OR contemporary techno-thrillers, buy this book, read this book, pass this book along to fans.
Personal note, other reviewers have remarked, unfavorably, on the dust jacket pictures of some of Mr. Flynn's other books. This one continues the unfortunate trend. The central character is a Black woman. On the cover of the paperback we had the metaphorical one-eyed man, now we have a White woman in a cyber-helmet breaking chains. Would it be so wrong to put a Black woman on the cover? Would it be so dificult to have a dust jacket that wasn't mud fence ugly? DEFINITELY do not judge this book by its cover.
Rating: 2
Summary: Not Nearly the Story It Could Have Been
Comment: According to his Preface, this book is a repackaging of previous work: a serial and a separate novelette. He should have left well enough alone. The reason it "was somewhat overlooked when it appeared in 1990..." was not "...perhaps because it debuted as a paperback original," but because it isn't as strong of a story as it could have been.
The basic premise -- predicting trends in human events and then acting upon those trends, is fascinating, as is the underlying theme of how historically-significant events can trace back to focal points that would become far more important than they seemed at the time. The latter was the basis of James Burke's hugely successful Connections series. But whereas Burke connected threads in history, Flynn's direction is deliberate social engineering -- predicting a trend, finding the focal point(s) where a doable nudge in a different direction should result in a completely different, predictable result, and then making that nudge. You could drive human progress in any direction you want, either for benevolent reasons or otherwise, but in any case, amass a lot of money and power along the way.
I find a problem with this premise. Flynn's cliology (as he dubs his social engineering process, drawing from Clio, the Greek Muse of history) just doesn't measure up - not in reality, not even to support a novel. Flynn's cliology is fundamentally actuarial; i.e., predictions based on probabilities derived from intense statistical analyses. He takes it several steps further with the various laws, models, and theories he explains in his appendix, "Introduction to Cliology." He blunts critics who might decry humans' free (i.e., independent variables) will as defying such predictability with examples such as life insurance actuarial tables. These predict for the target population as a whole, not any given individual's death, but their inability to predict at the individual level does not lessen their accuracy and usefulness. I understand what he's trying to do, but I just can't get there. The collective actions of whole populations - millions, if not billions of people, depending upon the target group - over time are just too complex to model. Computational fluid dynamics would be child's play by comparison. Moreover, it runs counter to emergence theory.
He does show human frailty in how cliology would sooner or later rob its practitioners of their humanity, especially if they are a secret cabal, which leads to another shortfall. There are many secret cabals in on the action. I lost track after five had been identified (by page 271, with another 200 pages to go). Only a few played a direct role in the story, but all were there nonetheless. Some were ignorant of the others, some were not; others had died out. No telling how many more there might be since their existence could be predicted by cliologists.
This leads to yet another problem: operational security. These secret groups that manipulated the path of human progress could be extensive in size as well as number. The main group in the story was a coast-to-coast organization with dozens, if not scores, of people knowledgeable to some degree or another of its purpose. The Manhattan Project, certainly among the most secret projects in nation's history (if not THE most secret) was comprised early on. One has to wonder at the likelihood that these cabals could remain secret over time (well over a century in the book), especially since disgruntled members seemed to routinely split off.
Then there's the story's rhythm. Sarah Beaumont, the protagonist, is larger than life -- too many skills, too perceptive, too calm and collected no matter the danger -- and overacted. The book is too long-winded. Flynn's character development is overkill. He could have shaved 100 pages without harm to the storyline, starting with his flat, uninspired denouement. Even his "Introduction to Cliology" essay could have been trimmed. It was interesting at first, and appending it to the end of the novel should have been a nice technique, but it was tedious and by the time I got that far, my interest had flagged beyond the point of no return.
I've often wondered at turning points in history when events seem to inexplicably head off in a perpendicular (orthogonal) direction leading to subsequent events that the trend up to that point did not portend. Take Hitler's decision to halt his ground units from smashing through to the Channel and instead left it to Goring's Luftwaffe to reduce the Allied beachhead around Dunkirk. One can read about Hitler's rationale, but in retrospect it doesn't make sense. What really drove him to that decision? Similar situations abound in history. Flynn missed a great opportunity to take the story in the direction of cliology being a battleground between nations, religions, and ideologies (as opposed to the freelance groups that form the heart of his book), wherein his main characters could get caught up in the intrigues and machinations as these groups fight each other for control of the future.
The book is not without interesting nuggets. Again, his use of "historical turning points...[wherein] the events themselves were small -- few people involved -- but they had disproportionate consequences" (30) is fascinating. The way in which he brought Sarah Beaumont into the story was ingenious (38). His comparison of Lenin's Soviet Union with Henry Ford's corporation (29), if not unique, was new at least to me. He has a fascinating discussion (189-193) of what a "fact" is and isn't, even applying Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principal to history (shades of John Lukacs, but used here as an anti-cliology argument). These tidbits were the strength of the novel, but unfortunately were just too few in number.
In the end, this book just didn't deliver. Firestar and Rogue Star had better story lines and are better written. If you're a real fan of Michael Flynn -- the type that just wants to read everything by him that you can get your hands on -- then have at it. Otherwise, you might want to pass this one by.
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Title: A Princess of the Aerie by John Barnes ISBN: 0446610828 Publisher: Aspect Pub. Date: 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Kiln People by David Brin ISBN: 0765342618 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 07 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson ISBN: 0812545249 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Probability Moon by Nancy Kress ISBN: 076534341X Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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