#62. MISSION OF GRAVITY By Hal Clement

Published : 1954
Pages : 203
Overall Mark : 7/10

Mesklin is a vast, inhospitable planet, so cold that its oceans are liquid methan, its snows frozen methane, a world where gravity can be a crushing 700 times greater than Earth's. But Mesklin holds secrets of inestimable value and only the tiny Mesklinites can help mankind discover them. And so begins an heroic and appalling journey into the terrible unknown...

HAL CLEMENT (1922-2003)
Hal Clement went to Harvard, Boston University and Simmons College, taking degrees in astronomy, chemistry and education. He gained his reputation as a writer in Astounding Science Fiction and Mission Of Gravity first appeared there in 1953. Towards the end of his life he was made a Science Fiction Grand Master.

VERDICT
This old-school sci-fi novel deals in great depth with the concept of a high gravity world and how its environment could effect the inhabitants. Although short, this novel contains some great insights into how the world of Mesklin works, and how its people react to their surroundings and the interfering presence of humankind. The imagination Clement invokes in order to produce this work is both startling in its depth and almost unapproachable in its thoroughness.