#29. MAN PLUS By Frederik Pohl

Published : 1976
Pages : 215
Overall Mark : 8/10

Ill luck made Roger Torraway the subject of the Man Plus Programme, but it was deliberate biological engineering which turned him into a monster - a machine perfectly adapted to survivie on Mars. For according to computer predictions, Mars is humankind's only alternative to extinction. But beneath his monstrous exterior, Torraway still carries a man's capacity for suffering.

FREDERIK POHL (1919-)
A professional SF writer and editor for nearly 50 years. He first achieved fame for the series of novels he wrote in the 1950s in collaboration with C. M. Kornbluth, notably The Space Merchants and Wolfbane. He grew up in New York, but now lives near Chicago. He won the Nebula Award for best novel in consecutive years with Man Plus and Gateway.

VERDICT
I really enjoyed this novel which allows Pohl to really goes into detail about his view of the preperations for a Mars mission that spells the final hope for humanity, even when it pretty much puts and end to humanity as we know it. The characters manage to remain warm even when they have their humanity stripped away, and that is probably what makes this such a compelling read.

#28. MORE THAN HUMAN By Theodore Sturgeon

Published : 1953
Pages : 233
Overall Mark : 7/10

All alone; an idiot boy, a runaway girl, a severely retarded baby, and twin girls with a vocabulary of two word between them. Yet once they are mysteriously drawn together this collection of misfits becomes something very, very different from the rest of humanity. This intensely written and moving novel is an extraordinary vision of humanity's next step.

THEODORE STURGEON (1918-1985)
One of science fiction's most respected writers, Sturgeon published a large number of short stories and several novels, and was a hugely influential figure to subsequent generations of SF writers. More Than Human, his most famous work, won the International Fantasy Awars when first published in 1953.

VERDICT
Taking the concept of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, this impressive novel can at times feel daunting, but never confusing, and most of the time it is simply a tale of people triumphing over the weaknesses that people have placed on them by combining their efforts (in this case as a gestalt entity) and proving themselves to be far more than anyone could have ever guessed.

#27. TIMESCAPE By Gregory Benford

Published : 1980
Pages : 412
Overall Mark : 7/10

1962: A young Californian scientist finds his experiments spoiled by mysterious interference. Gradually his suspicions lead him to a shattering truth: scientists from the end of the century are using subatomic particles to send a message into the past, in the hope that history can be changed and a world-threatening catastrophe averted.

GREGORY BENFORD (1941-)
Born one of identical twins, Benford has pursued parallel careers in writing and science with equal success. He published his first novel in 1970; aside from Timescape, which won the Nebula Award for best novel, his works include Tides Of Light, Sailing Bright Eternity and Cosm. He is also Professor of Physics at the University of California.

VERDICT
This is an interesting idea, but the notion could have been explained in a more efficient way. Benford does an admirable job of describing the exact methods of scientists in all the time periods he describes, and keeps the story alive through its realism rather than using fantastic plot devices to further the story. Well worth reading, but only if you have the patients as the pacing is slow.

#26. UBIK By Philip K Dick

Published : 1969
Pages : 224
Overall Mark : 8/10

Glen Runciter is dead. Or is he? Someone died in the explosion orchestrated by his business rivals, but even as his funeral is scheduled, his mourning employess are receiving bewildering messages from their boss. And the world around them is warping and regressing in ways which suggest that their own time is running out. If it hasn't already.

PHILIP K. DICK (1928-1982)
'One of the two or three most important figures in 20th century US SF' (The Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction). Born one of twins - his sister died in infancy - he lived most of his life in California, and wrote more than fifty books in a career of prodigious productivity and achievement. The films Blade Runner and Total Recall are both based on his stories.

VERDICT
This is a completely confusing book, but once you get to the part where things start to get explained it becomes very enjoyable. There are a few set ups at the beginning which don't immediately make sense but, as with most Dick novels, things eventually come together for a very rewarding conclusion.

#25. FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON By Daniel Keyes

Published : 1966
Pages : 216
Overall Mark : 9/10

Charlie Gordon, IQ 68, is a floor sweeper, and the gentle butt of everyone's jokes, until an experiment in the enhancement of human intelligence turns him into a genius. But then Algernon, the mouse whose triumphal experimental transformation preceded his, fades and dies, and Charlie has to face the possibility that his salvation was only temporary.

DANIEL KEYES (1927-)
Bron in Brooklyn in 1927, ha has worked as a merchant seaman, editior and university lecturer. He has published two other novels, but Flowers For Algernon, originally a long short story which won a hugo Award, later expanded into a Nebula Award-winning novel, and adaptedas an Oscar-winning filme (Charly), is his best knwon work.

VERDICT
The idea of this book being written as a journal - gradually making the voice of Charlie Gordon increase in intelligence - is a fantastic idea and, as you reach the conclusion it becomes a very touching and upsetting tale of a man who couldn't fit in no matter if he were intelligent or simple because people couldn't accept him when he tried to improve himself.

#24. THE TIME MACHINE & THE WAR OF THE WORLDS By H G Wells

Published : 1895 & 1898
Pages : 274
Overall Mark : 7/10

Well's two masterpieces are still the definitive treatments of the themese of time travel and alien invasion. In The Time Machine, Well's Time Traveller journeys to the world of 802,701 AD, where humanity has divided into the effete, beautiful Eloi and the brutal subterranean Morlocks. In The War Of The Worlds, the Martians - intellects 'vast and cool and unsympathetic' - send their war machines to wreak havoc across the world.

H. G. WELLS (1866-1946)
The son of a shopkeeper, Wells began to publish fiction in the 1890s. The Time Machine, published in 1895, heralded an extraordinary period of 6 years in which he published almost all the 'scientific romances' which made his fame. An early member of the Fabian Society (from which developed the Labour Party), he was for the last four decades of his life a world-famous writer and thinker.

VERDICT
In spite of being well ahead of their time, and paving the way for all science fiction literature in the years following, these stories aren't that impressively written and can at times get a little repetitive and boring. Despite this weakness Wells does still manage to drag out what could otherwise be a few pages of scenery into an entire novella and comes up with some ingenious visuals.

#23. THE BOOK OF SKULLS By Robert Silverberg

Published : 1972
Pages : 222
Overall Mark : 7/10

Four students discover a manuscript, The Book of Skulls, which reveals the existence of a sect, now living in the Arizona desert, whose members can offer immortality to those who can complete its initiation rite. To their surprise, they discover that the sect survives, and is willing to accept them as acolytes. But for each group of four who enter the rite, two must die in order for the others to succeed.

ROBERT SILVERBERG (1935-)
He has for more than forty years been one of the most prolific, popular and critically acclaimed SF writers, nominated for more awards in the field than any other writer. His many novels include the Nebula Award-winning A Time Of Changes, Dying Inside and Thorns. He lives in California.

VERDICT
Although this is an intersting book, I didn't like any of the characters and didn't think any of them deserved to live forever. However, this said, their avaricious tendencies and need for immortality to achieve all of their greedy goals soon proves to be something they may never achieve, even if they do become immortal. This is well worth reading, but be warned, there isn't anything redeaming about the characters therein.