Frederik Pohl (1919–2013)

Satire. The beginning is very funny, and throughout the touch is light & deft.
I enjoyed this reread as much as I recall my first, over a decade ago.
Read for June 2019 BotM in Evolution of SF group, q.v.

The attitudes towards women are sufficiently respectful, imo. I appreciated that Tildy, the poet of the copyrighting division, had both girls and *boys* working under her, for example. The technology never jarred me as ridiculously underdeveloped, and indeed some bits seemed prescient. Smoking on board the space craft seemed a bit off, though....… (more)

Not bad. Reminds me very much in attitude/ perspective of [b:The Forever War|940996|The Forever War|Joe Haldeman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1466006787l/940996._SY75_.jpg|423], which had been published just a few years earlier. (If you do want to compare, get the more recent unbowdlerized edition of Haldeman's work.) There's a bit of [b:The Space Merchants|968773|The Space Merchants|Frederik Pohl|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1260795704l/968773._SY75_.jpg|953666] here, too, which serves to point toward which part of that book was more influenced by Pohl than by Kornbluth.

Still, it's dated, esp. the sociology. I mean, I guess we should give ol' Fred points for including a few "girls" as intrepid explorers, and for talking about atheists as having a legit pov and about homosexuals as merely exotic and fascinating rather than as horrifying. And yet I just cannot recommend this as a choice to anyone who has the best modern SF collecting dust on their shelves; do read something like [b:Children of Time|25499718|Children of Time (Children of Time, #1)|Adrian Tchaikovsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431014197l/25499718._SY75_.jpg|45276208] or [b:Semiosis|35018907|Semiosis (Semiosis Duology, #1)|Sue Burke|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1494613337l/35018907._SY75_.jpg|56303145] or [b:Wayfarers |52712890|Wayfarers Series 3-book set (The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet, A Closed And Common Orbit, Record Of A Spaceborn Few)|Becky Chambers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566941836l/52712890._SX50_SY75_.jpg|73112087] first (just to name three random favorites that come to my mind).

The climax and punchline here are smart. But we still don't know anything about the Heechee or even why they were given that name. Nor does this enlighten, entertain, or satisfy me. It's more of a curiosity, a museum piece, imo.… (more)