Birthright: The Book of Man [Hardcover]

Mike Resnick (Author), Raymond E. Feist (Foreword)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Alexander Books (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570901589
• ISBN-13: 978-1570901584
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Mike Resnick is the author of numerous science fiction novels and short stories, including Dragon America, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Amulet of Power, Mutiny, Return to Santiago, and Santiago. He is the editor of This Is My Funniest and has won five Hugo Awards and the Nebula Award. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Resnick's Outline of the Future, April 1, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (sfsite) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Birthright: The Book of Man (Paperback)

When Isaac Asimov, Larry Niven and Robert Heinlein charted out their future histories, they created notes and timelines to help them keep events straight. When Mike Resnick created the future history which serves as the background to so many of his novels, he did it in a way which would earn him extra money: he wrote a book. Birthright: The Book of Man tells the history of human exploration and expansion throughout the galaxy. Originally published in 1982, Alexander Books has recently republished Resnick's novel with a forward by Raymond Feist and a timeline of all Resnick's published works which fit into Birthright's framework.

Birthright isn't quite a novel in the traditional sense, nor is it a collection of short stories. Rather, the twenty-six chapters of Birthright form a series of vignettes which, taken together, form something which is much more than the sum of is parts. In total, Birthright is a fable of European conquest, setting the tone for many other fables and allegories Resnick has created based on the histories of Zimbabwe, Kenya and other countries.

The scope of Resnick's book means that he can not focus on a single character. Rather than focus on a family throughout the timeline in a Micheneresque manner, Resnick elected to have each of his vignettes star separate individuals. Although each of these individuals are given distinct personal characteristics, they form a conglomerate character, highlighting the various personality traits which Resnick views as Man.

Resnick's Man is shaped by an understanding of the history of European colonialism. Man has the need to feel superior to alien races he comes into contact with, either subjugating them outright or reducing them to remnants of their former glory. Like a street dog, none of the other alien races can be permitted to stand shoulder to shoulder with Man. Similarly like a street dog, Man must continue to fight when he is no longer at the top of the heap.

While many of Resnick's novels are filled with individuals who are larger than life (Santiago, Jefferson Nighthawk, Koriba) few of the characters in Birthright manage to acquire the same mythic proportions. However, because of Birthright's format, characters of this type are not necessary and would probably detract from the work as a whole.

As originally published, Birthright was a good and interesting book on its own. Republished now after being out of print for 15 years, Birthright provides an interesting look at Resnick's early career and the ideas which he originally wanted to explore. His history is large enough in scope that it can easily accomodate, without conflict, the many and varied stories he has chosen to set among the same background.

Birthright is a good starting place for those who are not familiar with Resnick's work. At the same time, it serves as a recap for those who have already read significant amounts of Resnick's writings. While Alexander Books generally publishes Resnick's non-fiction "Library of African Adventure" reprint series (itself worthwhile), it is nice to see them bringing some of Resnick's older works back into print.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most underated and under published sci-fi book ever., January 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Birthright: The Book of Man (Paperback)

I'm not sure why this book was out of print for so long. I hoarded copies of it, loaning it out to only my most trusted friends for years. It is certainly a book up there with Greg Bear's Eon, Frank Herbert's Jesus Incident and Dune and the Foundation series.

If you're a fan of sci-fi, Galactic strategy games or scathing social commentary, you will completely enjoy Birthright.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my all time favorites, January 21, 2006

By 

Andy Allred (Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Birthright: The Book of Man (Paperback)

I think this is my first amazon review ever and I chose my all time favorite sci-fi book "Birthright: the book of man" to finally break my silence *grin*

I read this as a kid when it came out in the early 80's and again when i was an adult. Each chapter is a different short story of characters and situations and taking place at different periods of time in the future and different worlds all over the galaxy.

This is suitable for pre-teens and above. If you have a child that is interested in reading or interested in sci-fi, give them this book, most of the short chapters are enthralling sci-fi stories! My favorite was the human olympic athlete competing against the alien on the alien's homeworld in a footrace being broadcast across the galaxy. No 'man' had ever lost against any of the alien species in any sport, *ever*, so this human had the weight of the entire human race on his shoulders. The question was: would this be the event that man was shown to be no better than the rest of the galaxy's species? *grin*