The Byworlder [Paperback]

Poul Anderson (Author), Gene Szafran (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 1978

Skip Wayburn, an itinerant artist working his way through the byworld subculture, teams up with Dr. Yvonne Canter in order to communicate with the alien ship that has been orbiting the Earth for three years. Reprint.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Gazelle Book Services Ltd; New edition edition (September 5, 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0839824327
• ISBN-13: 978-0839824329
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,833,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent, slightly outdated, August 29, 2005

By 

Peter McCluskey (San Bruno, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Byworlder (Signet T4780) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is somewhat above average for Poul Anderson (one of my favorite authors).
Its brevity is a pleasant contrast to the long-winded novels that are popular these days. The characters are interesting, but not as nearly distinctive as the author can manage when he's at his best. The alien isn't as alien as it first appears.
It would have seemed quite believable back in 1971, but today the cold war mindset seems a bit outdated. The technological extrapolations are cautious enough to avoid anything embarrassing. He goes partway toward predicting the world wide web, but describes something that sounds like what we would have if the phone company maintained a monopoly on new information services.