Customer Reviews

The Cosmic Computer

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Conn Maxwell was raised on the planet of Poictesme, home base of the Third Fleet-Army Force during the System States War. After the war, the soldiers went home, leaving the planet dotted with abandoned bases and equipment. However, one piece of equipment has yet to have been found: Merlin, the military's rumored super-computer--a computer so powerful that it could solve any problem. Life will be good once Merlin is found.

And so, Conn is sent to Terra to study computers and learn the location of Merlin. Well, Conn's back with the knowledge: Merlin only ever did exist in rumor. But Poictesme is rotting away, its inhabitants apathetic, sitting and waiting for Merlin to come along and solve their problems for them. So, Conn needs something to get Poictesme moving again, he need's Merlin!

This book is another masterpiece by that under appreciated master of science fiction, H. Beam Piper. The story is great, with an excellent mix of adventure and suspense. In fact, the surprise ending will throw anyone for a loop. I really loved this book, and I highly recommend it to everyone!

I must admit one thing, though. The author did somewhat date the book, with computers that only communicate in taped-in machine code, and scientists who use slide-rules. But, if you are willing to suspend disbelief a little extra, you will be rewarded with a great read. So, get this book!

One of the best SF works I've ever read. The only one I reread and enjoy every time. I think I've read the book 4 or 5 time. Good story background, unique story line, and a narative that moves along at a good clip. You can really escape into this story.

This is obviously one of the best works that Piper ever wrote, with his classic beliefs on both government and self defense. In addition, it offers an in-depth look at the basis of the Terran Federation economy, and explains a good bit of the technology in use throughout Piper's works. All this commentary is mixed with a heroic story, tense battles and a bittersweet ending.

Conn Maxwell was raised on the planet of Poictesme, home base of the Third Fleet-Army Force during the System States War. After the war, the soldiers went home, leaving the planet dotted with abandoned bases and equipment. However, one piece of equipment has yet to have been found: Merlin, the military's rumored super-computer--a computer so powerful that it could solve any problem. Life will be good once Merlin is found.

And so, Conn is sent to Terra to study computers and learn the location of Merlin. Well, Conn's back with the knowledge: Merlin only ever did exist in rumor. But Poictesme is rotting away, its inhabitants apathetic, sitting and waiting for Merlin to come along and solve their problems for them. So, Conn needs something to get Poictesme moving again, he need's Merlin!

This book is another masterpiece by that under appreciated master of science fiction, H. Beam Piper. The story is great, with an excellent mix of adventure and suspense. In fact, the surprise ending will throw anyone for a loop. I really loved this book, and I highly recommend it to everyone!

I must admit one thing, though. The author did somewhat date the book, with computers that only communicate in taped-in machine code, and scientists who use slide-rules. But, if you are willing to suspend disbelief a little extra, you will be rewarded with a great read. So, get this book!

There is a marvelous cover painting by Ed Emshwiller for the February, 1960 issue of _Galaxy_. It depicts a middle-aged woman in shorts and a halter, with her hair in curlers. She is sitting in an old acceleration chair and knitting. A ball of yarn sits on the ground beside her. Behind her is a fence and a sign that says: JENNY'S JUNK: USED SPACESHIPS, SECOND HAND ROBOTS. Inside the fence is a jumble of rockets, space stations, antigravity cars, computers, engines, and robots-- most of them gutted for parts.

I would not want to say that the junkyard is exactly a science fiction archtype, but it is not unknown. Lee Correy's _Contraband Rocket_ (1957) is about a group of rocket buffs who assemble a lunar rocket from raw material from a spaceship junkyard. Robert A. Heinlein's _The Rolling Stones_ (1952) opens with the Stone twins dickering for the shell of a spaceship at a lunar junkyard.

H. Beam Piper probably did the most elaborate treatment in _Junkyard Planet_ (1963), in which he imagines an entire planet of junk that has passed into the public domain. There are legends of a supercomputer named Merlin that may be hidden on the planet. The hero, Conn Maxwell, and his father know that there is no such computer. But in order to raise an expedition to the planet to mine other treasures, they must lie and pretend that Merlin exists.

Piper has a good feel for the difficulties and false starts that must be endured to successfully launch an expedition. He also does well with his picture of the treasures and traps on the junkyard planet itself:

They found the fissionables magazine and in it plenty of plutonium, each sub-critical slug in a five hundred pound collapsium cannister. There were repair-robots, and they only had to replace the cartridges in the power units of three of them. They sent them inside the collapsium-shielded death-to-people area-transmitter to relay what the others picked up through receptors wire-connected to the outside; foreman robots, globes a yard in diameter covered with horns and spikes like old-fashioned ocean-navy mines; worker robots in a variety of shapes, but mostly looking like many-clawed crabs. (111-12)

There are a number of effective twists and turns along the way, and Piper's main theme is sound. Sometimes you need a myth to revitalize a society.

Though _Junkyard Planet_ was written for a juvenile audience, it is comparable in quality to his adult novel, _Space Viking_ (1963) that was written at about the same time. It is solid, well-crafted, and intelligent... but just a little bit routine. _Junkyard Planet_ has sometimes been issued under the much inferior title, _The Cosmic Computer_. Buy it under either title.

This could be _the_ ultimate classic of science fiction, topping "Dune", if only Piper had fleshed out the narrative more. All the elements are there but it's written almost in outline form at times. Even still, a fine novel and excellent sf.

Wow, where to begin. I first read this as a short story in Piper's Federation when I was a teenager. That story spawned many enjoyable hours of Traveler game play based on that short story.

Now, 28 years later, I find the story just as captivating as I ever did. Funny thing is that I work in the IT industry, and I never seemed to mind the "antiquated" description of computers throughout the story. It is so well written that those references and descriptions just seem to add to the charm of adventure.

If you like well written and straight forward adventures, then I highly recommend this book.

Conn Maxwell was raised on the planet of Poictesme, home base of the Third Fleet-Army Force during the System States War. After the war, the soldiers went home, leaving the planet dotted with abandoned bases and equipment. However, one piece of equipment has yet to have been found: Merlin, the military's rumored super-computer--a computer so powerful that it could solve any problem. Life will be good once Merlin is found.

And so, Conn is sent to Terra to study computers and learn the location of Merlin. Well, Conn's back with the knowledge: Merlin only ever did exist in rumor. But Poictesme is rotting away, its inhabitants apathetic, sitting and waiting for Merlin to come along and solve their problems for them. So, Conn needs something to get Poictesme moving again, he need's Merlin!

This book is another masterpiece by that under appreciated master of science fiction, H. Beam Piper. The story is great, with an excellent mix of adventure and suspense. In fact, the surprise ending will throw anyone for a loop. I really loved this book, and I highly recommend it to everyone!

I must admit one thing, though. The author did somewhat date the book, with computers that only communicate in taped-in machine code, and scientists who use slide-rules. But, if you are willing to suspend disbelief a little extra, you will be rewarded with a great read. So, get this book!

There's nothing deep or complex about this book... it's just a fantastically satisfying read. I couldn't put it down any of the three or four times I've read it. My only complaint is that Piper hasn't written more books.

Even though it's an older title and an older book it arrived in great condition from this seller.

It's one of pipers better stories, One of those rare paperbacks you end up reading cover to cover in one sitting.

Age old story of greed and power that gets to the most humble. Still a classic tale.