Time Pressure [Hardcover]

Spider Robinson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Life in Nova Scotia in the early '70s had just about everything your average hippie could hope for: beautiful scenery, tolerant locals, lots of other hippies and lots of drugs. So thinks Sam Meade, a guitar-playing American refugee from the Vietnam War draft, who is well on his way to becoming a hermit in his cabin, "Heartbreak Hotel." But all that changes when Sam discovers a beautiful naked woman asleep in his woods during a blizzard. Partly because he is an avid science fiction reader, and partly because he can find no other explanation for her behavior, Meade is convinced she is a time traveler and prepares himself and his best friend Snaker for the moment she regains consciousness. When she does awaken, Meade finds himself involved in a project that crosses time, reality, mores and gender. Winner of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards, Robinson has picked up some of the threads of past works, specifically those in Mindkiller. Readers unfamiliar with Robinson's folksy narrative, meandering pace and penchant for the tangential, may weary of this story, which takes an unusually long time to start, then moves along smartly until it is slowed and ultimately killed by a somewhat long-winded attempt at tying up all the loose ends. Although Robinson's creative imagination is admirable, the execution of his ideas leaves much to be desired.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

When a time traveler lands in the Nova Scotia woods, reclusive musician Sam Meade readily accepts this realization of his fondest dreams and aids the young woman named Rachel until he stumbles upon the deadly secret she carries. Anchored in the cosmic consciousness of the early 1970s, Robinson's latest novel offers an exhilarating mix of science fiction and realism. This sequel to Mindkiller is highly recommended. JC
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: St Martins Pr (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312007086
• ISBN-13: 978-0312007089
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,467,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good SF, good character twists, January 18, 2003

By 

David M. Chess (Mohegan Lake, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Time Pressure (Paperback)

The best thing about this book for me is how it twists around. For the first half you see everything strictly from the narrator's point of view, and everything he says seems rational and correct. Then you start to have a few doubts, and just as it occurs to you that in fact he's sort of a jerk, the plot twists, you (both) find out that some things weren't at all what they seemed (and others were exactly), and when the dust settles both you and the narrator are seeing things very differently.

As SF, this is good and solid (if slightly oldfashioned, being from the 80s), with nice treatments of telepathy, time travel, and the future of humanity. In general setting, I liked the whole Canadian Hippie Commune treatment; it's done convincingly, not as the easy stereotype it could have been.

I've seen a couple of people complain about the erotic parts of the book, and I have to admit I don't really understand it; the love scenes aren't particularly pornographic, and they *are* important to the plot. And why would anyone dislike love scenes anyway? But maybe that's just me. *8)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite books ever, February 15, 2004

By 

Caterina Pryde (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Time Pressure (Paperback)

This was the first Spider Robinson book I ever read, and it drove me to acquire all the rest! I loved the plot turns, I was utterly surprised by the truth behind it, and I'm one of those people who always knows the plot after 5 minutes into a movie or tv show. I don't want to give anything away, but this book is intelligent, witty, sexy, and made laugh and cry, at different times. (For that matter the line, "From what year" will make me giggle whenever I hear it, just in recollection.) A few of the main chracters are living on a commune, so adult situations. There's a wide variety of character types, and an excellent portrayl of different people with different backgrounds living in a small community.
Spider writes very much in the style of Heinlein's adult work, and the same cautions apply. If plain speaking or sex bothers you, don't read it. For adults, this book is a delight.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worst novel about time travel I have ever read., April 21, 2009

By 

John Thornton (Midwest) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Time Pressure (Paperback)

"Time Pressure" by Spider Robinson was a HUGE disappointment. The dust cover states, ".."the New Robert Heinlein...Gerald Jonas" but does not warn us which period in Heinlein's career. If you are looking for good writing like "Starship Troopers" or "Tunnel in the Sky" then that Heinlein is totally absent from the writing of "Time Pressure."

But if you are looking for cardboard stereotypes, glorification of drug use, and giant elements of misogyny then you will find that in "Time Pressure" like in Heinlein's later books which were usually junk.

The basic story is about a guy in the woods who abuses drugs so much he can not tell reality. He encounters a time traveler who appears in a snow storm and of course is a naked woman without any hair. Robinson spends lost of ink describing her features in ways that would fit into a lap dance establishment. I found it all boring in the extreme. And of course the woman is immediately available for sexual encounters with the druggie while his friend watches. A letter to a "men's magazine" has about as much quality writing. The story degenerates from there on with further nonsense.

I have never read a worse book on time travel than "Time Pressure" by Spider Robinson.