16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Rest of the Stories, November 1, 2007
The Trouble With Humans (2007) is the fifth SF collection in The Complete Christopher Anvil series, following
The Trouble With Aliens. This collection contains thirteen stories. Since most stories by this author involve both humans and aliens, these titles are somewhat arbitrary. In this collection, the aliens are usually the aggressors and the humans are the defenders, with some exceptions.
We From Arcturus (Worlds of Tomorrow, 1964) tells of the efforts of a pair of psionically gifted shapeshifting aliens to infiltrate Earth, only to encounter incapacitating pollution. The Underhandler (Analog, 1990) relates the trials of an overly smug alien faced with a human even better at nonquantitative evaluations. Duel to the Death (Analog, 1965) describes the takeover of a human scout by a sentient planet. Shotgun Wedding (Astounding, 1960) conveys the results of an alien trying to muddle the natives of Earth with a direct vision device that allows viewing of anything other than another RTV.
The Law Breakers (Astounding, 1959) describes encounters with the Earth police by two aliens while attempting to blowup a human colonization center. Compensation (Astounding, 1957) tells of the trials of two scouts from a psionic culture while trying to describe human society to their superiors. Merry Christmas From Outer Space (Fantastic, 1964) is a romp involving a thought disruptor, a science fiction publication, and payment for a story by a new author. The Plateau (Amazing, 1965) relates the violent meeting of an invading culture that has lost its past and a creative bunch of human resisters.
Captive Leaven (Astounding, 1959) describes a planet with periodic outbursts of technological innovation. Sinful City (Future SF #32, 1957) solves a problem of conflicting jurisdictions and the sharpsters who take advantage of the situation. Behind the Sandrat Hoax (Galaxy, 1968) is a satire on scientific authorities and the damage they can do. Nerves (Fantastic Universe, 1958) relates a small story of subtle revenge.
The Gentle Earth (Astounding, 1957) is a long story about the invasion of Earth by Venusians. Of course, Venus is no longer thought to be an endless ocean with countless marine species, so it is quite outdated. However, this story and Pandora's Planet (Astounding, 1956) are very similar in their portrayal of our world as a dangerous place to live and fight. They also point out the ready, and mutual, hostility of the inhabitants toward any outsider.
Pandora's Planet became the basis for a series of subsequent stories, later published as the Pandora's Planet collection and eventually reprinted as
Pandora's Legions. The Gentle Earth was never reprinted, except in various Astounding/Analog anthologies, until this collection. Which is rather unfortunate, since the ending of this story is hilarious. There is a definite reason for saving it for the end of the book.
Insofar as I am aware, this is the concluding volume in the collected short works of Christopher Anvil. This series has introduced the wit and lessons of this author to another generation. Enjoy!
Highly recommended for Anvil fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of alien relations, military blunders, and episodic humor.
-Arthur W. Jordin
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6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Failure of Marketing, June 1, 2008
I picked up this book in a bookstore where no other books of the series were on display. As a result, the fact that it was part of a series was not evident to me. There is nothing on the front or back cover or title pages to indicate that it is part of a project to publish "the complete Christopher Anvil" -- and that phrase, which is prominent on this Amazon page, does not appear on or in the book.
And there is no overview or introduction from the editor: the only text is the stories themselves. I would have found a lot more interest in reading had I been given some kind of context for these stories and some information about the author. (There is a short article on him in wikipedia, which ironically gets most of its bulk by quoting from David Weber's introduction to the first (?) book of the series. It appears that none of the other volumes have introductions. This seems to me a silly failure of marketing: if you think Anvil's stories are worth collecting, wouldn't it make sense to use each volume to sell the rest of the series? At least to the extent of telling the casual reader that it IS a series... and providing some context on the stories, how they fit into the the author's career, what features are special about them relative to other stories by him and by his contemporaries -- all of which would add greatly to the reading experience.
Preceding reviews summarize these stories. While some are clever and amusing, several are quite clumsily written, to the point where I actually found it hard to figure out what action was being described. Characters are generally flat stereotypes and stock figures of fun, sometimes amusing but often boringly predictable. One story, "Captive Leaven," reads as if it were the setup for a much larger work in which it might make sense; standing alone it is just confusing. That one and several others, if they turned up today in the slush pile of an editor less quirky than JW Campbell, would be bounced with a stock pink slip for having "no ending" or "not a story."
Aside from a few good stories, the main benefit in this book is the flavor of 50s-60s science fiction, a benefit that would be much richer with editorial intro and better ties to the rest of the series.
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4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Okay, not great, September 1, 2007
I did enjoy the book, although at times it seemed a struggle to get through some of the stories. Some more recent SF can be a struggle just because of what the genre has become and the difficulty in keeping track of the various terms and ideas that are thrown at you without immediate explanation. The trouble with Humans, on the other hand, was difficult just because not a whole lot happened, so some of the stories got a little boring.
On the other hand, this book provided a view of humanity that we often take for granted. And this extended to very run of the mill things about us, not merely the "never say die" mindset that's often highlighted in SF. I found this very interesting.
There was also a good deal of humor. I'd recommend this book, but I wouldn't rank it as better than average SF.
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