Trouble with Lichen [Mass Market Paperback]

John Wyndham (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (March 12, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345302893
• ISBN-13: 978-0345302892
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,452,019 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a novel with a great premise but poor execution.., September 1, 2002

By 

lazza (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trouble with Lichen (Mass Market Paperback)

Trouble With Lichen starts out so well. A couple of biochemists in the UK circa 1960 discover a lichen with extraordinary properties: it is able to extend human life by at least a factor of three. I was then anticipating a story which delves into the aftermath of having our lives elongated to two hundred years, along with all the social consequences (some good, mostly bad). But Wyndham disappoints. Once this lichen is discovered he spends too much time on the inter-personal squabbling between the scientists and discussions of the merits of publicly disclosing such a find ... I was always thinking "come on! get on with it!". Finally something does indeed happen but it is only towards the very end of the book.

Trouble With Lichen would have been a wonderful book in the hands of a more competent writer. John Wyndham has indeed written better; it is a mystery as to why he didn't capitalize on the fine premise he laid out in this book.

Bottom line: certainly okay for John Wyndham fans. But I find it difficult to recommend it to anyone else.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Something worth considering, May 5, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Trouble with Lichen (Mass Market Paperback)

In this innovative novel Wyndham faces todays most intrusive problem, old age, and its cure. A good example of one of the first science fiction novels that isn't merely a diversion but also a peek at the moralities that might follow those discoveries that at the moment only exist in our imagination. Even though the end is a disappointment, it is appropriate for those who love science fiction as well as those who have under-rated this expanding corner of fiction

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thinking person's science fiction, March 25, 2002

By 

Elsie Wilson (Aberystwyth, Cymru) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trouble with Lichen (Mass Market Paperback)

I remember always thinking of the book with the definite article as the first word in the title; of course, it isn't, and is stronger Wyndham's way. Just one of those tricks our minds play on us, i suppose. Now, what can i write about this "Trouble" without sounding gushing and over-wrought? Because that is the way i feel, have always felt, about Wyndham; more so, now that i've found and reread some of his books (with more to come soon!). He was certainly a thinking person's science fiction writer; you can read him if you aren't prepared to think, but you'll miss so much that he has to offer. He does much of the thinking for you, lays it out in his characters' musings and conversations ~ which may make him a little off-putting to some people, who just want action ~ but requires that you follow along and understand where the characters are going, and why. Some of it, though, you have to do yourself; you come away from the book with questions, and a feeling that he has answered them for you already. This is how it would be if an antigerone were discovered in limited supply. There would be warfare unleashed in society; the clever discoverer would realise that beforehand and plan accordingly. But not only are you given these answers (and questions, and ideas) you are given a fine story, too. Wyndham is a story-teller who grabs your attention soon after you open his book, and he doesn't give it back until he's done with it. Love to read him...