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4.0 out of 5 stars
One of the classics of 19th century science fiction., May 21, 1999
This review is from: Two Planets (Paperback)
This nineteenth-century German science fiction novel ("The Two Planets" or "Auf zwei Planeten") by Kurd Lasswitz (1848-1910), a mathematician, philosopher, and scholar of Kant, was not translated into English until 1971 (by Hans H. Rudnick). Thus, it had very little influence in the development of English or American science fiction. Nevertheless, the novel did have a significant impact. It was a popular book of young German boys, particularly Wernher von Braun and Willy Ley. Thus, the novel had an influence in the development of our space age. It "fired" their imaginations and had a big effect on German astronautics. The "two planets" are Earth and Mars. Three German and Austrian explorers are traveling in a balloon in an attempt to reach the North Pole. They find that a group of intelligent beings, very similar to humans, have set up a base at the Pole. Their balloon is inadvertantly drawn in by the Martian's antigravity device and two of the explorers find themselves guests of the Martians. The Martians have come to Earth to educate mankind, to assist in the development of a utopian Earth, and to ask for air and solar energy in return. However, through a misunderstanding, a "war" arises between the Martians and England, resulting in the formation of a Martian Protectorate over Europe. Unfortunately, a number of Martians soon exhibit the corrupting influences of power, and the Martian rule becomes despotic. An underground movement develops, keeping the positive aspects of Martian (and Kantian) philosophy, to rid Earth of the Martian yoke. This is accomplished with the help of American engineers, who are able to build their own spaceships to challange the Martians. The "good" of both planets win and a new era begins in Earth and Martian relations. And, in all of this, Lasswitz has two love stories as subplots, one of which is between one of the explorers and a Martian. When Martian probes began to map the surface of Mars, one of the newly discovered Martian craters was named after Lasswitz. This is a classic volume in science fiction and serious students of science fiction literature should read it.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Sci-Fi Future from a Dark Corner of Earth's Past, August 21, 2010
This review is from: Two Planets (Paperback)
Viewed from an American present, circa 2010, Kurd Lasswitz's Two Planets looks like a clunky and sentimental drama, full of love and misfortune, and generously sprinkled with a 19th-century German engineer's musings on earthly aeronautics and interplanetary space travel.
Though based on decidedly unphysical anti-gravity technology, Lasswitz's envisioned flights are in other respects surprisingly similar to those of our own flying machines. For example, airplane top speeds are close to today's routine passenger flights, and 1897's near-earth space travel is in some ways comparable to a Space Shuttle orbit. Martians have even invented high-density batteries to power some of their airships. With even deeper foresight, the Martians, barely settled in as Earth's "Protectors," immediately begin construction of extensive solar radiation harvesting fields on unoccupied desert land all over the planet. Earthly and Martian currencies exchange at rates determined by estimated energy content.
This correspondence in certain details is all the more impressive considering that all heavier-than-air flight in this book is exclusively made possible by anti-gravity gadgets brought to Earth from Mars. These "abaric" devices can instantly abolish and reinstate both gravity and inertia, thereby eliminating consideration of orbits and other Newtonian inconveniences.
While the technological part of this planet-opera is a mixed bag of nonsense and useful extrapolation, the rest of the book, with its plodding and lugubrious story development, is another story. The limited and awkward calculus of pre-20th-century European political, economic and military relations turns every human (or Martian) interaction into a sluggish and stumbling ballet. As viewed by Germans at the end of the 19th century, the world is a gloomy place, with the misery of everyday life relieved only by rapturous glimpses of natural beauty. On a mountain slope, watching a sunset or seeing a stream sparkle, our poor Earthlings find brief refuge from a stifling Continental age.
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