Worlds Enough and Time [Paperback]

Joe Haldeman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1993

In the sequel to Worlds and World's Apart, ten thousand brave colonists on the starship Newhome set their sights on the stars. Reprint.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Avon Books (Mm) (June 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380708019
• ISBN-13: 978-0380708017
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,688,604 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joe Haldeman has served twice as president of the Science Fiction Writers of America and is currently an adjunct professor teaching writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Space, Tribes, and God, December 3, 2006

By 

Seachranaiche (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Worlds Enough and Time (Paperback)

This story rambles a bit more than its prequel "Worlds" did, but it is still an interesting story that moves along at a good clip and leaves one with some disturbing insights into human character.

It is now time for O'Hara and other residents of New New York to move out beyond the Solar System, this in an attempt to mitigate any future potential of war and war's ability to render Homo sap extinct. The main theme is still there, only magnified now across light years: Human cultures keep dividing into tribes, which ultimately come in conflict with each other. Human history has already proved that tribal fanaticism and the desire to prevail often overshadows a more basic instinct, which is to preserve the species. Through a light-years-long journey, Haldeman explores how even rational human beings divide themselves into tribes, first between the residents of New New York and Earth, New New York and other "worlds", New New York and its starship to Epsilon, and then between the passengers and crew of the starship itself. Society has already divided itself into career "tracks", engineering and policy, and these "tracks" are further muddled by multi-spouse family lines, those in and out of suspended animation, an emergent fundamentalist religion, and finally, those who prefer to remain aboard the ship and those who migrate down to the new planet below.

Once planet-side the humans follow an all-too-familiar pattern, which is, attempting to wipe out a threatening species before that species is fully understood. The species turns out to be not only sentient, but omniscient as well, and O'Hara must play the role of Job, brutally tested in order to save her own species from annihilation. The Old-Testament God/Aliens have power over time and space, have wiped out undeserving species in the past, and appear a little bored as they put O'Hara through her trials. In the end, people tighten up a bit, become less aggressive toward each other, and look toward a more sensible sociological future. All of this seems to reinforce the messages of philosophers from Plato to George Washington to Karl Marx: Plato, who believed that the masses could only be governed by a ruling elite, George Washington, who added "so help me God" to the oath of office in hopes of unifying the scattered interests of the nascent United States, and Karl Marx, who called religion the "opiate of the masses" and was partially correct, at least in that observation--which leaves the reader to wonder if human beings can ever remain peacefully unified, given worlds enough and time.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars more sociology than plot, February 21, 2007

By 

nemo - See all my reviews

This review is from: Worlds Enough and Time (Paperback)

Like many trilogies, the Worlds books start off strong but go downhill. The first one was excellent. The second manage to hold my attention. This one was a bit tedious. Most of the book is spent describing life aboard an interstellar starship, including the unique politics, problems and tensions involved with living in a closed and isolated environment. I think Haldeman did a good job imagining and depicting this environment, and it was interesting... for a while. Then I really wanted more of a plot line. There are random catastrophes that occur from time to time, but I don't really consider that a plot. The book began to feel too much like a lesson in sociology and civics. Things got interesting against when the starship reached its destination. 3 stars because on balance I did enjoy the book. But no more than that because there were long stretches where I had to force myself to keep reading.

2.0 out of 5 stars It's a shame..., February 19, 2011

By 

T. Davis (Jacksonville, AR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Worlds Enough and Time (Paperback)

I love most of Joe Haldeman books, but this series of books is not only disappointing but down right offensive, and takes perversion to a whole new level. Like a mother encouraging her 11 year old daughter to have sex just to get broke in, with three different guys. I almost... threw the book in the trash. I regret reading these books. The only reason it gets two stars is because I was able to finish it.