Practice Effect (Bantam Spectra Book) (School & Library Binding)

by David Brin (Author) "The lecture was really boring..." (more)
Key Phrases: little metal house, foreign wizard, return mechanism, Baron Kremer, Practice Effect, Dennis Nuel (more...)

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• School & Library Binding
• Publisher: San Val (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785787216
• ISBN-13: 978-0785787211
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,375,294 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Swift and entertaining, September 20, 2000

By	Michael Battaglia - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Practice Effect (Bantam Spectra Book) (Mass Market Paperback)

Gee, not every SF book has to be a deep exploration of the limits of the genre. Sometimes you just like to kick back and enjoy yourself. This is exactly what this book is, and it's a great read, fast and fun at the same time, while still throwing up some interesting concepts. David Brin normally is an acquired taste, his Uplift books are some of the best SF books around but then they to be heavy on the plot, stories seem to drag on for years (I think only recently he got around to resolving some stuff from the first trilogy) and he can be a bit wordy. Not here though. Granted the ideas aren't as mindblowing as elsewhere but you know what, who cares? The basis here is that an Earth scientist is sent to another world and trapped there for a bit. The world seems backwards and forwards at the same time, there is caveman technology sitting alongside highly advanced stuff, among other mysteries. The scientist (Dennis) has to try and figure out what the heck is going on before he gets killed, especially since a Baron is trying to take over everything. Sounds like fun, right? Dennis' solutions to get out of problems, especially once he figures out how everything works, are great, and Brin seems to delight in this world, putting a decent amount of detail into it. He uses a SF explantion at the end that makes a tiny bit of sense but by then it really won't matter. There's all sorts of good stuff here, from ingenuity to danger to suspense to action to a bit of romance as well. Even if this isn't the most innovative stuff it's well written and brisk and . . . fun. That's all I can say. It's a fun little book that is more memorable than some of Brin's other work simply because of that. And you can't go wrong like that.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific lighthearted "SF fantasy" novel, May 25, 2000

By	joe_n_bloe (Ester AK USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Practice Effect (Paperback)

Once every so often, SF authors escape their genre and write something on a lark that turns out to be really special. That's the case with The Practice Effect. While I've generally found Brin a bit tedious (overlong, overplotted, overwordy), I loved The Practice Effect the first time I read it and enjoyed it at least as much when rereading it years later. It reads like Harry Harrison's best, or (most aptly) like The Flying Sorcerors. The hero is a technologically adept person, thrown into a less technological environment, who learns to combine his modern-day savvy with the peculiarities of his new environs to his considerable advantage. And, of course, to the delight of his readers.

The gimmick in "The Practice Effect" is too entertaining to give up in a review, but you'll enjoy every minute of seeing it exploited. It's a short book (I wouldn't mind more of these, actually) but one you'll want to read and re-read every word of.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brin had fun writing this one..., February 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Practice Effect (Bantam Spectra Book) (Mass Market Paperback)

If you are a physicist (like this reader), you will be rolling on the floor laughing. If not, you will simply find the book very, very funny. Brin sneaks in everything, from parodies of Star Wars to bad Latin puns. So it falls in the standard hero-goes-to-strange-country-and-makes-good, complete with Helpful Sidekick and Beautiful Damsel. So what? Brin obviously had great fun writing this one. I had fun reading it. Hope you do too.