From: Anton Sherwood (dasher@netcom.com)
Date: Sat Feb 08 1997 - 10:33:39 MST
With the reissue of _The Probability Broach_, everyone has had a new
opportunity to say how wonderful it is. I found it deeply flawed.
Here are the gripes that I remember after ~13 years:
- All female characters are Heinlein heroines.
- The goodguys survive because the badguys never use their guns.
- Unable to stop the badguys' evil plan preemptively (because that
would be coercive), our heroes blow them up accidentally.
This is described as a triumph of free will.
- As is Bear's double existence, as if gametes were chosen consciously.
- Griswold's chilling reputation is presented but never justified.
- I can accept a talking gorilla. I can accept a gorilla with an English
surname. But a gorilla with an English *hyphenated* surname?
(And does the wrist-gadget pronounce it Fanshaw?)
Am I alone in my opinion? Did I misread or misremember?
Are some of the flaws corrected in the new edition?
Anton Sherwood *\\* +1 415 267 0685 *\\* DASher@netcom.com
Bond: "At least tell me what your plan is before I die."
Blofeld: "I'm not falling for that one again!" (The Simpsons)
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