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frakalot's review
4.0
The Crack in Space is a marvellous creation with several really good concepts. Reading the classics, it often amazes me to learn that many seemingly modern scifi ideas were thought of long ago and in that regard this novel is stunning.
This was my first PKD and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I'd like to believe that people in the 2020s are generally better than they are in this story, but recent events don't lend much support to this hope. The novel is set in the 2080s though so perhaps there's still time to be better than Dick thinks we will be.
This was my first PKD and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I'd like to believe that people in the 2020s are generally better than they are in this story, but recent events don't lend much support to this hope. The novel is set in the 2080s though so perhaps there's still time to be better than Dick thinks we will be.
haramis's review
3.0
This was a crapshoot of "guess the future" with some serious misses, but it wasn't terrible. I think it was at its best when it was pondering what humanity might be/have discovered without out giant intuitive leaps forward.
nwhyte's review against another edition
http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/cantata140.htm[return][return]This is not one of Philip K. Dick's typical novels. The plot is linear and coherent, and at no point are any of the major characters confronted with the awful possibility that the universe as they experience it may be only apparently real. Unfortunately this also means that as Dick novels go, this is not a particularly good one.[return][return]Originally published as The Crack in Space in 1966, but written a couple of years earlier during the author's most prolific period, this book is essentially an unsuccessful attempt to grapple with the issues of overpopulation and racism. The year is 2080. Jim Briskin, the Liberal-Republican candidate for the presidency of the United States, hopes to unseat the incumbent Bill Schwartz, of the States Rights Conservative Democrats. Briskin is a former TV "newsclown" (presumably at least in part a reference to comedy actor Ronald Reagan) who hopes to become the first Negro (sic) president. It's a nice coincidence that as I type, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who starred in the film version of Dick's "We Can Remember It For You, Wholesale", is campaigning to succeed Reagan as governor of California.[return][return]The overpopulation problem in Cantata 140 appears to be something that affects the United States alone, perhaps due to the development of anti-aging treatments that allow people to continue working well past their hundredth birthday. The government's attempts to deal with it by legalised prostitution, semi-compulsory abortion and putting large numbers of the lower classes into suspended animation seem about as realistic as Isaac Asimov's proposal, in one of his non-fiction books, to stop the population explosion by encouraging masturbation and homosexuality. (Not that there's anything wrong with either masturbation or homosexuality, but please let's be realistic about the benefits!)[return][return]The treatment of racism is muted. All non-white groups are generally referred to as "Cols", presumably short for "coloureds", and it's implied that the government has sinister plans to minimise their numbers and influence, to the point of the Vice-President's links with an extremist organisation that attempts to assassinate Briskin (with a weapon whose nature is not satisfactorily explained). But we learn nothing about Briskin's own social or family background, and little about social conditions for the various ethnic groups. The setting appears to be 1960's California with a few extra gadgets; the world outside the USA is barely mentioned (not counting parallel universes).[return][return]The gadgets are a nice touch. They include taxis that can take you straight to orbit, and the "Jiffi-scuttler" which is an instantaneous transport system whose details are not otherwise made clear. The core of the plot concerns one such machine which develops a leak to a parallel world which Briskin seizes on as his solution to the overpopulation problem - wake up the sleepers in suspended animation ("Wachet auf!" is Bach's Cantata 140, hence the title) and let them go through the leak and colonise it! The consequent political tussles are diverting but not convincing. In any case the classic "my house has unexpectedly developed a doorway into another dimension" story, pioneered by Lewis Carroll, was done much better around this time by Clifford Simak in "The Big Front Yard" and has not been equalled since (certainly not by Robert Sawyer's dismal Hominids, which benefited from this year's Worldcon location to win the Hugo).[return][return]A few standard Dick themes are present. The sinister government conspiracy mentioned above is one; the idea of emigration from earth to a better place is another. The parallel universe is a nod in the direction of alternate perceptions of reality though a tame one by Dick's usual standards. The character George Walt, conjoined twins with one head but two brains and two bodies, is clearly an echo of Dick's obsession with his own twin brother who died at birth. The plot gets a little confused and frantic towards the end, but I felt more because of carelessness than authorial grand design.[return][return]The presentation of the book is somewhat disappointing. The title as originally published is nowhere mentioned, and there are some silly misprints ("deeps-ace" for "deep-space", "prose" for "pro's", "facet" for "fact") which would surely have been caught by any proof-reader who was actually awake. The attractive cover by Chris Moore has little obvious relationship with the story. Unless you are a Dick completist, you can probably give this one a miss.
alexctelander's review against another edition
4.0
There’s a unique style to Philip K. Dick’s work that can perhaps be called unforgiving: his writing isn’t easy and straightforward; you have to work at it and make sure you keep up, because he’s just going to throw you in the middle of his complex world and drag you along for one crazy ride. The Crack in Space is a perfect example of this, recently released in a minimalist-looking new edition from Mariner Books, where the world is at a distant point in our future and all is not well. While technology has advanced, it seems that humanity has not, as it is a world divided by the color of one’s skin, and now there’s a black man running for president.
In this world, people are able to zap across continents and off planet in record time using “scuttler” tubes, until a lowly maintenance worker discovers a malfunctioning scuttler tube that has a hole leading to an alternate world. He enters this new parallel dimension and is soon killed. As news of this other world spreads, Jim Briskin, who could become the first black president, sees a big opportunity. There are millions of people (mostly non-white) who are in cryopreservation known as “bibs,” looking to be revived when a solution is found to the world’s overpopulation problems. Briskin hopes to use the promise of setting all these bibs free in the new world to help his presidency.
The only problem is that there are some beings on the other side that seem to be a form of our ancestors, Homo erectus, known as Peking Man, who beat out the Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons on this world to become the dominant species, and they aren’t about to let Homo sapiens walk all over them. For a book that is barely two hundred pages long, Dick manages to do an incredible job of revealing a complex world with plenty of unusual and unforgettable characters that will keep any scifi fan hooked until the very last page.
Originally written on February 13, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews and exclusive interviews, go to BookBanter.
In this world, people are able to zap across continents and off planet in record time using “scuttler” tubes, until a lowly maintenance worker discovers a malfunctioning scuttler tube that has a hole leading to an alternate world. He enters this new parallel dimension and is soon killed. As news of this other world spreads, Jim Briskin, who could become the first black president, sees a big opportunity. There are millions of people (mostly non-white) who are in cryopreservation known as “bibs,” looking to be revived when a solution is found to the world’s overpopulation problems. Briskin hopes to use the promise of setting all these bibs free in the new world to help his presidency.
The only problem is that there are some beings on the other side that seem to be a form of our ancestors, Homo erectus, known as Peking Man, who beat out the Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons on this world to become the dominant species, and they aren’t about to let Homo sapiens walk all over them. For a book that is barely two hundred pages long, Dick manages to do an incredible job of revealing a complex world with plenty of unusual and unforgettable characters that will keep any scifi fan hooked until the very last page.
Originally written on February 13, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews and exclusive interviews, go to BookBanter.
publius's review against another edition
3.0
There's a good chance that you know Philip K. Dick, if not by name, then by the movies his books and stories have spawned. He's that rare author with as many ten of his stories or novels adapted for the big screen, albeit posthumously. Think Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford, an adaptation of Dick's brilliant Do androids dream of electric sheep? or Total Recall, with Arnold Schwarzenegger, from We Can Remember It For You Wholesale. More recent movies include The Adjustment Bureau and Minority Report.
Ironically, Dick lived his live in near poverty. As an homage to his influence, the Library of America included Dick in their "quasi-official national canon" in 2007, the first science-fiction writer to be included.
I was introduced to Dick through his movies and later picked up the novels and short stories they were based on. In contrast to much of what is classified as science-fiction, Dick's stories and novels focus on human nature and the effect of technology and science on our character and relationships.
The Crack in Space
, written in 1966, tackles parallel universes, time travel, gaps in the time-space continuum, and, to make things interesting, racism.
Compared to some of his other novels, The Crack in Space is not the most exciting tale in the Philip K. Dick canon. In addition to a parallel universe, it weaves in the candidacy of a America's first black presidency. That's not so controversial now, but writing in the 1960s, during the civil rights movement, Dick was predicting what was then almost impossible to conceive. Other issues addressed include population growth and control, scarce resources, and the morality of sexual promiscuity. The story is interesting, if a bit dated. It''s a worthy, if not gripping, read for a quiet weekend.
Ironically, Dick lived his live in near poverty. As an homage to his influence, the Library of America included Dick in their "quasi-official national canon" in 2007, the first science-fiction writer to be included.
I was introduced to Dick through his movies and later picked up the novels and short stories they were based on. In contrast to much of what is classified as science-fiction, Dick's stories and novels focus on human nature and the effect of technology and science on our character and relationships.
The Crack in Space
, written in 1966, tackles parallel universes, time travel, gaps in the time-space continuum, and, to make things interesting, racism.Compared to some of his other novels, The Crack in Space
is not the most exciting tale in the Philip K. Dick canon. In addition to a parallel universe, it weaves in the candidacy of a America's first black presidency. That's not so controversial now, but writing in the 1960s, during the civil rights movement, Dick was predicting what was then almost impossible to conceive. Other issues addressed include population growth and control, scarce resources, and the morality of sexual promiscuity. The story is interesting, if a bit dated. It''s a worthy, if not gripping, read for a quiet weekend.
dr_matthew_lloyd's review against another edition
3.0
In 2010 I interviewed for (and got) a job at the Centre for Alternative Technology near Machynlleth. In the interview for this job, I was asked what I thought was the most pressing emergency regarding climate change and how it should be tackled. I answered "education", but this was not correct. What I thought then, and still believe, is that the biggest threat to the climate is over-population - the stress placed on the planet by the number of human beings who exist, continue to come into existence, and taking longer not to exist any more, continues to grow to quite terrifying, unsustainable levels. The problem with over-population is that it's a problem no-one will tackle, because how can you tackle it? I like to read a Philip K. Dick book at year, and this year's choice turns out to be his attempt to confront this problem.
To begin with, it's worth noting that this is a fairly typical PKD book. The women, where they exist, are little more than wives-who-nag and semen receptacles. One way in which over-population is addressed is through the existence of a heavily populated space-brothel, which men are encouraged to visit in order to get out their urges without making a baby. What women are supposed to do is unclear, because this is a PKD book and women don't really have sexuality in those, despite being semen receptacles. On the other hand, the society in this book is very comfortable with abortion, to the degree that when someone is known to be pregnant they are sent to an "abort-consultant" to get rid of it. I suppose, in PKD's inimitable way, there is something to this approach in that greater contraceptive availability and education alongside sexuality divorced from procreation is one way to stem the growth of the population, but it's a bit horrific to read the way its presented in this book. Furthermore, there's an attitude to abortion maintained that it is done because it is necessary - no other forms of contraception are mentioned, nor the contraceptive method of the women on the Golden Door Moments of Bliss Satellite - and even the abortionist suggests that it's immoral. It completely lacks nuance.
The main method by which population growth has been arrested is through the creation of "bibs", the slang term used to refer to those who voluntarily undergo cryogenic freezing, to be re-awoken when there is a solution to the population crisis. These "bibs" are disproportionately people of lower-classes, particularly people of colour. Now, this is the most interesting aspect of the novel. The population crisis will, by and large, disproportionately affect regions of the world of lower socio-economic development and those in the working classes, and it is great that PKD recognized this. The perspective the book takes, of course, is that of various middle-class predominantly white and predominantly able-bodied males, but it's clear who this crisis is affecting and that many of those white middle-class men are concerned primarily with the population crisis only as a political issue, not as something which really affects them personally or puts them at risk.
It's important to note that these are predominantly white men, because the book is based around a very important, historic moment: in 2080, the United States of America might just, almost, be ready to elect their first black president! Who would have thought it? But, as those of us who live in the post-PKD early twenty first century know, it’s possible for a country to have a black presidential nominee and still be incredibly racist. It’s a pretty off-putting feature of the book, to begin with, that it is presented from the perspective of several racist characters, and while it does calm down a bit (and it's abundantly clear that these aren't PKD's views) the language throughout is not what the modern world would use to describe these race relations.
Race is a predominant theme in the book, which has a vague sense of the questions PKD would come to ask two years later in [b:Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?|7083|Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?|Philip K. Dick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327399511s/7083.jpg|830939]: what does it mean to be human? In this case, it's examining the divisions between homo sapiens and why we perceive them that way. It takes the not-uncommon SF route of suggesting that if, maybe, there was something even more different out there, we would come to realise that we are actually all very alike.
Which leads on to the final attempt to solve the population crisis: colonization. Cantata-140 (or The Crack in Space) is not a great work of post-colonialist fiction; there is little deliberation over the rights and wrongs of colonization. There is some, but it is, as ever, more concerned with the rights and wrongs of those middle-class white men rather than the region which is to be colonized, or even particularly with the colonists themselves. This gets heavily into spoiler territory, so all I will say is this: a technological solution presents itself to the population problem which is seized upon whole-heartly and then goes horribly wrong.
This isn't the best of PKD's books but it is also far from the worst, and it begins to grapple with some of the ideas which he will come to in other books and deal with much more efficiently. If you enjoy reading PKD novels, then this one is certainly one to read; if you haven't read any of his novels, try [b:A Scanner Darkly|756984|A Scanner Darkly|Philip K. Dick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1291847224s/756984.jpg|1527439], Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? or [b:The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch|14185|The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch|Philip K. Dick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1338461946s/14185.jpg|1399376] first. If you want to read a good book about the population crisis, go for [b:The First Born of the Dead|18730724|The First Born of the Dead|W. J. Dickson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1382998120s/18730724.jpg|26605014] by W. J. Dickson, as it is a far more comprehensive (and recent) examination of what exactly is the problem with over-population, and what the consequences of addressing the problem might actually be.
To begin with, it's worth noting that this is a fairly typical PKD book. The women, where they exist, are little more than wives-who-nag and semen receptacles. One way in which over-population is addressed is through the existence of a heavily populated space-brothel, which men are encouraged to visit in order to get out their urges without making a baby. What women are supposed to do is unclear, because this is a PKD book and women don't really have sexuality in those, despite being semen receptacles. On the other hand, the society in this book is very comfortable with abortion, to the degree that when someone is known to be pregnant they are sent to an "abort-consultant" to get rid of it. I suppose, in PKD's inimitable way, there is something to this approach in that greater contraceptive availability and education alongside sexuality divorced from procreation is one way to stem the growth of the population, but it's a bit horrific to read the way its presented in this book. Furthermore, there's an attitude to abortion maintained that it is done because it is necessary - no other forms of contraception are mentioned, nor the contraceptive method of the women on the Golden Door Moments of Bliss Satellite - and even the abortionist suggests that it's immoral. It completely lacks nuance.
The main method by which population growth has been arrested is through the creation of "bibs", the slang term used to refer to those who voluntarily undergo cryogenic freezing, to be re-awoken when there is a solution to the population crisis. These "bibs" are disproportionately people of lower-classes, particularly people of colour. Now, this is the most interesting aspect of the novel. The population crisis will, by and large, disproportionately affect regions of the world of lower socio-economic development and those in the working classes, and it is great that PKD recognized this. The perspective the book takes, of course, is that of various middle-class predominantly white and predominantly able-bodied males, but it's clear who this crisis is affecting and that many of those white middle-class men are concerned primarily with the population crisis only as a political issue, not as something which really affects them personally or puts them at risk.
It's important to note that these are predominantly white men, because the book is based around a very important, historic moment: in 2080, the United States of America might just, almost, be ready to elect their first black president! Who would have thought it? But, as those of us who live in the post-PKD early twenty first century know, it’s possible for a country to have a black presidential nominee and still be incredibly racist. It’s a pretty off-putting feature of the book, to begin with, that it is presented from the perspective of several racist characters, and while it does calm down a bit (and it's abundantly clear that these aren't PKD's views) the language throughout is not what the modern world would use to describe these race relations.
Race is a predominant theme in the book, which has a vague sense of the questions PKD would come to ask two years later in [b:Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?|7083|Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?|Philip K. Dick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327399511s/7083.jpg|830939]: what does it mean to be human? In this case, it's examining the divisions between homo sapiens and why we perceive them that way. It takes the not-uncommon SF route of suggesting that if, maybe, there was something even more different out there, we would come to realise that we are actually all very alike.
Which leads on to the final attempt to solve the population crisis: colonization. Cantata-140 (or The Crack in Space) is not a great work of post-colonialist fiction; there is little deliberation over the rights and wrongs of colonization. There is some, but it is, as ever, more concerned with the rights and wrongs of those middle-class white men rather than the region which is to be colonized, or even particularly with the colonists themselves. This gets heavily into spoiler territory, so all I will say is this: a technological solution presents itself to the population problem which is seized upon whole-heartly and then goes horribly wrong.
This isn't the best of PKD's books but it is also far from the worst, and it begins to grapple with some of the ideas which he will come to in other books and deal with much more efficiently. If you enjoy reading PKD novels, then this one is certainly one to read; if you haven't read any of his novels, try [b:A Scanner Darkly|756984|A Scanner Darkly|Philip K. Dick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1291847224s/756984.jpg|1527439], Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? or [b:The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch|14185|The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch|Philip K. Dick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1338461946s/14185.jpg|1399376] first. If you want to read a good book about the population crisis, go for [b:The First Born of the Dead|18730724|The First Born of the Dead|W. J. Dickson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1382998120s/18730724.jpg|26605014] by W. J. Dickson, as it is a far more comprehensive (and recent) examination of what exactly is the problem with over-population, and what the consequences of addressing the problem might actually be.
andreablythe's review
4.0
In an overpopulated world, millions of people have elected to become bibs (cryogenically frozen until the job market opens up), abortion centers are prospering, and prostitution has been made legal on orbiting satellites (to ease "frustrations", while preventing pregnancy). It's a huge problem faced by the presidential candidates, who must present solutions to this problem if they are to be elected.
Jim Briskin announces in a public speech a possible solution. A company has stumbled upon a portal to a parallel world, apparently uninhabited, to which people can emigrate. This announcement opens a whole can of worms and new problems, especially when they find out the alternate world was not as unpopulated as they all thought.
Mixed in with all the population stuff are constant commentaries about race relations, most notably because Briskin, a Col, could be the first black president of the United States. I couldn't help but read this and think about the fact that President Obama is currently in the white house. The race question gets confounded even further once the people on alt-earth are discovered.
It's a fairly short read, and it goes very quick. But a lot gets packed into it, and there's a lot of jumping from character to character. Dick doesn't seem to be as interested in achieving an emotional connection with the reader as an intellectual one. You're not meant to feel for the characters or get to know them, you're meant to get a taste for their point of view. Every one's got an opinion, and the author presents many of them, so many that it's not entirely clear where he stands on anything. This is a thinking book, certainly fun, but one that I would like to sit with a book group and chat about. A reader could come at it from many angles -- each would be correct.
Jim Briskin announces in a public speech a possible solution. A company has stumbled upon a portal to a parallel world, apparently uninhabited, to which people can emigrate. This announcement opens a whole can of worms and new problems, especially when they find out the alternate world was not as unpopulated as they all thought.
Mixed in with all the population stuff are constant commentaries about race relations, most notably because Briskin, a Col, could be the first black president of the United States. I couldn't help but read this and think about the fact that President Obama is currently in the white house. The race question gets confounded even further once the people on alt-earth are discovered.
It's a fairly short read, and it goes very quick. But a lot gets packed into it, and there's a lot of jumping from character to character. Dick doesn't seem to be as interested in achieving an emotional connection with the reader as an intellectual one. You're not meant to feel for the characters or get to know them, you're meant to get a taste for their point of view. Every one's got an opinion, and the author presents many of them, so many that it's not entirely clear where he stands on anything. This is a thinking book, certainly fun, but one that I would like to sit with a book group and chat about. A reader could come at it from many angles -- each would be correct.
beccamayest's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
splendidlyimperfect's review against another edition
3.0
This was not one of my favorite books by PKD - the characters weren't particularly engaging or sympathetic, and the plot seemed to have no final destination. The whole novel felt like it was just floating along with no goal in mind. The "discovery" on the new world wasn't particularly thrilling or interesting, and the book seemed to lack a climax. However, PKD's vision of the future was interesting, and his description of their technologies and ways of life was intriguing enough for me to enjoy the book.