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aristophanes's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I feel foolish not to have heard of Cordwainer Smith before this! The short stories all fit in a world spanning tens of thousands of years. Each story gives us a deeper insight into the evolving world as time goes. The stories are fascinating and with many unique premises. I cannot over-recommend this to sci-fi lovers.
imakandiway's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
perryleibovitz's review against another edition
Too conceptual to read 10 minutes at a time before bed
kynan's review against another edition
3.0
Due to me being an idiot, this review is for both The Rediscovery of Man and The Instrumentality Of Mankind.
I hadn't heard of Cordwainer Smith until mention of him in a subreddit and, although I remembered the author's name, I failed to note that he had two similarly named anthologies. As such, I accidentally purchased and started reading "The Instrumentality Of Mankind“ when I'd intended to be reading "The Rediscovery of Man". It wasn't until when, on holiday, I stumbled upon a second hand copy of "The Rediscovery of Man" in a newsagent in Ingleton and purchased it so I could read in real life (as opposed to digitally). Upon opening the book it became very obvious that it was a similar book with different content and I realised that I'd started with what was nominally the second book.
I say nominally because both sets of stories are collections set in the same universe, but interspersed throughout a timescale spanning sixteen thousand years! The timescale isn't an issue, the stories are about disparate things that occur with no linear storyline to be followed. There are overt references to events or historical figures (some of whom feature as the protagonists in other stories) but on a per story basis, everything is self-contained. That said, as the last page of The Rediscovery of Man states: "His sparse but regular output of science fiction consisted chiefly of short stories, the best of which are collected in this volume". I strongly agree that, with on exception, the best stories are in The Rediscovery of Man.
Most of Mr Smith's writing was done between 1950 and 1980 and it's reasonably obvious when reading them that this is the case, both due to the language used and the social norms of the time that occasionally seep through. The vast majority of the stories here are science fiction, although they're of the type that agrees that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic and is happy to run with the magic and not bother explaining things too deeply. As such, we have a lot of "technology", including faster-than-light travel (via some kind of 2-dimensional telepathy-enhanced psionic navigation/fumbling). If you're happy to roll with this though, there are some really well written and interesting stories!
Cordwainer Smith was actually Paul M. A. Linebarger, a noted East Asia scholar and expert in psychological warfare (which maybe explains the near-obsession with psychology and psionic powers that appear throughout most of the stories). Under his real name he authored the extremely well-regarded non-fiction book "Psychological Warfare" (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48612). There's also a lot from Mr Linebarger's other areas of interest the bleed into the stories: he throws in a lot of subtle references to things in other languages (there's quite a lot of German, but also nods in the direction of Russian and Chinese too - although I had to have the latter explained to me by the foreward).
It's hard to say much about any of the stories without getting into spoilers since they're all pretty short, so I won't, except to list my likes and dislikes: My favourite non-Instrumentality story, and possibly my favourite story from either book was "The Fife of Bodidharma", which you can find at https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20170823. It's very much not a sci-fi story but it has the same brief and expository style that other stories I enjoyed in these collections displayed. The Fife is about...a fife! It's a magical fife with some interesting powers and we, very quickly, meet various owners of the fife as it travels through time before a very speculative and twisty end. My second favourite story (the first story of the first book and the first of the Instrumentality series), "Scanners Live in Vain" sports a similarly interesting end but it's a far slower and paints an interesting introduction to the Instrumentality universe.
After that, I have not a lot of others that I'd be really interested in seeing again, in order of interest: Alpha Ralpha Boulevard was a very suitable end to the series (it should have stopped there) and, again, the end really makes the story. Golden the Ship Was - Oh Oh Oh is a pretty short but illuminating take on psychological warfare in the super-far future. Mark Elf/Queen of the Afternoon are essentially one long story and have the most continuity of anything in the anthology and also (perhaps by dint of sheer length) provide the most illumination on the early years of the evolution of the Instrumentality.
There's also one story which annoyed me intensely: The Crime And The Glory Of Commander Suzdal (https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/smithcordwainer-crimeandthegloryofcommandersuzdal/smithcordwainer-crimeandthegloryofcommandersuzdal-00-h.html). It's predicated on limited(ish) time travel and can't be expounded upon without spoiling it. Suffice it to say: there was literally no reason for the thing that happened to happen when the thing used to make that thing happen could have just been used as intended.
I suspect I missed a lot as large chunks of the internet are very excited about the depth and layers of these stories. Overall, I found them to be mostly fun and I'm glad to have read them but I didn't get anything particularly deep and meaningful out of the experience.
I hadn't heard of Cordwainer Smith until mention of him in a subreddit and, although I remembered the author's name, I failed to note that he had two similarly named anthologies. As such, I accidentally purchased and started reading "The Instrumentality Of Mankind“ when I'd intended to be reading "The Rediscovery of Man". It wasn't until when, on holiday, I stumbled upon a second hand copy of "The Rediscovery of Man" in a newsagent in Ingleton and purchased it so I could read in real life (as opposed to digitally). Upon opening the book it became very obvious that it was a similar book with different content and I realised that I'd started with what was nominally the second book.
I say nominally because both sets of stories are collections set in the same universe, but interspersed throughout a timescale spanning sixteen thousand years! The timescale isn't an issue, the stories are about disparate things that occur with no linear storyline to be followed. There are overt references to events or historical figures (some of whom feature as the protagonists in other stories) but on a per story basis, everything is self-contained. That said, as the last page of The Rediscovery of Man states: "His sparse but regular output of science fiction consisted chiefly of short stories, the best of which are collected in this volume". I strongly agree that, with on exception, the best stories are in The Rediscovery of Man.
Most of Mr Smith's writing was done between 1950 and 1980 and it's reasonably obvious when reading them that this is the case, both due to the language used and the social norms of the time that occasionally seep through. The vast majority of the stories here are science fiction, although they're of the type that agrees that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic and is happy to run with the magic and not bother explaining things too deeply. As such, we have a lot of "technology", including faster-than-light travel (via some kind of 2-dimensional telepathy-enhanced psionic navigation/fumbling). If you're happy to roll with this though, there are some really well written and interesting stories!
Cordwainer Smith was actually Paul M. A. Linebarger, a noted East Asia scholar and expert in psychological warfare (which maybe explains the near-obsession with psychology and psionic powers that appear throughout most of the stories). Under his real name he authored the extremely well-regarded non-fiction book "Psychological Warfare" (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48612). There's also a lot from Mr Linebarger's other areas of interest the bleed into the stories: he throws in a lot of subtle references to things in other languages (there's quite a lot of German, but also nods in the direction of Russian and Chinese too - although I had to have the latter explained to me by the foreward).
It's hard to say much about any of the stories without getting into spoilers since they're all pretty short, so I won't, except to list my likes and dislikes: My favourite non-Instrumentality story, and possibly my favourite story from either book was "The Fife of Bodidharma", which you can find at https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20170823. It's very much not a sci-fi story but it has the same brief and expository style that other stories I enjoyed in these collections displayed. The Fife is about...a fife! It's a magical fife with some interesting powers and we, very quickly, meet various owners of the fife as it travels through time before a very speculative and twisty end. My second favourite story (the first story of the first book and the first of the Instrumentality series), "Scanners Live in Vain" sports a similarly interesting end but it's a far slower and paints an interesting introduction to the Instrumentality universe.
After that, I have not a lot of others that I'd be really interested in seeing again, in order of interest: Alpha Ralpha Boulevard was a very suitable end to the series (it should have stopped there) and, again, the end really makes the story. Golden the Ship Was - Oh Oh Oh is a pretty short but illuminating take on psychological warfare in the super-far future. Mark Elf/Queen of the Afternoon are essentially one long story and have the most continuity of anything in the anthology and also (perhaps by dint of sheer length) provide the most illumination on the early years of the evolution of the Instrumentality.
There's also one story which annoyed me intensely: The Crime And The Glory Of Commander Suzdal (https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/smithcordwainer-crimeandthegloryofcommandersuzdal/smithcordwainer-crimeandthegloryofcommandersuzdal-00-h.html). It's predicated on limited(ish) time travel and can't be expounded upon without spoiling it. Suffice it to say: there was literally no reason for the thing that happened to happen when the thing used to make that thing happen could have just been used as intended.
I suspect I missed a lot as large chunks of the internet are very excited about the depth and layers of these stories. Overall, I found them to be mostly fun and I'm glad to have read them but I didn't get anything particularly deep and meaningful out of the experience.
krep___'s review against another edition
1.5
Sci-fi stories from the mid-50's to the early 60's, all set in a world of the far future with some consistent aspects of history and technology. Although, as most good science fiction does, the stories are meant to highlight aspects of the human condition, they are delivered in a such a sustained tone of profundity and pomposity that I found them tedious rather than thought-provoking. Couldn't wait to be done with it. 1-1/2 stars for creativity.
interrowhimper's review against another edition
4.0
The cover blurb by Terry Pratchett says this work is timeless, but it strikes me as very much a product of its time. Women in particular occupy a very pre-1966 place in these stories. There is one story that is pretty horrendously homophobic and transphobic - in fact, which centers on the inevitable barbarism of an all-trans male society? But if you get past those things...
Some really interesting ideas. Quality of the stories is uneven. The ones early in this sequence were somewhat hard to get through. Some were very compelling. And Smith’s weird fascination with cats was endearing to me.
Some really interesting ideas. Quality of the stories is uneven. The ones early in this sequence were somewhat hard to get through. Some were very compelling. And Smith’s weird fascination with cats was endearing to me.
leighbarlow's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
2.5
awodeyar's review against another edition
4.0
I came to Cordwainer Smith through Ursula Le Guin- she spoke highly of him and then his life story motivated me to read him. A child of two cultures always seems more capable of doing legit scifi. While the stories are interesting and I can see how he always focuses on the humanity of the characters, I found it slightly unfulfilling. I wanted more context in places, I wanted to spend more time with the characters and their unique situations in others, sometimes the reason I wanted this was because then maybe a deus ex machina wouldn't have been needed. Maybe my main issue then is that these short stories didn't work great as short stories because of how rich his world is.