It’s remarkable how downright prophetic this book has shown itself to be. It’s a brick, giving a detailed, partly fictionalized description of the early days of the Space exploration.
A parallel story,
however, explores the evolution of knowledge and science itself, and this is
just as important as the main story. Lots of time is given to a typical
evangelical, science-denial and plain fact-denial hustler. Seeing how extensive
that worldview has grown today, Michener was certainly ahead of his time.
Even literacy is
criticized today for opening people to communism. «My grandfather was
illiterate, and he remained anti-communist his entire life».
Michener chooses a
theme or a geographic area or similar, and writes a brick of a story about that,
spending years in research, and he does it well. His style may feel a little
dry, but it works. His storytelling is detailed without being boring. The
paperback version is a brick with over a thousand pages, and even has small
fonts. Each page is a story.
Right wingers will
detest the book. Openminded people will find it very interesting.
