Hal Clement (1922–2003)

King Solomon's Mines in Space

Mission of Gravity is a sf classic because of its compelling world building: an extremely fast-spinning planet with a gravity 700 times that of earth at its poles. It is marred however by totally unconvincing inhabitants. The Mesklinites encountered by the "Earthmen"--back in 1953, the idea of female scientists or astronauts apparently was inconceivable even for a science fiction author--speak better English than most native speakers on earth, and they behave and show more think like humans. Also their civilization is entirely human even though they are caterpillars. With a captain and first mate, even the command structure of the raft Bree is that of a western European/American ship. Convincing alien life is also part of compelling world building and the novel entirely fails in that respect. Nothing on Mesklin feels really alien.

An even bigger problem is the absence of any conflict to drive the story. The leading earthman, Lackland, and leading Mesklinite, Barlennan (yes, the aliens have human names, too), interact so awfully friendly and harmoniously that it becomes boring from very early on. In the beginning there is a hint that Barlennan has a hidden agenda; but in the end that turns out to be nothing bad really. Also, the title's second meaning of "something of great importance" doesn't come into its own: the information gathered about the planet by the lost probe that the Mesklinites have to recover is no doubt scientifically interesting but not really a matter of life and death.

One could also mention the colonialist subtext of the novel. The Mesklinite explorers and their superior Terran mentors behave like European explorers in "Dark Africa". They hunt big game, are attacked by primitive natives and trade peacefully with friendly primitives, making maps along the way to make the unknown territory controllable. But I guess all that was only normal in the 1950s western view of the world. show less

Conceptually this one offers a clever variation on Clement's typical exercise in "imagine a seemingly impossible world, then figure how it could come to be, what kind of creatures might be able to live there, and how humans might interact with and/or try to exploit them". Unfortunately the story proves not particularly compelling, although I found the aliens to be more interesting than the humans.

Clement's science fiction really was fiction about science - his day job was as a chemistry teacher, and he was interested in thinking in some detail about the consequences of of life under alien conditions. And sharing that thinking with his readers.

This leads to a particular kind of story that appeals to a particular kind of audience. Premise is all in his novels. What would life be like on a world that rotated so fast its gravity was 200 times greater at the poles than the equator? How show more would an alien from a much hotter world perceive Earth?

By this standard, Half Life does not overwhelm. The premise is a grim one, but not particularly exotic. A few hundred years from now, new, deadly diseases start to crop up faster than medical science can combat them, and humanity's long population growth turns into a decline, with a half-life of just under 70 years. Other species are dying too. Scientific research is placed on a quasi-military footing to try to find a way to halt the decline. The book follows a crew of scientists and engineers prospecting for possibly helpful scientific discoveries on Saturn's moon Titan. Titan is, in real life, a chemically interesting moon, with hydrocarbon lakes under a thick nitrogen atmosphere, and the hope in the book is that exploring the chemistry of such an alien environment might fill in gaps that could somehow help. The jackpot would be to catch a new form of life in the process of evolving from non-life.

The crew does not expect to return to Earth, and mostly suffer from the various terminal illnesses that have been afflicting humanity.

There are adventures, deaths, and injuries; puzzles and discoveries; and (characteristically) very little emotion. The portrayal of Titan is convincing (in some ways the best part of the book) and the landing of the Huygens Probe in 2005 did little to prove Clement wrong.

Even though this is far from Clements' most interesting or cleverest book, I wonder if it isn't one of his most personal ones. He was in his late seventies when he wrote it, and, as he looked around and saw more of his contemporaries dying, it must have felt on a small scale like what all of humanity faced in his book. As an older person living with diabetes, he could probably relate to his characters' challenges with their medical conditions. Also like his characters, he was a curious soul who took great pleasure from finding things out. I hope the last line if his book was true for him:

"They lived happily ever after while they lived." show less

It's a shame when the aliens are more understandable than the humans.

Written in the 50's, I guess it's proof the past is more alien than we realize.

I might be overselling it, but it is dated. The only non male characters are bit parts, who are "just as smart" as the rest, but never actually participate in the plot, really... The rest of the family is very typical Heinlein-ish capable man, jack of all trades, master of the household stuff. I suspect I would have really enjoyed this as a teen show more several decades ago.

I wish I knew more chemistry, I suspect that's the best part of the novel.

The opening chapter has a sting in the tail I won't ruin, but I'm not sure it gets a whole lot better than that.

Interesting concept, and science, but just not enough there to make we want to pick it up again now that I finished it once. show less