Galaxies Like Grains of Sand
by Brian W. Aldiss
On This Page
Description
"Brian Aldiss seems to have always had a more oceanic sense of time than even most science fiction writers, an almost measured vision of what will transpire in the long run..." - Norman Spinrad In Galaxies Like Grains of Sand, Brian W. Aldiss tells the tale of mankind's future over the course of forty million years. Each of these nine connected short stories highlights a different millennia in which man has adapted to new environments and hardships. With a New Introduction from the Author!.
Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
According to the introduction, this one started out as just another bunch of short stories. After the author's editor suggested that they be linked and made into a loose narrative, the book became a sort of history of the far future and a trip through deep time. The move was, I think, a good one, as it lends some needed structure to the proceedings, and Aldiss obviously enjoyed writing the connecting segments, which contain some deliciously purple prose. There are some interesting ideas here, including a language that exponentially increases humans' abilities and long-term conflicts between human and machine intelligences. Oddly enough, though, I enjoyed this one because it presents some accidental insight into the anxieties of the time show more it was written. There are some lively psychedelic settings to be found here, but the book is also full of Cold War-era fears. Visions of catastrophic nuclear conflict, environmental ruin, and societal entropy appear again and again. A nervous concern with vitality and masculinity runs through it, too. Aldiss seems to be digging through emotional stuff that seems close to the heart of a lot of pulp genres, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Not a classic, but an interesting read nonetheless. show less
This is easily one of the best sci-fi novels that I have ever read. This book is old and I had to obtain my copy via eBay, but it was worth it. The interconnected stories come to a surprising conclusion, and overall is very thought-provoking, each millennia has its own issues and are quite different from one another, it's really creative.
I liked how each chapter focused on a different part in human history, spanning a total of 40 million years (quite wild!) While I do feel that this book could have used some more detail (the book is fairly slim compared to other books such as say, Dune) it is still a wonderful and thought-provoking read, with some juicy nugget of philosophy or thought in each section. My favorites were the 'Mutant' and show more the 'Ultimate' Millennia chapters. show less
I liked how each chapter focused on a different part in human history, spanning a total of 40 million years (quite wild!) While I do feel that this book could have used some more detail (the book is fairly slim compared to other books such as say, Dune) it is still a wonderful and thought-provoking read, with some juicy nugget of philosophy or thought in each section. My favorites were the 'Mutant' and show more the 'Ultimate' Millennia chapters. show less
A good read. Fans of science fiction should consider this. The science fiction novel Galaxies Like Grains of Sand is a good one. It succeeds in asking concerns about our collective future based on our past and present circumstances, which is something that a surprising number of books in the category disappointingly fail to do.
Note from the ISFDB: "This edition reprints 8 of 11 stories from The Canopy of Time, but includes new connecting material."
Notable for the brief forewords, and for "Who Can Replace a Man?" (the third story in, representing the Robot Millennia).
Notable for the brief forewords, and for "Who Can Replace a Man?" (the third story in, representing the Robot Millennia).
Disintegrating.
He aquí la historia de la humanidad desde un futuro muy cercano hasta los últimos días de nuestro universo. A lo largo de incontables milenios, episodios de la vida de seres humanos concretos sirven para mostrarnos cómo van cambiando el mundo y la gente, cómo los ciclos evolutivos e involutivos culturales y genéticos hacen su trabajo. Asistimos a guerras nucleares, a períodos de extrema escasez de alimentos, a la presencia asfixiante de todo tipo de máquinas, al ingreso de la Tierra en una sociedad galáctica mucho más avanzada que la nuestra y, finalmente, no sólo a la sustitución de la humanidad por una raza nueva, sino al reemplazo de nuestro gastado universo por un nuevo orden cósmico.
Jul 21, 2022Spanish
Indeholder "Author's Note", "Norman Spinrad: Introduction", "1. The War Millennia, Out of Reach", "2. The Sterile Millennia, All the World's Tears", "3. The Robot Millennia, Who Can Replace a Man?", "4. The Mingled Millennia, Blighted Profile", "5. The Dark Millennia, O Ishrail!", "6. The Star Millennia, Incentive", "7. The Mutant Millennia, Gene-Hive", "8. The Megalopolis Millennia, Secret of a Mighty City", "9. The Ultimate Millennia, Visiting Amoeba".
"Author's Note" handler om historiernes mishandlede skæbne og om at dette er den rigtige version og rækkefølge af dem. The Canopy of Time var en forlagsredaktørs version.
"Norman Spinrad: Introduction" handler om ???
"1. The War Millennia, Out of Reach" handler om ???
"2. The Sterile show more Millennia, All the World's Tears" handler om ???
"3. The Robot Millennia, Who Can Replace a Man?" handler om ???
"4. The Mingled Millennia, Blighted Profile" handler om ???
"5. The Dark Millennia, O Ishrail!" handler om ???
"6. The Star Millennia, Incentive" handler om ???
"7. The Mutant Millennia, Gene-Hive" handler om ???
"8. The Megalopolis Millennia, Secret of a Mighty City" handler om ???
"9. The Ultimate Millennia, Visiting Amoeba" handler om ???
??? show less
"Author's Note" handler om historiernes mishandlede skæbne og om at dette er den rigtige version og rækkefølge af dem. The Canopy of Time var en forlagsredaktørs version.
"Norman Spinrad: Introduction" handler om ???
"1. The War Millennia, Out of Reach" handler om ???
"2. The Sterile show more Millennia, All the World's Tears" handler om ???
"3. The Robot Millennia, Who Can Replace a Man?" handler om ???
"4. The Mingled Millennia, Blighted Profile" handler om ???
"5. The Dark Millennia, O Ishrail!" handler om ???
"6. The Star Millennia, Incentive" handler om ???
"7. The Mutant Millennia, Gene-Hive" handler om ???
"8. The Megalopolis Millennia, Secret of a Mighty City" handler om ???
"9. The Ultimate Millennia, Visiting Amoeba" handler om ???
??? show less
Apr 22, 2013 (Edited)Danish
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
563+ Works 27,343 Members
Brian W. Aldiss was born in Dereham, United Kingdom on August 18, 1925. In 1943, he joined the Royal Signals regiment, and saw action in Burma. After World War II, he worked as a bookseller at Oxford University. His first book, The Brightfount Diaries, was published in 1955. His first science fiction novel, Non-Stop (Starship in the United show more States), was published in 1958. He wrote more than 80 books including Hothouse, Greybeard, The Helliconia Trilogy, The Squire Quartet, Frankenstein Unbound, The Malacia Tapestry, Walcot, and Mortal Morning. His short story Super-Toys Last All Summer Long was the basis for the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence. He has received numerous awards for his work including two Hugo Awards, the Nebula Award, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and an OBE for services to literature. He was also an anthologist and an artist. He was the editor of 40 anthologies including Introducing SF, The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus, Space Opera, Space Odysseys, Galactic Empires, Evil Earths, and Perilous Planets. He was an abstract artist and his first solo exhibition, The Other Hemisphere, was held in Oxford in August-September 2010. He died on August 19, 2017 at the age of 92. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Work Relationships
Contains
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Galaxies Like Grains of Sand
- Original title
- Galaxies like grains of sand
- Original publication date
- 1959
- Important places
- Earth
- Dedication
- For Tony and Ann Price with love in case you don't get a review copy
- First words
- Just by accident, Clemperer had shaved when he got up at noon.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)We who have already superseded you record these scenes now in your honour, as you once honoured man. Requiescat in pace.
- Publisher's editor*
- Schelwokat, Günter M.
- Blurbers
- Wyndham, John; Allsop, Kenneth; Amis, Kingsley
- Original language*
- Englisch
- Disambiguation notice
- The first edition of Galaxies Like Grains of Sand had seven stories in common with The Canopy of Time. But it also included once story not included in TCoT, and it omited four stories that were included in TCoT. Later editio... (show all)ns of GLGoS added added another story and significant linking material, essentially turning the collection into a "mosaic" novel. In my opinion, they should not be combined.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 529
- Popularity
- 56,133
- Reviews
- 8
- Rating
- (3.61)
- Languages
- 8 — Czech, Dutch, English, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 25
- ASINs
- 17
