Monument

RE-read this prior to giving away a second copy. Biggle does a great job of social satire, and this one is quite satisfactory. A fun movie could be made of it. Pokes slyly at businessmen, diplomats, anthropologists, and romantics.

Delightful light classic light sci fi which could be set anywhere in a not-fully explored planet or galaxy.

Many years have passed since solitary prospector Cern Obrien crashed on Langri, an uncharted planet distant from regular human space lanes. Langri is a paradise, a gorgeous planet with beautiful beaches, exquisite flora, and friendly natives who appear to be descendants of other long-ago shipwrecked humans. But as lovely and unspoiled as the planet seems, there is only one food source which is not poisonous to humans, and the natives live a precarious existence, some years with starvation. Obrien is now an old man, having married and become a highly esteemed member of the group. When he realizes he is dying, he desperately creates show more a Plan to protect the natives from outsiders, aware that one day Langri will be rediscovered by someone who will want to develop it as a vacation destination, which would destroy the natives' way of life and food source. The requisite developer arrives just after Obrien dies, and the natives put the Plan into action, battling corporate might and a galactic legal system which benefits the already-powerful.

Interesting characters and landscape and just enough tension keep readers moving along as they root for the natives against interlopers who are sometimes predictable but nevertheless very entertaining to cheer against. show less

A fun light-hearted take on the natives vs. modern culture theme. The law as 'attorneys face off with URLs in front of a master computer' is typical of the often humourous sometimes thought-proking concepts thrown around.

Some descriptions (elsewhere) for this are bad. ?áI wrote this one for here:?áIs there a way to save an unspoiled paradise from civilization? ?áIf the planet was discovered by a lone prospector, and so beloved by him that he taught the natives a Plan so they would be ready for a more ruthless exploiter, perhaps....

Mostly a quiet story, but nonetheless interesting, engaging, thought-provoking. ?áI miss this kind of SF. ?áIt's more about ideas, about speculations, about What If questions. ?áI'm glad to have discovered Biggle and highly recommend this to other fans Clifford Simak (and vice-versa). ?áI will look for more by Biggle (hope my library system hasn't culled them all).

Btw, the cover by Doubleday (that I read) is show more much better. ?áIt's a spaceship vaguely resembling a lunar lander hovering over and about to land on some plants that vaguely resemble horsetails and corals, all in B&W and muted yellow, blue, & green, line drawings lightly colorized. show less

Based on the short story Monument (Analog, 1961; rpt. in Analog 1) .